Where to Now for the GOP - Presidential Elections

[FJV]

Too stupid even for the dumbasses.

Gov Jindal, the man who signed into law that public schools in his state can use supplemental material in classrooms to teach "Young Earth creationism" says that "Republicans should “stop being the stupid party"

If even a man with such a limited intellectual capacity can understand that "women can't get pregnant from rape " is utter stupidity, then he might have a point.

[antimony]

Connecting with other cultures - GOP, take a cue

Obama sends a message out for the festival of Diwali

This is how you connect with cultures, not by promising them with freebies, loosened immigration policies and other junk.

A Presidential First: Happy Diwali - YouTube

Simple and effective, and definitely winning hearts and minds. No promises of freebies or anything, just a simple "best wishes".

I am sure there is much hand wringing on how this violates the notion of a Christian nation. To those I say, wake up and smell the coffee. While you guys are planning to give latinos amnesty to get their votes, the Dems are leaving you in the dust in winning friends in other cultures.

Mike Huckabee got it partly right : connect with minorities and disadvantages groups to show how conservatism can help them move up the rungs of the socio-economic ladder instead of staying in an ideological bubble and hoping that interested folks will come and visit. However, an appeal to the hearts and minds is also important, and the Dems are leading there.

Bush understood this well, he started the practice, but I do not see the current GOP gang understanding the effectiveness of this approach.

I can bet if Romney, Boehner, Cantor and other establishment GOP stalwarts start this sort of gesture with other ethnic groups, there would be a marked difference in relationships

[JAD_333]

Gov Jindal, the man who signed into law that public schools in his state can use supplemental material in classrooms to teach "Young Earth creationism" says that "Republicans should “stop being the stupid party"

ROFLMAO

If it wasn't for this, I'd think the man is worth listening to. Question is, if he runs for president, can he flip his way out of it? Don't think so. He's done.

[Genosaurer]

If it wasn't for this, I'd think the man is worth listening to. Question is, if he runs for president, can he flip his way out of it? Don't think so. He's done.

I don't disagree that he is damaged goods and wouldn't have much chance of winning the presidency unless the Democrats run another Walter Mondale against him. The real question, though, is can he win a Republican presidential primary? And I'm honestly not sure of the answer. Depending on who else is in the pool for 2016 I wouldn't totally rule it out - especially with so many learned pundits screaming minority outreach! as the lesson to be drawn from 2012, I can see the temptation to throw him in just on account of his ethnicity, with disastrous results in a general election.

[Bigfella]

I don't disagree that he is damaged goods and wouldn't have much chance of winning the presidency unless the Democrats run another Walter Mondale against him. The real question, though, is can he win a Republican presidential primary? And I'm honestly not sure of the answer. Depending on who else is in the pool for 2016 I wouldn't totally rule it out - especially with so many learned pundits screaming minority outreach! as the lesson to be drawn from 2012, I can see the temptation to throw him in just on account of his ethnicity, with disastrous results in a general election.

If Jindal is a serious contgender for the nomination in 2016 then the GOP will have another bad year. Even at this distance there would seem to be better options & if he is a serious contender it means that most of them have sat it out...again. If having an 'ethnic' candidate is considered a must then Rubio must be a serious contender. If not for Pres then at least for a VP spot. There may have been a time when Jindal was a contender, but not now. Of course, if there are still 'purity tests' being applied to weed out the heretics then anything is possible. Personally I suspect simply picking an 'ethnic' candidate might be written off as tokenism if it appears a slick political move rather than being indicative of other changes. Going to be an interesting 4 years.

[Genosaurer]

Something different from (of all places) Daily Kos on the "where's the Republican turnout?" mystery of 2012.

[astralis]

jindal was already damaged goods for his sing-songy SOTU response.

also note how quickly romney is being savaged now for his post-election 'gifts' quote. there's a man who's now finding out just how thin and tepid his support within the GOP was.

[Double Edge]

Obama sends a message out for the festival of Diwali

This is how you connect with cultures, not by promising them with freebies, loosened immigration policies and other junk.

I don't get you. How are the repubs to do this when they aren't in the white house ?

I can bet if Romney, Boehner, Cantor and other establishment GOP stalwarts start this sort of gesture with other ethnic groups, there would be a marked difference in relationships

If the Indians in the US do a fundraiser around Diwali time i'm pretty sure those politicos will start singing in Sanskrit

Bush understood this well, he started the practice, but I do not see the current GOP gang understanding the effectiveness of this approach.

So the repubs DO do the same when they are in the WH. Must be doing well at the fundraisers.

Frankly i'm amazed they do so, there's what, under 3 million browns in the US thats like 1% of the entire population.

Hey, now you can claim you are the 1 % :)

[antimony]

I don't get you. How are the repubs to do this when they aren't in the white house ?

Why don't you get this? Have you not seen Iftar parties by opposition leaders?

So the repubs DO do the same when they are in the WH. Must be doing well at the fundraisers.

Not all, but GWB handled minority relations fairly well

Frankly i'm amazed they do so, there's what, under 3 million browns in the US thats like 1% of the entire population.
Hey, now you can claim you are the 1 % :)

Its smart politics

[Double Edge]

Why don't you get this? Have you not seen Iftar parties by opposition leaders?

Thats called pandering. Identity politics can be seductive. See Mihais post.

The key lies in thinking of oneself as an insider rather than an outsider that wants to be invited in.

Its about how one perceives oneself in America.

All that has to be done is for hyphenated (arab, asian, afro, jewish, latino etc) americans to give the american side of their equation a little more weight :)

[antimony]

Thats called pandering. Identity politics can be seductive. See Mihais post.

The key lies in thinking of oneself as an insider rather than an outsider that wants to be invited in.

Its about how one perceives oneself in America.

All that has to be done is for hyphenated (arab, asian, afro, jewish, latino etc) americans to give the american side of their equation a little more weight :)

Its called integrity in diversity -learning to respect and live with other cultures while believing in a higher ideal (the Constitution and the American way) of life rather than sticking one cultural identity (white protestant). This has happened throughout the history of America, with the integration of the Irish catholics, Italians and other ethnicities. America has survived and prospered.

No reason why the same cannot be done with the non-european cultures

[GVChamp]

Gen Y voter chiming in. I didn't vote in the 2006 election when I was eligible, but have voted in the 08, 10, and 12 elections. Wrote-in for the Presidential election in '08, and voted balanced in that election and R-leaning in '10, but straight-R in '12.

I really despise the Democrats. I cannot picture myself voting for them at all. They are not only incompetent at running at a party and a government, their "progressive" wing scares the ever-loving shit out of me, their view of the rich as ATMs is dumb, and their unending desire to recreate the New Deal is straight-up moronic. I doubt I am voting for Democrat for a long time.

On the other hand, at least on the Gen Y ground level, the Republicans seem outright stupid and evil. You want to teach Intelligent Design in schools? You think raped women can't get pregnant? You think climate change isn't real? Self-deportation?

It also doesn't help to portray all the poor as evil scum-sucking devils. My mother is a lifelong R-voter that doesn't even think Obama is born in America. But he guaranteed health coverage for adult dependents to 26. He also is more supportive of Medicaid expansions, and right now my brother and his GF have to be on Medicaid due to an "oopsies." He ain't lazy, either, he was working 60 hours (no benefits), and she was working part-time. But Medicaid is means-tested in a lot of states, I guess, so my brother had to tone back hours and she had to stop working to make the income requirement, and my mother does not take kindly to Republicans that want to cut that budget even further, so she will back that "Kenyan" to the mother-fucking hilt.

I mean, I'm an R, so I get what a lot of the policy proposals are, but after the bad taste of Bush, it's basically left Republicans being a permanently tarnished badge in Gen Y, at least in a lot of the areas that I run.

It also bothers me that a lot of people do not realize how amazing they have it. I used to have this discussion with my own GF on a semi-frequent basis. If I were to, you know, actually marry the girl, we would have a combined income that puts us very close to the Democrats "YOU HAVE LOTS OF MONEY AND MUST BE ASS-TAXED" bracket. Which I don't mind, if it goes to useful things. But her? Despite being a Dem, she goes ape-shit crazy, because she isn't "really" rich, despite, in her first year of work, having an apartment with no room-mate, affording a vacation, a luxury car, totally new and up-scale furniture, exercise equipment, etc, despite the fact that she was working 32 hours throughout most of the year. No, she thinks she is barely making it, and her student loans need to be forgiven, while I think we should probably be taxed MORE to afford more useful things to less fortunate people...

Gah, sometimes I wonder who is the real liberal and who is the real conservative...

[Mihais]

Its called integrity in diversity -learning to respect and live with other cultures while believing in a higher ideal (the Constitution and the American way) of life rather than sticking one cultural identity (white protestant). This has happened throughout the history of America, with the integration of the Irish catholics, Italians and other ethnicities. America has survived and prospered.

No reason why the same cannot be done with the non-european cultures

Man,I heard worse slogans.I also heard better ones.It may work while you're still 1%,maybe 2%.And in many places it does works.But come 5% and you have a voting block,because 5% can be decisive in elections.And with that comes power and the interest to keep the voting block(identity politics by another name) and sell it to highest bidder.It also gives those pandering to such politics a comfortable asset.You do your ritual,you have the votes.

As for diversity,I'd put it this way.You moved to America to live well.No problem with that.But you moved to a place that was already developed.Until you moved there your contribution was nil.The WASP however moved there when there was nothing but scalp hunting Indians(the real ones,not the fake ones from India ) and unchartered land.They build the place,they bled for it.They also bled for others,not just themselves.So they would be the most entitled to have their country as their own(aka ''white privileges'').Meaning also the right not to share all or most of their inheritance with other groups. Caveman simple,coz' I'm a caveman

[Double Edge]

Man,I heard worse slogans.I also heard better ones.It may work while you're still 1%,maybe 2%.And in many places it does works.But come 5% and you have a voting block,because 5% can be decisive in elections.And with that comes power and the interest to keep the voting block(identity politics by another name) and sell it to highest bidder.It also gives those pandering to such politics a comfortable asset.You do your ritual,you have the votes.

Agree, this is the gameplan. Its the same with every interest group. We have the votes, we matter, now what will you do for us.

As for diversity,I'd put it this way.You moved to America to live well.No problem with that.But you moved to a place that was already developed.Until you moved there your contribution was nil.The WASP however moved there when there was nothing but scalp hunting Indians(the real ones,not the fake ones from India ) and unchartered land.They build the place,they bled for it.They also bled for others,not just themselves.So they would be the most entitled to have their country as their own(aka ''white privileges'').Meaning also the right not to share all or most of their inheritance with other groups. Caveman simple,coz' I'm a caveman

lol, i've chided americans that the only reason their country was ever discovered was because people were desperately trying to find mine

[cyppok]

Alternative Minimum Tax Could Affect Millions : NPR

So far what I read the most likely outcome is AMT doesn't get extended and everyone gets hit this and next year marginally impacting most people to the tune of fifteen hundred or so. {if it hits ya}