From "Rebranding"... To Retreading

Last week, the Republican Party ran into a major public relations fiasco. Already, its "rebranding campaign" was falling apart. And its "softer image" was quickly hardened by its undying devotion to its 21st Century Know Nothing base.

So it came as no surprise to us that "rebranding" would eventually blow up in G-O-TEA politicians' faces. What did come as a surprise, however, was the lengths some G-O-TEA politicians went in an attempt to distance themselves from both their Koch-ed up sugar daddies and their "holy roller" political base. When Arizona Governor Jan Brewer (R) vetoed SB 1062, it signaled a new tack her Republican Party may be taking on civil rights issues...

Or did it? Even as Jan Brewer vetoed SB 1062, she attempted to validate the (unfounded) fears of the forces behind it with a bizarre attack on President Obama. Meanwhile closer to home, several high-profile Nevada Republicans, such as Adam Laxalt, Joe Heck, and Cresent Hardy, have revealed an embarrassing wedge between the bulk of the Nevada Republican Party and Governor Brian Sandoval (R) on LGBTQ civil rights. And on Capitol Hill, sitting Rep. & reigning "King of Crazy" Steve King (R-Iowa) unleashed an incredibly bizarre & nonsensical rant on "self-professed behavior".

Despite Republican "leaders" asserting the success of their "rebranding" campaign, the truth couldn't be any further from their assertion. Why? Behind their glossy rhetoric, G-O-TEA politicians continue to toe the "TEA Party Line". And if any one of them doesn't, even for so much as a single vote, they'll have hell to pay in the next G-O-TEA primary.

Never mind that what's hot in a G-O-TEA primary is decidedly not in a general election. Just this week, another new national poll showed strengthening public support for marriage equality. Even Arizona voters are growing more comfortable with marriage equality... And they may soon send another out LGBTQ Arizonan to Congress.

Think about this: How can we ever take "Republican rebranding" seriously if the party won't stop retreading the same old "Culture War" nonsense? Why should we ever believe the Republican Party has "evolved" on civil rights if the best it can offer is an occasional retreat from an exceptionally egregious display of bigotry? And how can that party ever adapt to the 21st century if it still hasn't made peace with the 20th?