Who Owns The Republican Brand? Not Republicans.

05 May, 2009 by Melissa Clouthier

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It’s not Republicans. And it’s not Rush Limbaugh–much as Obama, his minions and the press would like to paint it so.

I’ve got bad news: The opposition owns the Republican brand. Oh yes, they do. Democrats define Republicans and the Republicans accept the definition by operating from their false premises.

How do I know Republicans are owned by the Left? Because the Republican message is consistently negative and defensive: “I’m not mean.” ” We don’t believe that.” “I’m not extremist like them“. And by them, Republicans are defining themselves against the press-Obama-grassroots caricature of Republicans. In doing so, the Republicans with a national voice diminish their own party.

Lorie Byrd notes the same phenomenon in her aptly titled The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Republicans”

In a recent conference call, the RNC’s new media director Todd Herman said the Republican party does not own the Republican brand – Jon Stewart does, among others. He is absolutely right. Little the Republican Party, or conservatives, have done lately seems to have made much of a difference in that image problem. They are not setting the narrative. Their opponents on the Left, and those in the liberal media are doing it, and with great success.

Those much younger than I am may believe that if we just behave more like Ronald Reagan, the good natured optimist, then the world will see that we are really nice people with good intentions. What they fail to realize, and what those who lived through the Reagan years know, is that during his administration he was often demonized by those in the media and the opposing party. He was painted by his opponents as a dim witted war monger who wanted as many people as possible to be homeless and die of AIDS. But Reagan was beloved by the majority of the American people because he was able to talk past (and above) the media to speak to them directly.

In order to reclaim the Republican brand, the DC bubble people–the Congressmen and Senators, the Republican party leadership, the donors, Think Tanks, and the often parasitic consultants–need to speak the language of middle America and learn and accept the premise that Americans and conservatives are good, decent, hard-working normal, diverse people. It is possible to be diverse and conservative. In fact, that IS the face of the modern Republican party. So the insiders need to stop buying the distorted image presented by DC media elites, leftist nutroots and Democrats themselves.

Cross-posted at MelissaClouthier.com