Joe Scarborough and Ed Gillespie had an interesting discussion yesterday on Meet the Press that’s worth watching:
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Two points, both made by Scarborough, are worth noting.
First, as he says, the majority of the American voting public are not ideological; they don’t vote based primarily on ideology so much as they do on so-called pocketbook issues. The Republican Party lost power in 2006 and 2008 not so much because of some broad ideological shift in the attitudes of votes, but because they lost confidence in the GOP’s ability to address the issues that concern them the most. By all accounts, those doubts still exist, and until they are addressed the GOP will continue to suffer.
Second, Scarborough notes that the country as a whole is becoming more libertarian — meaning that the GOP’s continued emphasis on social issues is going to be an albatross around it’s neck.
One wonders if the GOP will listen.
H/T: Donklephant
May 4th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Um, what “continued emphasis on social issues”?
From where I sit, the GOP has spent the last three months going after the President on excess spending and national security matters.
That forces the GOP to face some questions, certainly, but not based on “continued emphasis on social issues.”
Heck, even Arlen Specter cited an economic issue (the stimulus) as his reason for breaking with the Republican Party.
May 4th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
DJ,
Except that we’re talking about what led the GOP to the situation it is in today, not so much the last three months.
Ask the average voter what they think of the GOP today and you’ll get an overwhelmingly negative response. Partly, that is due to the appallingly bad governance of the Bush Administration and Congressional Republicans and their refusal to give anything other than lip service to the fiscal conservatism they claimed to believe in. Its also due to the perception that the GOP has become too beholden to the SoCons, I would submit.
Its also worth noting that the voting public is far less ideological than people on either side of the battle would care to admit to themselves. Voters are more interested in results than ideas and, by and large, the reason the GOP is in the crapper today is because of the situation that George W. Bush left the country in.
And I’d note that the last three months don’t mean much. Yet. So far, its clear the GOP credibility is still pretty bad among voters. I doubt that anyone outside of the “Amen Choir” has been listening to them.
May 4th, 2009 at 1:15 pm
I’ll agree the party has a long way to go, but I would submit they’ve been moving in the right direction at least since January. It will take time for that to sink in with voters (although Rasmussen has some hints it’s happening already), but I think some recognition of what has been happening recently is due.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Everything since January is just rhetoric.
The GOP is great when it comes to rhetoric.
Once they have power, though, it’s a different story.
May 4th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Gillespie is such a rubberhead. His last line about “minority homeownership was at a record level”…in large part because of the insane push encouraged by government (at Clinton and Bush 43’s urging) for everyone to leverage up and buy a home, we had the bubble burst which led to the financial crisis. Plus, this meandering and silly piece he had in the WSJ a few months ago:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123534958659044761.html
not sure he understands these financial issues, so I really don’t understand why he feels the need to talk about them at all. He just puts his foot in his mouth when he does.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:43 am
I watched this on television while it was airing. I think Scarborough made a mostly good point, even if (from what I remember) he went a little off toward the end of the discussion.