Pizza
The Republican Party of the United States has a minor problem.
They lost two tough elections, the 2006 bi-election and the Presidential election of 2008, the latter by an Electoral College margin of more than 2 to 1. Latest opinion polling indicates that 70% of the country favors President Obama's policies, with the GOP lagging at a dismal 22%.
What's a party to do?
Simple!
Have a pizza!
A group of the Bum-of-the-Month Club rejects who pass for Party Establishment (Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, et.al.) gathered at a pizza joint at a Northern Virginia mini-mall to talk to people and find out from them what needs to be done to fix the Party and bring it back into a nationally-based organization.
I say "nationally-based," as the latest electoral demographics show that the greatest strength of the GOP is now based in the states of the Old Confederacy. Which, if you savor the rich and mellow taste of irony, is indeed an amazing state of affairs.
Pizza is regarded by some as comfort food, rich and flavorful and just what some people need to make them feel better. And that's just what these Party Stalwarts and apparatchiks got - comfort food.
A few of the people who spoke to the assembled bigwigs expatiated upon high taxes (they're against them), education (with one young man asking Jeb Bush why it's even necessary to go to school when you can learn all you need from Rush Limbaugh), and big government (against it). And, of course, how much they dislike President Obama.
Perhaps Northern Virginia was the wrong place to start looking for actual, solid advice about rebuilding the Republican Party.
But I don't think Jebbie the Hutt and the Mittbot were there to learn anything new. They were there to hear their own preconceptions validated, and to have their own positions reinforced.
They were there for comfort food.
They lost two tough elections, the 2006 bi-election and the Presidential election of 2008, the latter by an Electoral College margin of more than 2 to 1. Latest opinion polling indicates that 70% of the country favors President Obama's policies, with the GOP lagging at a dismal 22%.
What's a party to do?
Simple!
Have a pizza!
A group of the Bum-of-the-Month Club rejects who pass for Party Establishment (Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, et.al.) gathered at a pizza joint at a Northern Virginia mini-mall to talk to people and find out from them what needs to be done to fix the Party and bring it back into a nationally-based organization.
I say "nationally-based," as the latest electoral demographics show that the greatest strength of the GOP is now based in the states of the Old Confederacy. Which, if you savor the rich and mellow taste of irony, is indeed an amazing state of affairs.
Pizza is regarded by some as comfort food, rich and flavorful and just what some people need to make them feel better. And that's just what these Party Stalwarts and apparatchiks got - comfort food.
A few of the people who spoke to the assembled bigwigs expatiated upon high taxes (they're against them), education (with one young man asking Jeb Bush why it's even necessary to go to school when you can learn all you need from Rush Limbaugh), and big government (against it). And, of course, how much they dislike President Obama.
Perhaps Northern Virginia was the wrong place to start looking for actual, solid advice about rebuilding the Republican Party.
But I don't think Jebbie the Hutt and the Mittbot were there to learn anything new. They were there to hear their own preconceptions validated, and to have their own positions reinforced.
They were there for comfort food.
posted by Walt at 4:35 PM
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