The Republican Brand Stinks

source: Hardball

If the GOP really were aconsumer "BRAND", which 99 Cent Store would stock it- or would I have to buy it on a Survivalist, WebSite.

— Kent Harrington (@Harringtonkent) December 14, 2012

Worth repeating: new Rasmussen poll finds evidence of collapse in GOP brand, finding a 10 pt drop since election.rasmussenreports.com/public_content…

— Simon Rosenberg (@SimonWDC) December 7, 2012

From Chris Cillizza and Aaron Blake on The Fix

Consider the following findings in the NBC/WSJ poll:
* Asked an open-ended question as to what single word or short phrase people would use to describe the Republican Party, 65 percent of the responses were negative, while just 17 percent were positive. (For Democrats, 35 percent were positive, while 37 percent were negative.) Among the most oft-mentioned phrases used to describe Republicans: “bad/weak/negative” (8 percent), “uncompromising/need to work together” (6 percent) and “broken/disorganized/lost” (6 percent). So, that happened.

. . . the Republican brand is badly damaged. It is regarded by too many people as an uncompromising relic of the past — a party that lacks new ideas and is, therefore, forced to largely serve as a blockade to the other side. (That’s the biggest reason, by the way, why Republicans should be interested in compromising on the fiscal cliff. They gap between how Obama is regarded and how they are seen is enough to make going over the cliff a genuine political loser for them.)

Republicans have and will continue to insist that they have put out new ideas, but the reality is that the American public doesn’t perceive them that way.

source: Hardball


Republicans have gone off the image cliff.
~ Pollster Peter D. Hart

. . . from my informal survey, it looks to this observer (and former Republican) as if the party is betting all its money on cosmetic change. Think of it as the Botox Solution. It wants to tweak its talking points slightly and put more minority and female Republicans on stage as spokespeople. Many in the GOP seem to believe that this will do the trick in 2014 and beyond. Are they deluded?
You’ve heard the expression “putting lipstick on a pig,” haven’t you?
. . . It looks like the GOP is at the wheel of the Titanic, sailing toward that iceberg, while the band plays “Nearer My God to Thee” for all it’s worth.
~ Jeremiah Goulka on Alternet

The Republicans have come to the American people with a plan - "We'll fix it by shi**ing on the Middle Class". That may have been their problem...
~ comment by facetfact on Alternet

The rethugs will not be relevant until they shed their fringe wacko christofascist wing. Until those anti-science, misogynist, homophobic wingnuts leave the party and take their social issue crap with them, the rethugs will remain the obviously anti-science, regressive, anti-modern, theocratic, plutocratic party of NO. Let the social issues crowd set up its own party, call it the Christian Fascist Party, so they can be seen and judged by the world. They have been operating under their fake cover of legitimacy for too long.
~ comment by Mike T. on Alternet

Reminder: the only 2 groups that approve of the current GOP brand are rural Americans and white southerners.

— Kayla R. W. (@KayDubzHU) December 13, 2012

As more people realize what the #GOP really is, can we just re-brand them as the Rich White Man Party?

— David Solot (@Neurocat) December 13, 2012

GOP Needs To Focus On Education,
Says Man Whose State Textbooks Say Loch Ness Monster Is Real
. . . Education reform . . . fits with the new “fix the GOP” narrative that has developed since the American electorate reminded the GOP it was broken: Take the issues making the party look out of touch and ignorant, pretend to fix them, and hope nobody notices nothing’s changed.
~ Wonkette

In a recent national blind taste test, the choices were ranked in the following order...
Coke
Pepsi
Dr. Pepper
Mt. Dew
Sunny D
Some Purple Stuff
pi$$ water
Republican Party
~ comment by Ghinnova on Washington Post

If Republicans are looking to damage their brand further, then they should play hostage politics with the debt ceiling. Such a maneuver will go over like a lead balloon with the public, which is clearly tired of fiscal antics and wants the White House and Congress to reach a reasonable compromise.
The GOP got most of the blame in 2011, and this time I guarantee it will be worse. Every single nonpartisan poll has shown that the public is poised to blame the GOP by a wide margin for any deadlock or blowup.
~ Larry Sabato, Political Scientist at the University of Virginia

Maybe if they let the Tea party move them a little farther to the right it will help? lol.
~ comment by J.M. Ledbetter on MSNBC

They do not have a branding or image problem... Their image and brand is who they are. They have a GOP problem. A relational affliction similar to Romnesia. Whereas, Romnesia is chicken-pox, and the GOP has Herpes
~ comment by PackCat on MSNBC