10 MYTHS ABOUT REPUBLICANS
Jennifer Rubin - Washington Post 08/27/2012
\There are a lot of pundits here in Tampa with no real politics to report on. So I thought now would be a good idea to do some explaining about the odd natives (well, natives for only a few days), whom the punditocracy has ventured out to poke and prod and report back, as if they are 21st-century Margaret Meads. Much of what the observers know is wrong, so simply dispelling 10 misconceptions that they have about Republicans should be useful.
1. The GOP has been taken over by tea party. In 2012 the Republicans chose the least conservative candidate. If anything, the tea party has been absorbed into the GOP and accepted direction from party leaders. House Speaker John Boehner ( R-Ohio) got majorities ( including the vast majority of freshmen) to pass a continuing resolution and then the debt-ceiling deal. The GOP continues to support budgets that spend more money every year (they slow the rate of increase) and extol Medicare and Social Security.
2. The GOP is obsessed with social issues. Mitt Romney barely talks about social issues. It is the Democrats who have latched onto Todd Akin and reportedly set out to emphasize abortion at their convention. The gubernatorial race in Virginia in 2009 is typical of races these days. The Republican Bob McDonnell talked bread-and-butter economic issues issues while his opponent and the media raised social issues as a wedge to try to turn off independent voters. (McDonnell won by 17 points.) My rule of thumb these days is that the party that raises social issues first is losing on everything else. Right now that is not the Republicans.
