Longtime Mississippi Republicans will remember political consultant Stuart Stevens for his work on early campaigns for the late Sen. Thad Cochran. Since those early races he has become a highly successful media strategist and has helped elect numerous Republican governors and senators.
His client list sounds like a who's who of Republican leaders – President George W. Bush, Gov. Mitt Romney, Sen. Bob Dole, Sen. John McCain, Gov. Haley Barbour, Gov. Tom Ridge, Cochran, Sen. Dick Lugar, Sen. Mel Martinez, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Roger Wicker, Sen. Jon Kyl, Sen. Rob Portman, Sen. Roy Blunt, Sen. Dan Coats, Gov. Paul Cellucci, Gov. Bob Riley, Gov. Larry Hogan, and congressmen.
Through all these associations, Stevens has been immersed in what Republicanism in America is all about.
Or was, according to his recent op-ed column in The Washington Post.
"Wake up, Republicans. Your party stands for all the wrong things now," was the headline. Here are some key excerpts.
"As you are out and about marking the new year, it is likely you will come across a Republican to whom you can pose the question, preferably after a drink or two, as that tends to work as truth serum: 'Look, I was just wondering: What’s the Republican Party all about these days? What does it, well, stand for?'
"I’m betting the answer is going to involve a noun, a verb and either 'socialism' or 'Democrats.' Republicans now partly define their party simply as an alternative to that other party, as in 'I’m a Republican because I’m not a Democrat.'
"In a long-forgotten era — say, four years ago — such a question would have elicited a very different answer. Though there was disagreement over specific issues, most Republicans would have said the party stood for some basic principles: fiscal sanity, free trade, strong on Russia, and that character and personal responsibility count. Today it’s not that the Republican Party has forgotten these issues and values; instead, it actively opposes all of them.
"Republicans are now officially the character-doesn’t-count party, the personal-responsibility-just-proves-you-have-failed-to-blame-the-other-guy party, the deficit-doesn’t-matter party, the Russia-is-our-ally party, and the I’m-right-and-you-are-human-scum party. Yes, it’s President Trump’s party now, but it stands only for what he has just tweeted.
"This is a sad fall. In Ronald Reagan’s America, being born an American was to win life’s lottery; in Donald Trump’s America, it makes you a victim, a patsy, a chump."
"This impeachment moment and all that has led to it should signal a day of reckoning. A party that has as its sole purpose the protection and promotion of its leader, whatever he thinks, is not on a sustainable path. Can anyone force a change? I’m not optimistic. Trump won with 46.1 percent of the vote in 2016, while Mitt Romney lost with 47.2 percent in 2012; no wonder Republicans have convinced themselves that the path to victory and power lies with angry division."
Stevens concludes his piece saying, "I’d like to say that I believe the party I spent so many years fighting for could rise to the challenge of this moment. But there have been too many lies for too long."
A little context.
Stevens is currently serving as general consultant to the William Weld presidential campaign.
Still and all, his is a sad commentary to say the least.
"Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character" – 1 Corinthians 15:33.
Crawford is a syndicated columnist from Meridian.
Sunday, January 19, 2020
Bill Crawford: GOP Strategist Questions Party
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35 comments:
Client list tells it all.
Stevens and Crawford both belong to the version of the Republican Party that led to both Obama and Trump.
What has free trade gotten us other than cheap stuff at Walmart, the destruction of the middle class, the opioid crisis, and skyrocketing divorce rates?
Before Trump, life expectancy was declining and the middle class dropped below 50% of the population for the first time in history.
What has "fiscal sanity" gotten us except $23 trillion in debt, largely overseen by many of the Republicans Stevens has worked for?
I'll tell you what the new GOP post Trump will stand for (if they're smart) - borders, families, order and justice.
Stevens and Crawford are obviously tone deaf to what the American people are actually concerned about. To them, people only voted for Trump because they were either "Racist" or mesmerized by Donald Trump's private jet and gold penthouse.
They are blind.
BREAKING! FREE TRADE LEADS TO DIARRHEA AND DIVORCES.
BULL SHIT!
Trump apologists sound an awful lot like Ross Barnett apologists.
I’m no Trump supporter but keep in mind Stevens is the genius who convinced Mitt Romney to keep it civil & not attack the Kenyan.
He’s a good loser.
Agree 100%. Thanks Donald.
8:09 is absolutely correct and I will add that the GOP aren't spineless. They are collaborators with the Democrats against the interests of the American people.
They've sold us out for a laundry list of lobbyists and foreign interests.
8:09 saved me a lot of typing. Everything perfectly on point.
“We’re so far detached from reality that when we see an angry country, we see only a racist country”.
* I am no fan of the current presidents personality, but even I can see why *they* voted for him.
Trump is the Kenneth Stokes for uneducated rednecks and boomers.
I voted for Trump in the last presidential election. I will probably vote for him again in the next. I think he is a bloated, spoiled, ego-maniac who has lowered the standard of presidential leadership maybe forever. That should tell you what I think of his current opposition. I could vote for Obama if
he ran against Trump but not the clowns the Democrats trust upon us this time. I think we might survive Trump, but not those clowns. I am not among the sheep who endlessly excuse Trumps behavior, but I will vote for him. Too bad for America that we have come to this.
With regret, I disagree with Mr. Stevens that " it is not a sustainable path".
He's right, of course, if he means the GOP as a party with shared principles on economics and societal values which best govern a democratic republic is lost forever.
He is wrong if he means the GOP as a one leader/dominant party that continuously controls every element of government without restraint.
The dirty tricks/smear approach to campaigning ( which was started by Cohen, renewed more benignly by Atwater and refined by Rove and Cheney) became the " take no prisoners" approach by Norquist and Abramoff with Reed. Appeals to greed, fear and an establish a sense of superiority among followers worked well. The use of religion via churches like was done in the the Civil Rights would be used to successfully promote political change rather than social change. This time the preachers would be recruited instead with power and money including financing , not community leadership and a betterment of their people. They should sure Christians come to believe that education and knowledge and anything less than blind faith is a threat. Make sure Christians lose confidence that behaving as Christians alone will confirm by example that the values they embrace is a powerful shield against evil.
Get control of media outlets , first with religious broadcasting, then expand to radio, then to cable and to social media. And, the last step would be control over elections.
It was not a brilliant strategy, but rather refinements and selective elements of historical strategies that worked well. Putin is a modern example as is the Ayatollah who managed just with idea that religion and being led by "true believers" will result in a " righteous government".
I respect Mr. Stevens for seeing the obvious now, but I wish he'd never believed he could walk a political tightrope spun with gold ,greed, fear, half truths and lies without truth, honor, laudable ideal and democracy being casualties. At least, his soul is no longer at risk.
9:41 am succinctly explains why the Democrats seem so inept.
Going back to at least Newt Gingrich as Speaker of the House, the Republican party has so demonized the Democratic party that most Republican voters will not vote for a Democrat, no matter what. As a result, the GOP became so secure in its base (which will never leave it), that it now stands only for pure politics, and winning the next election is the only thing that matters. That's my $0.02.
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." - frequently attributed to Jimi Hendrix
The Republican Party had become a shill for globalist elites who call for a borderless worldwide economy which will lead to a global government. Breaking borders of trade equates to breaking borders of nations. "Equality" of individual rights becomes 'equality of outcome'. Of course all this requires a government guiding the 'best interest' of the sheeple.
If you wonder where this all comes from, read Marx, Stalin, Mao, and, yes, Hitler, to get the basis for Alinski's Rules for Radicals........appropriately dedicated to Lucifer.
Thank goodness the RINOs like Romney have been exposed by Trump. He may be crass in his communications, but the substance of his statements is what is important and he is doing his best to do what he says. This next election will determine the trajectory of socialism and the liberty of the individual in the U.S......pay attention.
1:17 Go ahead and attribute all this stuff to your warmed over philosophies but the truth is: Trump is the Champion of Trump, nothing else. Not democracy, "not liberty of the individual", not fiscal restraint, just Trump and Trumpism, whatever that is. If you like that better than the offerings of the Dems, fine. But it is what it is.
Crawford will be happy when we line up for bread. He does not like Trump fighting the Democrats or Republicrats.
Can Kingfish either stop running this person's column or explain it each time. I can never tell what he is saying or meaning.
Donald Trump won the Republican nomination because he is a relentless self-promoter and he won the presidency because he was the best of two terrible candidates. He doesn't care what anyone thinks of him because he has got his and you don't have yours. Pretty simple metrics.
He was snubbed by the Grand Ol Party and now wants to reach further than Johnny McCain. Slightly infuriating actually. Damaging the party because you aren’t invited.
The Republican Party no longer exists. All that is left is a morally bankrupt group of white supremacist KKK meth head trailer trash.
Trump can best be described as a world class narcissist that bleeds red, white, and blue plus gets shit that needs to be dealt with done. Sure, he's a scum bag of a husband/father and sucks at what a real man should be, but I'll take him as President over any of the buffoons that the Democrats are offering up as choices.
Idiots usually stick together to the end. The end is near too. January 2021 can't get here fast enough.
I'm just curious. Has Stuart ever apologized for Orca?
Orca, like his sister Oprah, was a fat whale. Next querstshun.
Bill was a one-term Republican legislator in the early 1980’s; one of a relative handful. He also served as Chairman of the Lauderdale County GOP. But when Ray Mabus decided to run for Governor, Bill famously (or infamously) wrote to GOP committee members resigning from the Party because “I’ve had a change in philosophy.” It is a matter of record that Bill supported Mabus. This fact, as much as anything, is why Bill was not successful in succeeding Sonny Montgomery in Congress (as a Republican) even when he was the front runner in the GOP primary which Chip Pickering won in a run-off. Bill is a good man, and has accomplished many positive things in a long career, but his “philosophy” is not Republican. He is a never-Trumper, obviously, whose interests are not aligned with those of most Mississippians.
6:59 - That said (and hooray for your research), the man has a right to his philosophy and to state it and get paid for having it published. And you and I have a right to read or not read it. I suspect if Kenneth Stokes came on this blog and posted something of similar length, you'd read that too.
I will take Trump and his conservatism over this clown and the losers he has supported. Trump has made America great again... Stevens and his clown card are idiots...
... the man has a right to his philosophy and to state it and get paid for having it published.
Show us where @6:59 said otherwise.
1:17 pm Your paranoia is showing but also, it's clear you don't see Trump as a global elitist.
Do share your definition of " global elitist" and who you'd include.
Being born rich and privileged, attending expensive schools all through life, global businesses, appearing on media platforms from an early age and avoiding the draft are apparently not on your list.
Here's a news flash...there are elitists who " get" that if their society is in conflict, there's a chance the hordes will storm their gates if they are too greedy and elitists who don't care about enriching anyone but themselves. There are elitist who know there wealth is dependent upon good workers to support them and elitist who think they acquired all they have alone and are doing those below them a " favor" to give them any work to do.
Stuart can't get over the fact that Trump did something Mitt failed to do.
What has Stevens, Romney, and the elites ever done to make this country better? Instead they're seething in jealousy at a President that has done more for America than any other... They hate conservatives more than socialists.
It’s hilarious to me that the Trump base is so gullible in thinking that he is more like them than the “elites.” I guess commenters like 2:04 also shit on a golden toilet in their private 747 while writing off the jet fuel to their sham charity.
9:03 - He didn't need to 'say otherwise'. The puff-oligist at 6:59 attacked the man for his opinions, his past and present party affiliations, his philosophy and his opinion on Trump. I merely recognized that he has a right to those things without yahoos condemning him for holding and publishing his views. You're another one who needs to locate the down arrow (scroll key) on your keyboard.
@6:59 attacked Crawford? LMAO Crawl back into your hole and pull the covers down over your head.
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