President Obama won 93 percent of the black vote, 71 percent of the Hispanic vote and 73 percent of the Asian vote in the November election. Mitt Romney didn’t do his party any favors with his secretly taped “47 percent” remarks, saying they were “dependent on government” and “victims” who were “entitled to healthcare, to food, to housing, you name it.”
As Rick Perry would say:
Recently the Texas GOP Chairman said his state could become a battleground in 2016. Stories like that one have Republicans spooked.
Now delusional RNC chair Reince Priebus wants to play party hero and win the hearts and minds of the very people he and his fellow Republicans disenfranchised, treated as inferior, disparaged, vastly undervalued, and designated as “the others.”
His new mission is to convince all those formerly icky-poo people– whom his party hasn’t wanted to touch with a ten-foot car elevator– that they’re suddenly worth an abundance of time and effort.
Authentic expressions of right wing appreciation and recognition on the other hand… But let’s not get greedy.
He says it will take years but insists that reaching out to voters whom the GOP regularly alienated “can move the numbers in a significant way for us in the future.”
There it is, that’s what it’s all about: Moving numbers. It’s not about caring, not about truly changing from within and becoming genuinely inclusive, not about making civil rights, human rights, and equal rights a priority. No. It’s about “moving the numbers.”
Priebus added, “And it’s not just to move the numbers – it’s to do the right thing.” That he had to tack that on, lest anyone misinterpret his motives, speaks volumes. Afterthought much?
This is all about his legacy.
Reince Priebus is staking his legacy as Republican National Committee chairman on improving the party’s performance with minority voters. [...] Priebus says he plans on being remembered as the Republican chairman who changed things for his party. [...]
Speaking to a room full of predominantly black businessmen, community leaders, party activists and dignitaries, Priebus said he was committed to “building long term, lasting, genuine, and authentic relationships” in places where the Republican Party “just hasn’t been.”
“[W]e’ve got a lot of ground to make up with the black community.” [...] On the grassroots side, Priebus acknowledged that “our contacts are lousy” [...]
The RNC’s grassroots overhaul will address everything from “technology, data sharing, demographic issues, voter outreach and inclusion, to our primary system and the debate calendar,” an effort that Priebus said would be “extraordinarily expensive.” [...]
The second initiative is improving the GOP’s message to and image with minority groups.
If I sound a little skeptical, it’s because, well, as President Obama lays out plans for immigration reform and says, “We forget that most of us used to be them,” top Republicans like Karl Rove say to the GOP: Just don’t *sound* intolerant, Bobby Jindal said, “If we want people to like us, we have to like them first,” and Yep, still a pig, Reince Priebus.
Meantime, growing Latino clout forced the GOP hand– including evangelical pastors, US Chamber of Commerce– on immigration reform. A strategy memo released by a GOP pollster revealed that “Republicans have run out of persuadable white voters.”
So yes, Republicans are forced to “move the numbers,” stat! Sure, they can try to do that while they simultaneously try to suppress the vote, bust unions, and deport and/or exploit undocumented immigrants.
Please proceed.
Here are a few more little issues that Reince thinks the right words and cosmetic fixes will overcome:
AUDIO– Fox mocks 102-year-old who waited hours to vote: “What’s the big deal? She was happy.”
If you can’t win, cheat: Pennsylvania GOP to introduce election-rigging legislation
At least 201,000 did not vote in Florida because of frustration with long lines
VIDEO– Republican consultant: Voter ID laws, long lines “help our side.”
Former Florida GOP leaders: Voter suppression was reason for new election law
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