This story was previously titled "he Republican Party Has Failed–And That’s Not Good For Anyone"
The Republican Party Has Failed–And That’s Not Good For Anyone »
Posted By Tumultuous 2 weeks ago in Political OpinionThe Republican party’s failure has me thinking of a Seinfeld episode, the one where Kramer is upset about a Kenny Rogers Roasters restaurant featuring a bright neon sign that lights up his apartment at night. Jerry has an old college friend who winds up working as an assistant manager at the restaurant, and when Kramer hangs a banner from his restaurant protesting the chicken establishment, Jerry’s friend remarks "that’s not going to be good for business." Jerry responds "that’s not going to be good for anyone".
That’s how I feel about the intellectually bankrupt, hopelessly divided, and utterly unpopular entity known as today’s Republican party. Some critics of the party see the party’s failure as a good thing, but I think it’s not going to be good for anyone. I’d much prefer to see a rational, functioning Republican party than today’s embarrassing irrelevancy.
Not surprisingly, media insiders are missing the story. They are transfixed by gubernatorial elections in 2 states last Tuesday, and are talking up the idea of a Republican resurgence. They’re losing sight of some central facts that are unaffected by Tuesday’s elections:
The Republican party has a favorable rating of 23% and an unfavorable rating of 66%. (Democrats are at 42%-50%). Republicans in Congress have favorable-unfavorable ratings of 15% and 70% (Democrats are at 40-53). If this is a resurgent party that has captured the national mood, I’m Herbert Hoover.
It’s no coincidence that voters give Republicans such abysmal ratings. The Republican party stands for absolutely nothing other than the pursuit of power. For 30 years, the Republicans have claimed to stand for 3 things: (1) small government (2) family values and (3) strong national defense. They don’t actually stand for any of these things, and it’s not clear that they ever did.
Read Full Story at seminal.firedoglake.com »
119 Views Share Story 1 Comment Report
Submitted By:
Tumultuous
"Culture war has become the organizing principle of the Right" - Kevin Baker
Who Also Submitted:
Other Related Articles:
RSS Join the Discussion
+ Add CommentComments So Far: 1 (view all)
-
Neutral
chevydog1 week, 6 days ago
This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »
Alot of the usual litany of rants, though maybe he came back to the same place I would be. I also don't like the thought of the fringe elecments taking over the Repubs.
Reply
Just as an editorial addendum-- there are not always two sides to everything; usually there are more like 30. Public disapproval of the Repubs does not necessarily imply approval of the Dems.
Add a Comment
Sign In With Your Propeller Account
Please keep your comments relevant to this story.
To create a live link, simply type the URL (including http://) or email address and we will make it a live link for you. You can put up to 3 URLs in your comments. Line breaks and paragraphs are automatically converted — no need to use <p> or <br /> tags.