The Republicans are embracing change:
But the respite might be temporary given the uncertainty surrounding Representative Vito Fossella, the New York Republican whose drunken-driving arrest led to disclosures of an out-of-wedlock child with a woman in suburban Virginia. The weekend saw mixed reports on whether Mr. Fossella, who is married, was going to try to hold his seat.
Hoping to get things moving in a positive direction, House Republicans will on Wednesday begin rolling out their own policy agenda, trying to showcase their differences with Democrats on issues such as health care, the economy, energy and national security.
In a memo to be sent to Republican members today, the leadership hints at a new slogan building on the change message that has already been shown to have political resonance with a public unhappy with the nation’s direction.
It looks like Republicans will counter the Democratic push for change from the years of the Bush administration with their own pledge to deliver, drum roll please, “the change you deserve.” The first element of the party agenda developed over the past few months by the leadership and select party members will focus on family issues.
“Through our “Change You Deserve” message and through our “American Families Agenda,” House Republicans will continue our efforts to speak directly to an American public looking for leaders who will offer real solutions for the challenges they confront every day,” said the memo prepared for lawmakers.
Alternate working slogans:
Change You Deserve- “One Man, One Family.”
American Families Agenda- “We like American families so much, some of us have several of them.”
This election is going to be a target rich environment for blogging.
*** Update ***
This is all kinds of awesome:
What the GOP doesn’t seem to realize, because they are idiots, is that “the change you deserve” is the registered advertising slogan of Effexor XR, a drug that many of you might have started taking as a result of all the…you know — terrorism. (Hat tip to Bluestem for catching this gem.)
It is really going to suck in November watching the Democrats figure out how to lose this election.
Soylent Green
Slogan:
“Working Hard to Put Food on Both Your Families.”
calipygian
“Republicans for change”
Insert David Vitter joke here.
Bobzim
Vitter thought the memo said “Republicans For Strange”.
Davis X. Machina
The GOP doesn’t really do politics — they’re businesspeople. And like any good company, they’re in the business of selling sales, not selling product.
Here’s what you do.
1.) Determine a target demo
2.) Develop an ad campaign crafted to appeal to that demo.
3.) Then — and only then — choose or design a product that more-or-less ties into the ad campaign, and not the other way round.
You’re not selling a product, you’re selling an affect, an experience.
Manufacturing’s job is to support marketing, and marketing’s job us to generate sales.
Fulcanelli
Well at least it was a woman.
They really can’t help themselves, can they. Has the obligatory press conference with the humiliated wife happened yet?
“Got Values?”
craigie
I’m not sure I want to find out what the GOP thinks I “deserve.”
Delia
I suggest that Mr. Fossella join the FLDS cult. Then he can go all pious and claim it was God’s will that he have two families. Of course, he’ll have to cut out the drinking, but hey, you always have to make sacrifices somewhere.
r€nato
Do any of you remember Ted Klaudt, the 600 lb S. Dakota legislator who was accused of molesting his teenaged foster daughters? Good ol’ Ted was an evangelical Xian and made anti-sex-offender laws his specialty.
Well I had forgotten all about the SOB until tonight. Turns out he got 54 years back in February. He was so large that they had to give him his own cell. I bet that prison food will get him down to a svelte 300 lbs where they can give him a cellmate, though.
Notorious P.A.T.
John, do you ever feel compelled to go back to the Republican side? Like a meth-head who wants just one more fix, or something?
I thought gluttony was a sin. (not that molestation is a walk in the park)
Silver Owl
Bush, Cheney and Rove gave their approval of the new sales pitch when all the house republicans united to show their support for president Bush who is rejected by 72% of the American population.
LOL! If only today’s republicans were smart enough to put as much effort into developing legitimate viable solutions instead of going for the cheap marketing gimmick of “Shit. New and improved.”
Notorious P.A.T.
Big Tent Democrat is lauding John Edwards. Maybe Edwards can be the smoother-over.
nightjar
And so much fun.
Please, Please
We ought to all pitch in and buy them the biggest goddamned megaphone on the planet.
r€nato
Evil and Republicans… they go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Or two wetsuits and a dildo.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
A Contract On America!
Fulcanelli
Off topic, but I’m wondering who Obama will pick as his Attorney General. Yeah, I’m that confident he’ll be picking one, especially since now the GOP has their own circus starting up with Barr and Ron Paul tossing their hats into the ring, bless their pointy lil’ heads.
John Cole
I said a while back that while I wanted Edwards and Gore to come out and endorse, they were probably just keeping their powder dry for this sort of thing.
This whole campaign has been sort of predictable, in a large sense, since March 5th (some would argue Super Tuesday). It was clear Hillary would never overtake him in delegates barring disaster, and it was clear she would never quit. The big guys know that.
SamFromUtah
The change you deserve – if you’re fool enough to vote for us.
cbear
Hmmm, so what would happen if you put Rush Limbaugh and Denny Hastert in the same cell with Big Ted—-then tossed in a half-eaten cheeseburger???
I wonder which one would make it out alive?
demimondian
“That’s right, kids, Republicans are for change. So far, we’ve tried regime change, diaper change, and climate change. Now, we’re moving on to spare change, and, after that, we’re looking forward to loose change.”
Tim (The Other One)
“He was so large that they had to give him his own cell.”
I guess that would make the actual cell bars his “bitch”.
myiq2xu
1000-1 it won’t be the cheesburger
AnotherBruce
“Change you deserve”- 2008 Republican party
“Brother, can you spare a dime?”- 1932 Republican party.
The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Killjoy
Hasn’t America been punished enough already?
Blue Raven
Hah. It’ll be left sitting where it landed while the three of them struggle to bend over and keep headbutting each other on the way down.
Chuck Butcher
sittin here listening to Derek Trucks Band do “Chevrolet” some very nice slide work and thinkin on this ‘change I deserve.’ After the changes of the last 7and years more of their version is kinda scary. My wife is ok, but she’s uninsurable – given that, there is absolutely no point in me buying any. My kid is OR NG and they’re scheduled, a Bradley driver, swell, a big target with shit for armor or fire-power. I’m a construction contractor – guess how nice that is about now. My work vehicle gets atrocious milage, like 8 mpg. All my costs are skyrocketing, liability, materials and I’m damn near out of “made in America” tool manufacturers even paying top dollar. My workers are losing ground at a horrid pace now, the saving grace is they know I am also. I’m getting every asswipe’s version of god slammed down my throat from politicians – including my own Party. Yeah buddy I want me some Republican inspired change…
Ninerdave
Very well put and they do it well. While Obama was “bitter” for pointing out that the GOP has convinced people to vote against their own interests and for inane subjects like God, gays and guns. It’s true and until the Dems can counter that message, we’re screwed. Granted we’ll kill this election, but that’s just because Bush has been such a mess. The Dems have a chance to show the public that the three Gs don’t mean shit in the big picture. I hope they can capitalize on it.
Conservatively Liberal
OT, but Obama gets another super delegate. The best kind too!
Another one bites the dust.
bago
Don’t ask, don’t tell, and don’t ever change. You’re absolutely adorable in your lapel flag pin and private jet.
Conservatively Liberal
Oops, that was a pledged delegate that changed to Obama.
In a way, that just makes it all the funnier to me. Hillary and her people were the ones who said that the pledged delegates can change their minds, right?
Well, lets see how they handle this. ;)
DrDave
With 16% of the people believing the country is movin in the right direction, all the Dems really need to do is associate every Republican on every ballot with Bush and all the good the GOP has brought us over the past 8 years:
*Iraq
*$4.00/gallon gasoline
*$10,000,000,000,000 in Federal debt (It looks more impressive when you see all the zeroes, doesn’t it?)
*A dollar that is worth just slightly less than one square of Charmin
VOTE REPUBLICAN: WE’RE NOT DONE WITH YOU YET!
PeterJ
Obama shouldn’t accept the delegate. Pledged delegates should vote for the candidate they got originally pledged for. I don’t care what Clinton or her campaign have said about it, Obama should be perfectly clear about it.
Accepting this delegate would open up for Clinton to pursue Obama’s pledged delegates.
(For all I know this may just be a setup for that, “lose” one candidate, pursue hundreds of others)
jake
“This hurts us more than it hurts you.”
Or they could swipe a quote from the Chimperor:
“Terrorists never stop thinking of ways to harm Americans. And neither do we.”
Conservatively Liberal
I agree on the pledged delegates, my only thought was the observation that Hillary and her people have stated that pledged delegates can change their minds if they wish to. They are right about the delegates, but I am wondering how this is going to be talked about later today.
It is one of those “Be careful what you wish for” thoughts…lol
Bot LaBeer
The Republican Party
Fuck it… The Fuckin’ thing sucks
Nancy Irving
At least it wasn’t a slogan for an erectile-dysfunction drug.
PeterJ
I agree with that, Clinton and her campaign were the ones putting into on the table, so they can’t say anything about it. But Obama doesn’t need pledged delegates to switch and vote for him. So he shouldn’t accept it, since my guess is if he does, it will just cause problems.
Seanly
“The Change You Deserve” ~ is that an tacit apology for the last 8 years? Why, thank you, Republicans, for apologizing. Won’t make me vote for you though.
Oh & John, I’m positive the Democrats will figure out a way to lose in 2008 just like we did in 2000 & 2004. (Fingers crossed that I am being too cynical)
dr. bloor
Talk Left: The preferred Methadone for recovering Republicans.
superdestroyer
No one takes what their posting to its logical conclusion: That the collapse of the Republican Party with only one viable political party. So the question is what will the U.S. be like as a one party state where the Democratic Primary is the only relevant election. What would the Obama/Clinton contest be like if the winner knew for certain that they would be the next president?
jake
Works like a charm.
cleek
is it his choice to accept or decline a delegate ?
Dennis - SGMM
At the time that the Clinton campaign was talking up pledged delegates switching their allegiance it was not conceivable to them that a pledged delegate would switch from inevitable, electable Clinton to Obama. AFAIK, they haven’t mentioned the idea for weeks. Wisely so.
cleek
a one party state
Ripley
I’m confused. Their new slogan is “Change you deserve”, yet not a week ago:
Huh…
TheFountainHead
IT’S A TRAP!!!
Face
A better slogan:
“Wetsuits Aren’t Us……Anymore”
Blue Buddha
Since “the Change You Deserve” is a registered slogan for Effexor, the GOP decided to rework the phrase a little:
“You don’t deserve [my spare] change”
PeterJ
He really should denounce and reject the delegate ;)
Joking aside, there’s really nothing wrong with him doing nothing about it, the Obama campaign aren’t the ones that brought this idea forward, nor have they tried to get any pledge delegates to switch sides.
But I think it would be good if he publicly said that pledged delegates should vote for the canidate they orginally pledged for (unless that candidate has dropped out), and I think he should ask the delegate in question to vote for Clinton.
I think that would be good for the primary, it would be good for Obama, and it would be good for bringing Clinton supporters over to him in the general election.
grandpajohn
Hey that was last weeks news you know how short memoried the media is,unless it was about Rev Wright
Cyrus
Heh. Thanks for the link, cleek.
To answer the question, though, worrying about a one-party state is really premature. As weak at the Republicans look right now (to the denizens of a blog populated by partisan Democrats and bitter ex-Republicans), they still have a lot of seats in Congress, a lot of money, and most of the Supreme Court. There will be internal reform of the Republican Party. It might be completely superficial and even if there’s something to it it might not be enough, but it will happen sooner or later, I think. And it’s worth noting that the Republican Party was created when another party collapsed, so maybe it will just happen again. (Let the Democratic Party be America’s right wing and the Green Party grow to a position of influence on the left! Oh please, oh please…)
To summarize: worrying about Democratic complacency or corruption or whatever in a one-party state is premature and paranoid at best.
Punchy
OT:
Uh….WHAT?
We trump up charges for innocents that got sold out for bounties and revenge, but the real nasty fuckers get out of jail free?
Seriously, WTF?
slightly_peeved
What do you think you’ve been watching for the past few months? :)
PeterJ
Great link :)
I find rather funny that he’s been posting the same thing since at least June 2006… Someone needs some new talking points…
4tehlulz
lol. Concern troll is concerned.
Jen
I’ve done plenty of things I’m not proud of, but I still don’t think I deserve whatever change the Republicans have planned for me.
I’ve voted Democratic since I turned 18, I canvassed for Kerry, I donated in the last three presidential elections, I did my damndest to convince any undecided voters I knew, and I surfed the interwebs with the best of them, and all I got was more W. The change I deserve is called Barack Obama, biyotches. And no more Liddy Dole, either.
Jen
By the way, good grief.
TheFountainHead
Yeah, that was the first thing I read this morning, Jen. Kinda made me want to crawl back in bed…and plug in my laptop and by tickets to Singapore.
superdestroyer
cyrus,
If bad Democratic politicians and corrupt government lead to an expansion of the Green party, then places like Detroit, DC, and Baltimore should have a strong green party. Yet,they do not. One of the problems for the green party is the same that the Republicans face: how does they appeal to minorities?
Punchy
Perhaps y’all thought I was hyperbolizin’ when I said that Indiana is by far the worst state in the nation. By a mile. Uneducated, racist, meth-addicted, third-world-livin’ hicks, hacks, and homers.
You couldn’t pay me 6 figs to live anywhere in that state outside of Bloomington or maybe West Laffy. The fucking Septic Tank of America(TM)
plus C
Message: “Change you deserve”
Reply: “What did we do to deserve this?”
Original Lee
WRT Jack Johnson, who pledged for Obama today. Jack Johnson is a superdelegate from Prince George’s County (he’s the county executive). He originally pledged for Obama in November (I think), then switched to Clinton in February, and has now switched back to Obama. Maryland voted overwhelmingly for Obama, as did Prince George’s, which is majority black.
D. Mason
“The change you deserve” huh ? So the GOP is taking talking their slogans straight from Hillary now? I’m pretty sure that’s the sub-title of her gas tax holiday bill.
r€nato
Why does the GOP hate Americans?
cleek
We hold these truths to be self-evident that all white men are created equally better than all others.
Punchy
please, please, please do a snarky post on this
You can use funny Sid Crosby references, bad 90’s hip-hop/ballad singer references, etc. comedy gold.
nightjar
This was the first thing I read this morning. Instead of outsourcing our jobs to other countries, maybe we could outsource our idiots as well. Their not that productive, but their services come cheap.
r€nato
See, this is what happens when you let gays marry.
r€nato
So there’s this penguin driving through the Arizona desert and it’s a really hot day. The car starts acting up. “Oh great”, thinks the penguin. To his relief, there is a service station not too far further along. He drives in, parks his car, hops out and waddles over to the mechanic. “Can you have a look at my car?”, says the penguin, “it’s making a funny sound.”
“Sure” says the mechanic.
The penguin goes over to the 7-11 across the street to buy an ice cream cone to help him cool down. He’s making a real mess of the ice cream, on account of it being so hot and him being a penguin and only being able to hold it with his flipper. He spills more of it over himself than he gets in his mouth. He gets back to the car and comes up to the mechanic who’s leaning over the engine. The mechanic looks up at him and says, “Hmm. Looks like you’ve blown a seal.”
“Oh no,” laughs the penguin, “That’s only ice cream.”
cleek
i call dibs on the “dogs and cats sleeping together” line from Ghostbusters.
Dennis - SGMM
If the Republicans get anywhere with this then it should be possible to label jars of shit “Peanut Butter” and promote America’s new organic sandwich spread.
D. Mason
Looks like wishful thinking to me. There are far too many influential political organizations and moneyed ideologues for America to sink into a one party shit hole. God willing, the Republican party might never recover from King George II, but you can rest assured that another party will fill the void left behind. Hopefully it would be led by honest conservatives who care about America, it’s future and it’s people instead of neo-con authoritarians, but that’s probably wishful thinking on my part.
Mary
Punchy, that needs to be immortalized in musical form.
Believe me or not
Somewhere in Alaska
There’s a seal who’s feeling glum
His love has left
To make her living
In a circus in the United States
When the seal is alone
He looks at the sunlight
Falling softly on the ice
He thinks of the States
Crying softly
That’s how it is when your love has left you
It’s not worth it, to leave those you love
To go and bounce a ball on your nose
It makes children laugh, but that doesn’t last long
No one will laugh when the children have grown.
When the seal feels down
He looks at his fur that shines
Like the streets of New York after the rain
He dreams of Chicago
And of Marilyn Monroe
He wants to see his love do her show
It’s only a story
Don’t think me conceited
But sometimes I get the feeling it’s me
Who is there, sitting on the ice
My face in my hands
My love is gone, and I’m sad
It’s not worth it, to leave those you love
To go and bounce a ball on your nose
It makes children laugh, but that doesn’t last long
No one will laugh when the children have grown.
Krista
From Jen’s link:
I would really be interested in hearing from Clinton supporters on this. I want to know if her campaign workers have experienced a similar type of response, based on the fact that Clinton is a woman.
If not, than can they please stop saying that Obama’s supporters are overhyping claims of racism, while nobody’s paying attention to Clinton suffering from the neverending sexist attacks?
nightjar
With a daily drip of insights into this story, it will become the barn burner scoop of 2008, I predict.
The Moar You Know
This is why I don’t buy peanut butter made in China.
TheFountainHead
Thank you for that. Unfortunately, I don’t think my boss sees why it’s so funny…
Ripley
Thank you for that. Unfortunately, I don’t think my boss sees why it’s so funny…
Is your boss a mechanic or a penguin?
Grumpy Code Monkey
So that wasn’t thunder I heard last night; rather, it was the sound of thousands of irony meters exploding at once.
CFisher
Their slogan sounds like it was run through a thousand focus groups made up of a thousand monkeys.
If there was a brain among them, or a person of conscience, they would start with an admission: “We screwed up.”
At that point, they can continue with: “Here’s our plan to make things right again, and if you decide to still vote against us, we promise to do our best to earn your trust back and work with our fellow Americans in the Democratic party to make this nation great again.”
TheFountainHead
He’s a Republican.
Bubblegum Tate
Yes, but I’m morbidly curious as to how they’re gonna make it happen.
wasabi gasp
The GOP should’ve gone with Detrol LA:
“Gotta Go, Gotta Go, Gotta Go Right Now.”
peach flavored shampoo
Then it’s only funny if it says “politician molests country” or “big rich seal rapes poor, middle class penguins who lack health care and money for gasoline”
ThymeZone
Possible campaign strategy for general election:
Let the Republicans have the stage until about Nov. 1
Then, just go on tv and say, okay, seriously, you can’t vote for those complete idiots. They are the people who got you into this pile of crap. We’re the other guys. Vote for us.
60-40 win for the Dems.
The end.
Jay B.
“So the question is what will the U.S. be like as a one party state where the Democratic Primary is the only relevant election. What would the Obama/Clinton contest be like if the winner knew for certain that they would be the next president?”
Then the country could finally be more like Massachusetts, what with its healthy economy, good schools, old-style political corruption (a few pockets have been lined), always serious reform movement and interesting intra-party battles between technocrats and ethnic pols.
The Moar You Know
Nice try. Move to Alabama and let me know how much better one-party Republican rule treats you.
Libby Spencer
Right on Jen, but I’m afraid Kay Hagan won’t be much better. I have a sinking feeling from what I’ve read about her so far that she’s going to be a Blue Dog Dem.
superdestroyer
Jay B,
If you look at the schools in Boston, In 2005, the student population within the school system was 45.5% Black or African-American, 31.2% Hispanic or Latino, 14% White, and 9% Asian, as compared with 24%, 14%, 49%, and 8% respectively for the city as a whole. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#Education
and
Nearly half of Boston students fail to graduate from the city’s regular public high schools in four years, according to a new Boston school system report that examines the city’s growing dropout problem. http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/09/29/4_year_diploma_rate_lags_in_hub/
Not exactly a rousing endorsement of the people in Mass. to produce good public schools. Even the white progressives in Boston are not liberal enough to send their children to school with a large number of minorities just like Kerry, Clinton, or Obama will not send their children to school with large numbers of minorities.
The Moar You Know
LOLLERCAUST
Troll B (superdestroyer) fails to realize Troll A (Jay B.) is trolling, instead taking his comments to be sincere and spends his employer’s time finding stats to refute the point that Troll A was being sarcastic about in the first place.
Conclusion: Balloon Juice not only draws noob trolls, but stupid ones.
NICE TRY
Shygetz
The Republican Party: Giving America what she deserves, good and hard.
Michael D.
The Republican Party: Change You Can Bereave In
The Other Andrew
The Obama campaign really needs to get the rights for the incumbent/reform scene from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Or at the very least parody it, with a McCain impersonator in the obvious role.
Chris Johnson
Guys, “republicans always win, by cheating or force if necessary” is a MEME, not a fact. It was the main concept put forth by DeLay and Rove and all in the days when Republicans roamed the earth… you’re out of date.
Diebold can only get you so much. Even martial law will only get you so much. Yes, Democrats have to put some work into it, stay in the news etc., but saying “I wonder how they’re going to manage to lose” is repeating Karl Rove style memes, doing DeLay’s old job for him.
A more accurate portrayal would be, “in what way are they going to screw up their platform, infight, and waste a lot of energy bickering”.
And you know they were originally intended to bicker. The unified-front business of recent Republicanism is more of a departure from what the founding fathers had in mind. This political system was SET UP to provoke infighting, it’s a feature not a bug.
Don’t try to get a lack of infighting, focus on trying to get specific things to happen in spite of it.
Mike D.
Republican ’08: The, Uh, Last Eight Years? All That? …Funny Story! No, Listen…
The Republican Party: Look at the Human Sacrifice We’re Putting Up in 2008. Go Ahead and Win, Dems. We Fucking Double-Dog-Dare You. Mazel Tov!
Vote Republican. We Promise to Seal Pelosi and Reid into a Plexiglas Sphere Full of Wasps and Throw it over Niagra Falls. That’s Not Just on the Table, it’s the Main Course.
Jay B.
The difference is, of course, that Democrats, whatever their failings generally believe that government can and should work. That means that governance is not something to hate or belittle. And the Democratic Party in MA is often divided and at war with different parts of it.
I’m not saying one-party rule is desirable. But if you have one-party that at least acknowledges that government has a role to play in people’s lives, while internal dynamics keeps it in check, it’s not nearly as bad as the GOP kleptocracy.
Z
So Conservatives were against change before they were for it?
Innocent Bystander
It’s even more idiotic than I thought-
From Crooks and Liars: “Titled “Reasons to Believe,” the plan is meant to provide House Republicans with a sales pitch to voters by focusing on four issue areas: the economy, energy, health care and security.
As one of the C&L posters pointed out, did they consider the lyrics to that song?
“If I listen long enough to you,
I find a way to believe that it’s all true.
Knowing that you lied,
Straight-faced, while I cried.
Still I look to find
A Reason to Believe”
You couldn’t make this stuff up……