#976 Clash Clown

I was thinking recently about the Republican Party and what they need to do to get back in power. They are suffering the lowest approval rating with potential voters in decades. Part of it is the economy and the public’s general sense that it was the Republicans that got us into this mess.
Part of it is the current Republicans in congress offering the same old solution or lack thereof—“Cut Taxes and Let the Market Forces Work” is a mantra most of the voting public thinks is tired and old.
How do they put it? A stopped clock is right twice a day.
But it also doesn’t help when the public face of the party is an individual who has made most of his money by encouraging the fearful or hateful side of human nature.
My mom always taught me if you don’t have something nice to say about a person, don’t say anything at all. So I find it distasteful when I hear hatemongering.
The Conservative Political Action Committee recently held a convention. Lots of people spoke. Now CPAC is not the Republican Party, much as they’d like to be. But they wield a block of potential votes so Republican candidates want to be noticed by them. Mitt Romney appeared, whom, Republican voters, if you remember, roundly rejected. His opening statement was, “I have to hurry through this speech before I get arrested by the federal government for practicing capitalism.”
Funny. But really, was the current financial collapse brought about by too many arrests? Bernie Madoff turned himself in.
The other big speaker at the convention was the aforementioned hatemonger. He has 13 million listeners and so is much regarded by the shortsighted. By way of comparison, it took 66 million votes to win the last election.
The guy is an entertainer first. He makes his living making incendiary comments and dramatizing clashes of culture.
But, um, it’s hard to admire a fire juggler in a paper house.
The Republican Party is filled with good and decent people, and for it to grow, it needs to reach out to even more.
The clash clown’s got a long way to go to get to 66 million.
America, ya gotta love it.