Luntz: Congressional GOP Leadership Should Not Be ‘Reappointed’ After ’06 And ’08 Losses
Luntz: Congressional GOP Leadership Should Not Be ‘Reappointed’ After ’06 And ’08 Losses
In an interview with ThinkProgress yesterday at the Republican Governors Association’s annual conference in Miami, pollster Frank Luntz argued that the results of the 2008 elections showed that conservatives had “lost touch with young people” and “with moderates and independents.” “They basically lost the center,” said Luntz.
Saying that conservatives and the Republican party need “to understand, to really personalize, why people who voted Republican, abandoned them,” Luntz predicted that conservatives are “years away from coming back to where they were 10 years ago.” Asked if conservatives were having “that conversation with themselves,” Luntz said that the governors at the conference were, but that he didn’t “think Washington is having it”:
THINK PROGRESS: From what you’ve heard at the Republican Governors Association conference this week, does it sound like they’re having that conversation with themselves or does it sound like they’re not getting around to it yet?
LUNTZ: No, I think that the governors are having it, but frankly, I don’t think that Washington is having it. I don’t know a place where if you have two bad elections in a row, your leadership gets reappointed. In every other democracy — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, every country, Mexico — when you lose an election, you replace the leaders. They’ve now lost two elections and it’s the same people leading the House and the Senate. So, yeah, I think these guys get it, but I don’t think Washington gets it.
Watch it:
Luntz is referring to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). Though McConnell was not leading the Senate caucus in 2006 when Republicans lost six seats, Boehner was the House Majority Leader in 2006 when Republicans lost 30 seats.
Luntz’ comments to ThinkProgress weren’t the only harsh words he had for the GOP at the RGA meeting. “I understand how Dr. Kevorkian feels at an AARP convention,” Luntz declared at a panel discussion on the 2008 election. “There’s a generational problem the Republican Party is going to have to address.”
Transcript:
THINK PROGRESS: What are the main changes that the Republican party needs to make, going forward, following the 2008 elections?LUNTZ: The first thing they need to do is look back at what went wrong, both in 2006 and 2008. It was not just on the presidential level. It’s on the state and the local level. They lost touch with young people, they lost touch with moderates and independents. They basically lost the center. And I think it’s going to be important for them to understand, to really personalize, why people who voted Republican, abandoned them. And, once you understand it, you can start to solve it. But it’s going to take a while. I think that the, I think that they’re years away from coming back to where they were 10 years ago.
THINK PROGRESS: From what you’ve heard at the Republican Governors Association conference this week, does it sound like they’re having that conversation with themselves or does it sound like they’re not getting around to it yet?
LUNTZ: No, I think that the governors are having it, but frankly, I don’t think that Washington is having it. I don’t know a place where if you have two bad elections in a row, your leadership gets reappointed. In every other democracy — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, every country, Mexico — when you lose an election, you replace the leaders. They’ve now lost two elections and it’s the same people leading the House and the Senate. So, yeah, I think these guys get it, but I don’t think Washington gets it.
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suck it up, frankie. this is the outcome of your years’ long efforts of lying, manipulation and general scumbaggery on behalf of the gop. enjoy your marginalization. i certainly am.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:34 amFrank Luntz (as in Dunce) “How many of you undecided voters have now changed your mind who you are going to vote for”
November 14th, 2008 at 10:34 amThis is FRANK LUNTZ, for f uck’s sake. I wouldn’t believe him if he said the skies were clear, and I was standing in sunshine.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:34 amHow long did the geniuses in the GOP think their house of inherent contradictions would stand? Oh, yeah. They were going to be new permanent majority thanks to their party of ideas. What a joke.
All they have to sell is fear, and at some point people become numb to it.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:34 amLuntz is as malleable as the wind. He’ll drift over to any side catching media attention; that’s how he makes his money.
McConnell & Boner are inept, corrupt and not real smart. GOOPers would do well to evaluate this, but egos, tradition and money will prevent any smell of reality from entering the room.
In fact, under their ‘leadership’, Republics support may diminish quicker than your 301K on Wall St.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:35 amThat’s right…301K…
November 14th, 2008 at 10:37 amHAHAHAHAHAH…..
I NEVER THOUGHT I WOULD SEE THE DAY WHEN A REPUGLICAN LOOKS TO FRANCE OR MEXICO FOR POLITICAL DIRECTION
THIS IS TRULY AN ORWELLIAN BIZARRO WORLD
November 14th, 2008 at 10:59 amThe GOP won their elections by convincing a majority that they would represent their constituents and establish practical beneficial policies.
The GOP lost because they represented their biggest financiers, invented ‘issues’ to keep their insane base exercised, and lied about the true nature of their larger policies—and Luntz was particularly active in that.
The Republicans thought they’d achieved a permanent majority and could do what the hell they wanted–and they did. Trouble is their policies were all inherently flawed and because of their gung-ho approach they exposed those flaws themselves.
Their social programs don’t work, their economics don’t work, their ‘diplomacy’ doesn’t work and their militarism doesn’t work because everything they do is guided by a self referential ideology that demands they are right, regardless.
Either the Republicans face reality and adjust to it ( in which case they will move to the center and thus become less distinguishable from Democrats) or they will try to re-package the same old crap in a shiny new wrapper–that’s a Luntz specialty.
Conservativism isn’t about change. If they do change, then they are no longer conservatives, are they?
And that’s a brain-exploding thought.
November 14th, 2008 at 10:59 amOr rather, it’s not a “generational problem”, it’s a mental problem
As #5 Chuck Feney says; “How long did the geniuses in the GOP think their house of inherent contradictions would stand?” .
November 14th, 2008 at 11:03 amhere’s the new leader!
At Miami conference, GOP governors vow to right the ship
The Miami Herald – 54 minutes ago
Gov. Sarah Palin took center stage in the last day of a GOP governors conference where leaders asked themselves where the party is headed — but did not find clear answers.
Video: Palin Urges GOP Governors to Keep Dems Honest AssociatedPress
Palin says Republican Party must return to its core values USA Today
Boston Globe – MSNBC – New York Times – Los Angeles Times
keep DEMS honest?!?!
“core values”???
ha!
November 14th, 2008 at 11:03 amKaty…yeah!
We’ve just had 8 years of their ‘core values‘. That’s worked-out really well!
November 14th, 2008 at 11:08 amThe GOP shouldn’t change a thing. Keep up the good work!
November 14th, 2008 at 11:15 amYears of destructive tradition uninterrupted by any measurable advancement forward for humanity.
Leadership skills required for governance should be vastly different from America’s hypercompetitive, untruthful election process.
That they’re not is very concerning.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:17 amThe GOP must learn that this is a now center-left country. In fact, the Democrats need to accept that, too.
http://www.sunstateactivist.org/ssablog/
November 14th, 2008 at 11:22 amBut George Will thinks that McConnell will save the Republicans next time around.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:25 amLuntz better hope FOX and Hannity don’t hear about that.
¶ AIO
November 14th, 2008 at 11:27 amNah Leave the current GOPer leadership in place!!!
Obama will need 2 admins to change America
November 14th, 2008 at 11:28 amI don’t know what “conservative” means anymore. Is that the ideal represented by James Dobson or Barry Goldwater? Goldwater was “Mr. Conservative;” fiercely pro-choice, a conservationist and – ultimately – a proponent of gay rights. I’m not fawning over Barry. He was a war monger.
The point is that the term conservative has become meaningless.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:33 amNo Frankie, NO! Leave these losers in power to complete their mission of the utter destruction of the Repugnicant party.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:38 amI agree they should go. But shouldn’t their water boys, like Luntz, never get a job again as well? I mean, hasn’t he been supporting them and their agenda for years? How’s he different from them?
November 14th, 2008 at 12:08 pmThe GOP should stay the course.
Mistakes, you say? What mistakes? There were never any.
But if there were, it was Clinton’s fault. Or those damn immigrants who won’t assimilate, or them black folk, them Muslims, those tree-huggin’ libruls, or the gays. So there.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:16 pmYeah, it’s not like Luntz helped the GOP out.
November 14th, 2008 at 12:43 pm“Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider God-fearing and pious!”
November 14th, 2008 at 1:11 pmAristotle
Here’s the problem with Luntz’s argument: a new movement has to form within the party before its proponents can be promoted.
Just kicking the old guys out isn’t going to do any good, unless there’s anybody with new ideas to replace them with. That just doesn’t exist right now.
November 14th, 2008 at 1:51 pm