Conservative pundit Charles Krauthammer realizes that some Republicans may be tempted to change course in the wake of another electoral defeat, but he counsels his party: "No reinvention when none is needed. Do conservatism but do it better." He said calls for moderation are "nonsense."
The country doesn't need two liberal parties. Yes, Republicans need to weed out candidates who talk like morons about rape. But this doesn't mean the country needs two pro-choice parties either. In fact, more women are pro-life than are pro-choice. The problem here for Republicans is not policy but delicacy -- speaking about culturally sensitive and philosophically complex issues with reflection and prudence.
Now, as far as polls are concerned, the notion that more American women oppose reproductive rights than support them is extremely dubious. Indeed, it's also worth noting that in this week's exit polls, pro-choice voters were a clear majority.
But even putting that aside, I'm fascinated by this notion that Republicans would be fine if only they could present their far-right views on women's health and reproductive rights with "delicacy." In Krauthammer's mind, his party's difficulties -- the gender gap crushed GOP candidates this year -- are really just a matter of spin. Women would be far more inclined to support the right-wing agenda, the argument goes, if only Republicans explained it better.
I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that Krauthammer has no idea what he's talking about.
Since the 2010 midterms, Republican policymakers have fought to restrict contraception; cut off Planned Parenthood; require state-mandated, medically-unnecessary transvaginal ultrasounds; force physicians to lie to patients about abortion and breast cancer; limit equal-pay laws; delay the Violence Against Women Act; curtail reproductive rights at the state level at a historic level; insist that protections for impregnated rape victims were unnecessary; and do everything possible to overturn Roe v. Wade -- and on Tuesday, the party paid a price for it.
"Delicacy" was unlikely to make much of a difference.
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They should listen and heed his advice! Then we get the House.
"no reinvention when none is needed. do conservatism, but do it better".
this means, "keep your mouths shut, and if you must open them, LIE".
THEIR AGENDA IS; keep it hidden.
The party that worships market solutions just rejected the market's verdict and announced that the customers were wrong!
Yes, clearly, the problem isn't with the product, it's with the marketing.
Krauthammer needs to get concrete and give an example about how the constitutional amendment declaring a zygote as a citizen can be put more delicately.
If he has thought this through he knows that there are more than trampled feelings run over during the train wreck caused by the GOP's Right crashing into "women's" issues- the ones that normally conservative voting people with alternate chromosomes vote with Dems on. Assuming he has thought it through all he is saying is that the GOP needs to give more winks to GOP women- that they can always send their daughters to Canada for an abortion or to get contraceptives, so none of these laws have any practical downside for them. They won't sell low income women on that proposition, but Charles knows he doesn't need them/ suspects that they are regular Fox viewers and can be conned.
Well that's pretty much how Mitt did it
"If I told you what my plan is, I won't get elected"
i know republicans who are AGAINST birth control and abortion, but they are the first ones in line if their teenage daughter gets pregnant.
I've been in a few doctor's offices in Mexico. Believe me, the OB/GYN tables are in the corner, plasti-wrapped and ready to go the moment we choose to send the business their way.
PLEASE! It is not about choice and it is not about life. It is about health care and human rights.
Mostly "rights".
Let's call for some GOP, intellectual honesty. Women are not kept in binders, trapper keepers, accordion files, or any other organizational office tool.
To Krauthammer: Keep it up, ahole. Women are still watching you guys and would love the opportunity to take republicans down again.
Hey Krauthammer, how does it feel to get your ass kicked by, not just one woman, but numerous women?
I didn't think he meant women would like their agenda if they explained it better, I think he meant don't explain it at all, don't even mention the agenda and then women will go for it.
I think he meant Republicans need to lie better.
I think, like most men of his beliefs, that he has no idea what he means.
Why this guy still has a single shred of legitimacy is far beyond me! He was one of the main cheerleaders for the Iraq war, torture - he should even be allowed to speak!
Thats it! They want to hide & not give an answer as to what the GOP really think of women. To the GOP we are just a statistic and not a thinking,voting person! What also went wrong for the GOP in this election compared to the previous one is that we FINALLY knew which questions to ask! And we should keep asking again& again!
The questions that weren't asked -When is incest not RAPE??!! Who will protect our young girls if they become pregnant as a result from incest rape??!! How would these young girls stand up in court??! President Obama said best "Rape is Rape" period!
And last question - how long will it take any female to prove it was rape, 3 months, 6 months, full term??!!
Her word should be enough.
I wish. But it goes both ways and have to find the truth for all involved.
It will be interesting to see how many of the old, white guys of the Republican party are "leading" a year from now.
I hate Cantor, but I can definitely see the Ryans and the Cantors of the Republican party using this as a justification for taking over the Republican party.
Even us old white guys are descended from a long line of women and have women relatives and friends.
Yes, we are decendants and there are a few left with whom you must be "delicate."
Not delicate but more honest and respectful! We are breathing, living, thinking and Voting people!! Not just a binder full! The GOP like to section all Americans into neat little piles so they can look at the numbers & percentages of who to win over. We are all Americans that listen, research, think and vote!
Awwww Charlie, come out of your bubble!! Talking "delicately" to women isn't going to solve the Repug's problems!!! Maybe you should buy them diamonds instead!! Or maybe expensive perfume!!
<snark>
That works!!! :) Then we could still ask the really tough questions and watch the Far Right Wing sweat while we admire our new babbles that sparkle!!! I like it!!
I read his column and thought to myself, I hope he convinces all his friends of this. We will teach them sooner or later, but I kind of enjoyed spanking them this time and would not mind in the least repeating the lesson again.
I do believe the Teabaggers will destroy the GOP from within.
I, for one, agree with the notion of egging them on to stick their penis in the hornet's nest.
A tea bag for strength can only be used once for good taste. After that it becomes useless. Most of the teabaggers probably have been in the water too long.
If right-wing pundits were in the auto industry, Krauthammer would be telling us that the 2013 Edsel definitely will sell, if only Ford changes the ad jingle to something more up-tempo, and that the fact that the Edsel has never sold says nothing about how badly consumers really truly want to buy it.
How about instead showing a little R E S P E C T for women.
Or better yet if you don't have a vagina then don't try to tell women what they can and can not do with it. It doesn't help that these same morons are the ones who tell women to put an aspirin between their legs yet don't tell men to keep it in their pants, instead they say boys will be boys. It is rather amusing how everything about pregnancy is the womans fault, she got pregnant to trap the guy type crap, unless the woman doesn't want the pregnancy or wants to prevent pregnancies then the men want to decide for women.
Oh btw I don't have a vagina.
Real Men stand by their Women!!! Thank you Whomitmay!!!
I think what he means is that Republicans should go back to hiding their social agenda. "Yes, Republicans need to weed out candidates who talk like morons about rape." Not Republicans who HAVE moronic opinions about rape, but who "TALK like morons." Ryan's policy positions are identical to those "morons" but he was better able to dodge those questions by claiming to be "a numbers guy."
And it's not just rape. All those, including Romney, who made racist remarks about the President and openly challenged his legitimacy on racist grounds, they should go back to only saying those thing privately and all will be well with the Republican Party - I think that's what he is saying.
I was thinking the very same thing, about what he's truly getting at with the, "If Republicans only explained it better" comment. He's saying that if they spin it in a different way or stop talking about it all together, then "women will go for it". Thing is, women already know the deal with the Republican party, they've got one pretty large mountain to climb at this point if they ever want a majority female vote again, but even that is doubtful, REALLY doubtful.
In my garden, most weeds have been categorized as "decorative grass" by the local nursery.
no matter what the republicans will say now,,i wiil not trust them,,they will say things just to get votes,,they will be more moderate and good talker,,but will not put their real agenda out to everyone to see,,so do not trust the evil republicans at all for the next 20 years
Oh, and guys . . . don't forget to hold the door for us, to pull out the chair for us and to be extra sweet to us every 28 days. And if we start meddling in politics or anything else that isn't any of our business or way over our heads intellectually, just send us shoe shopping.
What a moron ...
Delicately? Really? Kind of like when Romney said he shouldn't have spoken inelegantly about the 47%? Get real guys. At this point, we women are feeling inclined to bean Krauthammer over the head with a sledgehammer, in order to knock some women's equality sense into him!
Oh, he liked speaking elegantly - remember when he was asked about Rush's unbelievable assault on Ms. Fluke, Mitt's reply was "I don't think I would have put it that way." How would he have put it?
The fundamental (no pun intended) problem for the anti-abortionists is that if their core belief is that a zygote is a person, how do you make exceptions to their intended ban?
If you believe in an omnipotent and omnipresent God, then he intended for the rapist to father a child. That child should have equal protection under the law, and if the mother dies in childbirth, then that's what God intended as well. How do you step back from that?
It used to be that the anti-abortionists would take what they could get--a "reasonable" restriction here, a closed clinic there. Unless they go back to that model, they will have less and less support.
MikeinMichigan I agree, however: it's only those who say "Abortion is always wrong" who get my respect along with my vehement disagreement. As soon as exceptions are included, then the conversation is no longer about the rights of the unborn.
If a politician says "I think abortion is wrong" because rights of the baby etc. etc. but then says "Oh but in the case of rape/incest/health of the mother" they show their hand (so to speak).
If the inchoate human is sacred, than the circumstances of conception should be immaterial. Exceptions really translate into "If she wasn't willing, we'll let her out of the deal." It's not about 'fetal rights" with these idiots, it's about legislating a woman's sexual behavior. "You were willing? Well, Little Lady you'll just have to take the consequences."
Check out the conversation on Fox News three women discussing why Romney lost the women's vote:
http://video.foxnews.com/v/1957474547001/
Prepared to be amazed!
Oh, my GOD!!! I swear that there must be a "stupid" gene bred into some women and that FOX NEWS only hires women who have that gene!!
So the problem they lost this election is not their policies, but how they did or didn't explain their policies. Good luck with that folks.
Apparently just being female does not mean you have a clue. Where did they get the idea that more people are "pro-life" than "pro-choice"?
My favourite bit is towards the end when Gretchen says that more women are pro-life than pro-choice but "that wasn't reflected in the exit polls at all."
Gee, Gretchen, if it isn't reflected in the polls than where exactly is it reflected? At the Faux Nooze team meetings?
Its amazing that these women said that only the married woman (who voted in majority for Mitt) cared about the future of their children or had the morals to vote the GOP platform. I was a single mother for 8 years until I married my husband and I cared about my daughter's future as a single mother and I care about my daughter and my son's futures as a married mother...My morals, my look to the future didn't change just my marital status did.
PS, Mitt showed me that he didn't understand women's issue when he was asked about what he would do regarding equal pay for equal work. His response was the binders full of women instead of passing legislature to hold companies accountable for equality in the work place.
Unfortunately not all women are bright. I've heard some Republican women say that the reason they voted for Romney is because he's "so handsome". Obviously they don't see those vacant beady eyes or that tight smirk or the raised eyebrows (he surprises even himself) that I see when I look at him; his mendacity is written right on his face. Hopefully we won't have to see him for too much longer. If Republicans do indeed vote on looks alone, I guess that explains Michele Bachmann's win. Yikes.
On the contrary, I heard some African Americans say they were voting for Obama because......you know.....I guess they aren't bright either.
Ugh. If they think Grampa Brylcreem is hot, they have serious issues. But it's no different from the dummy men who voted for McCain simply b/c they thought Palin was "hot". Or the white guys who voted for Romney, ignoring his flip flopping and liberal record, because he was the right color, or the Christians who always vote for the person they think is the most Christian.
"Krauthammer has no idea what he's talking about" What a stunning observation!
If one reviews the archives from the days following the 2008 election, the quotes from republicans concerning what they needed to do moving forward as a party are almost identical to what they are saying now. Rather than adapt and modify their policies to a changing world, they ultimately decided that all they needed was a new salesman and a catchy new slogan to sell the same failed policies.
That's an interesting observation, and correct. They'll do the same thing this time, the new salesman, catchy slogan deal...it's like a game to them, same as big business that supports them. I have to wonder about the supporters of this game plan, do they think, somehow, that if they vote these wealthy robber baron types into public office, their fortunes will magically be made available to those who voted for them??
Of course the Rape-Public-CONs should express themselves "delicately". Everybody knows that women can't handle being addressed clearly and directly - they just get "hysterical" when you do!
/end sarc
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Pre,
very good! :)
for Krauthammer, "delicacy" means "get better at lying to women".
I've shared this anecdote before, but it's not only relevant but ironic since it's about repeating yourself and directed towards people who are insisting on repeating themselves.
In my 20s, I tried my hand at standup in open mic nights. I enjoyed it but I'll be the first to admit I wasn't very good. An occasional good joke, a keen insight, sometimes a really good night or set, but I had no quality control, I couldn't figure out how to make something funny, and keep it consistently funny.
After I stopped trying I realized part of my problem.
The open mic nights I was going to were in NJ suburbs, not the city, and as a result, the crowd, by and large, consisted of the same standups, their same friends, the same broke college kids who wanted to go someplace to be entertained where there was no cover and no minimum. The same crazy people who thought they were dropping truth bombs.
Not 100% the same crowd week after week. But enough that you had no way of really determining whether or not you were getting better. And that was even if you were trying to whittle and finesse your material to be "better." What I also saw, week after week, were guys doing the exact same jokes, the exact same way, to the exact same crowd, and expecting a different response.
And the GOP is essentially just like that. When all is said and done, they might give their material to some new people, but it'll be the same agenda, presented to the same people. Those that like it now, will probably like it 4 years from now, barring some major epiphanies if the next 4 years show Obamacare working well and the economy getting better. But those that didn't like it in 2012 are probably going to still think it's ass in 2016, barring a disaster so huge it can't be handled during Obama's term and winds up defining him.
Essentially, what the GOP is doing is waiting until world conditions are more favorable to their tired old ideas that have been proven ineffective and at times dangerous, at which time they'll be seen as bold and revolutionary. So just like the past 4 years, they're banking on things becoming so awful, their ideas will seem brilliant by comparison.
And they'll do what it takes to create that scenario.
Damn, I wish I thought you were wrong!
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Someone once said that the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Boehner almost slipped up when he was about to say this is about the American Dream and he stopped himself. Boehner knows too well that he and the other Republicans have only been working for the extreme wealthy. Too bad for you Boehner that got caught there, you deceiving bastard. Boehner you belly aching and crying fake tears will not work, because those tears are only about yourself and your own self interests with no caring about anybody else, except the extreme wealthy. Boehner will be crying some real tears when he passes on to the extent of what he has done.
How does one delicately say mandatory ultrasound?
transvaginal tickle-pictures?
Got Enraged and Engaged:
Mooched the Vote 2012!
;-)
Perhaps with an English accent. Everything sounds better with an English accent...
"Mandatory ultrasound" IS the delicate way of saying "The government is going to rape you with its electronic penis."
Is Krauthammer wrong? Yes, emphatically yes.
If the Republican party wants to remain vital and relevant it must change. It doesn't need to do a 180, but if it wants to continue to be a factor in American politics it must have a course correction. If it doesn't course-correct the party will simply become grumbling old people in Barca loungers, upset that an America they once knew is no more.
Moderate Republicans need to take back their party, kick John Boehner and his cronies out of office, and require the Tea Party faction to do community service in poverty-stricken America. Maybe then — maybe — they'll see and appreciate America in all its diversity.
@madabip on twitter
Speaking delicately about the issue is not going to stop the media and Dems from asking the questions in 2014. Krauthammer needs to tell the Republicans to pick which constituency they can afford to lose, the Christian right or women voters. This is not an issue that can be resolved by consensus.
Sounds like a business plan you have there. If you dump a demographic from your overall base (here, meaning the American public), you will only lose, whether it's a national election or in business. Oh, one more thing, the vast majority of women voters ARE Christian...so with your plan, you'll lose two bases of your demographic.
You cannot rely on a superficial analysis that most women voters are Christians. The reality is that women voters defected to the Dems. The Christian right does not have that option because they are not going to support Dems. Republicans need to keep women voters over the long term. Christian right voters are primarily older white voters and that demographic is on the decline. In addition, the attitudes toward social issues with younger voters are not in line with the Christian right.
Charles is well entrenched inside the Republican Bubble. Leave him there. His paychecks from Fox will continue and he will help out the progressives at the same time.
I say let the GOP go on this tact and we'll see them going the way of the Whig's
And, from the era of the Whig: "Horses sweat, gentlemen perspire, and ladies glow."
I didn't realize that Charles was that clueless. But then again, maybe he spoke after attending a party in Colorado... I don't think Charles tokes up often and he just started babbling while waiting for the Cheetos...
Taking away a woman's right to choose and seeking to ban abortion solves nothing. In fact, such policies make matters worse as they endanger a woman's life. A ban isn't a solution, it's a blindfold. Rather than Republicans focusing on how to strip women of their rights and privacy, why not focus on policies that could dramatically decrease the number of abortions?
Do you think if healthcare was available to all Americans that it might decrease the number of abortions?
Do you think that ensuring women receive equal pay as men might lower the abortion rate?
Do you think that making education a priority and making college affordable to all Americans might have a positive impact in decreasing the abortion rate?
Do you think investing in after-school programs and childcare services might have a positive impact in reducing the number of abortions?
We could go on and on. But the point is, if people are truly serious about saving the lives of the unborn rather than playing political football with women's health, then there are viable solutions available that will in fact help dramatically reduce the abortion rate as we know it. Contrast and compare the ideas and proposals being offered by Democrats and those being offered by Republicans. Then ask yourself, which party truly is pro-life?
I really hope this not only costs them elections going forward, but their own reproduction as well. As a woman, I can't imagine touching any of these guys with a ten-foot pole. There aren't enough diamonds in the world...
I just see their seething resentment as some kind of racism; it encompasses so many people and aspects of life! So I'm hoping that, like racism, the more of them die out before they can reproduce any more, and the more people that grow up without that level of hate, the better off we'll be.
So well said, thank you!
The party of 'cranky old white men' just does not GET it. The party of 'small government' does not GET it. No, you don't get to tell WOMEN, MINORITIES and GAYS what to 'think'. You don't have to be pro-choice. You have to respect the wishes of those that ARE. Honest to GOD........how clueless ARE they?