Rand Paul: Without change, GOP will "not win again in my lifetime"

[IDemo]

Source: CBS News

Just days after warning his party that it will lose its electoral grip on Texas if it doesn’t broaden its appeal, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., offered an even more dire prediction on Thursday: Forget losing Texas – the GOP might never win a presidential election again if it doesn’t change its tune.

“I think Republicans will not win again in my lifetime…unless they become a new GOP, a new Republican Party,” Paul said during an interview with conservative radio host Glenn Beck that aired Thursday. “And it has to be a transformation. Not a little tweaking at the edges.”

The Kentucky Republican said the GOP needs to do a better job of tailoring specific messages to specific groups.

With young people, he said, he would stress an opposition to excessive government surveillance and a respect for personal privacy. And among minority communities, he said, a message of criminal justice reform – including changes to the “war on drugs” and sentencing laws – would resonate.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-without-change-gop-will-not-win-again-in-my-lifetime/

[alsame]

1. Let's hope he's right. nt

[kardonb]

16. RP

who would've thunk : for once . he spoke the truth .

[Plucketeer]

30. Finally....

a truly prophetic moment from a Paul. Let us hope to hell he's right!

[sakabatou]

56. Agreed

[louis-t]

2. Talk, talk, talk. They say "we need to change"

then end up with "It's a messaging problem". They will never change. Never.

[Sunlei]

8. so true, Republicans will never change.

And Rs love to use people like the Pauls to 'pretend for votes.'

[Auntie Bush]

15. He's right! The ReThugs are never going to win the presidency again

till they vote out all the teabaggers and totally change their platform.
Then they will become more like the Democrats...they can't win!

[CTyankee]

33. I';m hoping that they will just close up shop and give up and go away....

the humiliation of one loss after another, combined with HRC's apparent ascendancy, make it look more and more like you know who's bunker as Berlin was going up in flames...

[liberal N proud]

3. I don't think they can change

It is hard to turn a ship against the current, it is even harder when that ship doesn't want to turn.

[old guy]

4. He is right.

Unfortunately for repubs the changes they would have to make would make them Democrats which will never happen.

[Left Coast2020]

5. Actions speak louder than words.

[Laelth]

6. It needs to change its ideology, not its "message." n/t

-Laelth

[wandy]

7. The 'neckstomper almost speaks truth.................

"the GOP needs to do a better job of tailoring specific messages to specific groups."

English translation.

The rubes are starting to catch on to our lies and deception.
We need new and better lies and deception!

[Sunlei]

12. Such disrespect to minority communities where Paul thinks all they want is less jail time!

"among minority communities, he said, a message of criminal justice reform – including changes to the “war on drugs” and sentencing laws – would resonate."

[Comrade Grumpy]

55. He's absolutely right on the drug issue, and other GOP types are coming around.

Democrats need to make sure they are not outflanked on this.

But, yeah, what else does Paul have to offer minority communities?

[CatholicEdHead]

50. Exactly, the key line

Their marketing is off, not their platform.

Why cannot people accept our vocal party racists and not accept them for who they are? Why cannot people want their paychecks smaller so a few chosen few that God has blessed earn more? We are all sinners who God has said we are to be in a lower place economically.

[elleng]

9. May be right, and that's fine,

but without Democratic success in Congress and the states, it won't matter very much.

[freshwest]

44. +1

[Daemonaquila]

10. Keep up the good work, GOP!

C'mon - be true conservatives and don't change a thing! Your 60+ demographic loves you just the way you are!

[Javaman]

11. I'm fine with that. nt

[sinkingfeeling]

13. He's going to get the GOP to have respect for personal privacy? But, how could

they force women to have ultrasounds and not use contraceptives?

[DonViejo]

14. Rand doesn't know his party history...

“Everybody told Reagan to sit back and shut up,” Paul recalled. “They told him it wasn’t his time, and it wasn’t going to be his time. The establishment wanted Ford…It was bitterly fought, but in the end, Reagan won and the party became a better place, at least for a while. We need to have that debate again, and we need to be a bigger, stronger party.”

Jimmy Carter defeated Ford, not Reagan

[jamzrockz]

26. Not really

Ford defeated Reagan in the primaries and I think he was talking about the primaries and not the general election.

The 1976 Republician National Convention was a United States political convention of the Republican Party that met from August 16 to August 19, 1976 to select the party's nominee for President. Held in Kemper Arena in Kansas City, Missouri, the convention nominated President Gerald Ford for a full term, but only after narrowly defeating a strong challenge from former California Governor Ronald Reagan

[DonViejo]

28. "Not really" what?

Ford didn't really beat Reagan at the '76 convention or, Jimmy Carter didn't defeat Ford in the '76 General Election? Whichever, Rand is wrong.

[Hayduke Bomgarte]

17. will "not win again in my lifetime"

And yet he goes right on being Rand Paul.

[davidpdx]

43. That's because he and his family are skilled at talking out both ends

[freshwest]

45. LOL... n/t

[MrScorpio]

18. The problem for him clearly is the fact that Republicans don't do change...

Hence their insistence in using Bronze Age mythology as a guideline to legislate.

[Dopers_Greed]

19. The only difference between the Repugs and Rand Paul

They wear tinfoils hats.

He wears a brillo pad.

[MFM008]

20. what he didnt say..

"especially if I run". thank you come again.....

[Swede Atlanta]

21. Until the current members of the party - "traditional" and "tea bagger" die off.....

I don't see any chance of the party engaging in serious reflection and taking a new direction.

Now even traditional, more moderate Republicans have to come across as out of their minds to avoid or fight off a primary challenge from the frothy-mouthed baggers. They have no choice but to adopt reactionary positions on everything.

So until all of these die off there is no possibility they will change. The ones on the very far right such as Ted Cruz claim the reason they aren't winning elections is because they aren't conservative enough. They totally discount polls that show on issue after issue the Republican party is out of step with the American people generally and in many cases even self-identified Republicans.

They claim the Democratic Party is the party of uber-liberal Northeast intellectual snobs who claim to know better than everyone else.

They don't look in the mirror and realize in fact they are a party of reactionary, largely Southern uneducated buffoons who claim to know better than everyone else AND who refuse to accept facts such as science, polls, etc.

[pinto]

57. Agree, the R party is out of touch and out of step. Yet I'd caution against a broad brush approach.

They claim the Democratic Party is the party of uber-liberal Northeast intellectual snobs who claim to know better than everyone else.

They don't look in the mirror and realize in fact they are a party of reactionary, largely Southern uneducated buffoons who claim to know better than everyone else AND who refuse to accept facts such as science, polls, etc.

We aren't the caricature the Repubs cite, overtly and by implication. Don't think we ought to play the same game. Lots of staunch, reactionary Repubs live and vote outside of the South.

The facts are on our side. And if elections have to turn on singular, emotional bases we have a case. I'm guessing the ACA will be a no win ploy by the Republicans, Despite its scrambled roll out, the numbers are looking good.

And Republican obstructionism is a given, well covered aspect of their sense of "governing". It's a joke of responsibility if they want to go there. That's a slam dunk.

[11 Bravo]

22. From your lips to God's ears, Rand. (Now get that fucking muskrat off your head!)

[ReRe]

23. What Rand means is....

"The Republican Party will never win another election again unless they learn how to lie better." They are lost. There is no way they can relate to The People. They have nothing in common with The People The only people they can relate to in this country is the 1%, The Corporation.

And what they don't get is demographics. They. Are. Toast.

Now what we have to do is get the DINOs, Third-wayers, DLCers, Corporate "Democrats" out of the Democratic Party. We have to get The Corporation out of Congress, and particularly out of the Democratic Party. The government needs to do The People's bidding, not the Corporation's bidding.

A good place to start is the midterm this fall!

[Gary 50]

40. Don't underestimate their..

well oiled propaganda machine. Don't overestimate the intelligence of the American people. As to the Dino's, they come from districts where real Democrats don't get elected. Yes, they are awful sometimes but still better than Republicans. Well, maybe not always. I saw a self labeled "blue dog" conservative Democrat (don't remember his name) on TV recently bemoaning the "fact" that Obama just wasn't willing to compromise and work with the Republicans. I wanted to puke. Nice going for a Democrat to regurgitate the Republican lie and give it validity.

[Politicub]

52. Republicans are master con artists

Deception, lies and bigotry are the currency in which they trade.

[ReRe]

54. That's right...

... they live in the world of the 1%, and have nothing in common with the 99%. They are hypocrites, saying one thing and doing the opposite.

[Xolodno]

24. Allow me to translate...I understand Bullshit.

He's saying the Republican Party needs to become more libertarian. That is drop the social conservatives like a bad habit. Don't talk abortion, don't talk gay rights, etc. And leave the question of social conservative policies to the states and the courts.

But rather....

Loosen the drug laws or drop them outright.
Curtail the NSA.
Take on a more Isolationist position in foreign affairs.
Drop the ACA.
Reduce Military expenditures.
Less regulations
Etc.

He's right...if they go that route, they can be quite viable...in the future. But on the current landscape, they would lose initially as they lose the social conservatives. But once freed from their tentacles, they could pull a significant amount of people from the center.

Shoot, I think socialism is a better system, but I could get behind some libertarian ideas (if I didn't know better)...and depending on one's priorities, they may vote the other way if they can communicate them effectively.

But for now, the Republicans need to get their ass handed to them soundly in an election before they get the balls of a painful change.

[Beacool]

25. Well, knock me with a feather.

I actually agree with Rand.

[sakabatou]

27. Says we need change, keeps going extreme

Well, which is it?

[blackspade]

29. To late Rand

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is already there.
Sorry buddy, your not stealing any more of our lunch money...

[Tom Ripley]

31. I never thought that I would wish Rand Paul a long life

never say never

[tanyev]

32. Hey, GOP! How's that hopey, changey thing workin' out for you?

[freshwest]

46. Hehehe! Good way to turn that disgusting meme back on them! n/t

[DallasNE]

34. Irony Alert: Paul Lamments "Tweaking At The Edges"

And then proceeds to tweak at the edges. Quick, somebody write the talking points so Paul can lift them as his own. Wait, he can do that by going to Democrats.org or a similar site. But Paul seems to acknowledge that the Republicans currently have no "respect for personal privacy". The problem here is that the devil is in the details. Unless this is an endorsement for same sex marriage the words are hallow and require being fleshed out. But here is a starter on Paul and same sex marriage. Back to the drawing board Paul.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/06/26/rand-paul-same-sex-marriage-conundrum-leads-to-marrying-animals/

[trublu992]

35. Here's hoping

[fbc]

36. The Republicans' problem is they've already gotten almost everything they want.

Unions crushed, lax environmental and business regulation, perpetual warfare, a corporate owned media, etc, etc.

The Republicans problem is that the spinelessness of Democrats have given them almost everything they ever wanted, and they really don't have much left to fight for.

[blkmusclmachine]

37. The GOP IS changing: look at all the Jim Crow discrimination bills they are floating, specifically

Last edited Fri Feb 14, 2014, 11:29 PM - Edit history (1)

and solely targeting GLBT American citizens. ID, KS, SD, PA, OR, AZ, want to return to Jim Crow, this time with a big bullseye on the back of every GLBT American citizen. These states want to replace secular/democratic law with far rightwing Christian Dominionist "Biblical law." It's happening now!

[Politicub]

53. It's the death rattle of the GOP's war on gays

They are going to win a few battles, but the lgbt community is gaining enough allies to win in the end.

Opinion has shifted dramatically. Lgbt discrimination is being seen by many as the despicable and disgusting bigotry that it is.

Outright gay slurs are becoming or have become unacceptable. The Supreme Court has ruled that DOMA demeaned gays and lesbians, and we're seeing the jurisprudence of the opinion playing out across the country.

Almost everyone knows a gay friend, neighbor, co-worker or family member, and that's a powerful thing.

But the lgbt people in the discrimination states will suffer until the issue is settled once and for all.

[Cryptoad]

38. Im dreaming of a Blue Texas!!!!!

[struggle4progress]

39. "Buy new family-sized GOP! Now with our secret ingredient, Tweak!"

[Todays_Illusion]

41. Yes Rand and if the Republican party goes all out libertarian,

they will be wiped from the nation's history.

[marble falls]

42. In that case I hope he lives a long life after one term in the Senate

[SkatmanRoth]

47. I want to wish Rand a long, long miserable life

Rand Paul should have an exceptionally long life of watching Republicans repeatedly lose election after election.

[trusty elf]

48. I thought that all they needed was duct tape!

“I would suggest when we nominate people we give them a roll of duct tape to put over their mouths so they don’t say stupid things, and maybe we can win an election,” said Rep. Ted Poe (R-TN) during an event Monday at the Heritage Foundation.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/02/10/lawmaker-suggests-duct-tape-strategy-for-gop-pols-shut-up-until-november-elections/

[IMG][/IMG]

[malthaussen]

49. Then I hope you have a good, long life, Rand. n/t

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

59. +1 (on the "long" wish)

-1 on the "good" wish.

[Politicub]

51. The leopard can't hide his spots

He may be right about the GOP never winning another presidential election, but he's a teapublican through and through.

And a lying grifter.

[CrackerJohn]

58. Good.