Republican ‘rebranding’ stumbles amid infighting

November 7, 2007

A month ago, congressional Republicans quietly announced that they were crafting a comeback plan, which would get the party back on track. It would include new attacks on Dems, a new GOP policy agenda, and a series of new bills. The whole package was going to be awesome.

To be sure, the party needs something. The GOP’s House committee has $1.6 million in the bank, but is $4 million in debt. The polls look one-sided in the Dems’ favor. Yesterday’s election results offered very little good news. The party has struggled to stop retirements and recruit favored candidates. The Republican leadership has been so discouraged with the National Republican Congressional Committee that House Minority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) threatened to fire its chief strategists, and NRCC Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) considered resigning.

And now, the comeback plan is off to a troubled start, because the party doesn’t know where it wants to go.

An effort by House Republicans to “re-brand” their battered party with a new agenda and a new strategy to sell it has fallen behind schedule as GOP leaders try to referee ideological and tactical disputes among their members. […]

Boehner’s idea had been that the GOP could lift itself off the mat by borrowing from private-sector marketing concepts. Among those who have consulted in the effort were corporate brand experts such as Richard Costello, the man behind GE’s famous “We Bring Good Things to Life” campaign.

But modern business techniques have stalled amid old-fashioned political disputes. Lawmakers who think the party needs to embrace a more moderate image on issues like health care and the environment are at odd with conservatives, who believe the way back to victory is to reclaim the GOP’s traditional reputation for taking a hard line on spending.

Corporate advertising and “rebranding” experts aren’t going to help the Republican Party right now. The problem isn’t that the party has great ideas that it’s having trouble selling; the problem is the party has no ideas, has consistently backed a disastrous war, and is led by the least popular president of the modern political era.

Private-sector marketing concepts are usually built around accentuating positives. What’s the GOP good at? Smearing people? Feigning outrage? Using bumper-sticker slogans?

Just as an aside, the article noted that Republican Rep. Scott Garrett of New Jersey polled his GOP colleagues during a retreat last winter, asking what direction they favored for the party. There was an odd generational shift:

Among Republican lawmakers elected since 2002, 78% want the party to pursue an aggressive, far-right agenda.

Among those elected between 1996 and 2000, that support dropped to 58%.

Among those elected in 1994 or earlier, 47% favored the conservative strategy.

I’m not entirely sure what this means, but I suspect it helps explain why the party is moving so quickly to fly off the right-wing cliff — less ideologically-rigid lawmakers are retiring, and are being replaced with firebrands.

As for the broader rebranding effort, the GOP leadership is pushing the project off until the spring. Something to look forward to, I suppose.

New slogan: Want the Rapture? Vote for us.

  • I think the big fat W on their ass is the only brand that matters at this point.

    Here in Dallas you hardly ever see a W sticker anymore. I guess they all fell off somehow.

  • But GE’s “We Bring Good Things to Life” slogan was largely used to sell light bulbs. And a nice slogan may get people to purchase what you are selling once, but to get any repeat business or positive word of mouth, the product, in this case a light bulb, has to work well.

    Had all of the GE bulbs people installed turned out to be much, much dimmer than advertised, the mere slogan wouldn’t have worked for long.

    Are you getting my point, GOP?

  • I am reminded of a bio-researcher I talked to who was working on finding a way to keep pig farms from smelling so bad. He said, “The problem is, no matter what you send down a pig, it comes out smelling like shit.”

    Maybe the GOP ought to, you know, stop making shit?

  • “It would include new attacks on Dems”

    that, in a nutshell, is the modern gop. nothing to offer america, but they’re damn good at attacking democrats. it’s all they’ve got left.

    what a worthless bunch of idiots. good riddance!

  • One of the stories which came out the other day, that people are switching from Republifuck to Democrat as they begin to have personal issues which could benefit from public intervention is, I think, demonstrative here.

    Political parties are (supposed to be) a reflection of a philisophical leaning. And, were this the actual case, then REAL Republifucks would be ostracized from society. Because, at the end of the day, who really wants someone around who doesn’t give a s**t about their neighbors? I mean, even if it is for purely selfish reasons, you need to care about your neighbors– if nothing else, they help determine your relative safety and the value of your house!

    But, since that isn’t the case, we are stuck with this ‘branding’ s**t, which is just a game to put a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    Don’t get me wrong– there is nothing wrong with being ‘conservative’. I am a gun-loving, fiscally-conservative hyper-liberal. And I see nothing wrong with that mix. That mix is reality. On some issues, I like things the way they are– that’s conservative. On other issues, I would like to see change– that’s liberal. And on many, many more, I couldn’t care less…

  • There was an odd generational shift:

    Not so odd. Elected to the House in 2002 would be a minimum age of 25, so let’s just guess an age range of 25-30 on average in 2002. That would put date of birth between 1977 and 1982. If you assume that political awareness really starts in the teenage years you have folks who were hitting the start of their formative political years roughly between 1990 and 1995 – the era when Clinton moved to reposition the Dems to the center and Newt Gingrich’s Republican Revolution dragged Republicans rightward. Not to mention the Clinton Impeachment Madness. Anyone who decided they were a Republican in that period of time is going to have a view of what being a Republican means that is going to be somewhat different from someone 5-10 years younger than themselves.

    In other words, the Gingrich Revolutionaries preached a rhetoric of conservatism that they may not have fully believed. The younger guys grew up with that rhetoric and are True Believers in the conservatism espoused by their elders, even if the elders didn’t believe it 100% themselves.

    (If anyone has a better source for age breakdowns in the House than this rough guess, by all means share – especially if it looks like the age breadowns invalidate this idea. But it does seem to track with Republicans I know roughly my age and younger who still consider themselves loyal Republicans.)

  • NonyNony,

    The majority of the rabid true believers came in with the Repub Sweep of 2002.

    A lot of the Newty Tooty types were wiped out in 1998 and or quit in disgrace. Those that survived were a little more pragmatic.

    Most pre 1994 types were what Repubs used to be.

  • On the verge of financial bankruptcy, the 21st century Republican Party has been mired for some time now in their own moral bankruptcy. What a fine mess they and their commanderinchiefguy have gotten our nation into! Now, it will take Americans to right our ship of state – even as, I suspect, the Republican Party continues to drill holes in the bottom of our ship to let the water out. -Kevo

  • argh. My math skills are teh suck. That should be 1972-1977, not 1977-1982.

    Which would put the start of political awareness between 1985 and 1990, not 1990-1995.

    Which means there’s probably a lot more Reagan in the mix than Newt.

    That actually makes a bit more sense to me anyway – Reagan has definitely had more of an impact than Newt on the makeup of the GOP.

    (Stupid simple mathematics, always tripping me up).

  • The real question is what will politicis be like after the Republican Party totally collapses and the only relevant political party is the Democratic party. Will all of the former Republicans moderate the Democrats when they start voting in the Democratic Primary? How will election work when the Democratic Primary is the only relevant election? Will gerrymandering still occur when it does not matter to which party is elected?

  • Perhaps the rebranding could be limited to millions of bumper stickers that say something like

    We are outraged that the Democrats are traitors!

  • Mastadon meet tarpit. Tarpit meet mastadon.

    It couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of thugs, cons, perverts and bullies.

    And now, the comeback plan is off to a troubled start, because the party doesn’t know where it wants to go.

    I have a few suggestions.

  • Since Newt Gingrich led the Republican minority in the early ’90s, the Republican party became the party of insult. No programs or ideas, only insults directed at whoever they deem to be the opposition. And carrying insult into action in the realm of foreign policy made for wars, including mistargeted ones like that in Iraq. Republican party advisors, activists and politicians have become so used to using insult as a substitute for policy that they can’t possibly agree on being for anything; they’re only against. And if they actually figured out what Republican voters are for, they’d discover the voters are inconsistent, confused and unable to agree on anything except some things they don’t like. They can’t change any of this now.

  • The GOP is the rich, corporate party. It’s not going to collapse and disappear. They will just wait out the incredibly short attention spans of Americans (about 5 minutes to a year). They will try to re-write history again and claim all that happened between the two Clintons actually was a result of the Clintons. It will be easy for them as they own the airwaves and they’ll do more of what they are already doing. They don’t need ideas, just a rest and some new PR.
    ‘Sorry to be such a downer but I’m not getting excited about the current problems of the Repugnants.

  • “Among Republican lawmakers elected since 2002, 78% want the party to pursue an aggressive, far-right agenda. Among those elected between 1996 and 2000, that support dropped to 58%. Among those elected in 1994 or earlier, 47% favored the conservative strategy.”

    I don’t have a full explanation for these generational differences, but I’m sure that the rise of wingnut AM radio and the increased visibility of crazy talking heads like Hannity, O’Reilly and others has something to do with it. To whom would a young person look today for a role model of an old-time Main Street Republican like Bob Dole or Everett Dirksen? That species of Republican is practically extinct, driven out of the party by the radicals. Every one of their presidential candidates is falling all over himself trying to prove that that he’s a crazier right-wing nut than all the rest.

    As the Republican party gets crazier and crazier, it’s also going to get smaller and smaller. Especially since their far-right ideas have proven to be disastrous when put into practice. Maybe they will go wherever the Whigs went. I hope so.

  • It’s interesting. I work with someone who has for years declaimed Democrats as having no moral center, no manners, no principles; he hasn’t been nearly as vocal about that in the last 6 or 7 years, funnily enough. But, guess who this Republican-upholder-of-morals-and-principles is backing? Yep – Rudy Giuliani, the poster boy for what not to be when you grow up.

    I think the GOP is screwed. And what’s kind of satisfying is that they did it to themselves. They’re like a company that packaged what turned out to be e. coli-contaminated ground beef. After you’ve been sickened by their product, a new brand will not be enough to make you ever want to buy anything that company sells.

  • What I have always found most disturbing about the new GOP is how absolutely obsessed it is with power for power’s sake. Sure, every politician (or any leader at pretty much any level, for that matter) has to have a bit of a power trip personality. But these goons have taken it to such extremes.

    For example, the whole “Permanent Republican Majority” was their wet dream for a one-party country. For them, it didn’t matter that a majority of Americans disagreed with a majority of their policies. What mattered most is that they would be in a position of unquestioned power. Forever. And all by using wedge issues like abortion, rather than policies that most Americans actually want and effect their every day lives.

    I never understood that concept and still don’t. Sure, I want progressive policies in place not only because I agree with them (as do most Americans), but because they do the most good for the most people.

    But I would never, ever, think about there being Democrats and only Democrats. The very thought of just one political choice disgusts me because it’s been tried throughout history with absolutely no lasting success. Like pretty much everything else in life, there must be balance.

    These guys, however, don’t care. As long as they’re in power and can profit from that power, they don’t care what happens to anyone else.

    It’s why my dad, after more than forty years as a registered Republican, recently registered as an Independent. The party he’s supported for so long makes him ashamed.

    And that says quite a bit.

  • sagacity,

    It will be impossible for the Republicans to make a come back as the U.S. becomes more black and Hispanic. Look at states like Maryland, Mass. and California where the Republicans are incapable of affecting policy. As the demographics of the U.S. become more like California, then the politics of the U.S. will become more like California.

    The real question is how will national politics work when the general election is moot because the real election is the Democratic Primary. Should the Democratic anticipate such events and change the method of presidential primaries or do the Democrats want an 11 month transition period between presidents?

  • The GOPhas battery acid, and they’re trying to sell it as a weight-loss device.

    I know this has been brought up before, but I think it bears repeating. I really think a huge chunk of the Repub party – hell, a huge chunk of the US population – is still suffering a post-911 trauamatic stress disorder. The actual act, the days of coverage of Ground Zero, the sense that we’re all vulnerable (aided in larget part by the subsequent anthrax scare) has got them all twitching at shadows, not just at the brown people who want to kill us, but the brown people who want to cross the border ‘n tek ‘r jabs! They see enemies EVERYWHERE. It’s affected everything. There have always been extremeists who wanted to kill ’em all and let our white Christian God sort ’em out, but after 9/11, those people were taken more and more seriously.

    Added to this, let’s face it, is a bunch of cynical opportunistic jackasses who saw that PTSD among us & decided to use it to their political and/or financial advantage.

    Aaaaaand on top of all that is the emotional carnage dealt by Gingrich and Rove, who whelped all their current GOP litter on the notion that if they keep demonizing the left, calling them weak, calling them stupid, calling them tax-and-spenders, the people will ALWAYS support them, because as far as they’re concerned, the people are stupid and weak and always ready to call someone out as an enemy, even if it’s their neighbors. And oh, how the money will roll in…

    Now what we have is an increasing amount of Americans – now in the majority – who are getting healthier and wising up to the corruption they allowed the system to become in their complacency. In order for the GOP to combat that, the first thing they have to do is accept the fact that, yes, they have a problem. And the problem is inherent throughout their organization. It’s NOT just this Administration. It’s a party filled with pu$sies who talked tough and now can’t go back. The one thing the GOP can do to – swing left and tell the Evangelicals to suck it in the hopes of getting back moderates – is something they just can not do, because they demonized the left for so long. They now believe their own BS, and to even look towards the left – to think that maybe compromises can be made across the table – is to show weakness. It’s a my-way-or-the-highway game. Either live purely by a GOP set of rules, or the government essentially shuts down.

    (If I’ve made any sense at all, here’s where I’ll lose you)

    I actually think this sort of PTSD-inspired bullying is so prevalent, Bush is using it to effectively hold Congress hostage. The idea that Bush is threatening in closed-door meetings to unleash Holy Hell on Iran is the only halfway-logical reason I can think of as to why the Dems in Congress keep capitulating to his awful whims. Wwhy else would you keep giving in to a madman’s demands unless he’s threatening widespread destruction and is still surrounded by enough enablers to make it happen? It’s now all a waiting game, keeping Bush relatively serene so he won’t do anything stupid and hope he’ll give the keys to the White House to the next occupant in January of aught-nine.

    Back on-topic, the New and Improved with Lemon Fresh Borax Republican Party. If they really intend to improve their “brand,” their brand needs to stand for something better, finer, truer than it currently does. It’s not a matter of perception, they’re now selling something that is rotten to its core, and most folks know it. They can’t appeal to moderates anymore without angering the Rapture Right, or vice versa. So, until they agree to tell the sheep to eff off, that’s all they’re stuck with.

    And I’m OK with that.

  • I love this idea…

    …“Boehner’s idea had been that the GOP could lift itself off the mat by borrowing from private-sector marketing concepts. Among those who have consulted in the effort were corporate brand experts such as Richard Costello, the man behind GE’s famous “We Bring Good Things to Life” campaign….

    I can see it now. Frankenstein will be their mascot.

    …In borrowing from corporate image-building methods, the goal is for individual lawmakers to present themselves as the personification of the party, just as employees at IBM or Google are encouraged to present themselves as public ambassadors for the companies where they work…..

    Unless they get caught being a pedophile, of course. At that time Bill O’Lielly and the creeps at Fox News will put a (D) by their name. By accident of course. Over and over again.

    …“The bottom line is that if Republicans are going to be in the majority, you need moderate members,” said Rep. Mike Castle (Del.).

    “I can’t win my election with just Republican votes,” said Rep. Jim Gerlach (Pa.).

    That dynamic has prompted the third-term lawmaker to embrace issues that play with voters on both sides of the aisle, such as the environment, health care and a balanced budget…

    Ohhhh….K.

    Since when are people dumb enough to think Republicans do anything good for the environment or health care?

  • I’m happy to take them up on the idea of brands being the focus of campaigns.

    “I can’t win my election with just Republican votes,” said Rep. Jim Gerlach (Pa.).

    That dynamic has prompted the third-term lawmaker to embrace issues that play with voters on both sides of the aisle, such as the environment, health care and a balanced budget…

    As Racerx noted, however, Republicans in general that is as a brand have been terrible on the environment and health care. And so no matter what moves Gerlach takes, or how Gerlach votes, I simply bring it back to the letter after the name. “Sure Gerlach may personally vote ok once in a while, but if the R’s have a majority, he’ll never get the chance. The key to good bills on the environment and health care is a Democratic majority. Its unfortunate for Jim, but he choose his party and it is the wrong one for you and me. It isn’t enough to have one or two good votes by re-electing Jim Gerlach. We need a good Congress by electing a Democratic majority.”

    It will be a while before the R’s can win a pure “brand name” election.

  • Why just one year ago this guy named Karl Rove (remember him?) came out with this precious gem:

    “Our success springs from our ideas. A quarter-century ago, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, a Democrat, wrote, ‘of a sudden, the GOP has become a party of ideas.’ It was true then – and remains true today. We are the party of ideas – and ‘ideas have consequences.'”

    We’re feeling the consequences Karl, believe me. The only ideas Republicans have is to attack things: attack Democrats, attack the constitution, attack Iraq and attack the beneficial purposes of government, among other things. If the only tool in the toolbox is a wrecking ball you’ll have a hard time building anything. These guys can break stuff but they can’t fix anything. I’m glad to see everyone affected by the subprime mortgage fiasco is seeing that and turning to Democrats for answers. The Republicans will return to the china shop when the Dems refurnish it with things to break.

  • The republicans were able to make a comeback with Reagan after Nixon but this time it is different I think. The corruption is too widespread and the republicans in Congress seem to lack the moral courage that the republicans during Nixon’s time had. Where are the impeachment trials where they could vote their conscience? This time there will be none so they will not be able to distance themselves. That may be what Pelosi is thinking. Without an impeachment, there is tacit agreement with Bush and they can’t divorce themselves from Bush/Cheney. I have no crystal ball, but the republican party may indeed be going the way of the Whigs.

    I can’t tell you how many registered Republicans I know who are re-registering as Democrats, but it is quite a few, and those are the one who are openly admitting that they were deceived. I am betting that there are many more who will quietly withdraw from the republicans and try to forget that they ever registered that way.

  • I think it started with Reagan – government is just no damn good – and was bolstered by hate radio. Put the two together, and you’ve got the current Republican Party – full of hate, militarism and dog eat dog social Darwinism. I’d like to think it’s all going down the drain, but I’m not so sure. Those national polls showing Rudy so close to Hillary tell me that half the American people either don’t know what’s going on, or that they’ve become as mean and nasty and uncaring and hawkish as the Republican Party.

    I’d really to see Eisenhower and Rockefeller Republicans again, because that would be best for the country. But I somehow doubt that’s going to happen. The American people just don’t seem to me to be the same folks I grew up with. I just can’t believe how meanspirited and insensitive and war crazy tens of millions of Americans have become.

  • slappymagoo: I’m with you on the whole PTSD business except for one thing — Rs seem to crave the high they get off of being afraid and will invent things to be afraid of if need be. When I was a kid, it was the communists. And the counterculture. They make up culture wars and wars on Christmas and wars on religion (feel free to add your own) just to get themselves worked up. The whole notion of conservatism — restoring some past that never was is fear-based to my mind.

    They can rebrand all they want, but what they sell is what they thrive on: fear.

  • Since the 2002 crowd it became apparent that the government could be used more easily under Bush to increase personal gain, financial and moral. One only needs to look at our national debt to know that “conservatism” was just a cover to hide stealing from the treasury while trying to dominate the world under the guise of moral authority. There is the fantasy the right projected and then there is the reality of what they actually did. Integrity and principles are lacking in the new breed…they have no depth or substance. They have deservedly self destructed but still are able to confuse and fool those who aren’t really paying attention.

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  • Stupid bushit

    What is striking is how the new “structured finance” paradigm replicates a political system which is no longer guided by principle or integrity. It is not coincidental that the same flag that flies over Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib flutters over Wall Street as well. Nor is it accidental that the same system that peddles bogus, subprime tripe to gullible investors also elevates a “waterboarding advocate” to the highest position in the Justice Department. Both phenomena emerge from the same fetid swamp.

  • Unlike the Democrats, who are crystal clear about what they are there for, and stick to that program, uplifted by the cheering from their base.

    *sigh*

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