Time Mag Blames 'Extremely Conservative Ideas' for GOP Decline
How many
times can you use the discrediting term "extremely," suggesting
"extremist" positions, in a single sentence describing the state of the
Republican Party? Three, if you're writing Time magazine's cover story.
Michael Grunwald contended "the party's ideas - about economic issues,
social issues and just about everything else - are not popular ideas."
He then asserted in the article for the May 18 edition of the magazine:
"They are extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the
extremely unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to
its extremely conservative base."
Grunwald proceeded to characterize the GOP's agenda as a "hard right"
one which pleases Rush Limbaugh but not a majority of people, arguing:
"A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for the investor class,
protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal health insurance and
extolling the glories of waterboarding produces terrific ratings for
Rush Limbaugh, but it's not a majority agenda."
[This item, by the MRC's Brent Baker, was posted Saturday on the MRC's blog, NewsBusters.org: newsbusters.org ]
An
excerpt from "Republicans in Distress: Is the Party Over?", which is
part of the magazine's "Endangered Species" cover story package:
....Republicans actually have plenty of ideas.
That's
the problem. The party's ideas - about economic issues, social issues
and just about everything else - are not popular ideas. They are
extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the extremely
unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to its
extremely conservative base. A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for
the investor class, protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal
health insurance and extolling the glories of waterboarding produces
terrific ratings for Rush Limbaugh, but it's not a majority agenda. The
party's new, Hooverish focus on austerity on the brink of another
depression does not seem to fit the national mood, and it's shamelessly
hypocritical, given the party's recent history of massive deficit
spending on pork, war and prescription drugs in good times, not to
mention its continuing support for deficit-exploding tax cuts in bad
times....
The piece in full: www.time.com
Image of the cover: www.time.com
