The Republican Party is in search of a message to attract voters who are angry with just about everything — healthcare, the U.S. deficit, Wall Street bonuses, increased unemployment and home foreclosures to mention a few.
“There’s a lot of anger out there and there’s a lot of frustration,” said Republican Senator John McCain, who was defeated by Democrat Barack Obama for president last year.
Thousands of people are turning up at townhall meetings and “tea party” protests against government policies, he noted.
“So there’s something going on out there. And I’d love to sit here and tell you that we Republicans are attracting all of those unhappy people but we’re not, we’re not,” McCain said at a Reuters Washington Summit.
“They’re out there kind of in the middle and they haven’t found a home. And in fact they haven’t even channeled their anger yet,” he said.
Many have swung into the Independent category — “They’re leaving the Democrats but they’re not coming home to Republicans” — because of the deficit increases during the previous 8 years of a Republican (George W. Bush) White House, McCain said.
“So they are not finding a message from the Republican Party that resonates with them, and so I think we’re in one of the most interesting times politically in Amercia,” he said.
One possible answer would be a return to a formula that worked when Republicans took control of the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years — “Something like the Contract with America that we gave them in 1994, portray a far more positive agenda for America,” McCain said.
Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Senator McCain at Reuters Washington Summit)
27 comments so far
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Republicans have been the party of “No” to everything that makes Democrates look like they have a good idea.
The USA is the only country in the world where health insurance companies can make a profit on primary healthcare. The staggering rate of profit insurance companies make in the USA dwarfs any other county. The USA ranks 25th in healthcare in the world. Insurance companies do not add any value to healthcare, they do not even sell band-aids.
- Posted by DavePeople bash the religious right but most people don’t want to be raped, lied to, stolen from, and at this time the ten commandments serve as a basic moral standard our society which depends on for civility and acceptable behaviour. Its not the religious right or religious left but the biblical teachings of right and wrong and court houses seem a proper place for their posting as they serve as a basic enforcer of our laws which center around them!
- Posted by KipwI think the Republicans have a very consistent message:
Does this help big businesses make more money?
If it does, then: YES! If it doesn’t, then: NO!
- Posted by MarkMc Cain don’t know loser, besides he critices the Obama administration in international policies
- Posted by Eduardo GómezThere is no message from the Republican Party. It is the party of big business, and how can they attract the unhappy toads. Those unhappy toads need to start a third party and see what it takes to get their ideas into print and into laws. McCain is still as much out of touch as he was when he was running for president.
- Posted by f belzWho the Hell cares what McCain thinks? Just another example of the fat and corrupt beltway media eschewing real journalism for easy access.
BTW - Why did McCain but the kibosh on investigations into missing POW’s in Nam?
EE
- Posted by Ed EnchoThe GOP will have a hard time taking advantage of the situation because they are as much to blame as the Democrats for our nation’s problems. They were just as willing to burn taxpayer money for pork as the Democrats ever were.
Remember the first-ever $200 billion highway bill? That was pure GOP pork-guzzling under the Republican congress under Bush. Power corrupts. The GOP was only the party of small government all those years because they didn’t have the power to be the party of big government. Once they got the power they were all too willing to use it.
Independents need to band together and push through strong fusion voting laws across the country. We won’t have change until marginalized political elements like the Constitution Party, the Taxpayer Party, and the Libertarian Party are able to start wielding the kind of power nationwide that the Working Famlies Party wields in NY.
I say we need a “Declaration of Independents” for independent candidates to rally around so that voters know what they stand for. Not just fusion voting but also strongly independent-supported “60%” issues. Basically, an independent version of the Contract with America.
- Posted by Jeff_F_F