Republicans don't think you can think for yourself -- or at least that's what the party's latest ad campaign insinuates

Alex Pareene of Salon has already done the easy work pointing out the silliness of the "Republican hipster" ad the GOP released this week. But it turns out the other video testimonials in the GOP's campaign are equally ludicrous. Here's a look at some of them.

Raquel tells us:

"When I was a kid, a family had one phone, and it only did one thing: calls. Now we've got phones in our pockets with internet, cameras, and apps. It's amazing how we're always finding better ways to do things. Why can't we find a better way to run government? Smaller, and smarter. I watch the news and it's just getting bigger and more complex. I'm a Republican because I believe government needs some new limits and new ideas."

Let's unpack this a little, shall we? Raquel's central metaphor is that cell phones are smaller and better, as government should be. But she also says that it's amazing how phones these days have internet access, cameras, and a world of apps available to them. In other words: they're more complex. See, she likes the more complex thing because it does more things for her; the old single-use phone is really the smaller, simpler, less complex option. Never mind that just because something is "simpler" it must be "better"... Raquel doesn't actually know what her metaphor is, because she just argued for a multifaceted government that can do many things for people, but concluded she wants the complete opposite.

Angel tells us:

"I don't want my kids eating junk food, and I definitely don't want them getting a junk education. They deserve the best schools and the best teachers and it shouldn't matter where we live. I'm a Republican because all kids deserve the opportunity to succeed."

Everyone agrees with everything Angel just said! The thing is, Republicans largely don't want to spend money on public schools unless there's a profit motive attached; i.e. unless there's a private company trying to run the school as a business-like enterprise. That's funny, because business-like enterprises will do all they can to exclude clients who might make their performance look weaker, whereas traditional public schools take all comers and operate from the point of view that it benefits society to give the most vulnerable children a quality education, no matter what actions their parents may take. If Angel doesn't give a damn about other people's children, then sure, go ahead and be a Republican, because they mainly support a system that is essentially a race for spots in schools that will provide quality education, and a Republican who says that he truly wants every public school in his state to have unconditional government support, just because it's better for everyone that way, is seen as some sort of maverick.

Emily tells us:

"After four years in college, I'm ready to start my career. But the job market is tough, and I've got a mound of student loans. I don't need anyone to guarantee my success, but I don't think politicians should get in the way of my future. I'm a Republican because I'm ready to take control of my future."

Do you know why you're entering the economy in a historically difficult jobs market, Emily? It's because Republicans decided their best strategy to get Barack Obama out of office was to oppose him at every turn, and that meant opposing all measures associated with him, even if they were well-conceived and generally-agreed-upon measures that would help the wider economy. Republicans even blocked direct action to create jobs at the same time they blamed the president for not doing more to create jobs. Also, the stimulus worked, but Republicans continue to block other measures that could build upon it. Who's getting in the way of your future, again?

(Image cc-licensed: "House GOP Jobs Summit" by House GOP)

My final offer is this: nothing

Given Erick Erickson’s prior admission that he straight-up lied to his readers in order to play partisan cheerleader in the run-up to the 2012 presidential election, why does anyone give credence to anything he writes anymore? Here’s his latest example, posted on October 7:

Republicans are winning the shutdown fight, and Democrats know it…

The polls are shifting against the Democrats. They will continue to shift as more and more Americans realize that this fight is fundamentally about the letter they just received informing them of massive premium increases.

That analysis was, in a phrase, laughably wrong. Here’s CNN’s recap of what happened to Republicans.

To put it in pop culture terms, the best explanation for what happened that I’ve heard is that the Democrats were Michael Corleone, and the Republicans were Pat Geary.

"You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing."

This can’t keep happening to conservative Americans without an eventual reckoning. That the GOP, as an organization, managed to breeze right past the presidential election without honestly re-evaluating their own strengths and weaknesses will keep coming back to bite them as long as they maintain their insularity.

Conservatives who admit misleading their audiences in the run-up to the 2012 election

Just in case you haven’t been keeping track of the "epistemic closure" kerfluffle hitting the Republican Party in the wake of Barack Obama’s re-election, here is a short (and certainly incomplete) list of conservative writers who have now admitted (whether they realize it or not) that they (intentionally?) misled their audiences in the run-up to November 6th.

Barack Obama's America is our America -- get used to it

(Guest post by Zachary Geballe)


For more than four years, many members of the Republican Party have explicitly attempted to portray Barack Obama as un-American. Whether it was his name, his family history, his religion, or his politics, it was all portrayed as in some way out of line with what America was. After his re-election it’s clear that no one better represents what America is and will be.

Republican demographic soul searching only matters if it's about changing minds, not just changing positions

Here’s a representative passage from a genre of political writing popping up everywhere today: Republican Demographic Concern.

The answer to the electoral woes the GOP experienced on Election Day is demographics, pundits agreed, and Republicans need to expand the party to reach out to new and growing groups of voters.

Latinos, in particular, will likely be a specific group Republicans seek to attract, reporter David Gregory said during a panel discussion Wednesday.

"The party has got to find a way to reach out to Latinos, the fastest growing voting bloc, to become a more diverse party with the ability to shed some of the orthodoxy around taxes, around spending, over the role of government, and this process is going to begin this morning — the soul searching and redefinition," Gregory said.

There’s a secondary line of inquiry, though, that I haven’t seen answered very well: Don’t Republicans honestly believe their positions are correct and best? If so, what kind of “soul searching” is there to be done?

yfiles:

Was 1960 the last election when the GOP made a serious play for black votes?

It’s kind of amazing that Richard Nixon was using this rhetoric in 1960, and then in 1968 used racial resentment as a wedge issue. More amazing? That no Republican running for national office would be caught dead saying these words today.

We’ll have more on Barack Obama’s (likely) victory tomorrow. And if Mitt Romney wins? Well, that would be a bigger shock than finding out Magic Mike is actually a dark, bleak, pessimistic recession film. (Which I found out yesterday!)