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Republican consultant Alex Castellanos
We talked recently about House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's (R-Va.) rebranding initiative, which is his fourth such effort in the last four years. Apparently, he's going to have some company.
When Cantor launched his first rebranding effort in 2009, it was through an entity called the National Council for a New America. What's been largely forgotten is that it wasn't alone -- after Republicans' electoral failures in 2008, all kinds of rebranding groups popped up to also help improve the party's image.
Remember organizational powerhouses like Rebuild The Party, the Center for Republican Renewal, Renewing American Leadership, and Resurgent Republic? No? Well, that's because they all came and went fairly quickly, just as the National Council for a New America did.
As it happens, it appears history is repeating itself. In the wake of another national cycle in which the GOP struggled, Cantor has a new rebranding initiative, and once again, he's not the only one.
NewRepublican.org is the brainchild of GOP consultant and CNN pundit Alex Castellanos, whose clients have included Mitt Romney and former President George W. Bush. Castellanos is joining a growing cottage industry of Republicans who are trying to rebrand and rebuild the party as President Obama begins his second term. [...]
The group is not advocating that the GOP abandon its conservative principles; rather that the party figure out how to present them in a more modern and effective way.
How original. Cantor's office, the Heritage Foundation, and now NewRepublican.org are all pursuing the same goal at the same time, and may yet find more related groups doing the same thing.
All of these efforts have one thing in common: they're predicated on the assumption that the Republican agenda is effective and popular, and the party will thrive once they find the most persuasive words to convince Americans how great the GOP really is.
It is, after all, the whole point of rebranding: a fresh coat of paint on an unchanged product. Republicans aren't losing because they're part of a radicalized party with a failed governing vision and a narrow electoral base; they're losing because they just aren't spinning their awesomeness effectively enough.
Or so the argument goes.
To reiterate a point from a month ago, this really is misguided. Republicans have found themselves on the wrong side of the American mainstream, not because of inadequate talking points, but because most of the country likes Medicare, doesn't hate gay people, thinks the rich can afford to pay a little more in taxes, wants fewer wars, supports taking steps to prevent gun violence, and believes the government should stay out of our bedrooms and doctors' offices, among other things.
The road to electoral success is for Republicans to consider changing their policies, not their sloganeering.
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If you change the box, but there's still an unwanted product inside, the result are going to be the same. No matter if you call it feces or high-grade fertilizer, crap is still crap, and there is no altering that.
So Alex Castellanos is working on a way to help the GOP rebrand, reframe, and improve their often condescending, insulting, or offensive tone in speaking to people or groups they generally see as BENEATH them, but whom they want to induce to vote with them anyway?
Will they be putting that Meet the Press roundtable video on in continuous loop? You know, the one where Castellanos acted as a model of this new behavior by trying to pat Rachel on the head and tell her she was mistaken, while assuming a deeply fact-challenged viewpoint about how women only make $.70 on the dollar that men make?
But you know, Rachel, you're just so passionate in your "opinions." Why don't you go sit in that corner over there and we'll just pat you on the head as we walk past, like the other frozen-faced Stepford wives that are the only women allowed in the GOP, part of this new inclusive, reframed "brand" designed to make you feel "special" for even being allowed to be in the room (so long as you don't get too "uppity" or deign to speak authoritatively to your "betters.").
Isn't that BETTER NOW? I'm sure women and ethnic minorities and LGBT people will all start voting Republican in droves. How can they resist?
Watch Rachel Maddow Own GOP Strategist Alex Castellanos After He Claims that Women Don’t Actually Make Less Than Men
I was wondering if this was the same shipdit that was so patronizing to Rachel that time. I don't see how he is the person that will ever be able to present an attractive face to the repub party line. Someone as repulsive as he is needs to go hide in a closet if he doesn't want to see his organization fall further into disrepute.
Whoops, sorry, looks like that video is no longer playing on Jezebel. Here it is on HuffPo instead.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/30/rachel-maddow-alex-castellanos-meet-the-press-women-economy_n_1464039.html
Let me guess, each and every one of these re-branding efforts will be led by an old white man cleverly disguising old white man policies.
Definition of insanity: repeatedly committing the same act that led to previous failure in anticipation of a different outcome.
grumpyliberalbastard
Brevity is admired, Grumpy, and yours in this case tells the story of the last too many years in this country Thanks!
I know everybody keeps saying it, but--
That is the definition of "stupidity", not insanity.
Insanity is losing touch with reality, and it is much worse.
Gun nuts that shoot up schools are insane.
The Repub Party is stupid, but it can also be seen as insane when it demands cuts in "Entitlements" [which we can afford] so old people will die slow painful lingering premature deaths. But, that is a result of a different accusation, not the "rebranding" effort.
And here I thought there might be some hope for the progressive liberals. There is not a "free" thought amoung the lot. I paid for my Social Security benifits by working all my life. The obamacrats will have you believe that cell phones, condos, cars, free obamabucks, contraception, abortion and free rides in general on the backs of those who work everyday and in some cases go without is OK. Well I am here to tell you NO it is not.
Wow, way to set up a field of strawmen then "valiantly" mow them down. The cellphone program? Bush 1 started it. There are no free condos, cars, "Obamabucks" (whatever that is; I'm guessing you mean TANF or something like it), contraception, abortion, or free rides at all (unless you count giveaways to corporations). Government assistance is time-limited, denied if you have too many resources, and such a pittance that to call it a "free ride" is a joke. Seriously, I'd love to see you live your life on it, it would be funny. Contraception is required to be copay free, but guess what! You have to pay for the insurance, so no free ride there. The rest of it, you're full of crap.
You would be the one who is without hope, if you're so blind as to be unable to tell lies from truth (or at least do some damn research, and no, listening to Hannity and Rush does not count).
Colbert did a hilarious bit on this the other day. That Republicans need to learn how to smile.
What the GOP isn't realizing is that framing will only get you so far. If your policies are an outright attack against large portions of the population, then they ain't gonna vote for you.
Going after unions, women, Latinos, the LGBT community, anyone who isn't an Evangelical, working stiffs, none of them are going to be happy when you're attacking them.
So instead of smiling and hoping you can win votes that way, the GOP could try a new approach. Stop attacking people.
Don't forget their long history of demonizing blacks, "communists," anti-war protestors, those on welfare, public employees, the "intellectual elites" (anyone with an IQ over 70, I guess), and whatever other groups they could identify and attack for short-term political gain. What a disgusting legacy the Republican Party has to show for its "work" over the past six decades.
And stop lying ! Quit talking out of both sides of your mouth. Quit saying you are all for " jobs, jobs,jobs" then as soon as you are elected start passing anti women bills, ie: lying ryan , cantor, akin, etc. Quit with the destruction of the social safety net. Leave Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid alone. By the way, I wouldn't buy a used car from Castellanos. If I saw him walking toward me, I would run the opposite direction. Just as smarmy looking as cantor, lyin ryan, pribus and bonehead. I would suggest though that you study your policies and make appropriate changes for the 21st century. But then I'm not paid as a consultant to the RNC, so keep doing what you are doing. Tutu on a pig !
You realize that the VAWA is hung up there after having passed the Senate, right? We need to find a way to urge them to actually pass it on to POTUS.
I've long wondered why "rebranding" works in consumer product advertising. The fact that it has worked may be why the GOP is trying it. I really wish American consumers/voters would WAKE UP!!!
I really wish you would WAKE UP, and stop saying "WAKE UP". It makes you sound like a petulant sophomore who just discovered this , like, whole "politics thing, man".
The_Strange_Remain
That was kind of a mean thing to say! and you seem to be the petulant sophmore with the sophmoric jargon. Did this article perhaps tread upon your toes? Sure sounds like you've got an ax to grind.
For the GOP "rebranding" means, "finding a new group of lies
that may work on those we despise". For years the GOP has been able to
convince their followers that Tax Cuts for the Rich are good for the country
and that Social programs, government aid, S.S. Medicare and welfare are
bad for the country. On hand they will say the undocumented are taking
your jobs, on the other hand they will tell you they come here just to collect
government assistance. They can try to rebrand all they want, but countless
years of insults and votes against us cannot be erase by campaign slogans.
Chi Man Sam
Thank you , sir for an eloquent, concise opinion.
The problem for the GOP is, it is not really a party. It is a coalition of special interest groups and one-issue voters.
So you have a minority of voters that will vote against gun control no matter what. And another group that will vote against abortion access no matter what, etc. And then you have the real leaders of this coalition (the rich and the power-hungry) trying to get these disparate groups to all vote for them and hold their nose on policies they don't really agree with. At some point these voters get tired of not getting what they voted for, and then when the elected officials or even nominees try to get serious about legislation, they are slammed by the majority opinion on that issue.
The coalition is falling apart. If it weren't for a good job of gerrymandering, the GOP would be all but done for.
You nailed it.
MikeinMichigan
And we have, in Florida, been gerrymandered to death. Ya gotta wonder how that even passes muster in the Senate & House.
New! Improved! Less filling, more taste!
Miracle Garden Stimulant is still bullsh!t by another name. Frank Lunz knows this, and his
suckerscustomers have yet to figure it out.Less taste, more stealing
oops
It's true, not being the party of free stuff is always going to be an uphill climb. Responsibility, work, and prudence, don't sell well.
But regarding the rest of the points presented...
Sadly Republicans don't have the MSM as it's PR arm and have to muddle along doing what it can to slow the growth of wishful thinking as Govt policy.
Don't forget to clean up after yourself, Shooter, you're not the only person using that toilet stall, you know. Just the only person using it for that.
http://moelane.com/2012/06/09/troll-hunting-101/
Shooter Your feigned willful stupidity and ignorance have long since ceased to be even remotely amusing
don't you have kids to chase off your lawn or something
Wow Shooter, it must be hard to type all of that with a straight face, right? I mean, you know that you're lying, and yet you still post it up there for the world to see.
1) They want to turn Medicare into a voucher system (sorry, "premium support"), which would shift a lot of the cost on to seniors, and end Medicare as we know it. They also fight the board created in the ACA that would actually be able to strengthen Medicare as we know it, preserving an excellent program.
2) Yes, they do actually hate gay people, and have voted, and supported legislation that actively discriminates against homosexuals. They continue to support discriminating against homosexuals and giving them the same civil rights and benefits that heterosexuals have.
3) "Just allowed"...that's hilarious. If they did nothing, their legislation would have raised taxes on everyone. They didn't "allow" anything.
4) No, Republicans just wanted to go to war with false information and stay there for a decade. Fortunately the Democrats are getting us out of Afghanistan, and continued the withdrawal in Iraq.
4b) The Fast and the Furious was started by the previous administration, and is not "gun running", that would be your conservative icon Ronald Reagan who did the gun running. Stop trying to re-write history.
5)No, they don't. If you actually looked at the research, higher concentrations of guns leads to higher rates of gun homicides as well as assaults with them. Stop lying please.
6) Republicans want to get deep into doctor's offices, and prevent women from fully controlling their bodies. The ACA does not interject into the patient-doctor relationship any more than the current patient-doctor-health insurance company relationship.
Republicans have the Fox "News" and talk-radio arms to continually pound their misinformation, and a MSM that is afraid to call them out on their near pathological lying, instead insisting on a false equivalence that "both sides do it".
Ok Shooter, your turn, defend your lies please.
Shooter, you must have drug that nonsense up from the bottom of a 100 year old outhouse.
All my pals here , I get sucked into too. My mama used to say:
“Never argue with an idiot; he will bring you down to his level and win from experience.”
"Shooter242
Sadly Republicans don't have the MSM as it's PR arm...."
There are hundreds of different news media outlets, large and small. There must be some truth and popularity to the progressive viewpoints when so many large outlets do not parrot Republican talking points. Fox News ratings are declining so that should tell you something about what the public thinks about their "news coverage." Nobody likes a whiner.
...your mama was Mark Twain?...i get sucked in too...it's tough not too call out a liar...
...not you, effin...blanks...
Your turn. Heh.
You are wrong on Number 5. The gun ordinance was thrown out by the courts.
All of these efforts have one thing in common: they're predicated on the assumption that the Republican agenda is effective and popular, and the party will thrive once they find the most persuasive words to convince Americans how great the GOP really is.
That is the way it appears on the surface, but sometimes rebranding is cover for changing directions. We are going to have to look closely at the proposals made by each of these groups.
cooks or kooks?
"... Castellanos is joining a growing cottage industry of Republicans who are trying to rebrand and rebuild the party..."
You cannot "re-brand shyt" and that's (shyt) exactly what the GOTP are trying to do! Psst, GOTP your P.R. campaign doesn't change the underlying POLICY positions that have already caused damage to our nation and that is why the people are against you!
Lipstick on a pig doesn't change "the pig"....
What the GOP is really looking for is the second coming of Frank Morgan (the man behind the curtain in The Wizard of Oz), to project his message so forcefully that no one dare betray him, even when the message is the same crap as before. Only this time they can't let Toto find him behind the curtain.
It's a chance to rake in some serious cash.
Exactly. The reason for all these "we don't need to change our policies, just our messaging" efforts is that the grifters sense a great opportunity to relieve GOP donors of more of their money while telling them what they want to hear.
This is the big change in the GOP from ten years ago. Then, the route was to fleece the rubes to get elected, pass tax cuts for the rich, and retire to cash in. Now, they've realized it's easier just to con the donors for cash, and let the rubes get elected and act like spoiled children.
Hey Maddow....how much money do you get for being the presidents whore? Must be pretty lucrative , since almost no one watches your freaky fringe network....
Hey Kevin Hickman - what a pleasure to see you can be obtuse without any compensation!
Hey idiot - if you hadn't noticed, this is a Blog that does not feature Ms. Maddow's musings!
If I didn't know any better, I'd a thunk you played football for Nebraska where you could show all who watched your fidelity to learning because you wear an N on your helmet that stands for Nowledge! -Kevo
Kevin: How much time does your mother allow you to spend on the computer every day?
Here goes one for Cantor:
Eric, the best way to rebrand your Republican party is to change its name completely! Here's a suggestion, though you may not measure up to such a name:
The Bull-Moose Party!
Then again, I don't think Cantor's version of the Republican brand can even bear such a close proximity to Teddy Roosevelt's! -Kevo
I can see the "Bull" part of renaming the Republican party.
But I think you're looking at the wrong end of the Moose.
Rebrand all you want GOP...but when the TV machine is showing FILIBUSTER, OBSTRUCTIONISM and McCarthyism from the Republicans we know you're just lying.
This from a grown-up website (Takimag.com): "3. RACHEL MADDOW ASSUMES PALIN’S GOING TO INVADE AFRICA
When Ann Coulter was confronted with the black-pilot controversy, she said these jokes would work better if they were actually funny. Conversely, when Rachel Maddow learned that no, Sarah Palin is not invading North Africa as was stated on the satirical website ChristWire.org back in February of 2011, she said, “The bad news about a free and open Internet? Sometimes you get had by brilliant satirists.” When that didn’t work she blamed Glenn Beck because he created a world where this would be plausible. Instead of scouring the Internet for someone to blame, Maddow should look in the mirror and say, “Maybe I’m just a smug, humorless @!$%#.”
Please share this article by using the link below. When you cut and paste an article, Taki's Magazine misses out on traffic, and our writers don't get paid for their work. Email editors@takimag.com to buy additional rights.
Was the Tea Party movement anything more than rebranding? I wouldn't overestimate the intelligence of people who think they are moderate.
The Tea Party movement came about when the republicans took mass quantities of laxatives.
...
Most brilliant observation you've had all day.
Hmmmm...
Shooter, obviously being a paid hack, mutsa been short on his quota of stupid RW talking points and had to post a throw-away to get paid this month.
Too many cooks, and the stew still stinks no matter how they serve it up.
That is because of what is in it.
"It is not what you say, it is what people hear." Frank Luntz
"...the party will thrive once they find the most persuasive words to convince Americans how great the GOP really is" at convincing the ameriKan sheeple that they are hearing something opposite to what the repukes are really saying.
The ameriKan sheeple have been convinced consistently for the last 30+ years to vote against their own economic interests. If only the repukes can convince the sheeple that they like having their economic throats cut by the repubs; then they can win presidential elections again.
The problem with asking the repubs to actually change in order to win elections is that if they were anything but shatbit crazy, then they wouldn't be repubs anymore. It would be acknowledging that the Democrats were correct all along in their programs. It would also result in serious cognitive dissonance, aka heads exploding, because when you are a faith based organization, you can't change.
Your faith has to be ever true yea amen until the end of the ages. So normal people can talk about how the repubs need to change their policy, not just their PR, but they are not about to do it because it would require acknowledging that their holy faith was wrong. A person grounded in reality can cope with that. A person who is wrapped up in their faith can't.
Damn. I misread the title. I thought it said, "Too many CROOKS in the GOP's kitchen.
I'd argue that all of these efforts are predicated on the assumption that Republicans think their agenda is effective and popular, and the party will thrive once they find the most persuasive words to convince Americans how great the GOP really is. And if they can convince enough Republicans that victory lies within their advice, oh how the money will flow.
And down the toilet it shall go, as was demonstrated last year. Really, the donors need to start suing people like Akin and Bachman, since the crazy statements did as much if not more to waste their money than any other factor.
Maybe a good name for the re-branded party would be The Commode Party or how about The Chamber Closet Party? As others have said, they are the party of crap!
Well, enough of them are in the closet, so the latter name could work...
Keep on talking, Republicans. You will make it easier for us in 2014.
If I weren't so cynical, I might believe that republicans truly think that their problem is that the public doesn't "understand" their policies and they just need to market them better. However, I'm more inclined to believe that "rebranding" is more of a euphemism for "concealing" the true nature of their policies so that they can get them past the American people by way of rhetoric. Why else would they be so invested in gerrymandering and suppressing voter participation? They have no interest in representing the majority opinion because their main goals are contrary to the interests of the average American, and those in charge of these efforts know it.
100% correct ! The "rebranding" is trying to figure out how to more perfectly conceal the true agenda. It is all part of the big scam . That and shaking down the big money donors. Love that rove got a 1% return on his billions! Unfortunately, the koch bros. ALEC is still worming it's way upward through the state legislatures. THAT is where we need to concentrate our attention as well. Control the states, control the states supreme courts and judges, paralyze the nation is the plan. So the hydraheads are several pronged, bottom up / top down, voter suppression efforts ,gerrymandering, electoral college changes, rebranding, disinformation, etc. We have to all work hard to get out the vote in 2014 and 2016 to defeat this monster.
The most credible and top brand strategists will tell you there is in practice no such reality as unilateral "re-branding." Your brand is created and owned in the minds of the beholders. It is the sum of all direct and shared experiences with that entity. The only way to impact those perceptions is to change or redefine your product and / or services then let the market re-define (or not) their ongoing experiences. The GOP is not walking down this path.