Because The GOP Knows Better Than You

I've been as objective as possible on Palin, insisting the jury that matters is a long way out. Because it is. But these comments from a professional Republican to the LA Times highlight the real problem for the GOP. They honestly think they know better, but the base is completely unimpressed by what we've been seeing. They can forget any broad coalition if the base doesn't show up. And the GOP establishment is incapable of turning it out due to attitudes precisely like this.

"People at the grass roots see a charismatic personality who is popular with other people at the grass roots. But their horizon only goes so far as people who think like them," said Mike Murphy. The veteran GOP ad man eviscerated Palin -- a "political train wreck," "an awful choice" for vice president, her resignation an "astonishing self-immolation" -- in a column published Thursday in the New York Daily News.

"Professional operatives keep their eye on a broader horizon and understand, without independents and swing voters, she can't win," Murphy said. "She's a stone-cold loser in a general election."

There's good news and bad news in the wisdom above. The bad news is the GOP will be out of power for years. The good news is, when it comes back, the ass quoted above will be out of a job.

Comments

[Gregory of Yardale]

Was Mike Murphy part of the braintrust behind the McCain Landslide?

Considering the disaster the GOP has been lately, getting away from the GOP establishment is the smartest thing Sarah Palin can do.

[KingShamus]

Mike Murphy has been whining about this for the last 10 months. He's just pissed off that he wasn't the head of the McLame campaign. Being that he holds the base in such low regard, you can be pretty sure he'd do just as well as the clowns who actually ran the show over at McCain-Palin.

[syn]

"Speech delivery counts for little on the world stage unless you have convictions, and, yes, the vision to see beyond the front row seats." (Reagan)

Professional operative Mike Murphy is under the impression that sitting in the front row seats means anyone sitting beyond that row must be a loser.

Gov Palin possesses conviction which perhaps may explain why so many sitting in front row seats are fearful of her ability to look beyond the front row and see a vast audience full decent, hard-working, honest and humble people who are not divided into politically-identified groupings constantly waging war against one another as their means of extinguishing the spotlight which brightly shines Liberty upon the world's stage.

[Typical Whte Person]

We need to do a purge - We need losers like Murphy, McCaine and Powell like a hole in the bed.

[Lee]

"The good news is, when it comes back, the ass quoted above will be out of a job."

Very well put. The incompetence of "professional Republicans" is incredible. Unfortunately competent professionals work in the private sector keeping America running.

[BD57]

Murphy's disdain for the base is pretty obvious. You get the feeling that "taking the base for granted" is a law of political consultancy ... they always seem to spend most of their time & energy pursuing the "elusive swing voter."

Someone who was "neutral" could reasonably say

"Right now, Sarah Palin is a very polarizing figure. The Republican base likes her, but the base alone can't get her elected - she'll have to win swing voters over to her column, and that won't be easy ... fair or not, a lot of those voters have made up their mind about her already. It's hard to convince people to re-think their opinions."

"It's not impossible, but it will be hard. First she has to get them to listen to her, and then she has to have something to say that wins them over."

Right now, the odds are against her.

[Chris]

Whichever candidate(s) hires Murphy deserves nothing but contempt. His sort of thinking worked wonders for McCain in 2000, 2008 and for California (Schwarzenegger) now.

[Steve White]

Too bad the LA Times reporter didn't ask Mr. Murphy how many elections he had personally won in the past, compared to Governor Palin. Then again, the reporter was only too happy to pass Mr. Murphy's spin on as 'news'.

Governor Palin has been one of the few Republicans these last few years who DID reach beyond the base. Perhaps Mr. Murphy didn't notice the average size of a McCain campaign rally in the two weeks before and after Ms. Palin joined up.

The Left will never accept her and will try their hardest to spin the news and opinion to alienate the Middle. People like Mr. Murphy are making that easier. Someone should ask him why.

[Neo]

I sort of hope that more "Profession Republicans" speak out on Palin.

It makes it so much easier to separate the "wheat from the chaff" when it does it itself.

[Slide]

From a partisan Dem perspective this is great fun. The GOP has painted itself in the corner and has pandered to their hard right base for quite a while and now they will be unable to be an adult party without angering that froth at the mouth base. When the fail to distance themselves from the Limbaughs, Hannity's and Coulters of the world then they end up losing the Frums, Parkers, Noonans, and Murphys of their party. Do the words Whig Party mean anything to you?

[tim maguire]

Slide, are you serious? The Republicans have been ignoring their conservative base for nearly a decade. It's decline has come hand in hand with reaching out to the "moderates". How much further left do they need to go before you'll admit they aren't pandering to the right?

So far that they cease to exist? That's my guess.

There are few things in politics funnier than listening to people who hold nothing but animosity towards Republicans giving advice on what they need to do to recover.

[Ran]

Heh. Then there's this BS that in order to "win the independents and swing voters" one must offer a "middle" platform. Earth to Murphy... Come in Murphy... Swing voters are looking for a viable option to which to, you know, "swing". As in, a real conservative option, not just watered-down liberalism. The point being, when you ignore the base, you automatically alienate that (minority) portion of the "independents" you need to win.

The same crappy "play to the center" formula has been proffered by the wizards of win for over a decade, and it has given us majorities in both Houses and lost the WH. (Thanks a freakin' lot, guys.)

I'm with Neo and the crew... the more the "pros" speak-up, the better.

[Slide]

tim said, "Slide, are you serious? The Republicans have been ignoring their conservative base for nearly a decade. It's decline has come hand in hand with reaching out to the "moderates"."

very serious. the conservative "base" is a small sub-group of a small party as this demonstrates:

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/parsing-the-polls/gallup-poll-gop-boat-springs-l.html
Gallup Poll: Republican Shrinkage Widespread

A new Gallup analysis shows that the precipitous decline in the number of people who identify themselves as Republicans is widespread across nearly every demographic group -- a development that suggests that there is no simple solution to solving the party's current problems.

As we have written about before, the number of self-identifying Republicans stood at 21 percent last month -- the lowest it has been since the fall of 1983.

...Put simply: Toss-up demographic groups eight years ago have moved en masse in Democrats' favor, leaving the GOP with only its base still on its side.

I know you all live in an echo chamber and you think the whole world is with you, but it's not. And the more that your part is identified with people like Palin, Limbaugh, Hannity, Coulter, it's really not going to be taken seriously. And even your "mainstream" pols are taking a beating on the "morals" front like Sanford, Ensign, Vitter, etc.

But, please continue. I kinda like being in the majority party for a chance.

[memomachine]

Hmmmmm.

Color me unimpressed by Mike Murphy.

Frankly at this point I'm willing to support candidates that Palin advocates for just to annoy jackholes like Murphy.

[North Dallas Thirty]

And Slide keeps whining and crying and screaming and trying to distract from the fact that his is the party of racists like Sotomayer and Kilpatrick, tax cheats like Geithner, Solis, Sebelius, Rangel, and Stark, corrupt fools like Waters, Frank, and Murtha, and incompetents who endorse and support all of these like Obama.

It's no wonder that Slide resorts to polls. Those, carefully massaged, are the only things that still consider his Obama competent -- and even they are collapsing as the American public realizes that Obama systematically lied to them to win the election.

[Slide]

North Dallas..... are you ok? Getting concerned for your mental well being. Why don't you take a break from politics for a while... chill out on a beach or something.

[mark l.]

"He has advised such nationally prominent Republicans as John McCain, Jeb Bush, John Engler, Tommy Thompson, Spencer Abraham, Christie Whitman, Lamar Alexander, and Arnold Schwarzenegger." worked for romney...
(mike murphy/wiki)

quite a list of "conservatives".

whitman? scharzenegger?

love to hear his insight on his previous campaigns.

seriously, if someone hires him to run a campaign in an election I have a vote in, I'll stay home.

[North Dallas Thirty]

love to hear his insight on his previous campaigns.

LOL....it would be pretty simple. "I run campaigns for Obama Party members on the Republican ticket who, for some reason, inexplicably collapse in office after alienating both sides."

[Chris]

Slide has his talking point down on Coulter, Limbaugh et al., yet fails to acknowledge that the people (party) he apparently worships just put Al Franken in the senate. You guys own him, Slide. Enjoy!

40% of the country self identify as conservative. That should give you something to consider leading up to the mid-term elections. Keep pounding the Whig drum, though.

[Mike2Cents]

No, the GOP will have a chance to come back when more 'asses' like Mike Murphy and other 'losers like ...McCain and Powell' are allowed to more fully take the reins.
Until that happens, the Republican party will continue to degenerate into a home for angry & bitter social conservatives, the tea party anti-tax movement fringe, and the right wing talk radio possessed.
The moderates will save the party, or they'll be fully pushed out and the party will devolve into further irrelevance.
Same thing would happen to the DP if they let Code Pink & Michael Moore run the show...but they don't.

[Troll Hunter]

"Put simply: Toss-up demographic groups eight years ago have moved en masse in Democrats' favor, leaving the GOP with only its base still on its side."

Liar. Or fool. (Not that it matters.)

A) Democrats are *losing* numbers too, not growing. The only major "blocs" growing are the independents and undecideds.

B) The Conservative base is precisely the group being lost to Republicans, to two main places: Minor conservative and libertarian oriented parties and to independents and undecided pool. There simply are NOT a whole lot of genuine conservatives or libertarians remaining in the GOP.

Slide does not resort to polls... he resorts to lies. Or wishes. Matters not which.

Back in the tube, pal.

[Paul A'Barge]

More on the LAT Palin hit piece and the McCain Rethuglicans behind it here.

[Paul A'Barge]

Here meaning "http://freealabamastan.blogspot.com/2009/07/republican-palin-haters-big-news-to-lat.html" here.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"No, the GOP will have a chance to come back when more 'asses' like Mike Murphy and other 'losers like ...McCain and Powell' are allowed to more fully take the reins."

Really? Then why did they lose the last election when McCain and Murphy were fully in control? And as for Powell, the Republican Party does not need racists like Colin Powell who put skin color ahead of competence.

Same thing would happen to the DP if they let Code Pink & Michael Moore run the show...but they don't.

Ha.

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/06/12/jodie-davis-code-pink-founder-obama-bundler-osama-apologist

Barack Obama fully supports and endorses Code Pink and Michael Moore.

[Slide]

"put Al Franken in the senate. You guys own him, Slide. Enjoy"

I will enjoy. Franken, despite your cartoonish vision of him is a very smart and wonkish guy. He is going to make a great Senator. I am very happy to "own" him. And if he is sooooooo wacky and bad how the hell did he beat an incumbent GOP Senator??

Bizarro wingnut "Slide does not resort to polls... he resorts to lies. Or wishes. Matters not which."

huh? guys get a freaking grip. You got your asses handed to you the last two elections. It was not too long ago you had the Presidency, the House, and the Senate. You have nothing now. Zip, nada. zero. zilch. The turnaround in the Senate to the point where we have 60 seats is just about the most stunning turnaround in modern history. Wishes? lol.... My wishes came true bucko. How are your's doing?

[North Dallas Thirty]

By the way, what do Mike2Cents and Slide think of Barack Obama's attempt to character-assassinate Frank Ricci for the crime of filing a lawsuit against discrimination that also made Sonia Sotomayer's racist beliefs obvious?

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/71660.html

Wonder why Obama is so desperate to perpetuate racism and making government choices based on skin color rather than qualifications?

[syn]

"The moderates will save the party"

Moderates cannot decide what to do rather instead take whatever appears popular; which is why McCain lost to a Teleprompter and Schwarzenegger will be remembered as the moderate who drove California into an economic abyss.

My own mayor, Mike Bloomberg, thinks he is Moderate unfortunately he behaves just like typical Democrat Mommy-Nanny meddling into the lives of everyone simply most NYCers are popularly paranoid hypochondriacs about everything. Thus, I am getting the hell out of misery town and taking my tax dollars with me when I go; I, for one, cannot take the Mommy-Nanny or the paranoid hypochondriacs.

[tim maguire]

Slider, your response to me ignores what I said. Nobody denies that the GOP is getting fewer votes than it used to. What we're disagreeing about is how they got there. The Republican Party is pandering to its base by putting up budget buster George Bush and Maverick John McCain? A spendthrift, ideologically empty congress?

They're getting killed by moving left, not right. By being Democrat Lite instead of a real alternative.

[Slide]

ND30 not heeding my advice to take a vacation by the shore post this: "By the way, what do Mike2Cents and Slide think of Barack Obama's attempt to character-assassinate Frank Ricci for the crime of filing a lawsuit against discrimination that also made Sonia Sotomayer's racist beliefs obvious?"

1) Barack Obama? Do you think that everything that comes from the left is orchestrated by BO? I wish we were so regimented and disciplined, but liberals alas are more like cats - hard to herd them in any one direction. Unlike wingnuts who are more like lemmings.. or how does Rushbo put it, DITTOHEADS. Brainless robots that just spew the talking point of the day without independent thought. That is what a Dittohead represents right? How proud you all must be for donating your gonads to Rush.

2) as far as Ricci, the GOP decided to bring him up to the hearing. This is just show biz on their part. He is not a legal scholar now is he? We all know what they are tying to do, the poor white guy viciously discriminated by that racist Hispanic woman. Well, if Ricci is going to be up there, I think the left should have a few questions for him as well. Like why he got fired from another fireman's job and why he files all these law suits and how, because of a previous law suit, he took the place of qualified applicant, because he was dyslexic. Preferential treatment it sounds like. Normally I would imagine the right would be against such discrimination. But not now, he is their great white hero. lol

[Slide]

timmy boy says; "The Republican Party is pandering to its base by putting up budget buster George Bush and Maverick John McCain? A spendthrift, ideologically empty congress?"

Somehow when Bush was in power I don't remember all these negative comments about him from your side of the aisle. I love the way things have changed with a change in the balance of power.

[Troll Hunter]

"Somehow when Bush was in power I don't remember all these negative comments about him from your side of the aisle."

Google "Republicans spend like drunken sailors"

Selective memory = lies. Or stupidity. Doesn't matter which.

Back in the tube, pal.

[Chris]

Slide, what's gonna happen in the mid term election next year. How many seats will the democrats pick up post-ascension? It's obvious to everyone already that we've elected the greatest prez and congressional majorities ever, right?

[Jana]

Slide, if you knew anything about the election in MN, you'd know that Franken got in because of a third party loser who garnered a percentage of the vote, lowering the bar for Franken to win. Plus, you obviously missed the news that he had the "dead vote" to push him over the top.

You own him! I can't wait for his notorious temper to erupt publicly.

[Slide]

Chris... a lot depends on where the economy is at that time. I suspect the economy won't be great as Bush left us with such a mess it's going to take a while but if it is a mess I'm sure the GOP will have some moderate gains. The "out of power" minority usually does in off year elections. But they will be modest gains if at all. If the economy is roaring, watch out, the Dems could pick up even more seats in the House and Senate. Time will tell.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Preferential treatment it sounds like. Normally I would imagine the right would be against such discrimination.

Ah yes, the old Alinsky tactic of attacking your opponents using their own rules.

Of course, what that makes obvious is that Slide supports attacking the disabled and insists that the disabled are always unqualified to hold jobs.

Republicans believe that the most qualified applicant should always get the job regardless of skin color or disability -- while racist Obama Party members like Sotomayer, Slide, and Obama believe that disabled people are always unqualified and that white people should be discriminated against based on their skin color.

Also notice how the intolerant bigots like Slide have harassed and physically assaulted the other person testifying -- Lieutenant Ben Vargas.

http://thehackensack.blogspot.com/2009/07/hispanic-firefighter-plaintiff-speaks.html

This shows that Obama, Sotomayer, and Slide also support attacking and harming Hispanics who support fairness and qualification as opposed to skin color and quotas.

[Slide]

ND30: "Of course, what that makes obvious is that Slide supports attacking the disabled"

You have a point North Dallas, I will try to refrain from attacking you any more.

[North Dallas Thirty]

Truer words were never spoken.

"Gesturing toward his three young sons, Lieutenant Vargas explained why he had no regrets. “I want them to have a fair shake, to get a job on their merits and not because they’re Hispanic or they fill a quota,” he said. “What a lousy way to live.”"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/03/nyregion/03firefighter.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2&sq=ben%20vargas&st=cse&scp=1

But if you hold these beliefs and you're a minority, you're criticized as a "token", a "turncoat", and an "Uncle Tom" by Sotomayer, Obama, Slide, and the rest of the liberal left.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"You have a point North Dallas, I will try to refrain from attacking you any more."

LOL....and again, the bigotry of Slide comes out with his attempt to claim that someone is disabled to insult them.

I happen to know, have worked with, and have hired disabled individuals who are perfectly capable and wonderful employees. The hatred and loathing expressed by Slide, Barack Obama, and Sonia Sotomayer for these individuals, so much that they actually would refer to someone as "disabled" in an attempt to insult that person, demonstrates the absolute rot, lack of moral values, and complete absence of principles that are at the core of the Obama Party.

[Rob Crawford]

"Somehow when Bush was in power I don't remember all these negative comments about him from your side of the aisle."

We've already established you live in a fantasy world -- why should it surprise us that a fact contrary to your fantasies failed to register with you?

[Chris]

Which piece of legislation is designed to get the economy "roaring"? It's flat on it's back, just where Pelosi-Reid-Obama want it. Blaming Bush won't work, by the way. I know pavlovian responses are difficult to overcome but that particular dog is failing to respond, even now. See Rasmussen for confirmation.

[North Dallas Thirty]

It's endlessly amusing to me that people believe that the Obama Party, which hates and loathes businesses and wants to eliminate "evil corporations", wants to get the economy "roaring" again.

How does the economy "roar" when you eliminate private businesses?

[Mike2Cents]

ND30,
Your posts are all hate & loathing...so lame attempts to call others out on that are silly.
I know you have fun with the 'Obama told the lie' stuff, but you've been there and done that...over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
If you have nothing else, fine.
But maybe, just try something else?
Even if you still feel the need to come off as dramatic and hysterical...can we all have some new drama and hysteria?
I know you can deliver.
Thanks.

Tim Maguire -
I hear this a lot...republicans aren't to the right enough and this is why they are losing.
But I have never seen anything solid - as far as polls etc. - to suggest this is any more than conjecture. Outside of some very small pockets, far right and social conservative republicans seldom do well these days. They can drum up a little fever in local and primaries, but once it goes national these candidates seems to fall to the side quickly.
Maybe true for some congressional races, but outside of that this theory seems to only hold up for school boards, city councils, etc.
There's a reason the RN etc. is getting behind Crist in Florida and not Rubio...

[SacTownMan]

"as Bush left us with such a mess "

Can Slime ever post something without using the ever predictible and worn out moonbat talking points?

Do these trolls really believe what they post or are they just braindead Soros parrots?

This guy reads like a bad "Readers Digest" version of the Daily Koz!!

The regulars here have seen the transition from Harpo to the sock puppet Bob/Chris, Lame-O and now this latest asshat and their story never changes!

Only more of the same lame assed Bush/Chenny/Halliburton/Rush/Palin/Tower 7 rants!!

Slime do yourself a favor and crawl back under your rock will ya?

[tim maguire]

Mike, I can only hope we get a chance to put it to the test.

[tim maguire]

I hit Post too soon. FWIW, I should add that when I say "conservative", I mean in the classical liberal sense. I don't consider social conservatives to be conservative at all.

[mark l.]

slide, unemployment is at 9.4%.

if you did understand the implications of it getting worse, and considered the practical amount of time it will take to recover, you wouldn't be in a very good mood.

remember he glee with which the dems reported casualities in Iraq?

9.4% unemployment.

the difference between the two situations?
the insurgency was killing our soldiers. but now, obama and the dems are killing private sector jobs. the same private sector jobs which pay for federal jobs and the federal budget.

[mark l.]

don't panic though slide...
the comedic musings of al franken will surely quell the unrest in the masses.

just think, as soon as we do begin a meager recovery, inflation will crush us, during a period of unemployment. If I had to pick the one single 3-4 year span, over the past 50 years, where I would want the gop in a very small minority-this is it.

the house, the senate, and the presidency are playing hot potato with thermite. It is going to get a lot hotter.

enjoy your days, but the dems are running out of slack on the hangman's noose.

[Slide]

seems like the hopes of the right rests on economic disaster. Guess that is what Limbaugh meant when he said he hoped Obama would fail. Must be sad having to pray for bad things to happen all the time.

[mark l.]

one other point, slide:

much derision was heaped upon cheney for the implication that we would be greeted with flowers and smiles, as the reality kept moving further from the 'vision'.

why should I feel any better about obama's projection of unemployment peaking at 8% in passing the stimulus, as we are now at 9.4%? I can't really say how much scorn and derision that projection( or 'vision') will inherit, but I can assure you that it is going to get far worse.

IF you really cared about the fate of the president and your party, you should be pressing them to stimulate private sector job growth.

[tjproudamerican]

Hooray for Sarah!!!!

Sarah forever!!! Mean folks NEVER!!!!

::wink::

Run Baby Run!

And keep track of every slight and put down, Sarah, and make everyone who is mean PAY when you are POTUS!!!!!