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December 14, 2008 –
They are starting to get it. First it was Hagel. Now it
is Powell.
Sure they are by far the minority, but at least there
is - at last - a group of powerful Republicans who get what the
problem is: you cannot claim the high road while taking the
low road.
Both Hagel and Powell have now taken on the GOP's
embrace of Rush Limbaugh. Hagel put it best back in November,
as reported by
CNN:
"We are educated by the great entertainers like
Rush Limbaugh," Hagel said Tuesday during a speech in Washington,
according to the Huffington Post.
"You know, I wish Rush Limbaugh and others like
that would run for office," a sarcastic Hagel continued. "They
have so much to contribute and so much leadership and they have an
answer for everything. And they would be elected overwhelmingly.
[The truth is] they try to rip everyone down and make fools of
everybody but they don't have any answers."
Powell today had similar commentary during
a CNN interview:
"If
the party wants to have a future in this country, it has to face
certain realities... The party has to stop shouting at the world,
at the country... I've talked to a number of leaders in recent
weeks and they understand this. Can we continue to listen to
Rush Limbaugh? Is this really the kind of party we want to
be, when these kinds of spokepersons appeal to our lesser
instincts rather than our better instincts?"
For
good Moderate Independents, the GOP has ceased to be a viable
option. Regardless of where they stand on the issues, their
embrace of lying propagandists to push their politicians and their
agenda is inherently un-American. How can a party embrace not
just Rush Limbaugh, but outlets like FOX News, which more resemble
the old Soviet joke-of-a-news-source Pravda than an honest, American
news outlet.
Pravda
is Russian for "The Truth," yet everyone knew that nothing of the
sort was to be found there. Rather, all that it provided was a
propaganda outlet for the Communist Party. Yes, just like FOX
is "Fair and Balanced."
M/I has
been writing about the subject since its founding in 2003, with
articles like:
Russian News Source 'Pravda' Sues Fox News For Stealing Its
Format from back in July, 2003.
But in the five-plus years since, the
GOP has continued to break out the Palins and the Limbaughs and
embraced propagandists like Matt Drudge (see:
Who Exactly Is Matt Drudge And What Is It He Does?).
They considered these things the key to their success.
All the while the reality has been that
no good America could support a party that paves its path in hate
and dishonesty.
The game worked for a while.
Gingrich, Limbaugh, Bush, et. al reveled in their ability to claim
the high road while openly taking the muddiest dirt path to be
found. The way it frustrated their opponents, the smirky glee
with which they boasted of their unquestionable piousness and the
Sodomness of anyone who questioned them,, brought them unrestrained
joy and, for a while, every branch of government.
But the reality is that even at their
peak, they never managed much. Sure, they got the White House,
but only while losing the popular vote once and barely eking out a
win the second time. And yes, they got control of the Senate,
but only by a seat.
Truth and decency, on the other hand, as
represented by Barack Obama's "high road" candidacy, just
accomplished what decades of Limbaugh and Drudge and Murdoch never
did: a true, significant victory and the winning over of the
American public.
Strong arm tactics and big-mouthed
blaring allowed the GOP to wedge its way into power, barely,
briefly.
But it has at last become clear to
America that, as Hagel said of Limbaugh, the Republican Party for
the past decade has just ripped everyone down and made fools of
anyone who opposed them, but they don't have any answers. And
yet, we have yet to hear from the conservative side any admission
that they have been wrong with regard to policies. As they
used to attack Democrats personally while avoiding policy
discussions, they now blame George W. Bush personally without
discussing which of their policies - which he enacted in full - they
now realize don't play out so well in reality.
What has to occur for the Republican
Party, if they are to become a party Americans can actually
consider, is two-fold.
First, the most striking thing in
talking to conservatives this past year is the complete lack of
admission of any crack on their policy stances, or any admission of
fault for what is occurring. They simply, as Romney did at the
Republican Convention, say the problem is that Congress and Bush
weren't being conservative. Until the GOP admits that several
basic tenants of the conservative policy agenda it embraces are
entirely flawed, they will have no useful policy platform to present
to the nation.
But more importantly, if the Republican
Party wants any shot at winning over Moderate Independents any time
soon (never mind winning back its own former-faithful,) it has got
to climb out of the gutter. GOP politicians have got to stop
embracing Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, and friends, and, more
importantly - as until this happens it will be clear the GOP
doesn't get it - to eschew FOX News. The GOP, in short, must
stand up and say, "We once again believe in American values, of
freedom of speech, of a true, free press that seeks out the truth
and gives fair air to all sides." Until that time comes,
policy discussions don't matter. Because in the end, it
doesn't matter what one stands for if the ground they stand upon is
so manure-ladened no one can bear to get close enough to hear them
talk.
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