CNN

Too little, too late

Republicans, Don't bother until you can prove that you are there for the American people and that is coming from a republican for the last 20 years and now voting against republicans because of there defience (sp?) to credible solutions.

Rebranding is a good idea, in theory. The problem is the people in charge of the rebranding believe in ideological purity and will do everything possible to drive away moderates and independents from the party. Thus, the type of rebranding they will accomplish will be counterproductive. The white men in charge of the party won't listen to Olympia Snowe or Meagan McCain. They ONLY listen to Boss Limbaugh.

It's not just the rand, the product they are selling needs to be re-thought as well. This isn't a bad group to start with, but there should be more voices from younger, and more moderate Republicans at the table in order to come up with a truly inclusive new vision for the party.

From the comments here it seems the only party that can't stand diversity of thought and supports hate speech would be the Democrats.

All of you are saying the same thing...just in different ways...

Oh George Bush!!!...Ohh...aBushLied...OhhRepublicans are racist...Ohh..Party of no

You guys claim to be for diversity but somehow conservatism is unacceptable as a political ideology.

You betray your own principles with out batting an eye. You use hate to beat down dissent, as displayed on all the major cable networks , minus FOX, with the tea parties was foul. If Republicans had done that you would be throwing fits and throwing shoes.

When will you people just admit that you are so ideologically committed to leftism that you would find a way to justify detention, interrogation..even torture as long as it was conservatives as your targets.

Remove the log from your eye and then we can talk about the speck in the eye of the Republican party.

Hmmm, rebranding? How do you rebrand a bunch of self-centered, out-of-touch, dumb obstructionists? Personally, I'd be happy if they'd all drop out of sight forever and open the door for a new opposition party. We all know their faces and we're all sick and tired of them. Rove, Limbaugh, Cheney, Bush, Hannity and.FIX NEWS!!! The list goes on and on and THEY ALL MAKE ME SICK!

Bye the way, if Texas wants out of the union, I say.. don't let the door hit you on the ass TEXAS!

GOP Rebranding... um... I think the whole "lipstick on a pig" thing was played out during the election campaign... either way, I always thought that was a bit trite... perhaps a more apt description is "putting another coat of spray tan on a backwoods Ohioan good ol' boy and sending him out into the world thinking stubbornness and a lack of good ideas can some how make up for intelligence" ... oh wait... Mr. Boehner has already gone to Washington?

Those are good suggestions for new brand names for the The Republican Party.

Also, how about:

The Losers Are Us Party

The One Elephant short of a Party Party

The Teabaggers Party

or in honor of George W. Bush,

The Completely Incompetent Party

Well first off you can't stop bashing Muslims, Gays and Lesbians, Atheists, Abortionists, and try to look at why Women, African Americans, Latinos/as, and Asians don't tend to vote for you. Perhaps they're just too choc full of God-Fearing white males that to realize that their plans are bigoted?

The still don't get it they need to reach out to minoirty race. They are a bunch of the same old white men. What a big joke they have become.

I can't wait to see if the republicans rebranding scheme actually works and you liberals run and hide.

What will the rethuglicans rebrand as, the Black Shirts or the Brown Shirts?

Which shirt will Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck look best in? We know from CPAC that Rush Limpbaughs prefers black as he jumped around on stage.

Government should be involved in healthcare and education, especially education. Some states have dumb leaders who like to keep the people of their respective state ignorant, so that they do not become enlightened and believe in science. On the other hand government should not be involved in peoples lives in areas such as same sex marriage and a woman's right to choose.

Scumbag liberals – only four years before republicans take back the senate and white house – to clean up the mess that the messiah and president pelosi will leave our children and grandchildren – and correct the puke policies of the liberal elite

I wish the liberals on this site would engage in intelligent debate rather than sophomoric name calling. It is tiresome. I think this effort is a great idea, and I applaud efforts to listen to America and come up with real solutions to everyday problems. Let's all hope the effort leads to promising alternatives to more spending and more taxation.

Look at the list. No African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, or women. The Republican just don't get it. This country is getting browner and I hate to say it people want to see people that look like them. Haven't they looked at Obama's cabinet. Seems like a good ole boys meeting with the standard exception- one dark person in the crowd.

They are out their minds...... Jeb Bush? Mitt Romney? Please.....
Mitt, Jindal, and even Jeb, want to be President in 2012...... They're getting their faces out there for publicity.....nothing more. And they're missing the pont of what Americans want....... Healthcare, Education reform, and a fixed economy..... Again the President has beat them to it!!!!! They've discovered socialism, fascism, and other names don't work.....so now they'll spread there disenfrachisement from state to state.....Great

LoL.I think they want to prove that didn't listen to people so far and now they want to go around and listen to American, last time Mccain and Sara were around they just sprede hate and fear insted of listening to american.

Hey token Bobby.

The Banana Republican Party. There's your new brand, now beat it.

The "Grand Old Pity Party". They should just give it up.

The Republican are a bunch of useless outdated phoneys! Same BS, new coverup!

YIKES!!!!!!

Yeah, good luck with that!

Rebrand the Republicans... Let's see... How about "The Party of HATE and FEAR"? Or "Red Necks United"? How about the OWGP (Old White Guys Party)?

This sounds more like a photo opportunity and media event than an honest self evaluation by the Republicans. Much like how they teabagged themselves a week or two ago.

I was a college republican in the '80s but left them when they seemed more interested in wedge issues to divide the country and conquer than solve the country's problems.

Did anyone notice that the "red" states are mainly just the old south and a few plains states? And that it's membership is almost exclusively white?

The reason is the Republican party today is just the remaining remnants of the old Dixiecrats in the south that left the Democratic party when the Democrats voted and passed the Equal Voting Rights amendments in the '60s and that pissed off the pro-segregation crowd like Jesse Helms of NC and Strom Thurmond of SC.

This is their legacy.

Dialogue is always good. I don't understand why Republicans need to sound so desperate though. Re-branding can be organic, leaders should emerge naturally...not be hand-selected by the old guard. If Republicans would just stop licking their wounds they might stand a chance at a comeback sooner rather than later. All they've done since they lost the election is make announcements and name people as new leaders...enough already!

If you put lipstick on a pig it's still a pig.

How come the "National Council for a New America" is mostly the same old Republicans with the same old programs?

Reagan, Bush I, Bush II - been there, done that. Time to move on.

The "Real" Republican party faithful left in 1980 with John Anderson to become independents. The rain of moderate, even liberal, continues to fall outside the present Republican party or so it calls itself. We are not real Democrats, but have enogh sense to vote for Amweica's best.

New GOP same as the first
But a whole lot whiter and a whole lot worse.

The Democrats believe in the audacity of hope.

The Neo-cons (I can't really call that 21% Republicans) believe in the mendacity of nope.

Wow – lots of people here only see race, sex, class.

Its all about Marx, isnt it.

Nothing about ideas...or ideals. How very sad to live in a post renaissance era.

I bet I can guess their "new" ideas....SMALLER GOVERNMENT and TAX CUTS.

There are two things that Republicans want government to do: 1) Pay for cops and jails to keep poor people away from themselves and their rich cronies. They prefer these people die off without health care or go to jail when they steal to survive on the slave wages they want the majority to live on. 2) Pay for the biggest, strongest military to make sure we can bomb any country that doesn't cooperate with the policies that make them and their cronies as rich as possible.

Everything else, they snidely refer to as "entitlement spending." WAKE UP, America. The feudal system is what they want to return us to, so long as they and their friends get to be the Lords. Republicans tell poor, disadvantaged people to "pull themselves up by their bootstraps." They leave out the part where they steal their boots.

He did a good job, Its going to take longer then 100 days ,I gave him an A for what hes done so far. It takes Congress along with him to do anything, If they don't work along with him, he won't be able to do anything! Deborah Gortmans, Livermore Falls, Maine

Wow! the guy who lost the election... and the brother of the guy who tainted the election........good luck with that re-branding!

The answer to re-branding is right under your nose but extreme conservatives will never accept it..........it is letting people like Bobby Jindal just be himself, it is letting people like Charlie Crist be the voice of the party....and shutting up the destructive, divisive, and idiotic voices of the Limbaughs, the Coulters, and the Steeles inthat same order.

Henry, don't forget the other important questions:

Is Global Warming a threat/real? No

Should there be a separation of Church and State? No

Should we stop spending billions/trillions on wars and instead invest that money in our own country (infrastructure, health care, education) and help our people thrive? No

Sadly, the only times they seem to say yes are when it comes to banning gay marriage, eliminating sex education and family planning, and eliminating a woman's right to choose (because the conservative line is that the government should interfere and make personal private decisions for us, right?) advocating torture, eliminating privacy (unless they're the ones whose privacy might potentially be infringed), gun rights, and teaching creationism.

With regard to the mass spending, yes, that concerns me, but I also realize that these are extraordinary circumstances which require unusual measures. I'm so glad we're so concerned with mortgaging our childrens' future, yet those same people who wave this argument around are also the very ones against measures to address the failing health of our environment. Our children and grandchildren need a planet to live on before they can worry about paying down any debt we leave them.

Surprise, Surprise. The new philosophy of the Repbulican Party is a new Initiative on how to put the screws to all Americans. First it was Contract with America, Newt; how his initiative The National Council for a New America. I must say that after George W. and Dick Cheney and Company, we now have a new America. It's called BANKRUPT. Whose brillance was this, Karl Rove or Tom Delay or Dick Cheney? Sad, but true, this is the same old Bull, just a different day.

Pitiful, hateful, exclusive, bitter losers. Know this: America has changed for the best of us all. This is not your daddy's country anymore, it belongs to all Americans. ALL AMERICANS!!
IT IS OUR COUNTRY! So you can love it or Leave It! But note; No
country in the world would tolerate republicans, except for Iran. Maybe
the Taliban group will accept you as brothers, you all do share the same theological philosophy.

What no Sarah Palin? Who are they going to blame when it backfires?

I give the President an A for the answering of the question tonight. He answerd each question one right after the other without even stopen. The question made sence and I don't think anyone could do the same as he did for 1hour, or any better.

Yea, right...kind of like trying to pick up a turd by the clean end.

Hey, I like the Party of No! No liars like most of the democrat party, No political hacks like Obama(specter finally left), No tax cheats like most of Obama's cabinet position, No socialism where Obama is taking America, No putting our children and grandchildren into debt which Obama is doing. Better the Party of No then the Party of Losers like the democrats.

it's a good idea. hope it will be better than the recent anti-everything blather that has been coming from them.

we all just want what is best for the country

The image crisis isn't the only problem the GOP have. They have moved too far towards right wing extremism and too far from their roots. People who are identified as their "leaders", like Limbaugh and Steele, are trying to push their extremist views on others, thus losing supporters. What they need to do is cull the party of these extremist elements and focus on helping America and not their self image.

What are they changing from the party of hate, intolerance, lies, financial destruction, war crimes, and NO to anything helpful to just plain old KKK? Or the new confederacy or the Theocracy zealots for super rich white males and the ignorant and hate filled. Purge the zealots and fire your leader the obese rabid drug addict radio lord and faux as you leaders and then maybe you have a hope.

Where is Micheal Steele???

To Henry Miller. Did you say no to Bush when he borrowed trillions to fund a bogus war?

To ellynn sky.. Spare me your not looking out for our future. Our society is about instant gratification. They want everything now and fast. We are greedy. Worry about the consequences later. You are so blind to reality. If people really care about their children's future they would quit running up credit card debt, limit their tv viewing, cook healthy meals and be a part of their children's lives. We are a nation that lives in debt, and are fat and lazy and sit around and blame others. I think we should all take a look in the mirror before pointing fingers at others. This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue, it is an American issue and all individuals need to take accountability.

Well they can try and rebrand themselves, but it will still give off the same OLD stink!

I believe its called a circle, jerk

"I think we also need to give a lot of people some simple math courses"

Ok, I'll take some simple math courses if you and the remaining 21% that identify themselves as Republicans take some basic logic classes.

There's nothing wrong with being "the party of `no'"–"No" is frequently the right answer. If your kid asks to borrow a the car keys so he can go to a bar and get wasted, what's the right answer? NO.

What about the kid who asks if he can jump off the roof using a pillowcase as a parachute? Your 13-year-old daughter asking if it's okay to go out with a guy just released from prison for molesting 13-year-old girls?

"No" is a really useful word, and as far as I'm concerned it's ideally used when an out-of-control government undertakes to borrow a trillion dollars it has almost no hope of repaying anytime within the next few decades and waste it. It's a good response when a power-grabbing government asserts its intent to stick its all-too-intrusive nose further into things that are none of its Constitutional business, like health care and education.

So, NO!

(BTW, I'm not a Republican, though I used to be. I've become what Republicans used to be, a Libertarian.)

The GOP has spent the past 30 years alienating EVERYONE. I doubt this will make people forget all the ugliness.

While W was not the best President we had, i have to say i don't think he was as hateful as some of the G.O.Ps we have right now;......no rebranding can help the G.O.P as long as we have anti black, anti gay anti everything that is not them.....

Gee, nice group of folks . . . .
No women.
No one from the Northeast.
No one from the west coast.
With the exception of Jindal, every one of them is white.
With the exception of Cantor, every one of them is Christian.
With the exception of Pence, Boehner, and Romney, every one is from below the Mason-Dixon line.

As Sen. Susan Collins said, it's no longer a big tent, but a big umbrella.

Oh, come on.... let it die.... *LOL* Limbaugh can lead it and its following right over the nearest cliff... which appears to be happening. He can pranch and dance and preach lies like an old time baptist preacher.. but he is still just radio announcer who is having visions of grandeur!

My best memory of Limbaugh was on Larry King during the Clinton years. King asked him why he out and out lied about issues and presented them as the truth! He said, "Larry, I'm not about truth! I'm about entertainment!" I don't recall exactly how King phrased his question, but I surely do recall that of Rush Limbaugh!" A jerk then... and still a jerk!

Well it's about time! Good luck and we know all of you have our country in your best interest. I think we also need to give a lot of people some simple math courses so they can see what this country is in for. Although, I strongly feel that those who voted for Obama care only for themself and not the future of our country and are families. I sure hope you can wake people up and take their blinders off.

Sounds like a good idea to me. I did not vote Republican this time around because I honestly feel Obama was the better choice. I would never be opposed to a Republican choice for whatever position I can help him/her get elected for as long as that person is able to show their plans to better our nations.

As long as the Republicans have idiots such as Bush, Cheney, Limbaugh determining policy, there will be no viable Republican party. They are Plutocrats who don't seem to understand the fundamentals of being an American. The Democrats are helping them however with the likes of Pelosi insensitive or incapable of seeking real input from Republican moderates. The Party of No can grow again if Pelosi represents the Party of Exclusion. President Obama was correct tonight when he discussed bipartisanship. It is not agreeing to agree but agreeing to discuss with an open mind for the beneift of Americans and the world.

The 'National Panel of Experts' is Barbour, Jindal and Romney? Is this some kind of joke? Can the Republicans sink any lower? I guess the answer is yes. This is remarkably like slapping a coat of paint on an old broken down jalopy in the corner of the used parking lot and screaming – "Red Hot Special!" You might fool a few saps, but most people will just laugh.

Good...the only way to make a change is to begin with the dialogue...

now I'm sure there will be negative posters..which will be funny cause they were the same ones 'itchin for the Pubs to make some changes...

As an Obama Supporter and Democrat, I believe the country needs a strong Republican party. However, if this group is nothing but new lipstick on the pig, known as the Republican party, than it won't work.

Pubs, dump Cheney, Limbaugh and the rest of the hate and angry crowd that has infected your party – Be a party of ideas and constructive dialogue. You can believe in marriage between a man and a woman and not spew your anti-minority and anti-gay KKK vile

Blah Blah Blah. Call it what you want. It's still the same GOP. BS is BS no matter how you spread it.

It would be interesting indeed if they actually take comments and suggestions from the people at these town hall meetings or are they just going to continue to spew their hate, racism, name calling and fear mongering on this road trip of theirs. "The National Counsel for a New America" if that is anything like their "Contract With America" brand then they are doomed to the history books same as the way of the Wigs.

Those same old tired republicans recycling the same tired ideas. Thats why they lost and will continue to be in the wildnerss for years to come

Presumably accurate...this article points out an astounding irony in..."the man many Republicans blame for the party's battered brand: former President George W. Bush". If this is so, then why did Republicans vote almost to a Congressman/woman or Senator every time for his agenda and policies? So, doesn't the record show they were just as wrong as Bush?...or only voted partisan whether they believed it was best for Americans or not? And now they are accusing the Democrat lead executive and legislative branches of being partisan? Check mate GOP. Game over...you loose.

How sweet, trying to remake your image, and saying you get it now, Repubs. Too bad it ain't gonna work until you guys moderate yourselves, which took a major hit after you left Specter. That's right–YOU left Spector, NOT the other way around. You Repubs just don't get it, do you? You're too radical, and too much on the fringe. You're basically extinct in the northeast, and getting there in the Rust Belt. Out west, it seems to be the same thing as in the Rust Belt. The only place you have left (no pun intended) is in the south, and even there, you guys lost Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida. The country's leaving you in the dust. Go on, keep up your antics. See where it'll get you...

So is this the "third" ring of this circus? Or is it just part two of a very badly written play?

They're also changing the name from "Republican Party" to "Royal Order of the Water Buffalo."

What? ANOTHER Tea Party? ....or is this just the first step to renaming the GOP? First, they "invent" a new, more moderate ideology, calling it New America, by dusting off the old "Contract With America" talking points. Next, they see who shows up and start drawing the lines. Finally, the New America Party (NAP) rolls our their purple campaign colors (blue and red together) with a silhouetted hound dog holding a rifle as it's symbols. They roll out their new slogan: "Guns, God, and Guns for Real Americans!" and "This New Dog Will Hunt!"

A day later, they realize their mistake with the colors, and Disney offers them a contract to perform 3 times a day with meal breaks.

If you're tired of DC politics, join the big NAP.

Boehner and McConnell and rebranding = OXYMORON

The Republican Party seems to be more concerned with holding their party together than what's best for our country! I can't believe that people still can't see the downward spiral turn this country took over the last 8 years of the Republican Administration! It's time for the Democratic Party to clean up "ANOTHER" mess the Republicans made!

Snake oil.

John McCain should listen the Rush, the leader of the Republican Party today. Clear out! Become an independent.

Is having a Bush on that panel really going to help?

The GOP can call itself whatever it wants. They're still the same people that have devastated our country. The American people are smart enough to see through the GOP's "rebranding". The GOP is what it is. Period.

"And now," (drumroll) New and Improved! wait...

Improved from earlier this week....wait, no

Better than before...er no

We love one-armed midgets!....ooooh, no bad, um

We're not elitists! We hate everyone, equally!" Ding ding ding

We have a winner

McCain is a democrat. He needs to switch over.

You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig and right now it's a big stinker.

Problem is, is that the Republican party is opposed to divirsity... or so it seems.

A party of the south? Mostly white?

Where is the outreach to other races? Where is the tolerance for different opinion?

Where is the separation of church and state?

Until those questions are answered....... I don't see them growing any time soon.

Just pathetic isn't it.

Sooooooooo What? Talk about Mr.'s Irrelevant banding together to give us an option to what is proving to be a historic success story. Just stay in the background and try not to embarrass yourselves. Soon, you can explain why you have been obstructionists to the will of the country.

So let's see if AFTER the 'meetings' they regurgitate the 1775 flat earth policies of:

Lower taxes for rich people
Don't help anyone else
Kill some foreignors
Torture is Cool
Gay Marriage, kill them all
Don't educate the children, screw em
Poor people suck
Smaller Government, but elect me, me and me!

Oh, please, give us a break. JOHN McCAIN and JEB BUSH!!!
Just what we need another BUSH on the scene and a has-been candidate McCAIN. The Republicans are really in trouble when they are relying on McCain and another Bush as well as the likes of Limbaugh, Rove, Hannity, etc. to straighten out their party.

Who are they reaching out to? What could this new brand be?
A few suggestions:

"The Party of Torture"
"The Party of War Profiteering"
"The Party of Catastrophic Industrial Deregulation"
"The Party of Neo-Nazi Nutjobs"

Good luck breaking 10% in the next election, anyway.

The GOP needs to get back to the roots of Reagan. This "media" lie of rebranding the party is typical. The liberals will bury themselves in stupidity as they always do. Obamunism will fail as Carter failed with his miserable Presidency.

tell CNN to pound sand

Jeez. The GOP just doesn't get it. Sticking a new, shiney label over the old, dusty label on a bottle of the same old product is NOT "new and improved".

As long as the GOP continues to allow their party to be taken over by the extremely paranoid and obnoxious right-wing, to the detriment to true conservatives, and true moderates, the GOP will continue to isolate themselves. Right into oblivion.

CNN boilerplate hate speech to begin in 3...2...1...

Okay and Who Cares.....mcbush and friends have had more then enough time to rebrand themselves. Let us know once this task is complete

and they try to turn the existing brand into another to hide the fact they stole the cattle?

GOP trying to pull a fast one... sell the public a lemon car with BMW logos on it

Hee. This is just like how AIG thinks its problem is that its name is associated with bad behavior and the solution is to change the name. Will the GOP now be known as "The Cool Party Full of Awesomeness?"