Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty delivers that warning in his latest Newsweek interview.
But only a small percentage of voters call themselves Republicans, even though Obama’s numbers are down and the economy is weak. Why?
The Republican brand has been badly damaged. We’re the marketplace party. So we believe in markets. The ultimate measure of the marketplace is an election, and for the last two election cycles the marketplace has been telling us they prefer the products and services of our competitors. We’ve gotten our butts kicked in 2006 and 2008. And I think for good reason. You can’t say you are going to be fiscally disciplined and then go to Washington and spend like crazy. You can’t say, “We are against corruption and bad behavior,” and then engage in corruption and bad behavior! I mean, people aren’t stupid. They kind of figure out whether your actions and results match up to your rhetoric or they don’t. Now we’ve got an opportunity to reestablish the brand. People are migrating away from President Obama and the Democrats, but they are labeling themselves independent or conservative?not necessarily Republican. We cannot rely on the other side goofing up as a strategy to get them back.
