Nothing shows the insularity of the Republican Party more than their hilarious attempts to reach beyond their narrow constituency of older white people. They rely on shallow stereotypes which tells us more about the GOP than the groups they are trying attract. The latest comedic endeavor comes in a misguided effort to steer young people away from Kay Hagan and toward Libertarian Sean Haugh.
In online ads, they’ve got young people with some sort of retro-psychedelic background saying, I kid you not, “Get Haugh, get high” and “More weed, less war.” The ads are funded by the Koch brothers and show, beyond a doubt, that neither Charles nor David nor the producers of the ad shared the experiences most of the rest of us shared as young people. While legalizing pot may be a given for most people under 35, it’s not driving them to the polls and the few who are going on their on volition are better informed than to be swayed by an ad that looks like a Saturday Night Live skit.
And this ad comes on the heels of another spot the GOP produced trying to convince people that the Republican Party is actually diverse. The tag line of that ad, again I’m not kidding, is “Republicans are people, too.” The spot uses stock images of happy people to say, “We’re just like everybody else.”
To add insult to injury, their hashtag, #IAmARepublican, got hijacked by people who tweeted things like “#IAmARepublican because God created the Remington bolt-action rifle to hunt the dinosaurs and the homosexuals.”
Ironically, instead of appealing to diverse audiences, the GOP is stereotyping itself. As the country becomes more diverse, they’ve become the party of rich white people, paranoid white people and fundamentalist Christian white people. They can’t reach beyond their base because they don’t really understand the American experience outside of those very narrow existences.
If Republicans want to remain a competitive party, they are going to have to reach a more diverse audience. To do that, they need ideas that have appeal beyond their base. Ads made for ridicule aren’t going to do it.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
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