Snowe: Republicans Need To ‘Rethink Their Approach As A Political Party’

[DonViejo]

Former Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) said Tuesday on MSNBC she agrees with Bob Dole's assessment over the weekend that the GOP should be "closed for repairs" until it comes up with ideas and a positive agenda.

"I certainly do agree with the former majority leader, Bob Dole, with whom I worked when I first entered the Senate," she said, "and who was a consensus builder and understood what was essential and important for the Republican Party brand -- what was important for America and that unfortunately has been lost today on Capitol Hill."

Snowe said both Republicans and Democrats bear responsibility but that the GOP must reevaluate its outlook if it wants to become a majority party again.

"The Republican Party is undergoing some, you know, significant and serious changes and they are going to have to rethink their approach as a political party," Snowe said, "and how they are going to regroup and become a governing majority party that appeals to a broader group of Americans than they do today."

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http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/snowe-republicans-need-to-rethink-their-approach-as

[Proud Liberal Dem]

1. The only problem is that their "base" doesn't believe in "positive solutions" to anything

I'm having trouble figuring out what exactly a "positive" solution would look like in today's GOP. They are pretty much only about war, defunding government services (except for the military), defanging government so that it can't really do any meaningful oversight of corporations, ensuring that corporations don't pay much in taxes, and......well....I can't really think of much else. Positive MIGHT be something like a Medicare Drug Plan that is able to negotiate lower prices but that would interfere with corporate profits, so that's a no-no. Stop obstructing health care reform might be nice but President Obama is their nemesis so they don't want his signature piece of legislation to be a success (even though they nominated the guy that actually implemented it while he was governor of Massachusetts). I'm frankly stumped.........

[sofa king]

2. Ah yes, the rose-tinted good old days.

I've been paying fairly close attention to what Congress has been doing for nearly 20 years now. Never, in that entire time, did I see the Republicans in the Senate meet even the minimum standards of conduct that the Senate's playbook demands.

They have operated disgracefully and dishonorably that entire time.

They were always dishonest negotiators, always obstructionists, always the instigators of false crises like shutdowns and debt ceilings, always the first to violate the rules of comity and, on the occasions when they were in control, always first to refuse to hear out minority dissent.

Snowe has consistently tried to give herself a pass by tacking moderate in election seasons, but her voting record clearly shows that she facilitated all of the dirty pool the Republican Party played, year after year, for the entirety of the time I have watched.

What we are seeing here is the Dr. Frankenstein moment of clarity, the moment when the old guard of dishonorable Republican Senators realize that their own machinations have created this monster, and now they are seeking to shackle it down. But it is their own behavior that brought them to this moment and it is far, far too late to contain the monster. All they can do is distance themselves in a desperate attempt to protect their own tarnished legacies.

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. Unfortunately for them the whole premise of conservatism is....

to resist change.
Good luck with that.