A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Uber-consultant Mike Murphy believes that the way forward for the Republican Party is to ditch conservatism, particularly its social variety; stop doing campaigns the way they were done 25 years ago; and push back against the Jim DeMints of the world, who recruit “unelectable” candidates.
This is a teachable moment for the GOP, and I’m glad Murphy is publicly making this argument, given that it is a good encapsulation of the message he’s been advancing for a quarter century or so. It provides an opportunity for Republicans to decide who really represents the anachronism in the room and to engage in some creative destruction likely necessary to adapt to the future.
And for this case, Murphy is an ideal spokesman. He is a millionaire thanks in large part to the ad sale commissions from countless campaigns. He represents a way of campaigning based on massive air wars, top down direction driven by ad men consultants, the time when you dominated the three television channels and controlled the narrative from on high … all methods which have proven particularly irrelevant to electoral results in the internet era. You can practically taste the longing of John Weaver for all the ads he could’ve done for a Huntsman general – let a million desert motocross heli shots bloom.
What’s really out of date here – conservative ideas and ground-up grassroots activism, or the rich guy paired with genius consultant, advertising carpet-bomb, write off the electorate as idiots approach? I am increasingly of the view that these two approaches cannot both survive as a house divided – pick one, and send it out hunting with Dick Cheney.
As for Murphy’s social issues argument: as I’ve pointed out before, Mitt Romney won white voters under 30, even winning white women under 30. The youth voter barrier to the Republican Party is really the same barrier as it is for all age demographics: an ethnic barrier which concedes black, Hispanic, and Asian voters to Democrats. If abortion and gay marriage really are the decisive issues preventing Republicans from winning those voters, why aren’t they rated higher in the polling data among those voters? Is Murphy basing his argument on data, or on the same cultural biases he’s been peddling for a decade or more? And if it’s the latter, what approach is more adaptable to the future: DeMint and his unelectable social conservative recruits like Marco Rubio, or Murphy and his social liberal recruits, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger?
Though of course, I’d have to concede Schwarzenegger understands outreach to Hispanics.
This essay was adapted from The Transom, a daily email newsletter for political and media insiders, collecting news, notes, and thoughts from around the web.
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Comments:
May '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Donald Todd:Layla:
Amen. I'm a conservative but not a Republican, though I almost always vote for the GOP candidate. Sometimes it's really tough to hold my nose and pull that lever, but I do it because the alternative is twice as bad.
Wow! I have met my ideological twin, at least with what I quoted.
Layla: Ann Coulter nearly won me for the GOP with Mugged
Ann reads her fan mail and it convinced her to pull for Romney. Ann writes well and interviews well but I would not permit her to cast my vote.
............ I wouldn't trust the GOP with anything or put anything beyond them. The professional Republicans drove me out of that party as I found them to be Democrat light in all phases of their existence.
Given the last two elections, whoever they pick is toast and that person will drag a conservative down with him.
We need a new conservative party. · 33 minutes ago
It will regularly win 20% of the vote, just like the Dems, if they only welcomed the MSNBC ideologues, would get 20%.
Big tents are ideologically impure, and also essential.
Mar '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
I think Mr Murphy should read a bit more Mark Steyn and stop salivating with dreams of a Republican party-turned clone of the British "Conservative" Party (or any other "conservative" party in Europe). You cannot have a socially "liberal" society and a "fiscal" conservative Government. Social liberal policies lead to dependency and this to big Government. Why does he thinks that the Dems are always pushing for more liberal social policies? Because they "care" about the people, or because they want to perpetuate themselves in power for ever? Maybe Mr Murphy could use some of those "well" earned dollars and come to the Europe to get a reality check. The more the Republicans move to the center the more the Dems will move to the Left, and, just to remind Mr Murphy, nobody votes for the photocopy, they all want the original.
May '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
No doubt.
But for a "realist" he's rather unconcerned about reality—such as the reality that the break down of the family leads to social dysfunction, which plays right into the hands of big-government liberalism.
He's unconcerned about the reality that abortion is a moral evil at direct odds with our nation's founding principles.
Leaders don't cobble together a platform from popular polls. They have a vision for what is good for the nation and they fight for it.
Thank you, Ben, for a great post.
What we need is leaders who can rouse the public to do right and good, not elites who will cave and pander to what we want, whether it's good or not.
Edited on November 30, 2012 at 10:29pmMay '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
ConservativeWanderer
BrentB67
I have read their platform and know the congressional voting record and never the two shall meet. · 13 minutes ago
And that's why my donations to the NRCC and NRSC this year amounted to zero dollars and zero cents. · 1 hour ago
Whenever the RNC or the NRCC or the NRSC call, I tell them I'm saving my money for more conservative candidates. They lost me with Arlen Specter, Jumpin' Jim Jeffords, Charlie Crist, Dede Scozzafuzza (or whatever her name was), etc.
And I'm still furious about the way Soc Cons get blamed for the losses of Christine O'Donnell, Sharon Angel, Mourdock, et al, when those candidates won their primaries and promptly got trashed by the establishment before election day. They didn't care about winning the seats for Republicans as much as they cared about keeping the Soc Cons down.
May '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Duane Oyen
Good example. Go to an unemployed guy and spend all you time complaining about the size of the budget and how we need small government.
· 34 minutes ago
Perhaps if the government wasn't so bloated, choking innovation with regulation, and crowding out investment with astronomic debt there would be more new business and greater demand for labor and a less unemployment.
Or we could just tax free enterprise to pay benefits to the people the taxes put out work and repeat the cycle hoping for a different outcome.
Does the unemployed person you speak of want a job in private enterprise or a hand out?
Apr '11
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Does it really matter if Republicans win the White House in '16?
By then, the national debt will be over 20 trillion, our influence on world affairs will be significantly weakened, the health care industry will be in shambles, millions more people will be dependent on an already over-burdened entitlement state, and several large states will more than likely be bankrupt.
So do these "realists" really believe that coming out for gay marriage and amnesty will give a Republican a mandate to even approach these issues?
Jul '11
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
billy: Does it really matter if Republicans win the White House in '16?
By then, the national debt will be over 20 trillion, our influence on world affairs will be significantly weakened, the health care industry will be in shambles, millions more people will be dependent on an already over-burdened entitlement state, and several large states will more than likely be bankrupt.
So do these "realists" really believe that coming out for gay marriage and amnesty will give a Republican a mandate to even approach these issues? · 33 minutes ago
This is it, more or less, in a nutshell. The entire thread, summarized right there.
Aug '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Hello...Helloooooooo
Pretty cool echo effect going on here.
Jan '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
ConservativeWanderer
The next four years will determine whether I continue to support the GOP or not. If they stand firm on their principles, I will. If they continually cave to the Democrats, they've lost me. I'll give to specific candidates but not a single penny to the party itself. · 3 hours ago
...which holds true for many conservatives, hence the reason that Senator DeMint is able to raise millions of dollars to support 'conservative' candidates across the country, thus, cutting out the 'middleman' (the National Republican Party and its onerous overhead and 'Herod-like' interest in picking 'their man'), and helps good, trustworthy candidates win election.
It's brilliant; and because a senator is elected for six years, may eventually succeed in retiring Harry Read.
Feb '11
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
I'm starting to suspect the GOP is roughly today's equivalent of the Whig party- but If Murphy gets his way I'm sure it will be.
You just can't ditch the base of your party and expect your party will survive.
If you favor gay marriage or abortion or endless amnesty/open borders why would you vote GOP if the GOP changed positions, considering that the other party has favored the above all along?
Why would anyone in the above categories believe the GOP had sincerely decided to change? No, they would just conclude that the GOP knew it had been wrong all along, and had cynically been pandering to the loathsome white racists who make up the party.
Those people would vote for the left even more smugly, hating the GOP even more.
And conservatives would leave the GOP forever and all time, finally tiring of being taken for granted by the failed GOP establishment.
Bluntly, if the GOP is to survive it needs to stop stabbing its supporters in the back, and figure out a way to appeal to the vast swarms it ignores now.
Easy for me to say, no doubt. But also true.
Jun '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Xennady:
If you favor gay marriage or abortion or endless amnesty/open borders why would you vote GOP if the GOP changed positions, considering that the other party has favored the above all along? · 11 minutes ago
Precisely.
If you like Pepsi, you're going to buy Pepsi, no matter how much New Coke (remember that debacle?) tastes like Pepsi. And trying to change the flavor of Coke will chase off the Coke "base."
Apr '11
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Ever since social conservatives were brought into the GOP by Ronaldus Magnus , we have been keenly aware of our position within the party, call it 'in, but not of '. We have been content to be condescended to, paid lip-service to and mined for votes and money, as long as the party pretended to, and to be fair, often genuinely, support our values regarding the social traditions we believe are essential to maintaining a viable republic. We have even supported heretics (Romney), apostates (Gingrich), and liberals (Schwarzenegger) with a view to the long term greater good. (that last line was my poor attempt at self derisive humor so don't get your panties in a twist about it).
What we will not brook is the wholesale disregard for our concerns at the outset. We will not engage in a fight to re-take the GOP if we are dis-invited. With heavy hearts we will leave the party, more in sadness than in anger. If there is no room in any existing ideological Inn, we will set about constructing our own. And there will begin the unraveling of our Republic.
FWIW-I'm gay, and don't go to church.
May '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
I fear this is all debating "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin."
This nation is approaching a nuclear financial meltdown. I don't know if it's next month, next year, or the next few years, but it's coming. We all (at Ricochet) know it.
The issues will be restoring financial confidence and calming down rioting Americans whose savings and retirement have gone poof. Where Murphy IS right is that Americans aren't making their voting decisions over social issues today (they might later). The next leader will be he/she who promises like FDR and reassures like Reagan.
"Fear itself" will be the issue. Republicans had better be ready with a credible approach.
Jun '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Noah Pology:
What we will not brook is the wholesale disregard for our concerns at the outset. We will not engage in a fight to re-take the GOP if we are dis-invited. With heavy hearts we will leave the party, more in sadness than in anger. If there is no room in any existing ideological Inn, we will set about constructing our own. And there will begin the unraveling of our Republic. · 24 minutes ago
Amen, brother.
Without SoCons, the party will get about as many votes as the Libertarian Party does... which makes sense since in most cases (there are exceptions) the LP is the GOP minus the social issues.
How many presidential elections has the LP won? How many LP members of Congress are there?
The LP can chase the SoCons off if they want... but they'll doom themselves to failure if they do.
Jan '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
ConservativeWanderer
Amen, brother.
Without SoCons, the party will get about as many votes as the Libertarian Party does... which makes sense since in most cases (there are exceptions) the LP is the GOP minus the social issues.
How many presidential elections has the LP won? How many LP members of Congress are there?
The LP can chase the SoCons off if they want... but they'll doom themselves to failure if they do. · 2 hours ago
Aren't you overlooking a third category of Republican; the 'Carl Rove' and 'Tommy Thompson' genre?
These are they who occupy or work for those in elective office.
With each reelection cycle they become more 'experienced' and less principled. They are hugely over-represented in all areas of public life; much the way that lawyers are over-represented in the U.S. Congress.
If I could wave a magic wand and get two laws passed, they would be that:
Congress shall pass no law that does not apply to itself, in every respect, and
No elected official or employee of the U.S. Government, after he leaves office, may earn anything as a lobbyist for fifteen years!
Edited on December 1, 2012 at 6:17amMay '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
The only way a conservative Republican candidate will win the presidency is for the GOP to create enough outrage by exposing the waste and corruption within the federal government, and how states like Virginia and Maryland screw over their residents by doing DC's bidding. Could someone please write a contemporary scathing critique of this cesspit called the Mid-Atlantic Region? The Capital in The Hunger Games has nothing on Metro DC. Nothing. The problem is, the most damning evidence remains classified. It is no coincidence that the number and level of secret security clearances, particularly among finance people, have increased since Obama took office. Oh, how I wish investigative journalism still existed. We are dealing with a party that is taking over our government and our culture in a manner that would impress history's most feared tyrants. They succeeded because they intimidated people into silence and inaction. Exposing their secrets is the only way to defeat these statists. And I'm not being vague or conspiratorial, the hard facts are available to the person willing to ask the right people the right questions, instead of nibbling at the edges.
Mar '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
Duane Oyen: It will regularly win 20% of the vote, just like the Dems, if they only welcomed the MSNBC ideologues, would get 20%.
A conservative party would garner more than half the GOP votes. Currently using the stacked deck provided by the GOP, we are ensured that the McCains and Romneys are the nominees. That doesn't seem to be working very well as the McCains and Romneys aren't getting that other portion of the conservative movement needed to actually win an election.
There is an additional consideration. Bush 43 won in part because of the Swift Boat allegations that Kerry was a traitor. Kerry was demonized. Romney, being a nice guy he is, never bothered to demonize O, who really deserves that position given his bias against this country and her sons and daughters.
I would prefer a conservative party to which I can both contribute and speak in favor of to a GOP establishment which doesn't really represent me or my positions. If that means 20-percent, at least that 20-percent will get it right. How well is the "big tent" working? Check the election results.
Mar '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
katievs
No doubt.
But for a "realist" he's rather unconcerned about reality—such as the reality that the break down of the family leads to social dysfunction, which plays right into the hands of big-government liberalism....
Edited 17 hours ago
I think this points precisely to the difference between the principled and the pragmatic "marketing" approach to politics: the one treats human reality as a changing dynamic, the other as an embedded geography which must be accommodated. Obviously, each approach can be carried to excess: Mourdock and Akin were examples, as was Bush I's cynical abandonment of his no new taxes pledge on the other side. Conversely, even principled politicians need practical marketing to get elected.
But pragmatism as a policy has consistently disserved the conservative cause. In order to get lower marginal tax rates for those who pay the bulk of the taxes, Bush agrees to take millions more off the tax rolls: voila, the 47%. Simpson-Mazzoli and a cynical defacto open borders series of amnesties creates a fast-growing natural Democratic constituency. The explosion of single parent households similarly creates a natural Democrat constituency.
May '10
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
If the goal is just to win elections, and the solution is to ape the Democrats, and become " Democrat Lite", what's the point? So that Republican insiders and operatives can get some of that sweet Leviathan swag? So that we destroy the country a little slower? Run principled conservatives who can articulate a real alternative agenda and don't be afraid to fight for those principles. If the public rejects that, so be it. We did what we could.
Jul '12
Re: A Teachable Moment for the GOP
I really have no patience for the "Mike Murphy" spin machine. He is a salesman period. He always says the same message-maybe dressed up with distorted "new" "facts". I really do not grasp why he is promoted on the podcast. Mike Murphy is what ails us.
Mark Belling Fan: I know they are planning to have Murphy on the podcast soon.
How about Domenech on at the same time? · 22 hours ago