GOP: What Took So Long?

Liberal Californians could have told the GOP they were ignoring a large and growing class of potential voters 33+ years ago.  

At that time, I worked in the marketing dept of FOTOMAT, a cutting edge company when it came to marketing.  FOTOMAT's creative was by the then fledgling Chiat Day in Venice California who later became famous for the Apple "1984" ad.  We carefully targeted our customers in 80 markets throughout the U.S. by age, geographic location and...race.   We were producing commercials en Espanol and buying Hispanic and Black formatted radio stations when few main stream companies even bothered.  

lifted from 2/11/13 feed of Political Carnival

Forty of the eighty markets were my responsibility, i.e. targeting, visiting and buying newspaper and radio according to the statistical research in each.  We went a step farther taking into account the demographic makeup of each area and producing accordingly.  I bought radio and newspaper advertising in forty markets including Chicago, Miami/Ft. Lauderdale, Detroit, New Orleans, Cleveland.  

When I see the GOP going after  groups of voters they've long ignored, I can't help but wonder 

"What took them so long?"   and

"Are we buying this?"

Republicans Ignore Women's Issues at Their Peril

Women on the airwaves are PISSED!  They are all over the moronic comments of Rep. Todd Akin (R: MO) yesterday regarding abortion for "legitimate rape" victims.

The good side of this?  Claire McCaskill, whom most pundits   said was in the "fight of her political career" now has a great chance to win re-election.                                                                                                      **********

Next we have Republican members of the House of Representatives carousing in the Sea of Galilee involving drinking and nudity:

A group of House Republicans were reprimanded last August for taking a late-night swim in Israel's Sea of Galilee that reportedly involved drinking and nudity. As Politico reported Sunday night, a number of Republican lawmakers on a fact-finding trip to Israel were involved in the incident, including Reps. Kevin Yoder (R-Kan.), Steve Southerland (R-Fla.), Ben Quayle (R-Ariz.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) and Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.). Some spouses, family members, and staffers were also present. According to the report, Yoder took off his clothes before entering the reservoir, which the Bible cites as the place where Jesus walked on water.  Huffington Post 08-20-12

Gotta love those awesome junkets abroad.                                                                                         ********* The Donald weighs in on women in general "not getting what's going on" when it comes to President Obama. In his usual subtle delivery, he states his case:

Can you imagine being married to this guy?  Or working for him?  Every time I hear him speak and look at his hair, all I can think is "What a douchebag."  It's ever so much more descriptive than "asshole".

President Obama is currently giving an impromptu press conference as I type this.  His comment when asked his thoughts on Akin's "legitimate rape" response.

Obama: "We shouldn't have a bunch of politicians - a bunch of whom are men - making health-care decisions for women"  MSNBC  08/20/12

Yeah.  Tell that to Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump and the GOP in general.  

JUST RELEASED:  NBC/WSJ POLL:   Obama 56% vs Romney 39%  with WOMEN

This IS Good News!

Think Obamacare isn't working?  Think again.  According to Forbes,

The major health insurance companies around the country are reporting a significant increase in small businesses offering health care benefits to their employees.

Why?  Because the tax cut created in the new health care reform law providing small businesses with an incentive to give health benefits to employees is working...

Private market insurance companies are experiencing significant growth because of a tax break provided by the PPACA...

United Health Group, Inc., the nation’s largest health insurer, added 75,000 new customers.

Coventry Health Care, Inc., a large provider of health insurance to small businesses, added 115,000 new workers in 2010 representing an 8% jump.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest health insurer in the Kansas City, Mo. area, reports an astounding 58% increase...since April one month after the law took effect.

How ironic for The Party of No whose predictions of dire consequences, socialism, and unaffordable government mandated insurance policies for small businesses and ruination.  Could they be wrong?

Big thank you to injaynesworld for highlighting this in her "Sunday Recap" today.  

Here We Go Again

It's a new Congress:  Bi-Partisan time in the ole House tonight. and the Republicans are at it again. First on their agenda? Not job creation. No, it's repealing components of Health Care Reform. I mean, why let the Middle Class enjoy any kind of relief when they can tell their base, the 1% top income earners, not to worry about rolling back Bush tax increases?   The Republicans will just get it from the Middle Class, just as they've always done, right?



The more things change...

Is Newt On Our Side? Maybe...

Newt as Lego Man by blogadilla.com

No point in me paraphrasing a perfectly marvelous post by Robert Reich.   Let's just see if history repeats itself.

The Republican Threat to Shut Down the Federal Government

              Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Newt Gingrich is saying if Republicans win back control of Congress and reach a budget impasse with the President, they should shut down the government again. GOP pollster Dick Morris is echoing those sentiments, as is Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (R. Ga), and Alaska GOP Senate candidate Joe Miller.

I am continuously amazed at the GOP’s ability to snatch defeat out of the jaws of potential victory. It is the gift that keeps giving.

I was there November 14, 1995 when Newt Gingrich pulled the plug on the federal government the first time. It proved to be the stupidest political move in recent history. Not only did it help Bill Clinton win reelection but it was a boon to almost all other Democrats in 1996 (Gingrich’s photo was widely used in negative ads), and the move damaged Republicans for years.

Gingrich hurt his cause by complaining that Bill Clinton had put him in the back of Air Force One on a trip that occurred about the same time. Republican lore has it that it was this babyish behavior rather than the shutdown itself that caused the public to side with Clinton in the game of chicken Gingrich launched over the budget. Undoubtedly Gingrich’s whining didn’t help, but it was his cavalier attitude toward government itself that was the defining issue. Gingrich was the one who first bragged he’d shut down the government if Clinton didn’t agree to what the Republicans wanted. . .


Americans may be cynical about government but we’re proud of our system of governance. And we don’t want it to be used as a political pawn in partisan power games. That’s what Republicans forget time and again. They dislike government so much they don’t see the difference between government as a bureaucracy and democratic governance as a cherished system.

The framers of the Constitution developed checks and balances to assure one branch didn’t accumulate too much power. But they never contemplated that one party could shut down the entire governmental system if it didn’t get what it wanted

Robert Reich served as Secretary of Labor under President Clinton.  He's now Professor of Public Policy A UC Berkeley.
 
If that isn't condemnatory enough, how 'bout THIS?
 

An Open Letter To Newt Gingrich From His Gay Sister Candace

        

Dear Newt,


I recently had the displeasure of watching you bash the protestors of the Prop 8 marriage ban to Bill O’Reilly on FOX News. I must say, after years of watching you build your career by stirring up the fears and prejudices of the far right, I feel compelled to use the words of your idol, Ronald Reagan, “There you go, again.”


However, I realize that you may have been a little preoccupied lately with planning your resurrection as the savior of your party, so I thought I would fill you in on a few important developments you might have overlooked.


The truth is that you’re living in a world that no longer exists. I, along with millions of Americans, clearly see the world the way it as — and we embrace what it can be. You, on the other hand, seem incapable of looking for new ideas or moving beyond what worked in the past.


Welcome to the 21st century, big bro. I can understand why you’re so afraid of the energy that has been unleashed after gay and lesbian couples had their rights stripped away from them by a hateful campaign. I can see why you’re sounding the alarm against the activists who use all the latest tech tools to build these rallies from the ground up in cities across the country.


This unstoppable progress has at its core a group we at HRC call Generation Equality. They are the most supportive of full LGBT equality than any American generation ever — and when it comes to the politics of division, well, they don’t roll that way. 18-24 year olds voted overwhelmingly against Prop 8 and overwhelmingly for Barack Obama. And the numbers of young progressive voters will only continue to grow. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning, about 23 million 18-29 year olds voted on Nov. 4, 2008 — the most young voters ever to cast a ballot in a presidential election. That’s an increase of 3 million more voters compared to 2004.


These are the same people who helped elect Barack Obama and sent a decisive message to your party. These young people are the future and their energy will continue to drive our country forward. Even older Americans are turning their backs on the politics of fear and demagoguery that you and your cronies have perfected over the years.


This is a movement of the people that you most fear. It’s a movement of progress — and your words on FOX News only show how truly desperate you are to maintain control of a world that is changing before your very eyes.


Then again, we’ve seen these tactics before. We know how much the right likes to play political and cultural hardball, and then turn around and accuse us of lashing out first. You give a pass to a religious group — one that looks down upon minorities and women — when they use their money and membership roles to roll back the rights of others, and then you label us “fascists” when we fight back. You belittle the relationships of gay and lesbian couples, and yet somehow neglect to explain who anointed you the protector of “traditional” marriage. And, of course, you’ve also mastered taking the foolish actions of a few people and then indicting an entire population based on those mistakes. I fail to see how any of these patterns coincide with the values of “historic Christianity” you claim to champion.


Again, nothing new here. This is just more of the blatant hypocrisy we’re used to hearing.  What really worries me is that you are always willing to use LGBT Americans as political weapons to further your ambitions. That’s really so ’90s, Newt. In this day and age, it’s embarrassing to watch you talk like that. You should be more afraid of the new political climate in America, because, there is no place for you in it.


In other words, stop being a hater, big bro.

  Posted 11/23/08 by girl du jour reprinted from The Huffington Post 11/22/08

Wow!  How did I ever miss this one first time around? 

From their mouths to God's ear. 

Referencing My Last Post

I've read and re-read the comments on my last post and one of then particularly resonates. Sixpence and a Blue Moon remarks she's heard Cheney's daughter is going to "run for something..." and "his poll numbers...going up?". This got me to thinking about the Republican strategy.

The Republicans have no clear cut candidate as of yet. Mitt is trying his best to get air time whenever and wherever. Newt Gingrich continues to make the talk shows. It's just too early to tell. Laying groundwork and testing waters is the best strategy for now.

Which brings up the suddenly ubiquitous Dick Cheney. Why is he all over the air waves? Why is he making the political rounds, firing up the faithful? Is older daughter, Elizabeth, going to run for an office? She's suddenly a news/talk show darling. Her political ambitions could explain Dick's sudden and constant presence on the media trail. Perhaps he's paving the way, keeping the Cheney name front and center until such time as a proper announcement can be made. Political folk live by poll numbers. The fact that anyone reports poll numbers on Cheney at all is a warning signal.

The idea of Dick Cheney running for anything is a frightening thing. I would think, after the heart surgery, running for President would be out of the question. But, "absolute power corrupts absolutely"so who knows? Or, is this about the transfer of power?

Perhaps it's all about his upcoming memoirs his political daughter, Elizabeth, is helping write. Nobody's gonna buy a book by a guy who's no longer news.

Last week he publicly endorsed same sex marriage. Some political pundits say the Republican party will never accept Cheney's stance on same sex marriage because it doesn't jibe with the religious right. But others aren't so sure. There is speculation the religious right may be in political withdrawal; that their power is diminishing. It's possible Cheney is simply supporting his younger daughter, Mary. She came out in 2004 and presented the Cheneys with a baby in 2007. That had to be one hell of a PR issue at the time.

What I do believe is the ongoing public appearances, sound bites and PR are not happenstance. They are purposeful and there is an agenda. We just don't know the agenda.

And, forgive me if I'm just a bit skeptical but I wonder what his position would be if his younger daughter were heterosexual?