Who/what did the most damage to the GOP brand name?

[hopper]

Probably after the 2010 mid-term elections in which they went very hard right especially with social issues and immigration(self-deportation with Romney.) They should know the hispanic community on issues better than that by now(I mean its 2011-2012!) even if the hispanics  do vote dem. At least in 2008 the GOP didn't have hard right stances on issues except maybe on taxes but thats another thing.

[hopper]

If I had to pin it on one thing, I pick the media. Fox drove them away from reality, allowing the crap to rise to the top and stink up the party image.

I do think Michelle Malkin, Laura Ingraham, and even Sean Hannity a little bit did drive them away from reality. Give Sean some credit at least for waking up on the issue of immigration though.

The thing is and I might ruffle some feathers a little bit is Fox does have the #1 ratings out of the 3 Politicals Networks but I think its mostly older white people that watch the network(age 30+) and obviously not the coveted 18-29 demographic that the Dems have done very well with since 2008. Hispanics probably watch Univision and Asians probably watch something else(maybe MSNBC or CNN.)

The GOP is in a tough spot if they go away from the far right base their white base won't like it but not moderating you basically give Asians and Hispanics away to the Dems by 40 points.

I am white by the way but I'm just being frank with my opinions.

[hopper]

-Newt
-George Bush
-Akins, O'Donnells, Angles, Mourdocks
-The outdated social platforms
-The media itself
-The top 1% label

All of these except The Media. The Media supports Republicans.

The Media follows a nonbias fallacy that plays to Republican benefits. But look at it from a different lens.

"The Media hurt Republicans". That could mean the right-wing media bubble driving them into the realm of the crazy, or the rise of MSNBC, or both.

Sure there is conservative media on FOX but the mainstream media leans left(NBC, CBS, and ABC.) It has leaned left for 40-50 years

I do blame the GOP's fall on the media 20-25% but the GOP's downfall is 75-80% their own faults.

[hopper]

Pete Wilson.

He alienated/awakened the Hispanic vote (and to a less understood extent the Asian vote) in California which turned a state that provides 20%+ of the electoral college votes needed for the presidency into a Democratic stronghold.

Before his tenure began in Sacramento (1991), the state had gone GOP in every election since 1948 with the exception of the 1964 landslide. After his myopic opportunism re: illegal immigration  in particular, the state hasn't even come close to casting its 54/55 for a Republican.

I do blame Pete Wilson a little bit for the GOP's fall in California but the GOP's political  platform for California sucks. They want the platform for CA to match match the one from the Deep South. Hello CA has nothing in common with The South especially on social issues.

[hopper]

Who was largely responsible for 'new' "God's Own Party" image? Jerry Falwell? Pat Robertson? Ralph Reed?
 

Ah the religious fanatics on the right then you have the environmental fanatics on the left.

[hopper]

The single worst individual for this, though certainly far from the only one to blame, is Sarah Palin.

That was a mistake trying to make Palin a face of the party for a couple years before the conservative media started to go nuts for Rubio. I know Sean Hannity likes Palin alot but she isn't the person that is gonna drive the party into the 21st century politically. She doesn't have appeal to moderate and hispanic voters and thats the problem with her.

[hopper]

The Bush presidency was catastrophic for the Republican brand.  On one hand you have a president that comes off as an illiterate buffoon that keeps embarrassing the country worldwide, and then you have an army of evil masterminds such as Cheney, Rumsfeld and Rove that most of the country despises.  The war in Iraq and the fact that many people felt misled by this administration really hurt their credibility.

The Bush Presidency hurt especially on the issue of Iraq but to me it only hurt Republicans mahorly in 2006 and the 2008 elections a little. The Bush W. Presidency didn't hurt Republicans at all in the 2010 elections.

[hopper]

Allowing the conservative movement to take over the party and ceasing function as an actual political organization, allowing all sorts of crazies to simply walk in and get elected with little to no effort. This has been slowly happening for a few decades, but progresses in waves of elimination and re-election. The wipeout after the Bush years and the lucking out of getting re-elected on the backs of misdirected media-co-opted outrage allowed them to replenish their numbers without being ready to do so, and now there is effectively no party anymore.

On misdirected co-opted media outrage? What? People didn't want Obamacare and the Dems didn't run on anything in 2010 because they knew they were beat right when their members in swing districts voted for Obama Care.

I agree though after the beatings that the R's took in 2006 and 2008 they did win too quickly in 2010 without a party rebuild which is still needed. Still not the R's fault that the D's didn't run on anything in 2010. The Obama brand was too tough to beat in 2012 and Romney's catering to the far right on social issues didn't help obviously.

I don't have a problem with the GOP being conservative but being loony far right wing is hard to watch.