RNC missing the boat with its "autopsy" | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: Brant Clifton examines the tremulous state of the Republican National Committee in his "bare knuckles" Conservative online publication known as The Daily Haymaker.

    The mainstream media is chattering away about this party "remake" report issued by a group of establishment Republicans. The report regurgitates a lot of the same things we've heard from MSNBC talking heads: the party offends women and minorities, is insensitive to the poor, and soooooo not inclusive. Believe it or not -- I've got a few observations about said report:

    1. Reince Priebus. Who died and anointed him the smartest man on the planet? He's from Wisconsin. The GOP lost ground there, and Obama took it in the presidential race. For the first time -- I think -- EVER, we had a major party presidential ticket that failed to win the home state of either ticket member. (Even McGovern won South Dakota. Even Mondale won Minnesota.) The GOP lost a presidential race that was THEIRS TO LOSE. (and they DID it.) If this guy worked in the private sector, he would have been demoted or sacked altogether following a performance like that. But, no. In DC -- especially among the establishment, you get lauded and promoted. It couldn't have been a question of his competence. It HAD to be the "wingnuts" in The Tea Party.

    2. Lack of Inclusiveness? I don't know ANYONE who gets turned away from registering Republican. I am reminded of some discussions about the Catholic Church during the recent anointing of a new pope. A church leader was asked by a MSM airhead babe about whether the church could change to make young women and minorities more "comfortable." The church leader replied that it is not the job of the church to change itself to accommodate your life, it is YOUR job to change your life to accommodate what the church has to offer.

    It's important to expand your base. It's also important to hold on to what you've got. Polls showed that FOUR MILLION Republicans who showed up to vote in 2008 DID NOT do so in 2012. Ron Paul supporters and Tea Party activists got stomped on and abused at the 2012 national convention. You HAD those folks, Reince. They played a big role in giving the GOP the House in 2010. They are the ones out there on the streets doing the grunt work to get Republicans elected. And you and your folks stomped on them.

    3. The Youth Vote? All that 18-22 year olds need is TIME. I have a good friend who was a flaming lefty feminist in college. She and I used to go round and round in political discussions. (We tried to avoid the whole subject as much as possible.) She graduated, got married, had kids and moved ideologically past me on the right. 18-22 year olds are still living off of mom and dad and government handouts, for the most part. They're being brainwashed daily by lefty kook professors who could not get a job in the private sector. When these kids get out of school, land a job, and start paying taxes and dealing with regulations -- they'll come to their senses.

    4. Be proud of championing limited government.

    Survey after survey shows that people are very comfortable with conservative policies that decrease the role of government in people's lives. If you slap the label "Republican" on those same policies, that level of comfort drops dramatically. Talk to relative newcomers to the GOP. Most of them say that Ronald Reagan was the stimulus that got them to realize it was OK to vote Republican. Reagan ran, and tried to govern, as an unabashed conservative. He was a man of ideas, and not about cherry-picking various market segments.

    In North Carolina, it's fair to say that the late Senator Jesse Helms showed a lot of Democrats that it was OK to vote GOP. He ran -- and governed -- as an unabashed conservative. In spite of the vicious attacks from Team McClatchy and the lefty lynch mob, Helms earned 30 years in Congress's upper chamber. Sincere talk and action based in the principles of limited government are a proven winner.

    Try running a conservative candidate or ticket. The last two GOP presidential tickets were not conservative. They paid some lip service to conservatism, but at least FOUR MILLION GOP voters did not buy it.