“That, unfortunately, is what sets us back as a party”
“Republicans need to stop making assumptions, and they need to start talking to younger people, people of color, and ask them–not talk to them–ask them, What is it that we can do better? How do we earn your vote? How do we earn the ability for you to see that we can be the party that will make your life better and that of your children?” Martinez said in an interview after the conference here. “But we can’t be the ones that come and tell them how things are going to be and how we have all the solutions.”…
“It’s a ridiculous statement to make. You want to earn the vote of every single person you can earn, whether they be someone who relies on,” she said. “Why would you ever write off 47 percent?”
Martinez, whose was discussed in the national media as a possible running mate for Romney but was never vetted for the job, said she disagreed with Romney’s post-election assessment that he lost to Obama in part because the president promised “gifts” to minority voters in return for their support, a comment that many leading Republicans have rebuked.
“That unfortunately is what sets us back as a party–our comments that are not thought through carefully,” she said.
Blowback
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What sets the GOP back is its unwillingness to play hardball. And cheat better than Dems, in the case of this election.
The Rogue Tomato on November 16, 2012 at 3:42 PM
Mitt Romney: Party Pooper.
Rocks on November 16, 2012 at 3:46 PM
antipc on November 16, 2012 at 3:48 PM
Using “people of color” totally gets under my skin. It reeks with a disgusting “us” vs. “those white people” mentality.
Punchenko on November 16, 2012 at 3:54 PM
It’s too bad Susana Martinez has already said she won’t be running for POTUS in 2016. She could be a promising prospect.
Stoic Patriot on November 16, 2012 at 3:55 PM
She might get tapped to run on the ticket.
Punchenko on November 16, 2012 at 3:58 PM
These eager-to-be President Republicans and those politicians complaining about what the GOP should do appear to think that the GOP has no history of success that they can look back on and learn from.should do these things:
http://reagan2020.us/speeches/
1. Sit down and read Reagan. His thinking and speeches are so prescient and still applicable. Change a few names and dates, and they could have been given yesterday. Read Russell Kirk and other conservative thinkers for about three months. This should be ongoing.
2. As you read, think over conservative philosophy and ideas. Dig out some conservative minds and talk and debate with them. This should be ongoing.
3. Connect the dots between conservative philosophy and solutions.
4. Think about how to phrase these ideas. Practice explaining them and summarizing them. To be able to summarize you have to thoroughly understand a subject. Only then are you able to do this well.
5. Hire a speech teacher/debate coach. Go speak at every little group around and practice. Interact with people. Hear their questions.
6. Look at how the Dems lie and push their disinformation. Think about how to counter that. Read Reagan again.
7. Look at how the media shills for the Dems. Read Reagan again.
8. Go speak some more to little, medium, large groups.
9. Have the guts to go toe to toe with Obama/Dems/Reps over plans that would harm the country. That takes character.
10.Quite your complaining, conjecturing and get busy.
INC on November 16, 2012 at 4:02 PM
Ok, juxtapose the first paragraph with the second. Martinez says we need to talk to these groups who keep voting overwhelmingly for Democrats and ask them what they want. They freaking told us, Susana! They voted for Obama because he understood their concerns better. That’s code for the Democrats will help them more than Republicans.
Maybe Romney could’ve used a euphemism for “gifts” that would’ve offended fewer people, but he’s right. People voted for a welfare state, and everyone knows which party promised to keep that gravy train rolling(fiscal insolvency be damned).
Let me just pose this question. What exactly are we supposed to say to a bunch of voters who want a big government with huge entitlement programs funded by high taxes on upper income earners? The Republican Party platform is the antithesis of that. So we can either sell out our principles and try to compete with the Democrats in that arena(a lot of good that did us by the end of the Bush years) or we can come up with better ways of explaining to these folks why smaller government and a free market economy will benefit them in the long run. I choose Option B.
Doughboy on November 16, 2012 at 4:02 PM
And what should be the difference , what does colored people need that whites doesn’t need?
the_nile on November 16, 2012 at 4:04 PM
How about Republicans stop asking about color all together. How about Republicans outlaw questions of gender, sexuality, race within their party? Why not start by being color blind, age and talking to EVERYONE, regardless where they live or what they do. Why not ask each citizen for their ideas and their vote?
Why play the same game as the democrats? Instead of dividing, why not unite?
Why not take advantage of the online world and take cards out on the street, and talk to people and say, Here, I’m going to give you this card, it has a PIN# to access that site and directly communicate with the republican party your ideas. It will allow you to connect on our private bulletin board with others like you in this area and around the country. You can share your concerns, you can offer your ideas, and if you feel the republican party isn’t addressing your community at meetings and such, this will allow you to make contact and be sure we’re there for you. It’s like a 411 and a 911 card.
Instead of classifying people by their demographic, take advantage of technology and classify them as individuals! Dammit.
WashingtonsWake on November 16, 2012 at 4:06 PM
This is also from that article. Sometimes the most illuminating parts are not in the quotes at the top of the page.
She has also decided to set up ObamaCare exchanges.
Here’s Martinez’ bio from Wiki:
July 14, 1959 (age 53)
El Paso, Texas, U.S.
Democratic Party (Before 1995)
Republican Party (1995–present)
I’m not from NW.
Does anyone know why she became a Republican?
Does anyone know what her political philosophy of the role of government is?
INC on November 16, 2012 at 4:06 PM
It’s far, far too early to conjecture about who should run for President. Wait and see who fights against Obama.
INC on November 16, 2012 at 4:07 PM
Romney’s “47%” and “gifts”statements are simple, obvious truths – there are far too many Republicans who can’t handle the truth.
Pork-Chop on November 16, 2012 at 4:07 PM
I’m not from
NWNM.INC on November 16, 2012 at 4:07 PM
That’s what I always thought. A bunch of sissies that don’t want to hurt feelings. That and they want to get invited to the parties and TV shows.
Frank Enstine on November 16, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Wow. Looks like every Republican office holder got the memo.
When we ask these democrats and “independents” tell us what they want, the only possible outcome is the Republican party getting even closer to the Democratic party. We’re gonna play the wrong strategy yet again.
Dongemaharu on November 16, 2012 at 4:19 PM
Oh and – if you want to win back the LSM and the youth vote – bust up these College rackets and all these tenured liberal professors. You need to get engaged and root out that sh!t.
Riddle me this? Why does a tenured English professor who’s also spewing liberal bias in the classroom get paid just as much as a tenured Engineering professor?
College – it’s the ULTIMATE SOCIALIST EXPERIENCE! Hell, a good Engineering professor should be paid TEN TIMES what an English or other “liberal arts” professor is paid.
Riddle me this – why does a liberal arts degree cost just as much as an Engineering degree? You can’t even remotely earn the same amount of money with a libarts degree – so why does it cost the same for a student to get?
College – it’s the ULTIMATE SOCIALIST EXPERIENCE!
HondaV65 on November 16, 2012 at 4:24 PM
Couldn’t agree more. But the left sets up the divide and then accuses it’s enemies of not being color blind.
antipc on November 16, 2012 at 4:30 PM
Agreed on all – how do you propose to change it?
Schadenfreude on November 16, 2012 at 4:31 PM
The Democrats are all about differences. Their bread is buttered on exploiting differences, resentment, and envy to fleece and shame into submission whatever Enemy Group/Class stands in their way.
Today a gaggle of schoolmarm Democrats came out and called McCain and Graham “racists” and “sexists” for daring to hold Susan Rice accountable. They then went on to point out how Rice was a Rhodes Scholar and how McCain graduated at the bottom of his class at the Naval Academy.
Punchenko on November 16, 2012 at 4:32 PM
In a revolution, the GOP would hand over half of its guns to “even the playing field”.
nitzsche on November 16, 2012 at 4:35 PM
And the answer will be, “more benefits and favors from the government.”
81 percent of Obama voters thought his “caring” about them was important. In the mind of the average voter, exactly how does Obama show he “cares?” The “caring” of a government is measured in our society solely by what it delivers to the voter in terms of benefits, favors, and other things. Go ahead. Try to think of an exception.
We’re supposed to reach out to minorities. Take fifty members of any given minority or interest group, and ask them what they want the government to do.
Are they going to respond, “get the government out of our way so we’ll be free to succeed?”
Or are they going to trot out their gift lists? Benefits. Free health care. Govermnment “investment.” Government jobs.
We’re not just talking poor or middle class either.
What Romney said is true. And like many true things, a lot of people don’t want to hear it. The Democrats are almost exclusively about government as the man with the bag of candy to pass out, and Republicans are about…well, God knows anymore.
tbrosz on November 16, 2012 at 4:36 PM
She better be prepared to deal with the Sarah Palin treatment…. only worse, because she isn’t white. She belongs on the grand Leftist plantation.
UltimateBob on November 16, 2012 at 4:43 PM
in other words, “how can we pander to you???”
Sachiko on November 16, 2012 at 4:51 PM
Blacks are out of reach as a constituency for conservatives. With a few notable exceptions, they lack trust in the constitution and its principles, because they were at the receiving end of the flaws of our founding. I dont see how this alienation from the original American project cant be corrected. They will always be more loyal to the liberal civil rights tradition than the conservative tradition that adheres to the founding principles. Their default position will always be at least somewhat progressive.
And hispanics? They are catholics and thus share the catholic fondness (again of course with notable exceptions) of unamerican big-government. Our hispanic problem is our Massachusetts problem.
Our political differences are rooted in cultural differences and cant be overcome by advertising or outreach. It would only make sense if we gave up on our principles and became Democrats-light and that is out of the question.
The only way to go forward, while adhering to our beliefs is to consolidate our base, correcting the immigration policies which created this mess and hope that the remaining time will suffice so that americanization and assimilation at least ease our problems.
Valkyriepundit on November 16, 2012 at 4:51 PM
mittens was the one parsed the population into segments (i.e., african-american, students, women, etc.) when he made his ridiculus stateement about ‘gifts’from obama…..mittens is all about grifting people….so who wants him in charge of anything?
Pragmatic on November 16, 2012 at 5:15 PM
Let’s just ask them why they’re so freaking stupid and unemployable.
TexasJew on November 16, 2012 at 5:21 PM
Romeny was right.
These dumbasses are paid-off looters.
TexasJew on November 16, 2012 at 5:22 PM
are you joking??? wow. romney pointed out something OBAMA did, and you blame ROMNEY?! wtf kind of logic is that…
Sachiko on November 16, 2012 at 6:11 PM