Saturday, August 17, 2013

Young, bright and Republican......like it or not, media

BOSTON (AP) — The Republican Party launched its latest effort Thursday to sell itself to a more diverse segment of the population, acknowledging a glaring weakness in the GOP's ability to attract new voters in a country whose demographics are rapidly changing.
Some prominent Republicans expressed immediate skepticism at the party's plans to shine a spotlight on its younger, minority up-and-comers. But Republican leaders say they can help broaden the party's appeal by changing the faces of the GOP's primary messengers. At stake is the Republican Party's ability to compete against Democrats in elections for years to come.
"We have this stereotype of Republicans being old, white, Anglo-Saxon men. But there's people like me that have been out there working for years," said 30-year-old New Hampshire state Rep. Marilinda Garcia, one of four people featured in a "Rising Stars" panel at the RNC's summer meeting in Boston. "So they're like, 'Why not have her talk about our values instead of Newt Gingrich all the time?'"
RNC spokesmen have been instructed to promote Republicans like Garcia in media interviews, while other staffers have been hired to live and work in minority communities to pitch Republican values. GOP leaders say it's an unprecedented effort. 
Doubts by some leading Republicans underscored the continuing identity crisis for a party still struggling to regroup after a painful 2012 election season.
"This is a baby step," said former RNC Chairman Michael Steele, an African-American. "We're talking 50-plus years of separation between African-Americans and the GOP that has only become progressively worse over the last 10 or so years. ... This stuff will not get done overnight."
"At this point, like many Hispanic conservatives, I have to see it to believe it," said Alfonso Aguilar, executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles and a part of the George W. Bush administration. "I'm familiar with RNC efforts toward the Hispanic community that go back a long time."
Indeed, the GOP's latest push to court minority voters follows similar efforts by Republican leaders dating back at least to the 1980s, when the GOP under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush repeatedly declared black and Hispanic outreach a priority. Some Republicans suggest that things won't change in earnest until the party embraces different policies and abandon's anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Steele cited efforts by Republican legislatures to disenfranchise minority voters by passing strict voter identification laws, while Aguilar and others cited consistent resistance among House Republicans to a comprehensive immigration reform bill.
"You can't just deliver any message," Frank Fahrenkopf, an RNC chairman from 1983 to 1989, said of party policies. "You've got to deliver the right one."
Despite decades of effort, the Republican Party took a step backward in last year's presidential contest among women and minorities. Women voted for President Barack Obama by an 11-point margin in 2012, and they have not backed a GOP candidate for president since Reagan's successful bid for re-election in 1984.
Although last year's nominee, Mitt Romney, improved on John McCain's margin of victory among whites in 2008, Romney fared worse than McCain among Hispanic and Asian voters, who make up a growing share of the U.S. population.
RNC Chairman Reince Priebus says the committee has already hired more than 150 staffers across the country to help court new voters.
"What's different this time is you can look at the numbers," he said. "We're doing things that have never been done before in our party."
The newest piece is the RNC's "Rising Stars" program, which debuted with four members:
—Garcia, first elected to the New Hampshire legislature at 23.
—Karin Agness, founder and president of the Network of enlightened Women, or NeW.
—Scott G. Erickson, a San Jose, Calif., police officer for 15 years and a conservative writer.
—T.W. Shannon, an African-American and speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Four more rising stars were to be added when the committee meets again in four months. The RNC also has created an online database that allows staffers to quickly find fresh faces for media interviews.
Preibus suggested that new faces will matter and downplayed the need for his party to embrace new policies, such as comprehensive immigration reform.
"I'm not disagreeing that it's not an extremely important issue," he said of immigration reform, "It's not the end all, be all, either."
The comments come nine months after he endorsed an RNC report that said otherwise.
"We must embrace and champion comprehensive immigration reform," the internal report found. "If we do not, our party's appeal will continue to shrink to its core constituencies only."
__
AP Director of Polling Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.

50 comments:

Marine4ever said...

We can only hope, Z. We can only hope.

At the rate the GOP has been stumbling around and shooting themselves in the foot with what they offer us as alternatives, I'M considering desertion.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Young people, generally, won't take the time to read the arguments, reason, or analyze, particularly in regard to an ancient document, the Constitution, that they are unfamiliar with
They will agree with late night comedians and 5heir peers.
And that's the observation of my 33 yr old son also.

Ed Bonderenka said...

Marine: Desertion is the equivalent of switching sides, ala the last election, is it not?

Mustang said...

Yeah, Ed ... he's a bit worrisome. He doesn't like Ham & Limas, either.

Jim at Asylum Watch said...

Please, no more John Boehners or John McCains.

Z said...

Marine4....I've always wondered where the Republican young people are and it seems to me that 'Jim at Asylum Watch' is right...the GOP's been highlighting jerks like that awful Boehner and McCain....and finally finding out that's not working.

We have to find out more about these young people and see how well they respect and want to actually live by the constitution...if they do, and if they can finally put the Republican message into words more people will understand, that's a great thing....don't you all think so?

Ed...that's the difference of the young people in this article, I hope.
You're son's right, but there ARE those who are familiar with and do respect the Constitution.

Mustang's right...Marine4 wouldn't desert to the Left, that's for sure!

Mustang, I'm not too big on limas, either :-)

Z said...

http://marine4ever-imnotdrinkingthekoolaid.blogspot.com/

THAT is ONE GOOD BLOG POST. Enjoy!
You won't be sorry.
You'll be disgusted and maybe a little fearful, but NOT sorry :-)

Scotty said...

What many on the left aren't understanding is there are many of us that are working hard at the local level.

We are propping up those very people you mention in your post, Z. I've always been of the opinion that local elections are more important than the national elections as it is those local folks that often set the tone in Washington. That's where, I believe, we have to work the hardest.

And in defense of Maring4Ever, Mustang, I too detested ham and limas!! I would swap them for most anything!

Z said...

Scotty, I think I misread Mustang, then, re the ham and limas...I thought he was teasing Ed for suggesting Marine4 was unAmerican for switching sides..to the LEFT, suggesting he's so unAmerican as to not like limas and ham, either :-)
Oops!

As for local election stuff; I don't think we have enough time. We can fight for these young people in a small town, but how many years does it take to work up to the point where they can do some good on the national level, where we need it most?
I'm willing to be disinclined to that viewpoint and hope you can do that, because I need some hope around here lately!

Scotty said...

BTW, Z, the ham and lima reference is to the C-rations we ate in Vietnam.

Scotty said...

Unfortunately, Z, I think it's going to take time. I don't see it happening quickly. I pray that I'm wrong!

Scotty said...

By local elections, Z that is to include Senators and Congressmen. That is part of my point.

Impertinent said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ed Bonderenka said...

Mustang, I'm not worried about M4ever.
It was a rhetorical point.
But we've got to take control of this party.
Steal it away, like the commies did the democratic party.

Impertinent said...

Well...if we had a "hip & cool" candidate like
the dems did in Obummer, I think we'd still lose! We have Rubio, Gowdy and Cruz as young enough, aggressive, smart, literate and excellent speakers.

Yet...you know what they say about those under 30? They all want to save the whales, the world, feed the homeless, the poor and all the heartache stuff that they can have '"feelings" for.

And the R's preach independence and the rule of law, while the D's convince those to rail against the establishment and how "unjust" the world is and that everyone needs help to succeed.

And and of course...we're all racisss!

We're still toast.

Z said...

Imp, I think we're toast, too. The leftwingers have destroyed the country, our kids, and good values. But not for ALL. I know plenty who still have those values, as difficult as it is.

By the way, I just now heard a commercial where a kid asks a grandfather "where do we go when we die?" ...he answers "the GROUND". The theme of the commercial is something like "sometimes the truth can be told to bluntly." Get the inference? Very VERY subtle, but it's there.
See, the TRUTH is 'nowhere', not 'heaven', right? Can't have two ways of looking at ANYTHING, even in an ad! More value-less indoctrination.

Scotty...ya, I guess I think of "local elections" more like "MAYOR", etc. If you mean Senators and congressman, I'm all for starting there...still, it's slow and arduous and we're fighting a party which wants to transform America into Eastern Europe and is getting there.........You should hear the Hungarians and Rumanian friends I have "why is America going toward the things we did wrong back there?"
I also talked to a friend who just went to Edinburgh for the film "Fringe Festival" and they had to take one of our students to the hospital and EVERYTHING was paid for. But one of the nurses said "We can't keep this up...we're going flat broke". And here's America going in the same damned direction.



Unknown said...

Well, I hate to say this but I think the grandfather in that commercial gave the child a completely inaccurate depiction of what happens when we die. We don’t go in the ground. If we’re good, we go to heaven. If we’re bad, we go to congress or the Washington bureaucracy where, with Satan’s help, we begin to irritate the bodies and minds of people who are still alive and who, for lack of wit, continue to vote for putrid smelling progressives.

The Dark Fury said...

Ask yourself that old question we always do at election time. “Are you better off today then you were 4 years ago”
So you want to know how the USA has been und the helm of Barack Hussein Obama?
Consumer price inflation is growing at a 6.1% annual rate over the last three months, while producer prices are rising an even-faster 13%. According to John Williams of the Shadow Government Statistics website, if we measure consumer prices the way we did before 1992, inflation is now running at 10% a year.
The U.S. has added $6 trillion to its debt under Obama, a sure sign of being on the road to Third World status. Three years ago, the U.S. had $7.9 trillion in debt. Today, we have $14 trillion. Bankrupt, hyperinflated Zimbabwe couldn't do any better.
The U.S. dollar has fallen so much and foreign nations have so little confidence in our ability to run our fiscal affairs that the "BRIC" nations — the mostly fast-growing former Third World nations of Brazil, Russia, India and China — are talking about replacing the U.S. dollar in foreign trade with the Chinese yuan.
Just 45.4% of Americans had jobs last year, the lowest since 1983, according to census data crunched by USA Today. Among men, just 66.8% had work last year, the lowest ever.
Obama touts the "recovery" that supposedly began in June of 2009, but a look at the data show that last year's real private sector GDP was in fact still down 1.1% from its peak in 2007 — so all of the "expansion" has been in government, not the private sector. This has been the worst recovery from a recession in America’s history.While we're at it, under Obama, spending has risen farther and faster than under any president in history. At current rates, government at all levels will take up more than half of all economic activity by 2050.
As Joe Biden might say, "That's real Third World, man."

Ducky's here said...

Preibus suggested that new faces will matter and downplayed the need for his party to embrace new policies

----
In other words, you're still toast.

The Dark Fury said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Benghazi except the Zimmerman trial.
To watch the news every day it seems like Obama is just sailing along with nary a care
Nothing has really changed since Ducky is still posting his crap and Shaw is still name calling Have you noticed how quiet it has become in the last few week since the Zimmerman verdict. A few oddballs presents themselves now and then but nothing major. No marches, no skittles and Watermelon drinks in the black churches. I predicted the irrational emotional overload would eventually subside until the next fake media generated civil rights cause of our time. Hopefully that won't happen for another decade or so.
This trial was never one to begin with. It was a national distraction if anything Obama wanted to get away with. And to cover up what he called "Phony Scandals". I do however have one last thing to say about this whole unnecessary ordeal the nation had to through. The national media has no shame. I hold them responsible for the racial tensions that has occurred, the lost of property of people due to vandalism and arson, and I hold them responsible for the assaults by brainwashed, emotionally ginned up blacks who attacked whites and Hispanics over the verdict.
Where are all the marches for these 4 dead Americans? People will march for Trayvon Martin all over the place and make him out to be some hero, but no calling for justice over the Benghazi murders.

JonBerg said...

"We have Rubio, Gowdy and Cruz"

If the above quote refers to the presidency,would it matter that Cruz was borne in Calgary, Alberta, Canada? What the heck, we currently have a President who was most likley borne in Kenya. The problem, however, lies in the fact that Cruz has but one Birth Cerfificate and it's genuine!

Pris said...

Oh well, I'm not ready to think we're toast!! My concern are my children, grandson, and their future.

Call your representatives. Join an organization. A good one is Freedom Works, they're very active. Contribute to the ACLJ who take the fight to court. The College Republicans, we need young people. A few probable candidates such as Mia Love, and Star Parker, or whoever suits you.

Since Preibus is ready for some new faces, I'll continue to donate to them. It's time for new blood. The Republican choices have been for years the ones whose "turn" it is. Like Gerald Ford, Dole, McCain. Moderate Republicans. All losers!

They didn't want Reagan, because in their eyes it wasn't his turn, and he was a true conservative. However he rose above them all.

We can't give up!

sue hanes said...


Z - Change doesn't normally come about by itself. It has to be worked on. Planned for - with effort.

That's good that the Republican party is putting forth new faces.
It will make a difference.

Ducky's here said...

Star Parker, Pris.

Just play a couple of her interviews where she expresses her opposition to birth control and that will do as much magic as "legitimate rape".

Toast.

Anonymous said...

I can certainly understand the viewpoint of a proven misogynist, like you Ducky. Belong to the 4-F club, eh? Soon as them bitches get pregnant, ya takes’em straight over o Planned Parenthood, right? Flush them babies. Smooth, man … humanism 101.

Saving America, One Duck at a Time

Ducky's here said...

Excellent, anon. hat was virtually incoherent.

Z said...

Ducky, who read the comments; what's worse is not that most of us agree WE are toast, what's worse is AMERICA is toast.
And, by the way, Star Parker is entitled to ANY view she holds. Stop being so narrow minded.
And Anonymous' comment makes perfect sense; I had that thought, too. Abortion advocates can't take anybody who'd actually suggest that we want more babies in this world, not less. If they birth them, you want them killed. We get that.

Sue, I agree...thanks for that.


JonBerg, that must not be commonly known because I hear many say Cruz should run for president. No, he WAS born in Calgary, Alberta, and he admits it.

Pris...I wish I shared your optimism. I DO know kids with good values and good grades, etc., but the majority of this country sides with Ducky and feels entitled to the gov't protecting, supporting, and paying them. Sad stuff.


Pris said...

Star Parker was once on welfare, and because she's a thinker, she walked away from it and went to work. I saw her give a speech at a tea party convention, and she was the only speaker who got a standing ovation.

Whenever I've seen her interviewed on tv, she never said what you say she did.

There has never been a candidate whom I wholly agree with, and I'd have to know the context under which she would say what you said she did.

Ducky, whatever you say, is suspect as far as I'm concerned. Try this nonsense with someone else, ok? With me, you're wasting your time!

Z said...

Pris, Star has said that.......and admits it is from her Biblical beliefs, which she admits are her interpretations.

I have a close relative on her Board of Directors and, as you know, I've had the pleasure of meeting Star...she's becoming a family friend of those close relatives. I'm only not saying who because of anonymity.
I had never heard her say she thought that 'Go forth and multiply' meant 'never use birth control' either, but she has; I just checked.

Funny, but it was on THE VIEW and all the other women are totally allowed their opinion, but Behar and Walters trounced Parker. It's just not okay with them if someone talks Bible. Just NOT okay...and the way they mock with humor gets their audience on their side, too.

Z said...

Pris, one of the things that really got me was Behar's insistence that Star was hypocritical because she'd had many abortions. ... with no acknowledgment that Star had told them she's not been a faithful Christian in those days. No, Behar just kept pounding.
And, of course, according to all on THE VIEW, anybody against gay marriage is denying others of the ability to love another. Of course, I've had gay friends over the years who admitted they and most of their friends didn't want to marry, but that gets ignored, too.
The fun never quits, does it.

Funny, I was watching a very wise Black columnist for The Wall St Journal today and he was saying how the STOP AND FRISK changes in NYC will hurt Black communities (and others) which had become safer because of the S&F law...but libs don't understand that, either; better to rest on victimhood, isn't it, for them.

Pris said...

BTW Ducky, if we're toast, SO ARE YOU!!!

Z said...

Pris, that's what I said above....WE are toast as AMERICANS.
But, some people, like Ducky, think big government is good, and they don't realize that when the rich are brought to their knees, this country will have nothing left.
Imagine?

Pris said...

Ok Z, of course I believe you.
I still admire Parker. She walked away from welfare because she realized, if she stayed with it, she'd never get anywhere. I imagine when she was on welfare her life was much different.

No doubt she's wiser now. She's entitled to her opinion. I know she'd like to get her message out to the folks who get welfare, and I admire that, it's a long hill to climb!

One would think that the women on the View would applaud her but, since she's religious I guess they're like so many who think they're so smart they don't need God. I pity them and their shallowness!

Ducky's here said...

You need to look at this dispassionately, z.

The Republicans want to increase their appeal to a younger demographic. Okay, they aren't doing too well there, makes good sense.

Then we have the suggestion hat Star Parker might be a draw.
Star Parker is on record opposing the use of birth control. Now, do you honestly believe that is the type of idea that will attract younger voters (or lower the number of abortions, anon)?

Same with gay marriage. Young people aren't hung up on the gay issue. They know too many. It's a big nothing and they don't understand the discrimination.
At some point you have to accept you lost this so called "culture war" and adjust to it. Otherwise these kids are growing up Dem.

Impertinent said...

@Duck"

"Otherwise these kids are growing up Dem."


Until many of them grow up and see how much of their own wealth, prospects and dreams are being swallowed up, gobbled up and squandered by the freeloaders.

It doesn't take a man to have a kid...but it takes a man to raise one.

Impertinent said...

@Ducky:

" Young people aren't hung up on the gay issue.."


Then why gender issues in first grade? They're looking for converts?

Ducky's here said...

Looking for converts? Come on Imp, you can't possibly believe that.

This is why the culture wars have totally alienated the young voter from the right wing. They don't buy into that silliness.

FreeThinke said...

Why do we keep sticking ourselves with dismal, wimpy, weak-chinned, washouts like Reince Priebus, Ed Gillespie, and Michael Steele?

"We," if there really IS such a thing, need a dynamic, jut-jawed, pugnacious individual with a good strong, well-modulated voice, a highly professional platform manner and the BALLS to take an unequivocal, uncompromising stance in FAVOR of FREEDOM.

There's been entirely too much compromising with the devil on the part of the GOP. We sure as hell don't need what we have.

Aren't you fed up to the TEETH with carbon copies of Caspar Milquetoast?

Impertinent said...

@FreeThink:


We should have Trump then? Or a Cruz? Or a Gowdy? or a Tim Scott? Which one?

The loons have Chrissie pissy tingles Matthews.

Impertinent said...

@Duck:

Then why the gender issues at all?

Trekkie4Ever said...

Hope is all we have left when it comes to the GOP. I won't give up just yet.

Z said...

Pris, I TOTALLY agree with you about Parker...sorry if it sounded like I didn't. You've spoken well about her; absolutely true...I appreciate that!


Ducky, who's considering running Parker for anything? Star isn't. That's absolutely not relevant to anything. Pris mentioned Parker only because she likes her; her name has NOT been touted for running for national office..EVER.

You're absolutely right about Parker and her messages..they won't fly. Neither will being against gay marriage, EXCEPT that MANY young people are starting to turn against abortion, which is very interesting.

What some Republican must say today (tho I think they needn't even discuss gay marriage or abortion anymore; we have too many far more important issues today before we get back to that) is that being against gay marriage is NOT AGAINST GAYS. Who the heck CARES what they do in the privacy of their own homes? Nobody I KNOW, I assure you.


(((Thought Criminal))) said...

"Duckys here said...
Preibus suggested that new faces will matter and downplayed the need for his party to embrace new policies

----
In other words, you're still toast."


I have to agree. That Preibus seems unwilling to state something like "Giving Mitt Romney the nomination last year was a disasterous mistake, and we need to drive Romney supporters out of the Republican Party in the most expeditiously violent way possible" is all the proof I need to know he's not serious about building support for the GOP.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

"Duckys here said...
Preibus suggested that new faces will matter and downplayed the need for his party to embrace new policies

----
In other words, you're still toast."


I have to agree. That Preibus seems unwilling to state something like "Giving Mitt Romney the nomination last year was a disasterous mistake, and we need to drive Romney supporters out of the Republican Party in the most expeditiously violent way possible" is all the proof I need to know he's not serious about building support for the GOP.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Some compromise needs to happen. Even running half of the Romney supporters feet first through tree mulchers is better than none of them.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

Those that object should just "let go of their principles and core values" and run Romney supporters through tree mulchers "anyway."

JonBerg said...

Hey beamish,



Romney is gone and isn't going to run again. Is he all that you can talk about? My God, Shaw took you to the cleaners on that one!

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

JB,

Good luck in 2014 and 2016 with your efforts at continuing the Republican Party's "Conservatives, forget your principles and vote for us anyway" vision quest.

(((Thought Criminal))) said...

JB,

Good luck in 2014 and 2016 with your efforts at continuing the Republican Party's "Conservatives, forget your principles and vote for us anyway" vision quest.