Archive for February 3, 2009

GOP Strategy: Oh, If It Really Could Be Just About Lipstick

As the GOP, under its new leadership, scurries to locate its lost image, Rasmussen released survey results indicating the Palin mystique remains strong, but before the GOP puts all of its ammo in our favorite moose hunter’s rifle, it still faces the conundrum of how to seduce independent voters with a candidate that also satisfies the rigorous demands of the party’s base, that feared bloc that makes Hammurabi look like Charlie Brown.

The good news for the GOP: For all of the questions about her preparedness to lead, the break with reality she had post-Branchflower, and the appearance here and there of witch hunters, Palin still rates quite favorably with voters. Among all voters, 52% report a favorable view of Palin. (By comparison, all voters give McCain a 58% favorability rating.) Regarding the direction of the party, 55% of Republican and 46% of Independent voters say the GOP ought to “become more like Palin.”

Seems pretty clear cut? Not so fast. First, there is the problem of what “become more like Palin” means. Is it her perceived populism? Is it specifics regarding her socially conservative positions on issues like abortion or science in the classroom? Is it her record on economic policy, which is littered with gargantuan earmark requests and avid support of windfall-profit taxes? Second, once the composite picture of Palin is constructed, how can the GOP guarantee it will satisfy both loyal Republicans and the fickle fancies of coveted Independent voters?

Based on recent activity, this is an equation GOP leadership is not likely to solve by 2010 or 2012, which means they have a whole eight years to try to make cold fusion. Why is this problem reaching Fermat’s-theorem difficulty? Because while Palin polls relatively well among Independents, the GOP as a whole does not. Independents are about split on whether the GOP has become too conservative (39%) or too moderate (34%) over time. Cater to conservatives, the moderates vote Democrat. Vice Versa? The conservatives stay home.

Here are breakdowns, by party affiliation, of how voters currently view the GOP:

Results for Democrats and Republicans aren’t surprising, and results for Independent voters once again call into question the popular Republican refrain that the U.S. electorate is center-right. Coupled with the fact that more voters identify as Democrat and the steep losses Republicans suffered in 2006 and 2008, Republicans are having a major numbers problem that makes the zero-sum reality of having to satisfy either conservatives or moderates an insult to injury.

But back to Palin … Can she deliver the GOP to salvation considering her poll numbers? My answer is no. What I suspect is happening is a situation where a large chunk of Independents wouldn’t kick Palin out of bed for eating crackers, but they also wouldn’t take her home to meet mom.

Someone Get Leo Donofrio Some Help

Good news, everyone! Leo Donofrio (remember him?) finally called it quits, and retired from his second career of tilting at legal windmills and indulging in conspiracy theories about how 300-year old British common law somehow renders an American President ineligible to serve! Make sure you read his last post – in which he muses on his epic quest to (gasp) go to the Supreme Court: for his sake, I hope and pray that the “story” he tells is a deliberate farce, and not the self-delusion it seems to be. Continue reading »

Bernie Goldberg is Seriously a Jerk

Ever hear of Bernie Goldberg? No, I hadn’t either. Anyways, he’s the man responsible for the upcoming book, A Slobbering Love Affair: the True (and Pathetic) Story of the Torrid Romance between Barack Obama & the Mainstream Media. Check out his classy, pro-designed site, complete with tacky sound!

I’ll give this to Goldberg: the media was certainly more enamored of Barack Obama than they were of either John McCain or Sarah Palin. But objectivity doesn’t always command objectivity, and by the end, there wasn’t much to celebrate in McCain or Palin.

Of course, Goldberg would rather blame liberals than face this troubling fact, a failing he reprises in a recent interview with “Human Events,” in which he answers that oft-answered question – why did Sarah Palin drag down McCain’s candidacy? Easy:

[Liberal elites] have a distaste for ordinary Americans. [. . .] They think people who eat at Red Lobster are committing a crime against humanity. They think people who bowl are hayseeds. They think people who have five children – who has five children? [. . .] They hated the fact that [Sarah Palin] was so much like ordinary Americans. [. . .] What they really don’t like are ordinary Americans.

Nota bene to Mr. Goldberg: with favorability ratings in the negative double digits, and polls indicating that 60% of voters think Palin’s unfit to tie her shoe, it looks like it’s regular Americans who hate regular Americans. Or, maybe Palin’s just awful.

You know, for being the “personal responsibility” party, Republicans seem to overwhelmingly prefer passing the buck to a little healthy introspection. Here’s hoping they keep it up.

Oh, and wouldn’t eating lobster be a crime against lobsters, if anything?