Contempt and the GOP [RINOs loathing social conservatives, Palin]

The Washington Times ^ | 2009-07-26

[rabscuttle385]

Can this political marriage be saved?

BY GARY BAUER

Psychologists have discovered that the most important factor in predicting whether a marriage will succeed or fail is the existence of contempt. When one or both partners display contempt -- the intense feeling or attitude of regarding someone or something as inferior -- the union, ultimately and almost inevitably, will fail.

Psychologist John Gottman has even developed a methodology that enables him to predict divorce with an astonishingly high degree of accuracy, up to 90 percent. While watching a couple interact, Mr. Gottman looks for the subtle signs -- microexpressions such as an eye roll or a patronizing tone -- that reveal not just displeasure or disapproval, but also the hostile inflexibility that is a hallmark of contempt.

As a political analyst and Republican of more than 30 years, I am saddened to say this, but contempt has contaminated the Republican Party. And much of the contempt has been directed at one partner in the party's marriage, religious conservatives. If the Republican partnership is to survive, the contempt must end.

[LowCountryJoe]

Ahh, yes, I concur. Specifically, I was addressing social issues only so as to get the point across more effectively for the social conservatives. But you are correct.

[LowCountryJoe]

It's late. I've been up the whole night and that last paragraph has a few errors and omitted words. Screw fixing it, I’m just going to bed.

[freeangel]

“She is the darling of a certain element”

Too bad the good ole’ boy network has no idea what conservative values mean anymore. She has left them to wallow in the dirt of a pig stye where they belong just like any moral woman would leave a cheating husband.

[jla]

OK, I know OED's def. of the word, how are you defining "gravitas"?

Sarah Palin's 'resignation speech' was inspiring, honest and an exemplar of a public servant acting unselfishly in putting her state and it's inhabitants first.

The media hardly "overwhelm" this lady, the polar opposite is true.

Back to "gravitas" - do you suppose Jefferson had it? Reagan? Be careful how you answer, nathan b! :^)

[ansel12]

The "pre-leftist" public space you refer to had many good characteristics that are sorely lacking in today's world, but I would not favor a return to those days, which included such things as government-sanctioned discrimination on the basis of race, bans on interracial marriage, and even...gasp, eugenics and forced sterilizations.

The Federal Government ended all that by imposing their laws on local and state governments.

You may be too young to remember the federal government sending in the United States Army Paratroopers to fix those problems you just described

[ansel12]

I’m going to bed as well, goodnight.

[ansel12]

As to the military [and I'm assuming that you didn't specifically mean homosexuality in the military],

I meant full open homosexuality in the military not whether you like the military or if your types approve or disapprove of homosexuality.

[Cheap_Hessian]

warned her against Katie Couric and Gibson and advised her to make a very boring "gravitas" speech instead.

So, you are 100% confident that it was Palin's choice to do those interviews being at the bottom of the ticket? I personally would rather not let the main stream media pick the GOP candidate again.

That does not mean we have to moderate our principles, it does mean we have to articulate our principles in such a way to attract independents and moderates into our tent.

I don't look at what they say, but rather at what they do. Sanford was a great small government conservative, right? I mean he told us he was conservative very articulately. Sarah Palin lives and works as a Conservative and that is good enough for me. I am tired of the elites taking this country to hell.

[freedomfiter2]

Impromptu she is frequently a disaster. If she runs for national office, we are likely to get killed.

Obama is at least as bad in this area as Palin.

[ansel12]

Impromptu she is frequently a disaster.

When?

[nathanbedford]

The old adage in politics is very, very true, one is either an Defense or on offense. You asked for a definition of "gravitas," and you noted your source for a definition. Part of being on offense politics is to write the definitions. You must define yourself and define your adversary and, at all costs, avoid being defined by them.

In this battle of definitions, actual truth matters scarcely at all, the game is won on perceptions. There is the great anecdote told by Mike Deaver about a network correspondent who called to apologize about a hit piece on Ronald Reagan in which the correspondent in voice-over criticized him. Deaver laughed,

No need to apologize, the visuals were terrific. You shot Reagan in front of Air Force One and in front of the flag. On television, no one listens to the audio, the visuals trump everything. Thanks for helping my candidate. (this is a paraphrase)

Governor Palin has absolutely no problem with visuals but she has been "overwhelmed" in the definition game by the left. Couric and Tina Fey have defined her for the middle of America. She can undo that with study and application. Sadly, she shows no disposition to do so. I have suggested that she get herself a couple of writers at least one of whom should be a comedy writer. Just two weeks ago I heard either Newt Gingrich or Marc Steyn say the same thing on television. Sarah Palin's resistance to attending to her forensic image and winning the definition game suggests that she probably will not be a candidate for President in the next cycle. We shall see.

Do I think that Reagan and Jefferson had gravitas? I do not need to be careful, Jefferson was a young man when he wrote the Declaration of Independence and he would not have been selected with Adams and Franklin if the committee of the whole did not think he had the weightiness to deliver the goods. Reagan was a man of image on television and he knew the value of a jacket and tie to establish seriousness. The left tried to paint him as a dilettante with reference to "bedtime for Bonzo" but Reagan simply put it all aside with one boffo speech and a consistent demeanor. Sarah Palin can do the same, she must first demonstrate that she knows she has a "gravitas" problem.

[nathanbedford]

So you are pissed off. Show me a red-blooded conservative and I will show you someone who is pissed off. I am pissed off too. I have been angry since George Bush and I have got the posts going back years to prove it.

The difference is I try not to let my anger blind me to the rules of the game. Being angry does not change the rules. The Rules of politics are there and they are just as immutable as the laws of Newton. You cannot repeal the law of gravity with anger.

First you got to win.

[Diogenesis]

"Romney would not say whether he’d been vetted,
but did insist that the vice presidency was a subject he had never even so much discussed with McCain,
with whom he often tangled bitterly in the primary campaign.
So I tried another tack, recalling that I had been in a car with McCain and his then aide John Weaver,
reporting a piece for V.F. in the fall of 2006,
just after McCain delivered an address at Boston College’s opening convocation.
Weaver’s phone rang, and it was someone at B.C.,
informing him that Romney’s office had just called to ask when he would be invited to speak."

---

"Texan helped McCain secure Romney endorsement
AUSTIN – The decision by Mitt Romney to endorse John McCain didn't just happen, of course. It took a Texan who knows something about uniting fierce political rivals.
John Weaver, Mr. McCain's former political guru, was the intermediary who initiated talks between the two sides that led to Mr. Romney's announcement of support.
...Here's how the two came to make a joint appearance Thursday in Boston: Last week, Mr. Weaver got a call from McCain aides Charlie Black and Steve Schmidt, who asked if he would help broker an endorsement.
Mr. Weaver, who had left the McCain campaign in last year's shakeup, is a longtime friend of Beth Myers, Mr. Romney's campaign manager.."

[jla]

Sarah Palin can do the same, she must first demonstrate that she knows she has a "gravitas" problem.

Like Jefferson and Reagan. Palin has not a gravitas problem. All three share among several traits the one of being serious without affecting it for mere public consumption.
You seem to be saying that Palin needs to improve at 'playing the [media] game' if she is to move on and up. I say we have a candidate here, the first since Reagan, whose most compelling characteristic is her genuineness and the fact that she refuses to play the game.

[Diogenesis]

John Batchelor: "As a candidate, she begins the nomination hunt with a formula
that none of her rivals can match, not even Mitt Romney,
not only because she gave up something in order to go for the
White House but also because she reached this decision by being drafted.

What is going on right now in the Republican Party—
even as the professionals scramble to react with grins and
snorts to the news of Palin’s Alaska resignation—
are the early scenes of the 2012 campaign for the presidency
with Sarah Palin as the once and future hero. Like Joan of Arc,
Catherine the Great, Elizabeth Regina, and, skipping
four centuries of quarrelsome princes, Margaret Thatcher,
the Republican Party has already decided that the governor of Alaska
will rescue the GOP from its ruination.
What Sarah Palin begins with an announcement from
Wasilla is not only a campaign, it is an Iditarod of a crusade—
first woman, first mom, and second moose-hunter into the White House."

"In fact, the governor does not need much more than a ballot line from the aimless,
tongue-tied, villain-rich GOP. She certainly does not need the GOP to do well
in the congressional mid-terms in 2010; she does not need the party
to improve its flabby polling on health care or trust;
she does not even need the Republican Party to raise a voice
to explain her positions on the burning controversies on Capitol Hill.
Palin does not need to prove anything at all about wise government,
because she appeals directly to the anti-authoritarian crowd that has
been with us since Shay’s Rebellion in 1787."

[RVN Airplane Driver]

You seem to be saying that Palin needs to improve at 'playing the [media] game' if she is to move on and up. I say we have a candidate here, the first since Reagan, whose most compelling characteristic is her genuineness and the fact that she refuses to play the game.

You have it "spot on" and only a fool could fail to see that America is ready for a genuine leader, that has America's interests at heart and not a two bit whore politician such as her adversaries. The ignorant elitist east coast snob media will play right into her strength's!

[Cheap_Hessian]

I apologize if I came off angry or confrontational, it was not my intent. I just don’t see why everybody needs to dump on Palin right now. I still think there is a lot a time and lots of things can happen between now and 2012. I would like to see how she does on her own, and that is all that I am saying.

That being said, as long as we get a real conservative elected, I will be happy. I am not close minded on options for 2012, but I have crossed off a couple of RINO names off my list already. If you don’t mind my asking, who are you pulling for in 2012?

[MaggieCarta]

And much of the contempt has been directed at one partner in the party's marriage, religious conservatives...

Stopped reading right there, although I usually enjoy the Washington Times, and sincerely regret that I had to cancel my print subscription.

There is no "marriage" within the GOP, there is simply a slew of factions loosely held together. Held together by what, I really don't know. Personally, I favor the phrase "Big Top" to describe the situation (since that is a "big tent" with a circus inside)

I am not going to comment on the fact that Mrs. Palin is indeed the darling of a "certain element." My view on the former governor has already been documented on FR.

[Tonytitan]

While I consider myself pro-choice. I do think the left are pro-abortion...

Either one results in the death of a baby.

[sirchtruth]

They can loathe me until Hell freezes over, the feeling is mutual. If they want my vote, however, they’d best start paying attention to my interests.

Do you really think the John McCain's give a FFF about your opinion to win your vote? All these rino republicans care about is power. The only way the conservative republicans win is to kick the living daylights out of these liberals in the party. Strip them of ALL their power. If then they see their way clear to a more conservative viewpoint then let them earn it by their actions, however I would not trust someone like McCain no matter what he did.