Our political Quote of the Day comes from conservative talk show host Michael Medved who, in a detailed column and analysis on Town Hall, argues that if the Republicans want to make their way out of the national political wilderness they need to do two things: (1)embrace conservative ideas (2)moderate their tone to reach out to actually win over moderates.
But, wait: when you read his analysis in full there is a sense of de ja vu: isn’t he calling for a kind of Republicanism that the GOP offered once before under a man named Ronald Reagan? Reagan — considered a true conservative yet someone who reached out so that he created a class called Democratic Reagan voters and who Gil Troy profiled as a moderate President in his must-read book Leading from the Center: Why Moderates Make the Best Presidents
Here are some key quotes from Medved, who has made it clear he does not approve of the Rush Limbaugh/Sean Hannity/Glenn Beck slash-burn-and-demonize school of talk radio that belittles and often misrepresents those who dare not to conform to all of the views of the talk show host:
New polling brings good news and bad news for beleaguered Republicans yearning for a comeback in the Age of Obama.
The encouraging message suggests that Americans strongly prefer conservative policies and values to the liberal approaches preached by the president. On the other hand, the same polls indicate that the two revival strategies most commonly discussed by the GOP will both lead to political dead ends. Neither a shift to more moderate positions nor an emphasis on rousing, uncompromising, us-vs.-them right wing rhetoric will bring Republicans back to power in Washington D.C. The only workable strategy for long-term GOP gains requires a combination of conservative substance and more moderate tone.
First, the good news for endangered elephants: a recent Gallup Poll (August 14) shows that in nearly all 50 states more people identify themselves as conservative than liberal.
He details some polls then adds:
Nationwide, the preference for the conservative brand persists, even in the midst of Democratic triumphs at the ballot box….
Obviously, the clearly expressed ideological preferences of the American public offer powerful opportunities to battered Republicans to recoup their losses and restore their fortunes but the bad news from the pollsters invalidates the two most frequently mentioned strategies for achieving that renewal.
First, there’s no evidence at all that it would help the GOP to moderate its positions on issues or in any way turn away from the conservative label, as suggested by numerous moderate Republican leaders (former Governor Christie Todd Whitman of New Jersey, Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, and Senator Arlen Spector of Pennsylvania –before he switched to the Democrats) . The numbers show, in fact, that conservatism remains vastly more popular than Republicanism….
…This recognition leads to the other commonly expressed formula for reviving the Republican Party: a new emphasis on tough-minded, unwavering, hyper-partisan, take-no-prisoners affirmations of the party’s unequivocal right wing orientation. According to nearly all my talk radio colleagues (led, as always, by the great Rush Limbaugh), this sort of full-throated call to arms would mobilize the party’s base and bring victory by appealing to the nation’s permanent conservative majority.
Unfortunately, that much-heralded majority doesn’t exist – not even in the most reliably conservative states.
And:
Why, then, did the decisive block of moderate voters prefer Barack Obama in such overwhelming numbers? The answer involves his moderate tone, not the ideological substance of his program. As the clear front-runner from the time he locked-up the nomination, Obama could emphasize gauzy themes of “hope” and “change” and avoid resorting to angry or negative rhetoric. McCain and Palin, on the other hand, played catch-up throughout the campaign, adopting a tone that struck the public (according to surveys) as vastly more negative than the appeals of their Democratic opponents.
And here is the core:
History, common sense and recent polling send a clear message regarding the two common recommendations for rebuilding the GOP. Republicans don’t need less conservatism, and they won’t benefit from a more confrontational style. They actually need more conservatism, and a less confrontational style.
They must renew the same combination that has worked for Republican winners at the national level for some thirty years. Ronald Reagan never abandoned conservative positions, but his famously genial approach to political combat won him the moderate voters he needed for two landslide victories. His gracious and generous praise even for political foes (like his eloquent tribute to John Kennedy at a fundraiser for the JFK Library in 1985) made him sound bi-partisan, even while he remained an aggressive party leader and a courageously consistent conservative.
And his conclusion about the GOP and moderates?
The most important point to remember about those citizens in the political middle who seem to decide every national election is that they’re the least philosophically committed or issues-oriented voters in the electorate. Respondents often describe themselves as “moderate” because they feel uncertain of their place on the political spectrum and are less engaged with the roiling controversies of the day. Moderates famously respond to atmospherics (“hope and change” or “compassionate conservatism”) and personalities, more than they react to nine-point plans or detailed position papers. They also dislike strident, confrontational, the other-guy-is-Hitler rhetoric because such appeals seem like a rebuke to their own uncertainty.
Republicans can’t win without rallying the plurality of Americans who prefer conservatism to liberalism, but they also can’t (anywhere) with that group alone. Just like Democrats, the GOP needs moderate votes to win and the only way to get them without sacrificing principle or core conservative voters involves deploying the same combination that’s worked before: maintaining clearly conservative positions and values, but with those ideas presented in a manner that’s optimistic, amiable, reasonable and moderate.
Read it in full.
Some of what Medved is saying is similar to what many writers on TMV have suggested and what CNN’s John Avlon has suggested as well. Can the GOP take this kind of advice to heart?
We will know soon enough.
Senator Olympia Snowe voted with the Senate Panel to approve health care reform and she is one of the few moderates left. Precisely what kind of political consequences will she face?
But the larger issue is now Republicans and conservatives address moderates in 2010 and 2012. It’s difficult to convince a moderate about your positions if you’re on the attack accusing them of being closet liberals, hating America or peppering your argument with tidbits of demonization about all Democrats that obscure your message about specific policy.
Trying to convince a moderate or centrist isn’t easy if you’re spicing it up with claims that Obama o\is a Marxist or was born in Kenya (or even a more alien country such as Switzerland..).
As Medved notes, Reagan won over some voters who might otherwise have not considered his arguments since he kept demonization rhetoric to a minimum and seldom went way over the top when he attacked opponents (he did have some moments but it wasn’t what he was all about). As a result, and because he was an upbeat versus glowering, perpetually angry and outraged figure sounding a rhetorical alarm about how dangerous and evil his opponents were, Reagan could get a serious hearing from voters. He knew how to present himself and how to argue to voters’ hearts and minds versus simply addressing their bile supply.
FOOTNOTE: I always like to add this story, which is about a liberal talk show host but points out how liberals and conservatives now view politics — and how about the Rush Limbaugh/Glenn Beck mentality of demonizing and trying to define those who may not agree with you is not limited to the right.
Several years ago I was invited on the program of a local liberal talk show host who would sometimes fill in for a national liberal talk show host. I used to work on the San Diego Union newspaper as a reporter (I covered the border, immigration reform, education and a variety of other beats). The paper used to be owned by the Copley family and its editorial management included some people close to California’s GOP Nixon and Reagan factions. I had interviewed this talk show host (I had been a fan and listened to him for years on several stations, including when he was not a liberal talk show host) when I had been a reporter. As anyone who can work on a newspaper will attest: reporters and news gathering operations are separate from the editorial board.
The invitation to be on this radio talk show proved to be a misrepresentation. Supposedly I was invited on to was to talk about this blog and about politics. But in reality the host and his co-host invited me on to grill me about how ANYONE can REALLY be a moderate — and to go on the attack and not let me answer in a typical piece of talk radio theater.
He made a big point of telling listeners how I had worked on the paper, implying that my working as a reporter covering the news therefore meant that I was secretly a Republican masking as a moderate, independent voter. He and his producer repeatedly asked me how anyone could be a moderate and when I tried to answer both talked over me and drowned me out saying things such as “a moderate cup of coffee…a moderate case of cancer.”
They were on the attack, talked over me constantly and finally abruptly disconnected me mid-sentence. In short: the segment was all about getting me on the show to define me. This guy had never met me or even talked with me for more than a few seconds but it was enough that he knew I didn’t agree totally with him — so I had to be defined and it had to be done in a way so that I was not allowed to answer him.
Similarly, another national liberal talk show host who is not one of the most popular once said on his show “I hate moderates…they cooperate with evil…”
My reaction? I had listened to this first guy for years and had included him on my list of regular right and left wing talk show hosts. I never listened to him ever again and he had has ZERO credibility with me. Similarly, the other national talk show host is off my right/left talk radio list. Why would I bother listening to people who negatively define me and attack me?
Some on the left and right have a disdainful view of moderates and centrists and suggest they cannot be moderate or centrist unless they already agree with THEM — which is always interesting because oftentimes these folks are rock solid liberals or solid conservatives. They also seemingly feel that moderates (a)have no principles, (b)are fuzzy headed because they don’t agree with an Ann Coulter or Michael Moore, (c)actually secretly belong to the other side but won’t admit it, (d) enable the other side and (e) can never be moderates if they are passionate but most perpetually talk like CSPAN hosts without taking a position. (Here’s a news flash: independents, moderates and centrists do take positions because they vote.)
But to win elections, a party must win over a good chunk of moderates, centrists and independents. These are decidedly not monolithic blocks. But Democrats and Republicans will need to convince these voters to either trust their party or, at least, help them conclude that they don’t smell as bad as the alternative.
For Republicans, re-studying Ronald Reagan, reading Medved’s column and resisting the easy temtation to emulate Limbaugh, Hannity and Beck might be a nice place to start.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.