The first several paragraphs of my Tuesday column:
For several weeks following Election Day, the Republican Party decided it was time to evolve (irony intended) and to reach out to various demographic groups as a means of reinvigorating the future of the party.
As we've discussed, the Republicans have become increasingly regionalized and monochromatic, with dwindling support among women and nearly zero support among minorities. Beyond that, their messaging on issues like gun control is increasingly archaic and voters are generally fed up with their continued economic sabotage and brinksmanship on the economy -- the fiscal cliff, the debt ceiling and so on.
So, naturally, a Republican Outreach Effort (previous posts here and here) was engaged as a means for the party to repair its image before it's too late and it goes the way of the Whigs. However, the tea party base and the conservative entertainment complex, as David Frum calls it, will never allow the party to soften its posture on core positions like reproductive rights, immigration and the social safety net. 30 years of bumper sticker marketing and simplistic, kneejerk, opposite-day nonsense has become embedded in the party's overly-mutated, inbred gene pool.
Unfortunately for the Republicans, and perhaps good for the rest of us, the outreach effort isn't going very well. In fact, I would suggest it's basically over. And many of us knew that would be the case the second they began to talk about it.
Prepare to get your schadenfreude on -- here's how badly it's going. [continue reading]