Once upon a time the GOP stood for the GRAND OLD PARTY. But lately the Republican Party has been anything but “grand” and is now in fact a party in turmoil. Infighting between varying factions, lack of an identity or a legitimate leader, and a far right conservative message that’s having difficulty connecting with up and coming new generations, the GOP appears to be outdated, obsolete, out of control and on a downward spiral to crash and burn.
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Exactly when, how, and why did the great meltdown of one of the major political parties in America begin? Where can blame be placed? Eight years of the failed George W. Bush presidency is certainly a huge factor. But there has to be more. The Republican party is primarily 3 parties in one: the FISCAL CONSERVATIVES (no to affirmative action, yes to tax cuts for the wealthy, yes to trickle-down economics); the CHRISTIAN COALITION (no to gays, no to abortion, and other 21st Century ways of thinking); and the SOUTHERN RACIAL SEGREGATIONISTS (dislikes blacks, mexicans, jews, etc.). Each of these factions have their own strengths and followings, and each wants the party run “their” way with “their leader. But that sort of clash is bound to be catastrophic.
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Right now there’s a tug-of-war brewing within the Republican party for exactly which wing will control the GOP, and it’s getting nasty. Many Republicans simply do not like, respect, or want Michael Steele as their leader, and he has quickly become a whipping boy and scapegoat for the party’s ills. But in light of Steele’s embarrassing rhetorical flourishes to his bizarre public fight with Rush Limbaugh, he certainly hasn’t helped much. He recently compared Republicans to drunks in need of a 12-step program and to the mentally ill. And he has promised a “hip-hop makeover” that would attract even “one-armed midgets” to his party. “I’m trying to move an elephant that’s become mired in its own muck,” Mr. Steele said in an interview last week in his Capitol Hill office. Naturally the other Republican factions were not amused.
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Why Chairman Steele feels compelled to recreate the GOP into the “hip hop” party is an absolute mystery, and it calls into question the very motives behind his ascension to chairman. Was he propped up as sort of a “Republican Obama?” Did someone in GOP-Land think putting a brown face on the Republican brand would somehow make it more appealing? Already Steele’s pledge to recruit black voters is in question. Raynard Jackson, a Republican consultant, said that he and fellow African-Americans are glad about Mr. Steele’s election but uneasy about its timing. It looks too much like “let’s get a black person out there and let him attack the first black president,” Mr. Jackson said. Last week, Ada Fisher, one of a handful of black Republican National Committee members and a persistent critic of Mr. Steele’s, called on him to resign, arguing in an e-mail message to the entire committee that he “makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish.”
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It can’t be easy being the first African-American to lead the Republican party, but many within the party are already laying in wait to watch him fail. Said one conservative critic of Steele: “Michael Steele wanted to be a priest, but that didn’t work out. He wanted to be a successful lawyer, but that didn’t work out. He wanted to run a consulting firm, but that didn’t work out. Steele parlayed this ‘success’ into a role as Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, but that didn’t work out, either — he was booted out after one term, and didn’t follow through on his own hand-picked projects. He then wanted to be a U.S. senator, but that didn’t work out. Remind me, why did the Republican National Committee pick Steele as its chairman?”
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Right now there’s a tug-of-war brewing within the Republican party for exactly which wing will control the GOP, and it’s getting nasty. Many Republicans simply do not like, respect, or want Michael Steele as their leader, and he has quickly become a whipping boy and scapegoat for the party’s ills. But in light of Steele’s embarrassing rhetorical flourishes to his bizarre public fight with Rush Limbaugh, he certainly hasn’t helped much. He recently compared Republicans to drunks in need of a 12-step program and to the mentally ill. And he has promised a “hip-hop makeover” that would attract even “one-armed midgets” to his party. “I’m trying to move an elephant that’s become mired in its own muck,” Mr. Steele said in an interview last week in his Capitol Hill office. Naturally the other Republican factions were not amused.
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Why Chairman Steele feels compelled to recreate the GOP into the “hip hop” party is an absolute mystery, and it calls into question the very motives behind his ascension to chairman. Was he propped up as sort of a “Republican Obama?” Did someone in GOP-Land think putting a brown face on the Republican brand would somehow make it more appealing? Already Steele’s pledge to recruit black voters is in question. Raynard Jackson, a Republican consultant, said that he and fellow African-Americans are glad about Mr. Steele’s election but uneasy about its timing. It looks too much like “let’s get a black person out there and let him attack the first black president,” Mr. Jackson said. Last week, Ada Fisher, one of a handful of black Republican National Committee members and a persistent critic of Mr. Steele’s, called on him to resign, arguing in an e-mail message to the entire committee that he “makes us frankly appear to many blacks as quite foolish.”
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It can’t be easy being the first African-American to lead the Republican party, but many within the party are already laying in wait to watch him fail. Said one conservative critic of Steele: “Michael Steele wanted to be a priest, but that didn’t work out. He wanted to be a successful lawyer, but that didn’t work out. He wanted to run a consulting firm, but that didn’t work out. Steele parlayed this ‘success’ into a role as Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor, but that didn’t work out, either — he was booted out after one term, and didn’t follow through on his own hand-picked projects. He then wanted to be a U.S. senator, but that didn’t work out. Remind me, why did the Republican National Committee pick Steele as its chairman?”
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Katon Dawson, who came in second in the January RNC vote, is said to be quietly organizing a vote and is getting the support of several state party chairmen who want to dump Steele. But if she’s successful, then what? Just who exactly is the REAL leader of the Republican Party? Is it former President George W. Bush? Is it failed Republican candidate John McCain? Is it 2012 hopefuls Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal? Is it conservative bullhorn Rush Limbaugh? Which faction of the party will prevail? And once a true leader is determined will their message and ideology be enough to keep the party relevant and competitive, particularly within the 21st Century and amidst a new generation of voters? As CNN’s Jack Cafferty recently put it: “The Republican Party is marching double-time down the road to irrelevancy and they don’t even know it!”
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who cares about the republicans anyway? there stuck in a time warp so let em die a slow death.