Thanks to our Southern Correspondent and marketing expert Doug Kelly for forwarding this Personal Liberty item he came upon. GOP Rebrands Ahead of 2014 and 2016 Elections, But the Message Is A Little Off.
The article by Sam Rolley critiques the GOP effort by way of commentary regarding Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus remarks to reporters yesterday where he predicted a “tsunami-type election in 2014.” Priebus went on to state: “My belief is that it’s going to be a very big win, especially at the U.S. Senate level . . .” All well and good as we certainly hope for the defeat of Democrats, ideally with liberty promoting conservative Republicans.
We will address the prospects and the implications of one kind of Republican win versus another later. But first some comments on what the Personal Liberty publication presents as the sort of messaging that the GOP will be promoting in furtherance of its Growth and Opportunity Project.
That “outreach,” as it is referred to, is directed toward millennials, and minorities and women of various ages. Unfortunately we are not aware of any program to solidify base support which has been hit by disappointing performance by leadership Republicans in the House and Senate.
View the two presumably companion 25 second ads developed as part of the outreach, linked here and here. Our editorial dialogue regarding the ads, possibly to be extended over time, is set forth below. All agree they are better than Obama’s pajama boy ads.
D Kelly as part of initial forward: Just as we thought. No new ideas, no new appeal. No new anything. Politics as usual is going to turn off what I laughingly call its target market.
They may win some seats in the Senate just because of the natural turnover of things, but not because of anything they’ve done to deserve it.
R Mall responding: And for cripes sake how about somebody a little more hetero instead of metro. Not red neck, not Wall Street, but a little more baritone or something. An underemployed dude working at a 7-11 would maybe be more compelling.
D Kelly responding: It would definitely help the message to have three of four spokespeople from all regions. And they need a woman too, or women will be outraged by her absence. A gas station makes a point for the high fuel prices (a subliminal implied reminder), but the verbal message itself is not the message this age cohort wants to hear. They already know that gas prices are high and that jobs are hard to get so this is nothing but mundane and depressing to them because they see no way out of it.
They want to know about the solutions to the problems, even if there aren’t any direct or guaranteed solutions, at least a direction to move. But this is just the same old stump speech the status quo guys give to everyone. Obama is a liar, so it was easy for him to make pronouncements, but yet he sounded (2008 and 2012) like he was going to actually solve problems and make changes in the status quo. That’s why they were attracted to him. They know better now and don’t trust a word he says. Most hate him for his deceptions. Burned once, they learned their lesson, so they think everyone is lying to them and most are.
These younger people (18-39) are extremely astute nowadays. They’ve learned the hard way, and the RNC is treating them like children. All they want is someone who they believe understands why we have such problems. They still want Ron Paul, or someone of his ilk, because he was the only guy they thought was telling the truth in the last election. He said audit the Fed. He said reduce the intrusion of government to the bare necessities. He said to make foreign policy more like the Golden Rule. He said live and let live, and that was a very big thing to them.
. . . It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to deduce the reason the CPAC poll shows Rand Paul is way out in front. He’s the nearest thing to Ron Paul they have, and it shows like a bright light. It’s pure idiocy to ignore what they don’t want to believe. It’s apparent from the CPAC polling also, that there are a lot of people who share these views — too many to ignore and still win an election.
R Mall replies: I just hope the election is not all about them. For example the millennials may be thought to be more susceptible to immigration reform rainbows in the pursuit of more Hispanic votes. But polling suggests that immigration reform, even among those groups, is not a priority. Pandering would erode core Republican support more than it would gain. I fear that won’t stop those message masters at the RNC who reflect the low wage – pass around the true costs – attitude of the Chamber of Commerce interests more than the interests of the Republican rank and file.
Regarding the “substance” of the GOP ads ( I know, we expect too much when we use the term “substance” and political ads). One of them refers to being a Republican as being in favor of an “all of the above energy policy” . . . including wind and solar. What does that mean? Is it meant to imply continuing subsidies for wind and solar? That would be pandering and outside of Republican principles. R Mall
