Patrick Ruffini Hates Joe the Plumber, Adam Smith Lapel Pins, Exaggerated Worship of Generation-Ago Presidents, Hollywood, Plungers, and Tax Cuts for the Rich
You will all remember that when Politico boss John Harris wanted to oust Dan Froomkin from the Washington Post website he did so by saying that grassroots readers like Patrick Ruffini thought that Froomkin was liberal and biased--without ever telling anybody that Patrick Ruffini had been internet director for Bush-Cheney 2004.
Now Patrick Ruffini sounds... shrill:
The Joe-the-Plumberization of the GOP | The Next Right: If you want to get a sense of how unserious and ungrounded most Americans think the Republican Party is, look no further than how conservatives elevate Joe the Plumber as a spokesman. The movement has become so gimmick-driven that Wurzelbacher will be a conservative hero long after people have forgotten what his legitimate policy beef with Obama was. A movement self-confident in its place in American society would not have made Joe the Plumber a bigger story than he actually was....
[Conservatives] have paeans to Reagan (as if we needed to be reminded again of just how much things suck in comparison today), memorabilia honoring 18th century philosophers that we wouldn't actually wear in the outside world, and code-word laden speeches that focus on a few hot button issues that leave us ill-equipped to actually govern conservatively on 80% of issues when we actually do get elected.... [Conservatives] think of [their] position as inherently fragile. The one that spawned the Cult of Joe the Plumber was the meme that Republicans want tax cuts only for the rich and that we don't stand for working Americans. When find a highly visible figure who contradicts this notion, we swing into action. And we go on to press the argument to the point to absurdity, replete with plungers and custom "Joe" yard signs to prove our working class chops....
The left assumes that it is culturally superior and the natural party of government and fights aggressively to frame any conservative incursion on that turf as somehow alien and unnatural. (The "Oh God..." whisper being the perfect illustration.) They dominate Hollywood... by cooly associating liberal policy ideas with sentiments everyone feels, like love (gay marriage) or fairness (the little guy vs. some evil corporate stiff)....
[C]onservatives need to get serious and ditch the gimmicks and the self-referential credentializing and talk to the entire country. If the average apolitical American walked into CPAC or any movement conservative gathering would they feel like they learned something new or that we presented a vision compelling to them in their daily lives? Or would it all be talk of a President from 25 years ago and Adam Smith lapel pins?...
Nothing there any reality-based liberal could disageree with, right?
But Ruffini is a conservative. So let's see what he recommends:
We need to advance our ideas without ever once saying the word "conservative" or "Republican" in a speech. We need to define these ideas not as conservative, but as American. We need to be confident... that... our ideas are in alignment with basic American principles, and quit treating middle class, working class, or rural Americans like an interest group to be mollified by symbolic, substance-free BS.
But, Patrick, your ideas are not in alignment with basic American principles. Americans are for, not against, monitoring volcanoes. Americans are for, not against, human-animal chimeras to make insulin. Americans are for, not against, stem cell research. Americans are for, not against, love and fairness. Americans are against, not for, tax cuts for the rich. Americans are against, not for, Great Depressions.
