House of Eratosthenes

The Republican rank and file is largely in sync with GOP lawmakers in their staunch opposition to efforts by President Obama and Democrats to enact major health-care legislation, but a new Washington Post poll also reveals deep dissatisfaction among GOP voters with the party’s leadership as well as ideological and generational differences that may prove big obstacles to the party’s plans for reclaiming power.

Republicans and GOP-leaning independents are overwhelmingly negative about Obama and the Democratic Party more broadly, with nearly all dissatisfied with the administration’s policies and almost half saying they are “angry” about them. About three-quarters have a more basic complaint, saying Obama does not stand for “traditional American values.” More than eight in 10 say there is no chance they would support his reelection.

But for all the talk among Republican elected officials about a nascent comeback after gubernatorial victories in Virginia and New Jersey this month, there is also broad frustration among Republican voters about the party’s direction, detachment from its congressional representatives and a schism over its priorities.

Fewer than half of the Republicans and Republican-leaners surveyed by The Washington Post see the party’s leadership as taking the GOP in the “right direction,” down sharply from this time four years ago. About four in 10 are dissatisfied with the policy proposals being offered by congressional Republicans, and similar numbers see the current crop of GOP legislators as out of touch with their problems and personal values. Nearly a third say the Republicans in Congress are not standing up for the party’s core values.

This portrait of how Republicans see their party is part of an ongoing series of stories examining the GOP at the midpoint between its disastrous losses in the 2006 and 2008 elections, and the midterm elections in 2010 and the 2012 presidential contest…
:
Nearly three in 10 of those surveyed expressed no opinion about who in the GOP best reflects the party’s principles or volunteered that no one does. Topping the list of named leaders was former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, the party’s 2008 vice presidential nominee.

In the poll, taken amid the media whirlwind surrounding the release of her memoir “Going Rogue,” more cite Palin than other Republicans as best reflecting the party’s core values and as the top vote-getter in hypothetical presidential nomination contests. But on neither question did she exceed 20 percent backing among all Republicans.

It seems to me we have a lot of “Republicans” running around who are still drunk and hung-over on this intoxicating elixir of personality-politics. Palin’s policies and Obama’s policies, they say, are somewhat or mostly irrelevant. The democrats have found a likable guy, so we need to find a likable guy. Palin may be likable but she doesn’t inspire confidence. We have to find a guy who is oh-so-likable, and oh-so-competent looking — that nobody will ever want to make fun of him, ever.

Then we put him up against Barack Obama, in an election that is bereft of any policy discussions just as the election of ’08 was. And Obama gets hammered into one-term history.

Yeah good luck with that.

President Sottero has the “popularity contest” of 2012 won already. At least in the likability category. He will absolutely, positively, guaranteed, emerge victorious there. The challenge for Republicans is to make the overall contest much bigger than that.

If that challenge is tackled in all the right ways, it won’t be hard. Barry’s policies suck ass, and the recognition is becoming widespread that we can ill afford them. As I attached to the end of the Daphne/Sarah thread this morning — speaking of elephants-in-the-room —

I get the impression Buck & friends are making fun of we who see promise in Palin, for our reprehensible judgment in deciding what’s a likable personality and what isn’t. How could you like her: She acts like a dotty old aunt with her midwestern accent and her Tina Fey glasses…this misses the point. Speaking just for myself, I have no affinity for dotty-old-aunts, I long for a return to the days when personality didn’t matter. When it was all about the wisdom of the policy.

We have no avenue to salvation in any other direction. When we forget about the policies, we end up with policies that say…hey let’s cut the unemployment rate by scaring the shit out of the businesses and taking all the stability out of our economy…let’s fight the deficit by borrowing lots of money…let’s get big government under control by means of a six trillion dollar “health care” plan.

Put Palin’s spirit and worldview in the body of some chubby middle-aged plumber with a hairy ass crack sticking out of his jeans, and I’d vote for that guy too.

If aliens came by and kidnapped President Obama and we were left to continue American political history without Him, we’d still be afflicted by the same curse: Republicans and democrats alike, being taken in by the phony-baloney “My personality is wonderful, so pass my bad policies” nonsense. The debt figures we are talking about have a debilitating effect on the financial wherewithal of generations yet-to-come; their shock waves will reverberate long after you and I, and President Sort-of-God, and His oh-so-capable handlers, are all dust, and the personalities of He as well as those who challenge Him, are long forgotten.

Are you clear on the hate vs. skeptic thing now? And my informal poll on Palin… based on responses in my “Miss Alaska reads EIP” thread Saturday… was five skeptics vs. two believers, three if I count you. (I didn’t do a count over at Daph’s place.) There are a LOT of skeptics out there, Morgan. It ain’t just YrsTrly. Even if she does read me. 😉
- bpenni | 11/30/2009 @ 09:08
[…] Read it. It seems to me we have a lot of “Republicans” running around who are still drunk and hung-over on this intoxicating elixir of personality-politics. Palin’s policies and Obama’s policies, they say, are somewhat or mostly irrelevant. The democrats have found a likable guy, so we need to find a likable guy. Palin may be likable but she doesn’t inspire confidence. We have to find a guy who is oh-so-likable, and oh-so-competent looking — that nobody will ever want to make fun of him, ever. […]
- DYSPEPSIA GENERATION » Blog Archive » A Party Both United and Divided | 11/30/2009 @ 09:56

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A Party Both United and DividedMonday, November 30th, 2009

A Party Both United and Divided
Monday, November 30th, 2009