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Rush Limbaugh

Pandering to millennials will ruin the GOP

I understand the desire and need for people of younger generations to be heard and acknowledged. I totally get that. But the truth is that it is up to you to be heard, up to you to get noticed, up to you to stand out. You are not entitled to be respected just because of your age. The only exception is the Seasoned Citizen population, which is the greatest collection of wisdom in the country (I don’t expect you to believe that). You can demand to be respected, recognized, and listened to all day long, but understand that no one has any obligation to listen to you. You are going to have to make them want to … by virtue of your achievements. By demonstrating potential. By being interesting. Yes, even by being provocative. Fearless. Everyone has the right to speak, but we do not have a right to be listened to. No one has a constitutional right to be heard. In other words, don’t sit around and wait and hope or demand that somebody listen to you. Take action. Be heard, but above all, make something happen.

The Republican Party right now is scared. It doesn’t know what it wants to be, nor does it know what it should be. It has lost its confidence and too many in the party think they have to become more moderate, or more like Democrats, in order to be liked and popular. Well, here is an undeniable truth for you: The pursuit of being liked can be the greatest prison you ever put yourself into, because you will be afraid to be who you really are. You will be trying to assess what everyone wants you to be, and you’ll end up thinking that who you are isn’t good enough. I know it is hard because we are all raised wanting to be loved. Many people compromise their core beliefs in pursuit of it. But once you know what you believe, once you have established your core, stick with it. Then make your move on the Republican Party, which is ripe for you to define it.

I think a political party that reaches out to groups and demographics with ideas that lack cohesion is a party destined to lose because it will fragment. A party has to be about a universal set of principles and ideas that attract all kinds of people from all walks of life. All ages, all genders, all orientations. It has been done recently. Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections in 1980 and 1984. You can tailor your message for individual groups, but not your principles.

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Just one minor correction:

Pandering to millenials has ruined the GOP.

gryphon202 on March 15, 2013 at 11:35 AM

Pandering to millenials and the baby boomers has ruined the GOP.

rhombus on March 15, 2013 at 11:41 AM

Pandering to millenials and the baby boomers has ruined the GOP.

rhombus on March 15, 2013 at 11:41 AM

I think it’s the baby boomers who are not pandering to the millenials.

gryphon202 on March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM

A party has to be about a universal set of principles and ideas that attract all kinds of people from all walks of life. All ages, all genders, all orientations. It has been done recently. Ronald Reagan won two landslide elections in 1980 and 1984. You can tailor your message for individual groups, but not your principles.

I just want to link this idea to AP’s post yesterday on Rand Paul’s CPAC speech: http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/14/rand-paul-at-cpac-the-gop-of-old-has-grown-stale-and-moss-covered/

Paul senior’s isolationism is framed as retreat, a strategic response to “blowback” from enemies antagonized by America’s shameful aggression overseas. Paul junior’s is framed as a matter of national pride. Why send money to Islamist cretins in Egypt when they openly loathe our country? Advantage: Junior.

He is showing us how to do it, folks.

Doomberg on March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM

The Republican Party right now is scared.

Why?

Obama’s sinking.
The mid-terms look great for us.
And we’ve got some awesome presidential contenders for ’16.

itsnotaboutme on March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM

…not pandering to the millenials.

gryphon202 on March 15, 2013 at 11:45 AM

*now

gryphon202 on March 15, 2013 at 11:46 AM

Pandering to millenials and the baby boomers has ruined the GOP. country.

rhombus on March 15, 2013 at 11:41 AM

FIFY.

Mimzey on March 15, 2013 at 11:47 AM

Pandering to millennials the rainbow mafia will ruin the GOP

Fixed it.

platypus on March 15, 2013 at 11:48 AM

Love or hate Rush, he is correct 99.6% of the time(I think that is the number)!

Our home love Rush!
L

letget on March 15, 2013 at 11:52 AM

IF you want to see how brainwashed the millennials are, go read the comments. You can tell they all picked up a lot in college.

I think Rush will get some valuable insight from the replies – though I’m sure it won’t be what he’s expecting.

Free Indeed on March 15, 2013 at 11:55 AM

Everyone has the right to speak, but we do not have a right to be listened to. No one has a constitutional right to be heard.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve tried to make this exact point. Everyone yells “free speech” as if part of that right is that someone must listen.

alwaysfiredup on March 15, 2013 at 11:57 AM

White millennials voted overwhelming for Romney.

ninjapirate on March 15, 2013 at 11:58 AM

Millenials can keep voting for liberals, but there won’t be any money left pretty soon.

I’m betting on Armageddon.

BuckeyeSam on March 15, 2013 at 11:58 AM

IF you want to see how brainwashed the millennials are, go read the comments. You can tell they all picked up a lot in college.

Free Indeed on March 15, 2013 at 11:55 AM

I’m starting to feel less ashamed of being unable to afford a four-year college.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 11:59 AM

It’s almost as if pandering at all is the problem, not just pandering to a specific demographic.

Jeddite on March 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM

It’s almost as if pandering at all is the problem, not just pandering to a specific demographic.

Jeddite on March 15, 2013 at 12:03 PM

A fair point, though I’d argue that a major portion of it is trying to pander to people who A: don’t much care for freedom and democracy and B: aren’t all that smart to begin with.

And yes, I apply this to my generation as well.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 12:05 PM

Pandering to the baby boomers has ruined the country.

rhombus on March 15, 2013 at 11:41 AM

FIFY.

Mimzey on March 15, 2013 at 11:47 AM

QFT

alwaysfiredup on March 15, 2013 at 12:06 PM

A fair point, though I’d argue that a major portion of it is trying to pander to people who A: don’t much care for freedom and democracy and B: aren’t all that smart to begin with.

And yes, I apply this to my generation as well.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 12:05 PM

I think Romney had a good starting point when he said at one of the debates (paraphrasing) “If you vote for me, you’ll have a job.”

Jeddite on March 15, 2013 at 12:11 PM

I’m starting to feel less ashamed of being unable to afford a four-year college.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 11:59 AM

Don’t be ashamed at all. Right now a college education is a bubble asset. There’s no sense in anyone buying it, considering its worth in the marketplace. Let the student loan debacle unwind, give it five years and you should see some changes.

alwaysfiredup on March 15, 2013 at 12:14 PM

I think Romney had a good starting point when he said at one of the debates (paraphrasing) “If you vote for me, you’ll have a job.”

Jeddite on March 15, 2013 at 12:11 PM

His mile-long liberal policy record kinda took the wind out of that statement. I am utterly burned out on promises of prosperity from long-term liberals presented as conservatives.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 12:16 PM

Pander to what millennials? The ones that Romney won by 7 points?

The elephant in the room that no one mentions is the racial divide of the new generational cohort. Both liberals and conservatives use the term millennials to evoke white kids and now post-kids, but they’re not why Obama won.

HitNRun on March 15, 2013 at 12:38 PM

The elephant in the room that no one mentions is the racial divide of the new generational cohort. Both liberals and conservatives use the term millennials to evoke white kids and now post-kids, but they’re not why Obama won.

HitNRun on March 15, 2013 at 12:38 PM

Many people, even now at the end of all things, absolutely refuse to believe this is about race and not politics. Some of it is liberal sabotage…but some of it we’ve brought on ourselves.

MelonCollie on March 15, 2013 at 1:08 PM

You can tailor your message for individual groups, but not your principles.

On the national level, I cannot think of a Republican politician other than Reagan who held fast to his principles.

Democrats hold fast to their principles, parasitic as they may be, all the time. When you vote Democrat, you know what you’re getting, even with the so-called “blue dog” type.

But when you vote Republican, the only thing you know you’ll end up with, sooner or later, is a politician who will compromise his principles on the altar of compromise.

From the late Senator Jesse Helms:

I told my young staff that the way to be successful in politics and remain true to your principles is to know the distinction between your principles and your preferences. On your principles, you should never yield; you should be prepared to be defeated. Nobody likes to be defeated, but you should let everybody know in the most articulate and thoughtful and civil way you can (you don’t go out and pick fights with people) that in certain matters that you define as matters of principle you will not budge, you cannot yield, you will not compromise. If you don’t have the votes or the winning argument, then you stand to be defeated and rolled over, and you’ll just have to come back another day.

But on circumstances that are your preferences, you’d better be prepared to compromise, because that’s where you can demonstrate that you can engage with other people. Then you can, in fact, operate in the political realm.

So make a clear distinction anytime an issue arises—is this a point of principle or is this a point of preference? An awful lot of politicians never understand the difference. They compromise their principles and they fight to the death on their preferences. They end up of course, being frustrated and unsuccessful–and failures at achieving their objectives.

/we are so screwed…

Wanderlust on March 15, 2013 at 1:11 PM