Pareene reviews a report from the College Republicans on the perception of the party among key demographic groups:
[M]ost of these unfortunate impressions people have of the party are accurate reflections of the party’s positions. The report sidesteps most of this, calling for the party to sound more tolerant and open-minded. On same-sex marriage, the authors write, “the party ought to promote the diversity of thought within its ranks and make clear that we welcome healthy debate on the policy topic at hand.” We’ve been having “healthy debate” on the issue for some time now, and most Americans — including overwhelming majorities of young people — have come to the conclusion that the debate is basically over. Another always-fun topic in these reports is how they deal with the party’s recent nationwide reproductive rights tantrum. The College Republicans recommend just shutting up about it.
Amanda Marcotte, focusing on the contraception debate, points out that it’s more than a “problem of branding, misperception, or media bias”:
No one is forcing Republicans to attack contraception subsidies every chance they get. Republicans did not actually have to insist that your employer be able to prevent you from using your own insurance benefits on contraception, nor did they have to convene an all-male panel to discuss how important it was to give a woman’s boss a vote in her reproductive health care. It wasn’t required of the party that it run so many rape philosophers for office. Indeed, the problem for Republicans on the subject of reproductive rights is that young voters accurately understand its positions … The problem is that opponents aren’t distorting the attacks on contraception. The only way for Republicans to not be perceived as anti-contraception is to stop attacking contraception. Nothing else will work.
Drum blames the right-wing media:
It’s conservative media that controls the GOP’s fate. The Republican Party could almost certainly solve its problem if Fox News and the rest of the gang were on board. They could lighten up on the culture war stuff, thus increasing their appeal among young voters, while keeping the oldsters on board too. Right now, though, they can’t do it because the Rush/Drudge/Fox axis will go ballistic, turning the tea partiers into frothing maniacs over every perceived deviation from traditional morality. If they agreed among themselves to stop doing this, the frothing would subside and the party would have a whole lot more short-term maneuvering room to address their long-term problem.
(Photo: A Surabaya Zoo health worker checks the pulse of the sick 35-year-old elephant named Fitri, in East Java on July 26, 2011. STR/AFP/Getty Images)
The Dish 