CNN/ORC Poll: Republicans too extreme | POLITICO

Not a very surprising result from the recent CNN/ORC poll:

"Fifty-three percent of Americans said the GOP is too extreme, according to a CNN/ORC poll. That’s up 17 percentage points from two years ago, when Republicans were coming off a midterm walloping where they took control of the House. A matching 53 percent said Republicans should compromise more. However, Americans don’t want the GOP to lose control of the lower chamber, according to the poll."

The GOP's media cocoon - Jonathan Martin | POLITICO.com

POLITICO's Jonathan Martin writes an excellent analysis piece on the Right's media bubble (something I will admit I've taken great pleasure in reading about the last few days.) While others have written about this particular phenomenon:

"Facebook and Twitter feeds along with email in-boxes have taken the place of the old newspaper front page, except that the consumer is now entirely in charge of what he or she sees each day and can largely shut out dissenting voices. It’s the great irony of the Internet era: People have more access than ever to an array of viewpoints, but also the technological ability to screen out anything that doesn’t reinforce their views."

... Martin also talks about the emerging split between conservatives over 50 and those 49 and under:

"Some younger conservatives worry that the effects of cocoonism are just as evident after the race as before — and not only in the disbelief that Obama won. The knee-jerk reaction by some on the right to Romney’s poor performance with Hispanics has been to simply say that all will be well with the party if they pass an immigration bill and elevate Cuban-American Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

But to many next-generation Republicans, this smacks of tokenism and is more than a tad patronizing.

“They just want to put a sombrero on the Republican elephant,” said one Latino GOP operative, who didn’t want to be identified discussing such a sensitive topic.

Similarly, [45-year-old GOP strategist Bruce] Haynes fretted that “the mistake Republicans are going to make is thinking this is a demographic and political problem and not a social and cultural problem. You can’t fix this with Orca (the Romney campaign’s ill-fated GOTV software) or iPad apps or to some extent even running Hispanic candidates.”

To young Republican strategists and writers, a fundamental shift of how the party communicates is required. That doesn’t mean delegitimizing hugely popular and powerful outlets on the right, but rather transcending them.

“Communicating to the country’s changing demographics and outside of the Fox News echo chamber is a strategic imperative,” said GOP operative Phil Musser, 40.

“The rise of conservative media has been one of the best things to ever happen to the conservative movement. It has helped us reach new voters, has helped with voter persuasion and even motivation,” said GOP strategist Todd Harris, 41. “But with all the positives, there is this fact: If all you did was watch and read the conservative media, you were probably pretty shocked at what happened Tuesday. There’s a huge and ever-growing segment of the vote that Republicans just aren’t talking to and in some cases didn’t even know existed.”"

All-in-all this is a great read worth checking out regardless of whether you're on the left or the right.

When Did the GOP Lose Touch With Reality? When Did Liberals Become So Unreasonable? | New York Magazine

Jonathan Chait offers a left-wing critique of liberals. Likewise, David Frum offers a right-wing crtique of conservatives. Both very long yet interesting reads.

The difference between NJ Republicans and the Tea Party folks

The Week lists five reasons why Chris Christie cannot win the GOP nomination. They are:

1. Christie is no hardliner on immigration
2. He has a soft spot for gun control
3. Hardliners won't like his stand on the "ground zero mosque"
4. He's got an uncomfortable Madoff connection
5. A possible clincher: He believes people are causing climate change

So aside from #4 (which, if you read the article, is a dubious connection at best), Gov. Christie would be unacceptable to the Republican base because he prefers to take his posiitons based on common sense rather than party orthodoxy? I'm no Chris Christie fan but this essentially validates Bill Maher's claim in 2009 that Democrats Have Moved To The Right and The Right Has Moved Into The Mental Hospital.

Pataki website shows hints of presidential run

Uh oh. Here comes trouble.

"Things That Make You Go Hmmm..."

I first said it in a blog post on March 7th about South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley being the 2012 GOP's version of the 2004 Barack Obama. Now a Politico article states something about her ambitions:

"One state party operative without any 2012 allegiances who is close to Haley ... noted that she’s “extremely ambitious” and “angling for something bigger.”"

Just one of those things that make you go hmmm...