Ari Fleischer, George W. Bush’s former press secretary, is cautioning the GOP not to soften its stance on same-sex marriage in hopes of becoming more “popular.”
“The big issue that Republicans are going to have to wrestle with is the Hispanic issue,” said Fleischer, who now spins for the NFL. “It’s not the social issues. You’re not going to make the party pro-choice and pro-gay rights and think you’ve made the Republican party the party that’s the popular party. We have a party like that. It’s the Democratic Party.”
So is Fleischer saying the GOP should just pack up and go home, or continue skewing even further right? Because that’s working so well for them?
Source: Raw Story
Michael
Yes. PLEASE maintain the far-right status quo. I’m already looking forward to the next round of midterm elections.
Wayne_in_NYC
It’s time to replace THE GRAND OLD PARTY with THE BRAND NEW PARTY! If you recall from that insightful prophetic masterpiece movie, “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure”, we’re headed for a future where we all “Party on Dudes” and George Carlin is the wisest leader on the planet! We just saw 2 states legalize pot for recreational use, and have you noticed, particularly in NYC how it is looking more and more like we humans were depicted in WALL-E, not even communicating with the person sitting next to us directly, but doing it digitally, plugged into our IPODS or phones, unaware of what is going on around us. The times of Dinosaurs passed long ago! Republicans will be the next extinct species.
jerry_pritikin
A gay couple was walking down the street when a married couple walking in front of them started to have a fight and yelling at one another, then the wife hit her husband over the head with her purse,at that point one of the gay couple said to the other ” I told you those mixed marriages don’t work!”
Jack E. Jett
Ari is one of the more vile Repukes. During the begining of the worthless Iraq war it
was he who threatened Bill Maher for speaking out on his (at that time) show
Politically Incorrect. Eventually the younger Repukes will come into power and they
are far less vile and vomitatious.
Niall
He’s actually not thinking this through, because the Repubs need to appeal to Hispanics, black and the young voters. The latter group is usually very affected by social issues like gay marriage and abortion, so goodluck with getting that demographic with their backwards views.
MACDONALDBANK
What a wonderful day for The Honourable President of the United States of America … Barrack Obama!
The Republican Party; have self-destructed — on the grounds of homophobia & religious corruption!
Someone left the door of the asylum ajar — the religious extremists are loose & they are all in the Republican Party!
Religion; is the biggest bully on the block!
Little-Kiwi
look at the actual voting breakdown – the most GOP-dominated states are also the ones that rank lowest in education.
this is why the GOP runs on platforms of “gays are evil” and “abortions make baby Jesus cry” – because their base simply isnt’ intelligent enough to understand foreign policy, economics and fiscal policy.
the GOP cannot drop the anti-gay rhetoric because without it they’d be forced to talk about fiscal policies, which would show their base that a GOP vote is a vote against their own best economic and health interests.
Cam
“”
“The big issue that Republicans are going to have to wrestle with is the Hispanic issue,” said Fleischer, who now spins for the NFL. “It’s not the social issues. ”
_______________
To problems there Ari.
1. Hispanics aren’t stupid and they know if you are bigoted against another group you probably hate Hispanics too.
2. Hispanics are having gay kids. So if you think attacking their family is the right way..then by all means, please, keep it up.
Spike
No Ari, don’t evolve on gay marriage, and while you are at it, tell the repubs to double down on their extreme views on abortion, rape, contraception and immigration reform, given it’s working so well for you.
TJCMMNSNSE
They’ve cornered the market on stupid; so there’s that.
Alan
This is sad. If you are a true conservative, then you are for government keeping out of the private lives of its individual citizens. You cannot be for small government and want government to be able to deny rights to its citizens.. It’s remarkable. This was a close election and the Republicans are still willing to ignore subsets of the populace that would have guaranteed them the win here. If Republicans are willing to ignore the LGBT community instead of reaching out to us, then they deserve to lose elections. The times are changing. If you don’t change with them, you become obsolete.
Kieran
What a clueless idiot. Nobody was a bigger supporter of amnesty for illegal aliens than John McCain, and he still lost the Hispanic vote. Why can’t the Republican Establishment understand that their party is seen as the War Party and the Party of the filthy Rich. And basically writing off the 10% of the electorate who are gay, lesbian or bisexual is just plain DUMB if you want to win elections.
jwrappaport
Good effing luck solving the GOP’s “Hispanic issue” (a paper-thin, inapposite euphemism for racism and xenophobia), especially now that gay rights aren’t the reliable wedge issue they used to be with minority voters. I’m happy to say the GOP created four new Hispanic democrats in my family when they decided to pick on the gays.
chuck
@jerry_pritikin:
That’s a very funny story.
chuck
@Cam:
Two very well made points.
Geoff B
@Alan: Thank you so much for your post! I’ve been saying the same thing for so long! I often post on a conservative/libertarian blog and brought this very same idea up expecting a huge backlash and possibly hateful comments and was shocked to find very kind comments agreeing with me but also a couple of regular posters who said I had changed their mind on the issue (and a couple who disagreed but were respectful and said they would actually give what a said some more thought). Things are indeed changing. A lot of posters here lump all Repubs in the same hateful boat (given the Repubs who get the loudest platform, one can hardly blame them though as the anti gay rhetoric is sickening), but there are some,and the number is growing at the state local and city levels who are finally getting it. We need to encourage this as the tide keeps changing, we’re going to need their help too.
Alan
@Geoff B: Exactly! I, myself, am a former Republican who found his party slowly moving away from him and turning into something he no longer recognized. i am now a moderate to liberal Democrat who still holds some conservative positions. But I can be prompted to vote Republican again if the Republicans would make a sincere attempt to reach out to me. This means changing their positions on a couple of issues that the Democrats champion. If they were to reach out to us, they may gain enough of a percentage to win very close elections. But they don’t seem to realize that. Thankfully, most Republicans here in Illinois realize they cannot win here without reaching out to the more moderate and liberal constituencies. Unfortunately, the Republican party nationwide hasn’t come to that understanding yet. So until they do, I’ll only feel comfortable in voting for some Republicans on a local level. Otherwise, I’ll be voting as a Democrat.
Wayne_in_NYC
I’m really sorry to say it, but I think one major deciding factor that may have helped Obama win, was his endorsement by HONEY BOOBOO… It’s tragic that so many redneck Americans hang on every word out of that little girl’s potty mouth. It might help Republicans in future elections if they’d leave their multi-million dollar mansions to go “noodling” for some catfish or making some moonshine. Oh wait! They’re already voting for them.
Jonathan99
This coming from a self-hating Jew who married a Catholic shiksa in a non-traditional “inter-faith” ceremony. Ari can break with his religious tradition, but god forbid others do the same. Typical Republican hypocrite in the mold of Newt Gingrich.