Preston on Politics: GOP embraces new media
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/03/19/preston.conservative.blogging/art.preston.cnn.jpg caption="Patrick Ruffini, left, and David All are on the cutting edge of an evolving medium to connect with supporters."]
WASHINGTON (CNN) - As Republicans wrangle over the ideological direction of the party, a new generation of conservatives is reaching out to GOP activists and honing the use of a 21st century megaphone to promote Republican policy goals through new media networking tools.
Watch: Can the GOP catch up on tech?
Republicans received a wake-up call in 2008 after President Obama raised a historic sum of campaign cash and organized supporters like never before by mastering the power of the Internet.
Within days of losing the White House and additional seats in the House and Senate, prominent blogger and new media consultant Patrick Ruffini unveiled a Web site dedicated to helping restore the GOP to power.
The No. 1 priority listed on http://www.rebuildtheparty.com: "Winning the technology war with the Democrats."
Related: Liberal blogging in the era of Obama
"We kind of took a step back and said, 'Look, we're going to have a long debate over a number of years over where this party should go, where we should stand ideologically,' " Ruffini said. "But here's some basic steps that we can take now to re-engage our grassroots base and to rebuild our party infrastructure and to recruit new leaders so that when we have that ... unifying purpose ... we will be ready to go."
Ruffini and fellow blogger/new media consultant David All are on the cutting edge of a constantly evolving medium that includes long-form analysis through blogging to fast-paced snippets known as "tweets."
They just don't get it...its the MESSAGE of party first, exclusion, hate, and NO-compromises that is the problem with the GOP, not the 'method' of sending the message.
um... can you spell... "disaster"?
The GOP is out of it's depth here. The problem isn't that they don't use the latest technology to reach their members. It's that they have nothing worth saying to them. Their message is old, dry and flat out wrong. The Republican leadership is working off ancient concepts that don't work anymore. Get back to reality!
The reason the Democrats have you on the ropes is simply that you have NO IDEAS! And putting your faces on more media outlets or your words in new technology formats just means your useless empty statements of fiction will reach the empty headed ranks of republicans a few hours earlier. So what?!
The GOP is the equivalent of a funeral procession. Time to find some living people!
Tech has nothing to do with the Republicans' loss. Rather, it's how they've proven themselves to be thoroughly uncool in every conceivable way. They're cold, selfish, and narrow minded.
Unless the message changes, I'm not interested.
If they have the technology good, but they now need a real message.
Is that technology smoke signals??
The republicans like the word WAR! That's the problem with republicans they like going to war with everybody and everything instead of coming up with ideas. This is not a war between the right and the left we all need to be working together not trying too out do each other.
There is no reviving the republican party. I know they are trying hard right now, but it is not going to work. The Republicans have been leading us down the wrong path and lying about it for too long. The democrats can't be any worse. This latest lye they tell about wanting to restrict bonuses when just a month ago Mitch McConnell and a number of others were saying we need to keep the government out of the private sector's business. They seem to be trying to play everybody just to try to regain some traction. Well we (democrats) will make some mistakes along the way, but they will be honest mistakes as all human beings make. but we will have our eight years to straighten things out. To God Be The Glory God Bless president Obama.
It's helpful if you use the new technology to broadcast actual IDEAS, not just your routine tired rhetoric of "NO".
How about just being yourselves, uh no that's not gonna work. Maybe they can call on the fairly odd parents for a miracle.
The technology war? The next thing they are going to do is hire public speaking coaches so they can emmulate the way Obama masters his audience. (that one was free GOP)
Here is the real problem and the reason why you are going to lose in 2010. You are not dealing with an uneducated un-informed electorate. People are listening to what you say and they are monitoring your job performance very closely. So, you can't say one thing and do another anymore, you will be fired.
Stop using fear to promote your party. Avoid using the word fear all together. Stop concentrating on things people dislike. Hate is not the weapon you want to use here. Hate always loses to love and Hope will always conquer fear and your party is the party of hate and fear. Shed that image and your party may live. Don't do this and all of us will watch while your party dies in a slow agonizing paingful death
perhaps that brand new technology from Alexander Gram Bell, I heard he came up with a talkie device that you could hear someone on over distance
the GOP is crashing fast, engulfed in flames
That's great and all, but now try updating your IDEAS to fit this century, and then maybe you would have a chance.
Ok.. so #1 priority is not rebuilding economy or reform health care... #1 priority for Republicans is "winning technological war"... Well, technology is cool but unless you straighten up your priorities there will be no wining – technology or no technology
Using the interwebz to rant about "soshulizm" and rabble-rouse the militia-wannabes with a trumped-up 2nd Amendment scare doesn't make it sound less stupid, misinformed, purposefully misleading, partisan or hateful. Nor does Tweeting about tax cuts and trickel down economics suddenly reverse the 30 years of evidence we have that it doesn't work. Change the message, then broadcast it. The fact is, disseminating idiocy in a more efficient and effective manner will do MORE damage to the GOP, not less.
It's not the messenger – it's the message.
They can preach their anti-abortion, anti-gay, anti-freedom of choice, pro-Christian fundamentalist crap from every venue in the country...... I'm not buying it.
Just more of the same ... it's not the message that's wrong, nooooo, its the internet and the media and that not enough people heard us ... that's why the Republicans are toast for a long time
Yea, let's all "beat the Democrats" or "win the war with them" rather than do what's best for the country. Good idea Repugs!!
Sad how the internet has been around for nearly two decades, and some republicans seem to only now be discovering this thing called 'The internets'.
I like how the internet is made out to be the "new hip thing" even though it's been out for a while.
That's the gop for you – looking for the easy way.
Psst...here's a tip for you – it wasn't just the technology that helped Obama raise a "historic sum of campaign cash" – it was the candidate and what he stood to deliver.
If the gop sticks with the same tired old positions on the issues all the super technology in the world isn't going to help.
It's not the messenger it's the message that needs tweaking.
lol. It only took them getting soundly trounced for them to realize they have to join the 21st century. How amusing.
Sorry, too little too late.
Why is it that the Repugs are always at "war" with people? Last I looked, war was a bad thing. These people need to stop behaving like children, and start actually listening to what everyone has been saying to them over and over and over again. Times have changed, its time they change with it.