Rick Sanchez talks to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison about what's happened to the Republican party and asks if she's worried after Arlen Specter's defection.
Hutchison: Of course we're worried. I think we would have to be ostriches with our heads in the sand if we weren't worried. We need to look at ourselves thoroughly inside out and anyone who is whistling past the graveyard saying "Oh, we need to do exactly what we're doing. We're right by god" is wrong.
I hate to break it to you Senator, but you're surrounded by a whole lot of ostriches right now. I guess we'll find out shortly if she ends up next on Boss Limbaugh's list for daring to say there might be anything wrong with the way the GOP is doing business these days.
Full transcript below the fold.
SANCHEZ: All right. Got a lot of comments that have been coming in from you. And we are going to be checking them from time to time. We promise.
But there is absolutely no denying that the Republican Party was caught completely off-guard by the defection of Arlen Specter. Specter then went on to pour salt in the wound by suggesting that the party was both, A, eating its own and, B, becoming way too far right- wing.
When Specter said that, a lot of people were thinking. But is it fair? Is it true and how worried should Republicans be about their status and their relevancy as a party?
Here are some of the facts. One poll just recently showed that only 21 percent of Americans now call themselves or identify themselves as Republicans. Most of the growth for the party is regionally centered in the South. Hispanics and blacks are voting against Republicans in bigger numbers than before.
And now one of the party's few household names has defected.
Joining us from Capitol Hill is Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Senator, always good to see you.
SEN. KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON (R), TEXAS: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: What's happening to the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan? Are you worried, and what are your plans?
HUTCHISON: Of course we're worried.
I think we would have to be ostriches with our heads in sand if we weren't worried.
(LAUGHTER)
HUTCHISON: We need to look at ourselves thoroughly inside out. And anyone who is whistling past the graveyard, saying, oh, we need to do exactly what we're doing, we're right, by God, is wrong.
You cannot do that. You have to assess either your message is wrong or the message that -- the way you're putting it is wrong. And, of course, we stand for principles. We stand for very important, unifying principles.
SANCHEZ: So, you need to be more inclusive.
Do you feel like -- I mean, I know inclusive is one of those words -- you know, I'm getting a lot of press for being hard on Senator DeMint, which I didn't mean to, when he was saying we want to become the big tent -- or we are the big tent of freedom.
And that's one of those generalistic words and people go, what? But inclusiveness is something you have kind of got to shoot for if you can come up with some kind of strategy to get those people who don't normally vote for you. What would that strategy be? HUTCHISON: Well, I think we have to determine, what are the unifying principles to be a Republican? And then what are areas where we are going to disagree because of regionalism or representing our own states or perhaps a difference in philosophy on an issue that isn't a core principle, but is something that we could agree that maybe if someone differs on that issue, they are still welcome into the Republican Party.
SANCHEZ: So, do you agree -- when Arlen Specter says the problem for me running as a Republican -- and, look, let's be honest about this. Arlen Specter looked like he was going to get his fanny handed to him. And that's the underlying real reason he left. We all get that.
But he did say some things that were interesting about purification. He said that -- and I can't wait to get your take on this -- that some people are trying to purify the party so much that the litmus test is so difficult that when the person comes out the other end, there's no way he can be accepted by the party.
Is that too stringent, do you think, Senator?
HUTCHISON: I think that it is too stringent, if we are saying that you have to agree with a Republican platform or a Republican other senator on every single issue. We can differ on issues, like, you know, a social issue, an education issue, a better-approach issue, health care access, cancer. Many of these issues, we can differ -- and maybe in a regional way, there is a different take on it -- but not on core principles.
And I think we have to establish, what are the core principles that unify us? And I think it's pretty clear. It is the economic issues. It's looking at the long term, rather than just the expediency of the moment. It is free enterprise. It is small business.
We are a party that champions small business, and we want the regulatory environment to accommodate small business to grow and create new jobs and have a healthy, thriving economy. That should be the center of our party.
Then, if there are other issues where we disagree, we ought to be able to accept people in the party and welcome them. And that's what Ronald Reagan did.
SANCHEZ: Even if -- even if there's a disagreement. Those are strong and important words that you just shared with many of our viewers.
And I guess, you know, the best news out of all this, if you are a person who is a Republican and wants to see this party come back, which to a certain extent I think all Americans should, whether Republicans or not, is that these things are generally cyclical, that you could look back in history and see times where both sides were way up and they thought the other party was doomed. And somehow they have come back, both sides. So, you know, it's just an interesting caveat to share with you as we close out the conversation.
(CROSSTALK)
HUTCHISON: It's when the parties go too far. That's when it starts turning back.
SANCHEZ: Because Americans tend to live in the middle. Even if -- even if there are news stations and radio shows who make it look like that 10 percent on the fringe is actually the middle, it's not true. And you and I know that.
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, thanks so much for taking time to take us through this.
HUTCHISON: Thank you, Rick.
SANCHEZ: Good conversation.
HUTCHISON: Thank you.
they fired an advisor in Ohio who suggested they become more inclusive.
ROTFLMBBAO !!!!!!!!!
Some stuff you can't make up!
Why would the republican party worry about the democrats taking in their republican candidates into our party or electing them on our democrat ticket;
As we have done in the past with Webb , Blue dogs , Lieberman , Kirsten Gillibrand and now Specter..
If their hard right wing republican loses an election , then their republican democrat will be in and that has to be a win-win for them.
Look how the blue dogs ,, first when needed in the house , now when needed in the senate , have shown they can turn the republican policies from failure into victory..
Looks like one of Rove's best plans yet...
None
After two Arlen no Arlen votes, you'd think the Dems would be a bit more skeptical, but then again, there's Reid and Pelosi and Rahm and other skumbucket corporatists in the party to act as repuglyKKKans.
Some stuff you can't make up!
An ostrich with it's head in the sand might make for a nice new logo for the GOP (although KOS's GOPsaurus has a lead on the needed logo update).
NICE CATCH!
Some stuff you can't make up!
http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/image...
Rush Limbaugh's face?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
It was supposed to be, but they couldn't fit the entire image on one piece of paper.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
his sphincter?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
will do.
Some stuff you can't make up!
And I think we have to establish, what are the core principles that unify us? And I think it's pretty clear. It is the economic issues. It's looking at the long term, rather than just the expediency of the moment. It is free enterprise. It is small business.
We are a party that champions small business, and we want the regulatory environment to accommodate small business to grow and create new jobs and have a healthy, thriving economy. That should be the center of our party.
Yeah, that'll woik. As long as you don't look at the record, and compare what they say to what they DID.
Yeah, that'll woik. As long as you don't look at the record, and compare what they say to what they DID.
sounds like Leo Dorcey
Some stuff you can't make up!
TAX CUTS!
Go figure?
you right wingies keep up the charge: guns god and pro life. The rest of us will move on.......
moved on...We no longer need to listen to the religious right repubs ...it has proved to be exclusionary and ridged! A shame really, because we need the balance of other ideas and true discourse inside the beltway!
The leadership is irelevant and the message is foolishly against the AMerican people...Cantor is not the answer either..he is just the drawn face of the old guard...same message - not attractive...no solutions!
Nice that you recognize you have a problem---now why don't you tell your incompetent friends in the MSM that? These right wing tools (with some exceptions) seem to think the GOP is doing just fine and the demise of Obama and his agenda is imminent with their 24/7 bleating of denial, dilution, and distortion. And their paranoid fear mongering about the flu "epidemic" was emblematic aboout what's really wrong about their industry---they are incompetent propaganda spreaders that have a distinct partisan agenda and whose sole objective is to drive up their ratings by any means. If it wasn't for their help---your party would be buried alive by now---but not even these hacks can't suppress the truth forever.
And another thing Kay---talk is cheap. Do all the introspection and soul searching you want but until you have an action plan to change--thyis conversation you had is little more than a hallucination. Your party needs an overhaul, not just good intentions that you won't follow through on.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
Well, well, well. How stupid do some people get?
I think every Democrat saw this coming back in 2000, except people who weren't born before Reagan. Poppi Bush was a Reagan clone and Junior was a Reagan clone with mental illness, anger and revenge.
Now the whiney Pugs want sympathy. GFY.
By the time the Dems and Obama are done, most won't be able to tell the difference between the two parties and the Repubs will once again be back in power spending like drunken sailors, bombing civilians with predators, giving tax cuts, bailing out corporations, and flip flopping on every major issue. Oh wait, the Dems are doing that now themselves!
That pretty much sums it up.
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
The democrats have and still are having their secret meetings (privately and with republicans) about what actions and policies they wish to enforce/change on running or nation..
There is no open and transparent government for the people anymore..
Republicans started this Global Military Empire making polices/laws to run our government and now democrats have jumped aboard to rake in the political money and gifts..
Do you believe that our democrats really have our wishes at heart with the actions and policies they are passing..
Democrats have their secret meeting for what actions / policies they wish to enforce and how to sell them to their voters...
....
None
The photo of Sen. Hutchinson at the beginning of this article, would be the perfect photo for showing how a person looks before using a Colon Cleansing product!
-- even if there are news stations and radio shows who make it look like that 10 percent on the fringe is actually the middle, it's not true.
Ooh, Zing!
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
Sanchez "I'm think most Americans regardless of who they are want to see the Republicans come back..."
Um. What if you don't want to see either crooked and corrupt party anymore? Why is it cognitively impossible for people to imagine that both parties are wrong? That politics is not an A and B multiple choice answer but it is statements like this that re-enforce the two party system (with the same two parties of course).
Politics suck.
That was my major in college
(Not sucking.)
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
The problem is party labels are largely meaningless now.
They both try to pretend to be one of the people, but success in Washington seems to require seperating your interests from the people, and call it leadership.
Everyone you're in contact with is either a gazillionaire, or financed by gazillionaires.
I suppose you can say we instituted the Orwellian Big Brother, not as in an existing totatalitarian, but in the idea of a well organized "other" that has multiple followers who want to bring down the State.
However, today I would say look at the fruits (no not the gays), but the results we get. From republicans we get borrow and spend and escalating deficits primarily to benefit the wealthy, and screwed Civil Rights. But that's the republican leadership, not necessarily the rank-and-file
And they're really rank.
So any two new parties will be much the same, because party affiliation is just a label. Unlike England (I've heard), you had to agree to certain basic principles to run for election on a particular party ticket. Kind of like a secular version of the 39 Articles.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
In Canada, our parties are very different. We have a Constitutional Monarchy, like England.
Conservative = conservative
Liberal = less conservative (somewhat liberal)
NDP (New Democratic Party) and Social Cred. = socialist
Marijuana party = :-)
Green = green
Etc. there are 17 parties. And we do not affiliate with any one party. We vote for whomever we like. I have voted Cons., Lib., NDP and Green.
far left loon >.<
Isn't your Marijuana Green?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
and there hasn't been for a very long time. Politics is just charade, and behind the curtain we have the corporations running the show. Sen. Durbin finally let that slip out the other day - the banks (and the pharma cos, and the insurances cos, etc.)own Congress!!
Really?! What a shock. We've been played by both sides and now we're reaping the results of decades of corruption and corporate fascism. Our Constitution has been shredded, our economy is being gutted, and we're left to fend for ourselves as homelessness and disease run rampant. Must be fun to watch from the big houses behind the gates.......
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Why it is that McCain's team went for Palin and ignored Hutchison.
She was still too sane to prostitute herself out to that fringe this time now she sees where the party (GOP) is headed.
she's the one I refered to in comments past as our aging Breck Girl.
And now there's talk she'll run for our governor against secessionist rick perry.
And you know what that means.
Within six years a run for the White House.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
... before she retires. Can't blame a public figure for wanting that.
I'd actually like to see a primary between her and Perry. The results would be an interesting look at what's left still in the GOP in TX. Watching a couple of relatives have to decide would be worth it in amusement.
But, I wouldn't be surprised if this statement and being willing to go against Perry get her put out to pasture. The far right is getting serious about "secession from this atheist islamic hitler nazi president that will convert all their children to unarmed socialist zombies who love gays but have sex with the dog using mandatory volunteer youth programs right after he takes away all their guns so they can't stop him while he makes it illegal to read the bible" and the "need to do it now before it's too late!". I might have missed a meme or two there.
In their eyes she is non-electable at best now, traitor at worst.
Ironically, her mark may be saying "Hey ya'll I think I see some rocks?" Right as the ship of the GOP crashes on them and minutes after the rats jumped. Of course, for such heresy, she'll promptly be tossed overboard.
she's absolutely worthless. I can't think of one thing she's done for the State of Texas other than leave it most of the year.
She's been trying to take credit for the idea of partitioning Iraq.
Yeah, like that really worked in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
They've already done it on their own in Iraq, but that's part of the problem. To this day their government hasn't cut an oil revenue sharing plan with the other regions. They're bigger on meaningless ceremony than results.
I know, that sounds like our Congress too.
So another war could break out literally for oil.
And my understanding is a large percentage of the oil in in Northern Iraq where the Kurds are, which could possibly lead to a drive for that region to splinter off and form a greater Kurdistan.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Definitely start a shit-storm with Turkey. The last thing they want is an independent Kurdistan, riling up their own Kurdish population to join them and bring a chunk of Turkey with them.
There already worried.
Haven't the Turks already attacked Northern Iraq a couple of times in the past year?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I really can't see the problem for the GOP ..... after all, going by the vote in the Senate yesterday, there should be MORE senators headed for the Repub side....didn't about a dozen senators vote FOR the banks, and AGAINST the homeowners? Including, the 'new' democrat?
it took the dems 40 years to lose power...only took the repugs 10
the repugs, from the time of eisenhower were seen as a national party
they didnt like this, wanted more local control, so they changed their focus
but how did they gain power? was it through ideas? nope...it was through dirty tricks...and the people are tired of that shit
they are not a party of ideas....they are not a party with core values (unless bamboozling the general public as well as their core supporters is a value)
they are a party of criminals
good riddance to bad rubbish
Unfortunately, they managed to infect many democrats with this disease. We soooo badly need a third party in this country.
Right now all we have is a one party hybrid: the corporate fascist party with its two wings - batshit crazy (GOP), and useless sellout (dem).
If I were a psychopath, I would join the republican party, and get in on the gravy train taking the Teabircher morons to the cleaners.
good riddance to bad rubbish (agreed)
And hello to new rubbish, in nicer packaging? Kinda looks that way.
far left loon >.<
Latinos, and Gays. And each time Conservative spokespeople open their hate spewing mouths, they lose even more folks. Now the GOP is openly trying to solidify their base, the old, the racist, and the ignorant. And to speak glowingly of Ronald Reagan of all fucking people, isn't a helpful recruiting ploy with the before mentioned minorities, nor the working class.
Racism, prejudice and white anger represents the GOP's only chance to survive.
Racism, prejudice and white anger represents the GOP's only chance to distract people while they continue to infiltrate the democratic party.
Some stuff you can't make up!
It's in our message. We don't know how to purify our message: We don't like the "darkies" running our show. Mexican is a dirty word in our house (although it's a nationality), we like to call them spanish people. The gooks should feel lucky we didn't kill them off.Let 'em pick our cotton...oooops, lettuce. The "Chinks" should just build our railroad for us. Jesus wants us to kill people who want "personal choices". We're old and senile but we think we think young. A "bully" is a LEADER with a pack mentality. Most republicans are either crooks or just got their "GED's". Sure we panic but that doesn't mean we can't share the fear. Guns don't kill people, we kill people. Ronald666WilsonReagan does not have six letters in each name. We'll define the bible for ya son....
This kind of message (and there's so much,much more) needs to be reworded. "Purified", if you will. That's our problem with the GOP...we're trying to "say it differently" but the truth just keeps getting in the way. The purification is just too pure. We republicans need new wording. Our core principals are all there. Give us "whitie"....We republicans want America to fail! With this message we have a future. Don't ask...just trust us!
Pitbulls With Lipstick...looks good.
The party of Lincoln and Reagan is now the party party of Palin and Rush.
Do you hate America like the Texas governor? What's your take on Texas secession Kay?
Kay" "What are the core principles that unite us as a party."
1)bigotry
2)intolerance
3)guns
4)religious extremism
5)secession
6) hatin' on teh gays and brown people
7)war mongering
8)tax cuts for the rich
9)killing social safety nets for Americans
10)teabaggin'
I wonder why this shit is starting to give them trouble now...
me-oww!
..and Rick Sanchez is a Conservative Republian Hypocrite too! Bet your last buck, the GOP is in trouble...the majority of people in this nation are seeing THE ENTIRE REPUBLICAN PARTY and its elected politicans HYPOCRISY
What's wrong with it now, you dessicated old hag?
oh yeah. It was OK when it was Thug stylin. It still IS Thug stylin, just now the Dems have to come in with the broom a shit pail to clean up after the party's elephantine dump.
And looks to me like Sanchez did most of the talking. Way to conduct and interview dude. I now know more about you than I do about her.
me-oww!
My gawd, does the eye-rolling, just-between-us, talking out of the side of the mouth BS not irritate anyone else?
The guy should go back to first person reportage so I can have a laugh at his expense (Sanchez getting tasered):
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/...
Is beginning to go the way of the Federalist Party. Once Franken is confirmed I'm of the opinion we'll be, for better or worse, on our way to the second "Era of Good Feelings".
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