10.26.09

Texas GOP elects new messenger, continues narrowing message

Posted in 2010 Primary, Around The State, Commentary, Election 2010, Right Wing Lies at 2:01 pm by wcnews

On Saturday the Texas GOP replaced their former GOP chair, who had endorsed Rick Perry for reelection, with an even further to the right GOP chair that had endorsed Rick Perry for governor.  The Texas Freedom Network described it this way:

Cathie Adams, head of the far-right Texas Eagle Forum, is the new chair of the Republican Party of Texas. The State Republican Executive Committee announced Ms. Adams’s election to that post today. (The previous chair took a position in Gov. Rick Perry’s re-election campaign.) So now we get to see how even more extreme the Texas GOP will get.

They go on to list some of her greatest hit’s like comparing President Obama to Hitler, opposing funding for children’s health insurance, and some anti-Hispanic statements.

Half Empty has more On Going Rogue: The Republican Party of Texas.

On hearing this news a few minutes ago here I literally jumped out of my chair and reconsidered my opinions of my Republican brethren.

This makes the gift of Sarah Palin to the Democratic Party in last year’s presidential election pale in comparison. Locally anyway. And just as Sarah Palin opened the door to the lunatic rightwing Conservative Party by endorsing its candidate in a New York special congressional election yesterday, the RPT just elected the woman who will stand there and hold the door open as moderates and not-so-moderates of the Republican Party make a quick exit to the world of the Independent Voter.

Or better yet to the world of the Persuadable Voter.

There this article about how the Perry/Hutchison cheer-off will impact the Texas GOP going forward, Perry-Hutchison fight may cause major fallout in GOP. They compare it to the Richards/Primary in 1990. While the Democrat still won in 1990 it set up the struggles the party had in the elections that followed. Here’s what Harvey Kronberg had to say:

But there could be big fallout, said Harvey Kronberg, publisher of the Quorum Report, an online political newsletter.

“There’s a civil war that’s happening right now, and it has long implications,” Kronberg said. “Nothing good for Republicans can come out of this. Everyone who is an active Republican understands that the losing side is going into exile.

“Neither side will forgive and forget.”

[...]

Kronberg said he sees the battle’s effect as more similar to what the 1990 primary between Ann Richards and Jim Mattox did to the Democratic party.

“That was the beginning of the end for Democrats in Texas,” he said. “The fundraising base broke up, people stayed home. ?.?.?.? It took a decade to completely play itself out.”

[...]

But the fight could hurt the party later.

“It may take two to four years to see, but this is a deep, deep division in the party,” Kronberg said. “We’ll see who is standing at the end of it.”

The DMN also has a post up on “narrowcasting” or Perry, Hutchison slug it out on Web. Narrowcasting allows them to target ads to certain web sites visited by a “narrow” group of conservative voters. It allows them to use a “narrow” message.

The ads appear mostly on conservative Web sites, such as the Drudge Report, and are bent on swaying the party faithful. They are colorful, sardonic and often meant to demean the opponent’s fidelity to the GOP. But media experts warn that what may work in the primary could hurt the winner come the general election.

And it also allows them to play fast and loose in the ads without offending the masses.

“They can get a little more brave online … in terms of the nature of the attack,” [Amy Jasperson, a political communications professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio] added. Ads for other media are typically more toned-down.

[...]

“They’re not broadcasting, they’re narrowcasting,” Tucker said, adding that Hutchison should target staunch Republicans and “put doubt in their minds” about Perry.

Online ads can provide the targeted messages the two now need, whereas print and broadcast ads force candidates to blanket a wide swath of voters with one message, said John Brabender, a national political media consultant.

Let’s hope the GOP keeps narrowing its message and messengers.

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