First Step: Admitting You Have a Problem

[one...two...tree 2,762]

For a while, there was a question as to which party deserved the label of "party of ideas." The debate, such as it was, is obviously over. Republicans lost. It's certainly not the only reason the GOP has suffered badly at the ballot box of late -- the wholesale failure of Bush's presidency may have had something to do with it -- but the inability to craft a policy agenda has no doubt contributed to the Republicans' inability to dig themselves out of their ditch.

An interesting observer wrote a memo this week arguing that the Republican Party has grown "stale," "does not deserve" the party-of-ideas label, has grown too quick to "fall back on ideology alone," and has lost the "American people's trust." As it turns out, the observer is Republican National Committee Chairman Robert "Mike" Duncan. Greg Sargent reports:

In a frank and private memo sent today to Republican National Committee members,

the RNC chairman acknowledges that the GOP has grown too addicted to ideology, places politics before policy, and is bereft of ideas -- and that it's imperative that the party shift towards a genuine effort to develop concrete policy solutions to people's problems in order to rescue itself.

The memo, which we obtained from a Republican operative. was written by RNC chief Mike Duncan to explain the RNC's decision -- first reported by Politico -- to create a new in-house think tank called the "Center for Republican Renewal," which is devoted to coming up with new policies and ideas to chart a new direction for the party after November's devastating losses. [...]

The assessment by Duncan, who's running for re-election as RNC chair, is a more straightforward acknowledgment of the party's deeply-rooted problems than we've heard from many of his opponents in the race.

Quite right. As we talked about the other day, Duncan is at least prepared to admit his party has a problem.

But what is less clear is whether Duncan realizes that the conservative ideology limits the party's ability to be constructive, or even coherent, on most of the major policy disputes that matter.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Admitting to the problem is the easy part. Getting yourself to do something about it, to pull yourself away from the rush of your addiction, to knowingly deprive yourself of the feeling you've grown accustomed to, is hard.

[NickD 203]

Admitting to the problem is the easy part. Getting yourself to do something about it, to pull yourself away from the rush of your addiction, to knowingly deprive yourself of the feeling you've grown accustomed to, is hard.

Heard another republican on the news say, they have to get rid of religion and honor separation of religion from state, wasn't that written somewhere in the constitution?

Really don't have to knock the republican party, they are doing a very good job of knocking themselves.

[Fandango 1,439]

Irony alert Stevo

[Ban Hammer 13,354]

Irony alert Stevo

whatcha trying to say?

[mawilson 2,133]

Irony alert Stevo

whatcha trying to say?

That Steven has a problem?

[one...two...tree 2,762]

In a frank and private memo sent today to Republican National Committee members, the RNC chairman acknowledges that the GOP has grown too addicted to ideology, places politics before policy, and is bereft of ideas -- and that it's imperative that the party shift towards a genuine effort to develop concrete policy solutions to people's problems in order to rescue itself.

...in case that part got overlooked.

[Sister Fracas 5]

Why do people always think the OP has written the article posted or something?

[mox 298]

I heard Duncan give an interview to NPR a couple weeks ago, regarding the website the RNC put up to solicit ideas from the general public (a fantastic idea by the way). But every time the interviewer read one of the comments from the website ("stop catering to the religions right," "stop pushing the abortion issue so hard," "move back towards the center," etc) Duncan always had a response that justified the RNC position. I got no feeling from him at all that he was ready to acknowledge problems within the RNC.

As a social liberal who supports a lot of traditional "Republican" values, I think Duncan is the wrong man for the RNC to get back to their roots. There are a lot of people out there like me who would vote for a centrist Republican, but it's been over a decade since I've seen a single Republican I'd vote for. McCain came close for me, and then he ran for President and showed he was no different from all the other neocons. So I sincerely hope the RNC really wants reform. I'm glad the Democrats are in power right now, but I think the best thing for this country is when there is a balance between the two parties. This is a centrist nation, and both parties need to get on board with that concept.

[jundp 191]

Why do people always think the OP has written the article posted or something?

Because it's easier to make fun of the OP than to read and process the information.

[Jasman0717 9]

Houston, I think we have a problem