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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumPriebus Is What Happens When a Party Loses Its Self-Respect
The Republican National Committee has retained Reince Priebus as party chairman, keeping the failed leader in a position previously occupied by Mark Hanna, Lee Atwater and Haley Barbour.
Even as he accepted his new term, Priebus acknowledged that he and his minions have led their party far from the American mainstream. We have to build better relationships in minority communities, urban centers and college towns, he admitted in his acceptence speech.
Addressing the tens of millions of Americanswomen, African-Americans, Hispanics, gays and lesbians, young people, union memberswho by wide margins reject the Republican brand, Priebus said, We want to earn your trust again.
But those are just carefully chosen words for public consumption.
Priebus was not reelected to build a multiracial, multiethnic party that embraces diversity and seeks to deliver a message of opportunity for all. The whole point of his chairmanship has been to combat the politics of inclusion that Republicans decry Barack Obama for practicing.
That has placed the once honorable Republican Party on the wrong side of history, and of American progress.
Priebus has seen the numbers. He understands the demographics. He knows the GOP, as it is currently organized and focused, is unlikely to win the trust he spoke of. Indeed, he is so sure that the party will fail to do so that he has devoted himself and his party to advancing restrictive Voter ID laws, placing limits on early voting and Election Day registration and, most recently, restructuring the Electoral College so that the party can remain competitive even if it lacks popular appeal.
It is that schemingnot a promise of Republican renewalthat explains why Priebus retained the chairmanship in spite of the electoral failures that occurred on his watch.
RNC members certainly did not retain Priebus because of his track record.
The RNCs top priority in 2012 was beating Barack Obama. Yet, they lost the popular vote by 5 million ballots, lost the Electoral College 332 to 206, lost two seats in the US Senate and fell 1.4 behind in the nationwide vote for the US House. They also lost seven of eleven gubernatorial races.
Only gerrymandering of congressional and legislative district lines prevented a complete wipeout for the Grand Old Party.
So why keep Priebus?
Because the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and veteran party fixer, has a plan for a party on a losing streak.
Priebus wants to make it possible for losers to win. To that end, hes urging Republican governors and legislators to change the rules for distribution of Electoral College votes so that a Republican presidential candidate might lose a state and still gain most of its electoral votes. Responsible Republicans in key states have objected to the chairmans scheming to have those states end the practice of awarding electoral votes to the winner and instead allot them based on the results from gerrymandered congressional districts.
Unfortunately for the Republicans who would like their party to stand for something more noble than gaming the system, Priebus is what happens when the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower loses its wayand its self respect.
Even as he accepted his new term, Priebus acknowledged that he and his minions have led their party far from the American mainstream. We have to build better relationships in minority communities, urban centers and college towns, he admitted in his acceptence speech.
Addressing the tens of millions of Americanswomen, African-Americans, Hispanics, gays and lesbians, young people, union memberswho by wide margins reject the Republican brand, Priebus said, We want to earn your trust again.
But those are just carefully chosen words for public consumption.
Priebus was not reelected to build a multiracial, multiethnic party that embraces diversity and seeks to deliver a message of opportunity for all. The whole point of his chairmanship has been to combat the politics of inclusion that Republicans decry Barack Obama for practicing.
That has placed the once honorable Republican Party on the wrong side of history, and of American progress.
Priebus has seen the numbers. He understands the demographics. He knows the GOP, as it is currently organized and focused, is unlikely to win the trust he spoke of. Indeed, he is so sure that the party will fail to do so that he has devoted himself and his party to advancing restrictive Voter ID laws, placing limits on early voting and Election Day registration and, most recently, restructuring the Electoral College so that the party can remain competitive even if it lacks popular appeal.
It is that schemingnot a promise of Republican renewalthat explains why Priebus retained the chairmanship in spite of the electoral failures that occurred on his watch.
RNC members certainly did not retain Priebus because of his track record.
The RNCs top priority in 2012 was beating Barack Obama. Yet, they lost the popular vote by 5 million ballots, lost the Electoral College 332 to 206, lost two seats in the US Senate and fell 1.4 behind in the nationwide vote for the US House. They also lost seven of eleven gubernatorial races.
Only gerrymandering of congressional and legislative district lines prevented a complete wipeout for the Grand Old Party.
So why keep Priebus?
Because the former chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, and veteran party fixer, has a plan for a party on a losing streak.
Priebus wants to make it possible for losers to win. To that end, hes urging Republican governors and legislators to change the rules for distribution of Electoral College votes so that a Republican presidential candidate might lose a state and still gain most of its electoral votes. Responsible Republicans in key states have objected to the chairmans scheming to have those states end the practice of awarding electoral votes to the winner and instead allot them based on the results from gerrymandered congressional districts.
Unfortunately for the Republicans who would like their party to stand for something more noble than gaming the system, Priebus is what happens when the party of Abraham Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower loses its wayand its self respect.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/172463/priebus-what-happens-when-party-loses-its-self-respect
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Priebus Is What Happens When a Party Loses Its Self-Respect (Original Post)
octoberlib
Jan 2013
OP
SummerSnow
(12,608 posts)1. Interesting article...
So the GOPs new strategy is pretend were not racist and prejudice?
Rofl
Scuba
(53,475 posts)2. Rinse Penis is the sneaky weasel behind Squat Wanker and Sunspot Johnson. Any questions?
lunatica
(53,410 posts)3. Every abuser, liar and user I know says they want to earn your trust again
Every single one says, "Trust me" after they've beaten you, lied to you, or got caught using you.