Rebranding the GOP

The term “rebranding” is all the rage today. I have seen it for years, but the recent ludicrous move by the folks at PETA to “rebrand” fish as “sea-kittens” shows the lengths to which misguided wonks can go with these efforts. That brings us to the Republicans and their effort to rebrand the GOP.

It started with the selection of former Lieutenant Governor of Maryland, Michael Steele as the new party chair. Steele, an African American, is the new Alan Keyes. He is that rare commodity, a black Republican, and as such is getting a lot of play in the press.

Now call me cynical, but the GOP’s sudden move toward “inclusion” smacks of the same tactic that brought Sarah Palin into the spotlight. Palin’s claim to fame was her gender. The GOP needed a woman on their ticket to draw away what they perceived were disenfranchised Hillary voters. This cynical move on their part almost worked until people actually heard Palin speak and realized it was a bad joke.

Now they are trying to present a new face for the party with Steele, and they have begin floating names for 2012. It is no accident that Bobby Jindal gave the Republican response to Obama’s address last week. The Republicans are trying to rebrand themselves as a party of inclusion. Jindal, unfortunately, seems to be another Sarah Palin, but without the charisma. His response was widely panned as being an imitation of “Kenneth the Page” from the TV show 30 Rock.

Now comes the latest salvo in the rebranding effort as Eric Cantor, Minority Whip appeared on ABC's This Week. He was asked by George Stephanopoulos if the “new Republican Party” was going “move to the middle on issues like gay rights”. Cantor carefully parsed his words.
“There is no question the Republican Party has to return to be one of inclusion, not exclusion. And we are a party with many ideas.”

Meanwhile, over at the Conservative Political Action Conference the real leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, made it clear he wants no part of a kinder-gentler GOP. He defended his statement that he wanted President Obama to fail garnering a standing ovation from those in attendance.

All this smacks as part of a concerted effort to present one face to the public at large and a very different face to the party base. For the masses, there is Steele, Palin and Jindal but for the party faithful there is Limbaugh and other hard-liners.

Unfortunately, there are a number of LGBT folks who are buying the rebranding. The Log Cabin Republicans can be counted on to drink the Kool-Aid whenever called upon.

Patrick Sammons of Log Cabin was positively glowing in his admiration of the kinder-gentler GOP.''It's a great day for our Party. Steele is an inclusive leader who will bring a new energy and a new vision to the GOP at a critical time. ... While we do not agree with Chairman Steele on every issue, we look forward to working with him to help rebuild the GOP. Republicans got wiped out in November with non-white voters, young voters and self-described moderates. Michael Steele understands the base doesn't equal a majority.''

If Sammons, or any Republican actually believes that stuffing a few token minorities in visible positions and tip-toeing around any kind of real change with deftly-parsed empty phrases will actually draw LGBT people or any other minority into the GOP are delusional. Maybe they should just stay home and play with their “Sea Kittens” while heating their homes with “Clean Coal”.