The GOP Is Running Away From The Issues. Not A Viable Plan

I wrote recently in passing that the national GOP was sending out updates and tutorials to try to instruct GOP candidates, both incumbents and challengers, on how to avoid getting bogged down into a no-win conversation about the Supreme Court overturning Roe v Wade. I’m betting that instructions will soon be forthcoming on how to avoid the mass shooting debacle.

This is the most terrible decision that the GOP could make. But they’re making it for very simple reasons, They’re a bunch of craven cowards, and they know they’re in the wrong. That isn’t a positive argument to bring before the people as to why they should put you back in power.

Look at Biden and the Democrats. Right now, Biden’s popularity in a conglomeration of polls is at 37.6%. A new NYT poll had him at 33%. The two biggest bugaboos in his presidency are gas prices and inflation at the stores, two things over which the President has Almost no personal control! And yet Biden and the Democrats are slamming Big Oil, releasing a million barrels of oil a day to the market, working to fix the supply chain problems.

What’s the difference there? Biden and the Democrats are acknowledging the problems, and at least showing that they’re trying to do whatever is in their limited power to mitigate the problem. The GOP is doing everything in their power to run and hide under the bed, and refuse to acknowledge that the problem even exists.

Here’s why this is such a loser for the GOP. Look, we all have problems. You have problems in your daily life, and so do I. And when we do, we want to go to somebody who knows how to fix those problems, and make them all better.

Here’s an example I think all of us can understand. Let’s say you’re out driving around in your car. It starts to make a funny noise. You try to rationalize it, or wish it away, but instead it gets a little louder. Geez, you might have a problem here, one that you can’t fix yourself.

So you take your car to the mechanic. And as much as you’re dreading the prospects, what you want him to do is to put the goddamned thing up on the rack, root around, find out what the problem is, and how much it’s going to cost to fix it!

What you don’t want to happen is for your mechanic to put your car on the rack, root around up there, and then come back into the waiting room, rubbing his hands on an oily rag, and tell you that Everything is fine, it’s all in your imagination. You know goddamn well what a strange noise sounds like, and it’s not normal.

And that’s what the GOP is currently trying to do with abortion rights and gun control laws. Soon to be followed by gay rights and voting rights laws. They’re wiping their hands on an oily rag, and telling you, Nope, nothing wrong, nothing to see here, go about your business. 

Here’s the McGuffin. If you take your car to a mechanic for repairs, and you come away thinking he’s full of shit, what do you do? Only one thing I know of. You go and find another mechanic, and get the straight story. And that’s what the GOP is risking doing with this misguided gambit.