BUT CAN HE DO ANYTHING TO FIX IT?
By FITSNEWS || U.S. Sen. Rand Paul says the GOP needs to remake its image – the way Domino’s Pizza did.
“Remember Domino’s Pizza? They admitted, ‘Hey, our pizza crust sucks.’ The Republican Party brand sucks and so people don’t want to be a Republican and for eighty years, African-Americans have had nothing to do with Republicans,” Paul said during a visit to Detroit. “Why? Because of a perception … that no one in the Republican Party cares.”
Hmmm …
First of all, he’s right. The GOP does suck. And has sucked for years. Which is exactly why we bailed on it a long time ago.
But is this legitimate outreach? Or a prelude to “Compassionate Conservatism II.”
Because if it’s the latter, the GOP can’t become the “other party of buying the black vote” the way it became the “other party of big government.” There’s just no money left.
Anyway, Paul has been working the inclusiveness angle hard as his 2016 presidential bid begins to take shape – positioning himself as the standard bearer for “GOP 2.0.” In fact here’s a report our founding editor, Will Folks, filed during one of Paul’s recent stops in early voting South Carolina.
So can Rand Paul succeed in making the GOP nationally viable again?
Reinvention certainly worked for Domino’s …
The pizza chain opened 160 new locations and saw its profits soar 16 percent during the third quarter – the latest good news associated with its ongoing turnaround.
“We were the 30-minute guys,” Domino’s CEO Patrick Doyle told Fox Business earlier this year, explaining the reinvention. “We were the delivery guys who were going to get a pizza to you that’s going to be OK, but we’re going to get it to you quickly. And that just stopped working at one point. We realized there was no conflict between delivering pizza quickly to people and making it great.”
So Domino’s threw out its recipe and started – literally – from scratch. Not only that the company upgraded its menu (including sandwiches, pastas, chicken strips, etc.) while expanding its global presence and retooling its marketing and advertising efforts.
Six years later, Domino’s is #Winning … and making people think twice whenever they hear Papa John’s “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” ads.
Just as Domino’s problems extended far beyond crappy crust, though, the GOP’s problems go much deeper than a lack of black support. In addition to having never had the support of blacks (and very little support from Hispanics), the GOP has also been losing white voters who are frustrated with its various interventionists (be it the crony capitalists who want to invade our wallets, the statists who want to invade our email or the or the “neoconservatives” who want to invade every other country on the planet).
Standing with the GOP means standing beside a lot of politicians who support those things … and we simply cannot do that.
Nor could a lot of other people, judging from the 2012 election … which should have been a GOP cakewalk.
As our founding editor wrote …
Paul likes to talk about government handouts diluting the value of the dollar (I agree with him on that, also) – but what happens when hypocrites like Lindsey Graham and Nikki Haley (or Mitt Romney, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, etc.) dilute the value of his party?
There’s no practical difference in Washington, D.C. between Republicans and Democrats – and there hasn’t been for decades. The GOP’s addiction to big government fueled the recent recession, and the Democrats’ addiction to bigger government has turned it into a lasting malaise.
Paul is right: The GOP brand sucks. Which is why we had hoped he would stop covering for it and launch the sort of independent candidacy this country so desperately needs.
But he’s going another route …
***
65 comments
Ravenel and Ervin are Liberal-tarians…and Obama, Sheheen, and Cylburn are Democrats…
Republicans may not be pushing right, at full Conservative throttle, yet…but you’re one ignorant MoFo to be attacking the GOP… It’s no wonder you’re about to get the living S#!t slapped out of your Stupid @$$ on Tuesday…LMAO…
Rand Paul sounds like Mary Landrieu in Lousiana. Mary said today that voters in LA don’t support Obama and his policies because he is black.
Mary just delivered the Republicans Georgia and North Carolina on Tuesday.She was always toast.
Only reason I can think Rand is on this african-American binge of political thinking is that his dad was such a bigot and racist as a father that Rand needs affirmation from the left that he is not flawed.
Those are some very good points. Your brief post contains more truth and honesty than FITS presnts in a month.
Get a room, you two.
Truth! unnnnhhhh… oooohhh… honesty… uh uh uh… ahh ahh ahh…. gnnnrrrr! say my name!
back to grand tango is it? i take it the failure of your blog adventure is over so now you will spend all day, everyday bashing this site..on this site! #lonelywebsiteoflosers #nofirendssoimakeupimaginaryfriendsinmyhead #thebiggestloser
You and Sandi make me limp, LOL.
Crazy about my dog in the morning. Wanna write a story about that?
UHH-RAA!!!
The rebrand begins? Yet you (and they) are still talking about “conservatives”.
In My Opinion, what really needs fixing is the basics.
* One can not call one’s self a “conservative” and still continue to try to change the Constitution and/or The Bill of Rights.
* One can not call one’s self a “conservative” and continue to do the Public’s business by fattening the bureaucracy, fattening the media, fattening the party’s coffers and fattening calves.
* One can not call one’s self a “conservative” and continue to pander to the lefty pundits, the middle of the road moderates or the right wing nuts.
If one does not advocate a clear and concise, simple and direct main message of Freedom From Government, a fresh coat of lipstick will not help much.
“… government is not the solution, government is the problem. …” – President Ronald Reagan in His First Inaugural Address.
Otherwise, forget about it …
Nice job.
Reagan was a “right wing nut”. Read his book, ” Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation”
His Surgeon General , C.Everette Koop was a “right wing nut”. Read his book, “Whatever Happened to the Human Race”.
If only we would have listened.
Be the clown, see the clown, a Sandi !
If I could go back to only one statement that made me proud to be a Republican it would be : ” Government can’t fix your problem, government IS the problem.” RR The truest words ever spoken about govt.
It was certainly true about the executive branch for those 8 years.
Ronald Reagan was one of the biggest taxers in history.He did absolutely NOTHING to downsize government except talk about it and blabber on and on about “freedom” and the “Constitution.”
Want to see what’s wrong with the Republican Party?
It’s goomers like you still living in this glorious “conservative” past that never was.
Go stare in the mirror clown!
Myth much?
You gonna expand on that, idiot? Would love you to enlighten us. You sound as if you’re losing your memory. Huh, what Mommy?
You gonna expand on that, idiot? Would love you to enlighten us. You sound as if you’re losing your memory. Huh, what Mommy?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LToM9bAnsyM … about 4 minutes in: Reagan tax policy position begins … (6 minutes in: “government is not the solution, government is the problem”.)
Ahhh, but Saint Ronnie was able to create the “perception” of conservatism while raising taxes, fattening government, gorging defense contractors and carrying water for the well-to-do at the expense of working people. Rand is right and Reagan proved it — it’s perception that counts.
Road apples.
The hallmark of the Reagan administration and policies were tax cuts for Everybody. (Granted, tax cuts were ruined by Bush the First, but enough in place to allow the economy to expand enough to make even Clinton [the male] look better.)
http://www.latimes.com/la-oe-edwards24-2009jan24-story.html
“Reagan, who spent 16 years in government, actually said this:
“In the present crisis,” referring specifically to the high taxes and high levels of federal spending that had marked the Carter administration, “government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.” He then went on to say: “Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work.” Government, he said, “must provide opportunity.” ”
Your very selective editing of Reagan’s ACTUAL quote shows the length of the lies and propaganda that the 21st century GOP will go to lead us into Koch directed fascism.
The difference between me and many others is that we realize what the plan is. Most Republicans don’t seem to get it.
Click on the link. Read the truth from a Reagan ally…if you have the guts.
Yes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LToM9bAnsyM … about 6 minutes in …
“… it’s not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work …” Of course. I am not such a capital “L” Libertarian to believe that g’ment should be done away with … BUT that may have to happen in order to rid us taxpayers of all of the greedhead “progressive” Fascists.
Perceptive. Clear. True.
He looks fairly well(I guess),since last time I saw him…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjcMfBTZ_gQ
THE GOP BRAND “SUCKS”
REALLY? FACTS
Republicans are:
1. 45/100 Senators
2. 233/435 House members 53.6%
3. 29/50 Governors 58%
4. Control 59 of 98 partisan state legislative bodies 60.2%
5. State Upper House Seats 1,034 / 1,972 – 52.4%
6. State Lower House Seats 2,802 / 5,411 -51.8%
“In 2014, Republicans have the governorship and entire control of the state legislature in 24 states, whereas Democrats have total control of only 13 states. Over 157 million Americans, more than half of the U.S. population, live in places where Republicans run all of state government, whereas just under 82 million people live in Democrat-controlled blue states.” – Forbes
The MSM gives the perception of Democratic dominance, which is contrary to the facts.
I am a queer and love brothels.I will forever vote Dem.
Of course you will …
Those numbers would be even higher if they didn’t cater to far right anti-liberty nutjobs and tax/spend like Democrats. Now it sounds like Senator Paul wants to out pander the panderers.
To be fair, you should wait until next Tuesday so you can add or subtract.
Your #3 and your Forbes quote contradict each other.
And, I won’t go into how the GOPers got a majority of the US House seats with a minority of candidate votes via extreme gerrymandering…which you hate when Democrats have done in not nearly as extreme a way as the GOP has. That also explains the majority GOP state legislators.
If the only way that a party can take control is with every kind of electoral cheating possible, I suspect that you or your children will ultimately be very unhappy with the kind of immoral government and country that they give you.
I wouldn’t say “cheating” is why the GOP won the House or state legislatures. The reason the GOP could gerrymander the way they did was BECAUSE their gains in 2010 under the old map were so massive–they were already in power after one of the biggest wave elections in history when they “cheated.” Maybe it helped solidify their power, but it certainly wasn’t the reason they took control.
And the Forbes quote and point #3 are actually different things. The Forbes quote says the GOP has BOTH the governorship and the entire (both houses, unless you’re Nebraska) state legislature in 24 states. Point #3 says that the GOP has 59 chambers overall, which would include states where Dems hold the other chamber and/or the governorship in addition to the 24 states with full GOP control.
I don’t know about their “brand” but the GOP has sucked for years. And Rand Paul is no different than the rest of them – he just wants the GOP to change the way they TALK about the issues but continue to do the same old shit.
UHH-RAA !!!
p.s….you also turn me on with your hate!!
UHH-RAA!!!
Bingo!
Rand Paul is Mitt Romney 2.0. He’ll straddle the fence of every topic, saying duplicitous things in the hope to not piss anyone off enough to not be elected….and he’ll ultimately fail…just like Mitt.
He doesn’t have 1/10 of the principle conviction his father has. Whether you like his father’s views or not isn’t the issue, no one ever said “I wonder how Ron Paul really feels about “X” topic.”
With Rand, you can see a position change every month on major issues, just like Mitt used to do.
Right. In addition to being the party of stupid and the party of crazy, Rand and many others have turned it into the party of pathological lying.
Correctomundo hits on it below, a presidential candidate has never lied the way Mitt Romney lied in 2012.
But, Rand is worse because his lies are about the core beliefs he got from his ole daddy. He is using the blatant manipulation. He’s kind of a typical egomaniacal, physician as god (eye) surgeon.
Right on Fast, ” conservative ” what a load of crap !
Gee, didn’t the GOP ‘autopsy’ after Mitt lost say the same thing and lay out a road plan of what needed to be done?
Wasn’t that ‘autopsy’ widely derided by the TEA Party types?
It is foolish to think that either of the major parties can adopt anything resembling a permanent ideological purity, even on major issues. The parties are composed of scores of millions of people who’s opinions vary wildly. The most anyone can expect to be able to say, and all s/he can expect, is “This party reflects my views more often than the other on the issues most important to me.” If we had a tradition of many different parties (more of a European model), it might be reasonable to demand more purity and consistency from “our” party leaders. When you have only two parties trying to represent 300 million people, that just isn’t a rational desire.
In those European parliaments, the parties still frequently/usually have to compromise to put together a coalition to be in charge, to govern.
Here, in just the past 20 years, a radical fringe of the GOP has rewritten history and turned ‘compromise’ into a dirty word.
They ignore/deny that the Constitution they say they love was possible ONLY because the Founders compromised.
I don’t think the Republicans are any more guilty than the Democrats. Some elements of both parties are uncompromising and obstreperous.
Funny because I don’t see Democrats running on a platform that seeks to restrict access to healthcare and make an entire demographic want to self deport themselves. But OK>
Really? You dumbasses elected a muslim pResident to the wHite House that hits his “prayer rug” worshipping Muhammad, praying for ISIS and calling Israel and the Jews “chicken shit” and cowards while making sure Iran gets nukes.
I think I will vote Republican.
and folks today winner for the idiot comment of the day. Congrats sir the competition was tough today but you pulled it off.
Always an honor to spread the truth.
Guest – thank you so much for providing us with the actual example of why the GOP brand is dead. You successfully have demonstrated that the general population of GOP followers are clueless, uneducated, view anyone but white people as an enemy, and are actively alienating younger, educated voters who value diversity and tolerance. You would make Reagan puke in his cereal just being in the same room with you, and in fact, you represent the absolute worst of America, and bring greater shame to our great nation than even Sarah Palin, and that sir, is very hard to do.
Rocky, I will be so glad when we Tea Partiers get back in power to exterminate all the corruption of the Obama administration. Once we win the Senate (legally) by the way not with illegal voting like your shitty cheating fuck nut party does but by actually winning we can change the heading for this country back in the right direction.
I’d like to personally take my boot and kick you in your f’n ass you f’n stupid moron!
Wow, that feels better!
purity
——
but my constituents need JOBS! And the military means Southern Jobs… bombing enemies is profitable! Besides, they have sharp knives, and their camels can SWIM!
Is our children bombing?
You have a purity mouth.
The brand sucks because the Party and its base start off with the basic assumption that they are under seige from the enemies of America – listed as:
1. Hispanics
2. African Americans
3. Asians
4. Gays
5. Northern Whites
6. People with College Degrees
7. Anyone under the age of 50
8. People using iPads
9. Whites from California
10. People wearing flip-flops.
Ever notice the only ads on Fox at night are for adult diapers and Viagra? Gross!!!
Rand is the only person I think who can save the GOP. But it won’t be in the 2016 cycle, more like 2024.
Ever notice the only ads on Fox at night are for adult diapers and Viagra?
Isn’t the average age of Bill O’Reilly’s audience like 68 or something?
The splotchy Irish demographic
Really…when he doesn’t have the guts to run as the Libertarian he really is?
Whether it’s Rand, Ron, Mark Sanford or Paul Ryan, if you chose to call yourself something you are not to manipulate voters, you really should be beneath contempt.
Really…when he doesn’t have the guts to run as the Libertarian he really is?
Whether it’s Rand, Ron, Mark Sanford or Paul Ryan, if you chose to call yourself something you are not to manipulate voters, you really should be beneath contempt.
I don’t like abortion but I am not a Republican. I am appalled that so many young women use Roe v. Wade for birth control. I once had a client diagnosed as “habitual aborter.” It disgusted me. People get turned off by those who spout “values” yet their own lives do not reflect values, and this leads to cynicism and voter apathy. This is the moral majority problem with the GOP. On the other I think a person should demonstrate a concerted effort to find work before he is deemed disabled or unemployable. And the period of disability should always be reviewed with termination of benefits if a person medically improves. It is a fault of leadership to give away the kitchen sink and a fault of the recipient to take the kitchen sink. The serfs went after the Russian Czar in part due to great disparities in wealth. Look at the French Revolution. Do we want revolution here over wealth and poverty? History can and does repeat itself. Each party has its good points yet there is so much gridlock. We must find a way out.
Without abortion there is no Democrat Party. It is their ‘religion’.
Sandi you are a twat of the highest order. Utterly and completely full of shit.
That would actually make her less urinary, and more of an …..
Without abortion and gays to hate, the Sandi would have nothing to live for. Viva the gays. Viva Log Cabin Republicans – the make fine Democrats.
In order to change your image/brand, you actually have to change something. When your horrible policies stay the same, your image won’t change.
Rand has to know this by now.
Why change policies? The Democrats have been able to steal the White House (which is the reason we have judges that advocate perversion and drugs)however have lost seats in the senate (if predictions hold true 8-10 seats since Obama was elected), lost the HOUSE (if predictions hold true they will have lost over 50 seats since Obama was elected), the REpublicans hold 30 governerships (there are 50 states for uninformed idiots like you) , control a majority of state legislatures for the first time since recontruction (post Civil War for morons like you) and picked up over 700 seats in those legislatures in 2010 (predictions are they will do even better on Tuesday night.
Have you thought about subscribing to the Limbaugh Newsletter? Reading Pravda is old school ,Smirkie.
Oh, I dunno Sandi – how abouts Self Deportation? That seems to be a real loser, but boy, it comes out again, and again, and again. Tax cuts for wealthy people – another dead dog that just keeps coming up. Taking insurance coverage / access away from people – you do realize that’s about like going to people and say – Vote for Me – I’m going to Take Away your Car.
Hey Sandi, let’s think this other item through. So let’s say we have 15 states. 5 states with DEM governors have populations of say – I dunno – 75 million. The other ten combined have a population of say – well – 20 million people, and 90 million cows and pigs. Who is representing the greatest number of PEOPLE?
GOP has also been losing white voters who are frustrated with its various interventionists (be it the crony capitalists who want to invade our wallets, the statists who want to invade our email or the or the “neoconservatives” who want to invade every other country on the planet).
Unfortunately, moderate Democrats aren’t much better on the issues you raised: big business cronyism, police state surveillance, and military adventurism. Maybe they are less hawkish, but it wouldn’t take much to bring them back into militaristic fold. Obviously for most of the serious problems facing America, there’s just one establishment party position whether the pol is labeled D or R.
The Republican “brand” doesn’t just suck. It’s policies suck. The last thing we need is someone to come up with a clever “brand,” a la Ronald Reagan or Barack Obama.
i watch GOP voters at the gym everyday. puffing on exercise bikes while watching Fox news. i’d be worried if that was my only demographic.
If Rand Paul will steer clear of abortion and gay marriage, and be a consistent voice for smaller, accountable government, lower taxes, less regulation, pro capital creation/ sound monetary policy, and bringing some sanity and consistency to how we interact with other countries, he has a shot at reforming the old Regan coalition of conservatives and moderates. If he gets sucked in to gay marriage is evil and life is sacred bullshit, he will wind up like Santorum.