Storified by Brian Empric· Fri, Mar 15 2013 18:46:48
“In the 2012 election, President Obama won 93 percent of the black vote, 71 percent of the Hispanic vote and 73 percent of the Asian vote, helping him coast to a victory over Republican Mitt Romney.”
“Democrats are already whispering about how demographics could quickly turn traditionally red states like Arizona and Texas blue. Asians and Hispanics are the fastest-rising electoral groups in the country.”
“’Our legacy is going to be that we were the RNC that actually turned the talk into action and cared most about moving the dial, not a couple of good stories that we could spin out and have a few good days here and there, but have a long-lasting change for the future of our party and our country,’ he said in an interview.”
“The chairman argues that by appealing more to minority voters, Republicans can broaden the electoral playing field. Right now, he says the GOP is too dependent on running the table in a handful of states.”
“The RNC’s Growth and Opportunity Project is taking a two-pronged approach in addressing these challenges – one that focuses on micro-targeted community-based outreach, and one that communicates a more positive broader message that voters can connect with emotionally.
“On the grassroots side, Priebus acknowledged that ‘our contacts are lousy,’ and that for too long the party has executed a ‘get out the vote effort four months before the election,’ while Democrats have cultivated long-term relationships at the local level.”
“The second initiative is improving the GOP’s message to and image with minority groups… ‘In order to start winning presidential elections, I think we have to start winning over people’s hearts,’ Priebus said.”
“I don’t think it’s something that’s going to happen in two months,” he said. “I think it could take a couple of years, two years, four years, this is a long view…”
“Each week brings a new diagnosis of the party’s woes. Karl Rove says it’s candidate quality. Mitt Romney chief strategist Stuart Stevens argues Democrats have won over minority voters through government programs like Obamacare. Some Bush White House vets say it’s the GOP’s trouble understanding how to approach a changing electorate. Techy conservatives blame the party’s inferior social media presence and outdated voter targeting and data-mining.”
“There’s a split between those who believe the party’s problem is cosmetic, those who believe it’s data-based and those who think it’s ideological and policy-based. Within those camps, there’s no common ground on what a better approach would look like.”
“[T]he Republican National Committee is moving ahead with what Chairman Reince Priebus has at times called an 'autopsy' into 2012… (Republican pollster David) Winston (@dhwinston) said he hopes and assumes that the RNC critique will ‘define what went wrong so you can get everybody focused on what the solution should look like.’”
“I think there will always be tension between moderates in the party and the conservative base, but that has existed for decades and only goes away after we win an election. It went away for a bit after Reagan, and it went away for a bit after Bush 41,” said conservative strategist Greg Mueller (@gregmcrc). “But in losing,” he added, “it’s back with some intensity.”
“Reince is ‘hamstrung, because he was a good man for the moment. … someone who would put his head down and rebuild’ the RNC, said one Priebus supporter… But ‘now it’s a problem because the party needs to start running ahead of where the congressional leadership is,’ the source added, saying Priebus needs to take his approach to running the committee to the next level to help the party navigate a path forward.”
“The state of affairs has allowed Rove to remain a strong force in the party — despite his critics sensing vulnerability after raising $300 million to run ads that failed to move the needle. He emerged from 2012 dinged up by the results, but until someone unifies the party, he will remain one of its top strategists.”
“Everyone agrees that there are several areas that must be improved upon including better messaging, engaging with minority groups, improving our digital capabilities and a multiyear sustained ground and engagement effort,” said RNC spokesman Sean Spicer (@seanspicer).
“Mueller, the conservative strategist, argued that Republicans need to focus more on the use of social media and data gathering — the latter in particular being an area where the party can fill a void.”
“There now is a growing impulse that the generational shift that is occurring at the candidate level is also needed at the consultant level,” said pollster Kellyanne Conway (@KellyannePolls). “It won’t matter which fresh faces the GOP runs for the presidency if the same folks are pulling the strings and calling the shots.”
“Nearly four months after the election, most everybody seems to agree that something is amiss with the GOP. This consensus has provoked a stream of free advice for how Republicans can get back on their feet. Some of it is constructive and helpful… But much of the ‘advice’ amounts to a victory lap by liberal Democrats and their friends in the media, many of whom seem to think that a successful Republican party would be one that closely resembles the Democrats.”
“On the plus side of the ledger, we have the party’s strength in the states… All told, Republicans have unified control of 25 states, with 53 percent of the nation’s population. Compare that with the Democrats, who control 13 states with 30 percent of the American public… Republicans also control the House of Representatives and retain enough seats to filibuster in the Senate.”
“Finally, the Republican coalition is reasonably united. Naturally, there are fissures—notably, the divide between the so-called establishment wing of the party and the Tea Party ‘opposition.’ Nevertheless, historical perspective is appropriate here. While the media like to play up today’s divisions, the party remains generally united around a set of policy goals—tax reform and sensible deregulation to jump-start the economy, entitlement reform to solve the debt crisis, the expansion of domestic energy production, and so on.”
“When a party does not control the White House, it is largely incapable of achieving collective goals because no one person or group is ‘in charge.’ Today, no single Republican—not House speaker John Boehner, not Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, not party chairman Reince Preibus, or anyone else—has the power to induce the various factions within the party to cooperate… This means that there are limits to the kinds of reform the Republican party can undertake…”
“Another liability is President Barack Obama himself. He is not a good partner for constructive governance, even in areas where there might be agreement… How can he be trusted? At any moment, he could scuttle a deal, then hold a press conference to blame Republicans.”
“While it is fortunate that the GOP controls (the House of Representatives) because it can veto the liberal agenda, it is a perfect straw man for this president. And indeed, President Obama has used the bully pulpit masterfully, convincing the public that congressional Republicans are to blame for the breakdown in Washington governance…”
“House conservatives unfortunately are in no position to enact a conservative alternative (to Obama’s agenda). Nor, for that matter, can they even force President Obama to reject it; Senate Democrats will reliably table anything that makes Obama look bad well before it gets to his desk. However, they can stop the advance of the left. This is not nothing, considering the ambitions of the president…”
“Hindsight is 20/20, and it appears clear in retrospect that congressional Republicans made a mistake in trying to force President Obama to deal responsibly with the country’s fiscal problems. He is not interested in leading (or following) on this issue. Worse, he has used the megaphone of the presidency to cast Republicans as the irresponsible party… This is probably the GOP’s number one danger moving forward. It cannot allow President Obama to create the impression that Republicans are too radical or dangerous to govern…”
“While avoiding unproductive confrontations in Washington, Republicans should turn their attention to the states as the main arena for conservative reforms. Which state leaders have been successful? Why have they succeeded? How can these lessons be translated to the national stage? Republicans should be optimistic about their future because, with so many leaders on the state level, it is possible for the GOP to get answers to these questions between now and 2016. Put another way, the GOP is like a baseball team that just missed the playoffs, but is fortunate to have an excellent system of farm clubs.”
“Insofar as the party is capable of collective action, its efforts should focus on finding quality candidates, both for 2014 and 2016. A lot of this simply comes down to convincing the top tier of would-be Republican officeholders that the country’s problems are too dire for them to refuse the call to service…”
“The 2012 election was not only a dismal showing for the Republicans but the continuation of a dismal, 20-year trend. Out of the last six presidential elections, four have gone to the Democratic nominee, at an average yield of 327 electoral votes to 210 for the Republican. During the preceding two decades, from 1968 to 1988, Republicans won five out of six elections, averaging 417 electoral votes to the Democrats’ 113. In three of those contests, the Democrats failed to muster even 50 electoral votes.”
“The first factor is America’s changing demographics. Much has been written on this topic, but the essential datum is the long-term shrinking of those demographic groups, especially white voters, who traditionally and reliably favor the GOP: from 89 percent of the electorate in 1976 to 72 percent in 2012… In any given contest, the GOP can overcome this obstacle. Over time, however, the obstacle will grow ever larger… Republicans, in short, have a winning message for an electorate that no longer exists.”
“Another factor lies in the realm of foreign policy… With the end of the Cold War in 1989, this potent issue was largely taken off the table…”
“Then there is the quality of the candidates fielded by the two sides. Democrats have nominated two candidates—Bill Clinton and Barack Obama—endowed with formidable political skills. The former is one of the most naturally gifted politicians in modern American history; the latter is one of the most ruthlessly efficient ones. Republican presidential candidates, in contrast, have sometimes shown a marked inability to connect with the concerns of working- and middle-class voters or to convince such voters that Republican policies will help improve their prospects in life…”
“Reasonable tax rates and sound monetary policy remain important economic commitments. But America now confronts a series of challenges that have to do with globalization, stagnant wages, the loss of blue-collar jobs, exploding health-care and college costs, and the collapse of the culture of marriage.”
“As much as at any time in recent history, America needs a strong, vibrant party on the right to speak for the civilizing ideal of limited government. Barack Obama has put in place an agenda of unreconstructed progressivism that is at war, not only with Reaganism, but also with Clintonism. He has exacerbated a massive fiscal imbalance, added a poorly designed entitlement that further destabilizes the health sector, and sounded an uncertain trumpet of global leadership. If Republicans urgently need to recalibrate, and they do, it is because the stakes are so high.
“Among some party loyalists, there is a natural tendency to maintain that the GOP is simply suffering from a ‘communications problem,’ that if only Republicans spoke more loudly, more insistently, and with greater purity and passion, they would broaden their appeal and proceed to sweep national elections. But that counsel, appealing as it might be to a shrinking segment of the electorate, is surely not adequate to present circumstances. More is needed than pumping up the volume.”
Gerson & Wehner compile a list of five necessary steps to breathe new life into the GOP and enlarge its appeal while sticking to core principles:
1. Focus on the economic concerns of working-and middle-class Americans
“[M]any (working-and middle-class Americans) now regard the Republican Party as beholden to ‘millionaires and billionaires’ and as wholly out of touch with ordinary Americans.”
“In developing a response to these perceptions, Republicans should not downplay their traditional strengths. Given the feeble path of economic growth, reasonable tax rates and a rational tax code are prerequisites for future job creation at sufficient levels. Given the unsustainable path of health-oriented entitlement spending—which threatens to crowd out every other form of federal spending—some party must rise to responsibility. And given the vast potential economic advantage of newly discovered energy sources—both natural gas and shale oil—Republicans should stand for their responsible exploitation.”
“Republicans could begin by becoming visible and persistent critics of corporate welfare: the vast network of subsidies and tax breaks extended by Democratic and Republican administrations alike to wealthy and well-connected corporations. Such benefits undermine free markets and undercut the public’s confidence in American capitalism. They also increase federal spending... ‘Ending corporate welfare as we know it’: For a pro-market party, this should be a rich vein to mine.”
“America’s five largest banks hold assets equal to 60 percent of our economy, a highly dangerous concentration and source of undue political power. These mega-banks—both ‘too big to fail’ and ‘too complex to manage’—are the unnatural result of government subsidies, not market forces. By supporting the breakup of the big banks, Republicans would encourage competition and create a decentralized system more likely to survive future economic earthquakes.”
“Rather than being exclusively focused on budget numbers or individual economic rights, Republicans would be demonstrating a limited but active role for government: helping individuals attain the skills and values—the social capital—that allow them to succeed in a free economy…”
2. Welcome rising immigrant groups
“Instead of signaling that America is a closed society, which it is not and never has been, Republicans would do better to stress the assimilating power of American ideals—the power whereby strangers become neighbors and fellow citizens.”
3. Express and demonstrate a commitment to the common good
“There is an impression—exaggerated but not wholly without merit—that the GOP is hyper-individualistic. During the Republican convention, for example, we repeatedly heard about the virtues of individual liberty but almost nothing about the importance of community or social solidarity, and of the obligations and attachments we have to each other. Even Republican figures who espouse relatively moderate policy prescriptions often sound like libertarians run amok.”
“In pointing to dangers of an expanding central government, Republicans can rightly cite not only the constraints it places on individual initiative but also its crowding-out of civil society and citizen engagement…”
“American society comprises more than private individuals on the one hand, government on the other. Republicans and conservatives can and should take their policy bearings from that crucial fact.”
4. Engage vital social issues forthrightly but in a manner that is aspirational rather than alienating
“Addressing the issue of marriage and family is not optional; it is essential. Far from being a strictly private matter, the collapse of the marriage culture in America has profound public ramifications, affecting everything from welfare and education to crime, income inequality, social mobility, and the size of the state. Yet few public or political figures are even willing to acknowledge that this collapse is happening.”
“Yes, the ability of government to shape attitudes and practices regarding family life is very limited. But a critical first step is to be clear and consistent about the importance of marriage itself—as the best institution ever devised when it comes to raising children, the single best path to a life out of poverty, and something that needs to be reinforced rather than undermined by society.”
5. Harness policy views to the findings of science
“This has been effectively done on the pro-life issue, with sonograms that reveal the humanity of a developing child…”
“To acknowledge climate disruption need hardly lead one to embrace Al Gore’s policy agenda… Republicans could back an entrepreneurial approach to technical and scientific investment as opposed to the top-down approach of unwieldy government bureaucracies offering huge subsidies to favored companies such as Solyndra.”
Gerson & Wehner recognize that these five steps are “neither comprehensive nor definitive, but is intended as a starting point for discussion.”
“Its aim is to locate a means of broadening the appeal of the GOP without violating the party’s core principles of life and liberty...”
“These corrections will be the work of many hands, including governors, members of Congress, and policy entrepreneurs… This movement, right now, lacks a headquarters.”
“Any fair-minded survey of rising Republican leaders… suggests that the GOP possesses impressive political talent. Their challenge is both to refine and relaunch the Republican message, to propose policies that symbolize values and cultural understanding, to reconnect with a middle America that looks different than it once did, and to confront old attitudes, not from time to time, but every day.”
“For generations, the Republican Party had presented itself as the political vehicle for Americans whose opposition to ever-bigger government financed by ever-higher taxes makes them a ‘country class.’ Yet modern Republican leaders, with the exception of the Reagan Administration, have been partners in the expansion of government, indeed in the growth of a government-based ‘ruling class.’ They have relished that role despite their voters. Thus these leaders gradually solidified their choice to no longer represent what had been their constituency, but to openly adopt the identity of junior partners in that ruling class…”
“Increasingly the top people in government, corporations, and the media collude and demand submission as did the royal courts of old. This marks these political orphans as a ‘country class.’”
“The Republican leadership’s kinship with the socio-political class that runs modern government is deep. Country class Americans have but to glance at the Media to hear themselves insulted from on high as greedy, racist, violent, ignorant extremists. Yet far has it been from the Republican leadership to defend them. Whenever possible, the Republican Establishment has chosen candidates for office – especially the Presidency – who have ignored, soft-pedaled or given mere lip service to their voters’ identities and concerns.”
“While the ruling class is well represented by the Democratic Party, the country class is not represented politically – by the Republican Party or by any other. Well or badly, its demand for representation will be met.”
“To be represented, to trust that one’s own identity and interests are secure and advocated in high places, is to be part of the polity... No one doubts that the absence, loss, or perversion of that function divides the polity sharply between rulers and ruled.”
“Though America’s ruling class is neither as narrow as that of Communist regimes nor as broadly preclusive as that of the European Union, the Republican leadership’s preference for acting as part of the ruling class rather than as representatives of voters who feel set upon has begun to produce the sort of soft pre-emption of opposition and bitterness between rulers and ruled that occurs necessarily wherever representation is mocked.”
“Political partisanship became a more important feature of American life over the past half-century largely because the Democratic Party, which has been paramount within the U.S. government since 1932, entrenched itself as America’s ruler, and its leaders became a ruling class. This caused a Newtonian ‘opposite reaction,’ which continues to gather force.”
“In our time, the Democratic Party gave up the diversity that had characterized it since Jeffersonian times… it came to consist almost exclusively of constituencies that make up government itself or benefit from government… Democrats, formerly the party of slavery and segregation, secured the allegiance of racial minorities by unrelenting assertions that the rest of American society is racist.”
“The civilization of the ruling class does not concede that those who resist it have any moral or intellectual right, and only reluctantly any civil right, to do so. Resistance is illegitimate because it can come only from low motives. President Obama’s statement that Republican legislators – and hence the people who elect them – don’t care whether ‘seniors have decent health care…children have enough to eat’ is typical.
“Republican leaders neither parry the insults nor vilify their Democratic counterparts in comparable terms because they do not want to beat the ruling class, but to join it in solving the nation’s problems. How did they come to cut such pathetic figures?
“The Republican Party never fully adapted itself to the fact that modern big government is an interest group in and of itself, inherently at odds with the rest of society, that it creates a demand for representation by those it alienates, and hence that politicians must choose whether to represent the rulers or the ruled…”
“In sum, the closer one gets to the Republican Party’s voters, the more the Party looks like Goldwater and Reagan. The closer one gets to its top, the more it looks like the ghost of Rockefeller…”
“Whoever chooses to represent the country class might have right and reason on their side. Nevertheless they can be certain that the ruling class media will not engage those reasons but vilify the persons who voice them as ignorant, irresponsible, etc. Asserting moral-intellectual superiority, chastising and intimidating rather than persuading opponents is by no means the least of the ruling class’ powers…”
“Recent Presidential elections have shown that contemporary Establishment Republicans elicit scarce, unenthusiastic support even from longtime Republican voters because they are out of synch with their flock… This of course is what happened to the Whig party after 1850.”
“Since America’s first-past-the-post electoral system produces elections between two parties, it was natural for any and all groups who oppose the ruling class to gravitate to the Republican Party. But the Party’s leaders, reasoning that ‘they have nowhere else to go,’ refused to notice that voters were lending their votes out of allegiance to causes rather than to the Party, and that Republican candidates increasingly sought votes through the medium of groups that advocate these causes rather than through the Party Establishment…”
“A new party is likely to arise because the public holds both Republicans and Democrats responsible for the nation’s unsustainable course… One half of the population cannot continue passively to absorb insults without pushing back. When – sooner rather than later – events collapse this house of cards, it will be hard to credibly advocate a better future while bearing a label that advertises responsibility for the present.”
“Almost daily, there is a fresh op-ed or magazine piece from the class of commentators and policy intellectuals urging Republicans to show a little intellectual leg and offer some daring and innovation beyond the old standbys of cutting income taxes and spending. It’s not that the eggheads are urging moderation — it’s more like relevance. The standard plea: The GOP will rebound only when it communicates to working-class and middle-class voters how its ideas will improve their lives.”
“With few exceptions, most of the GOP leadership in Washington is following a business-as-usual strategy. The language and tactics being used in this winter’s battles with President Barack Obama are tried-and-true Republican maxims that date back to the Reagan era or before. And that, say the wonks, spells political danger and more electoral decline.”
“What irritates, and mystifies, so many conservatives is that now would be the obvious time for Republican officeholders to be a little audacious. Losing consecutive presidential elections, it would stand to reason, should prompt some ambitious GOP politician to follow the Jack Kemp model of the Carter years: stepping out of line – Kemp wasn’t even on the House Ways and Means Committee — and proposing some new ideas that could help rebrand the party.”
“[N]o other issue illustrates the ideas and chutzpah gap between the wonks and the officeholders than the matter of financial regulation… Since the election, conservative columnists from George Will to Peggy Noonan have written about the need for Republicans to take a harder line on the banks… But despite the intellectual cover offered by such columns and stories there’s been mostly just silence from Republican officeholders on one of the issues that made it easier for President Barack Obama to brand Mitt Romney as a handmaiden of Wall Street.”
“With ambitious politicians trekking to Wall Street to raise cash and frequently sending their former staffers to lobby for the banks on K Street, the ardor elected Republicans may have for cracking down on financial institutions is diminished.”
“Concord 51, the brainchild of a group of young fiscal conservatives in New York City in their late 20s, among others, is looking to mobilize Republicans under 35 into a national movement.”
“They’re building enthusiasm around a set of conservative values that are more appealing to younger voters, they say — more inclusive of gays, minorities and women — the bigger tent that the GOP needs to build if it wants to win national elections.”
“While much of the GOP’s public soul searching has been over the use of technology, how outside groups spent money and the need to draw Hispanics into the fold, Republicans also have fallen behind in drawing younger voters… Concord 51’s founders hope to change that.”
“The group has built out city chapters in Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Charlotte, Oklahoma City and Dallas and has a presence at five universities, including Fordham, Washington and Lee, and Emory. And, this year they have plans to launch in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Boston. Their goals are as big as their ambition. Organizers plan to roll out a page on their website for young Republicans interested in running for office. If potential candidates fit the Concord 51 mold, organizers say they want to help train, support and cultivate them to run for public office.”
“The group has targeted their policy positions on fiscal responsibility, energy advancement and a strong defense. And welcomes conservatives who may have varying beliefs on social issues.”
Storified by Brian Empric· Fri, Mar 15 2013 17:14:07
“House Speaker John Boehner's confirmation that the vaunted title of H.R. 1 will go to comprehensive tax reform is notable because it wasn't assured. As the GOP has publicly waged a sequester fight, it has privately spent the past months in an intense internal debate over tax reform...”
“A simple code sounds pleasant, but getting there means tough votes on dangerous topics. Want to lose friends fast? Chop the charitable deduction, squeeze mortgages, take away that tax perk for the biggest job creator in your district. Business will howl. Voters might freak. Democrats will pounce. Indeed, the White House may turn those votes into a central plank of its campaign to take back the House.”
“To remain silent on tax reform was for the GOP to cede a signature issue, even as it gave Mr. Obama leverage in the budget fight. How long could the party hold out for the president's call for ‘reform’ without a plan of its own?”
“One: Any House bill will be ‘revenue-neutral,’ meaning money raised gets plowed back into lowering rates. Two: Any House bill will simultaneously reform both the individual and corporate codes…”
“There is a glum GOP awareness that the party's role of late has been that of responsible bearer of bad news. It has had to warn about deficits, advocate cuts, tackle entitlements. Somewhere along the way it lost its tax punch, and it has been outflanked by a president who has used class warfare to position himself as protector of the middle class.”
“There is no better way to recapture the party's core issues of taxes, the middle class and the economy” than tax reform, says one senior GOP aide. “It is the one silver bullet that hits all of those pieces.”
“A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 35% of Likely Voters believe the economy is at least somewhat fair to middle-class Americans, but that includes only six percent (6%) who think it’s Very Fair. Sixty-two percent (62%) think the economy is not fair to the middle class, with 20% who feel it’s Not At All Fair.”
“There's general partisan agreement when it comes to the fairness of the overall economy, but GOP voters (42%) are more likely to believe the economy is fair to middle-class Americans than Democrats (31%) and voters not affiliated with either major party (31%).”
“Sixty-nine percent (69%) of working Americans now describe themselves as middle class, the highest level in nearly four years.”
“Personal and social insurance taxes totaled just over $2.6 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate, Commerce Department data out Friday (3/1/13) showed…”
“Higher taxes have acted as a steady head wind for disposable income… Real personal spending rose an ‘anemic’ 0.1%...”
“Personal income dived 3.6% in January, with disposable income down 4%.”
“The Congressional Budget Office has projected that federal tax receipts, including corporate taxes, will rise from 15.8% of GDP in fiscal 2012 to 16.9% this year… In 2014, CBO sees revenue returning to 18% of GDP, close to the historical average.”
“CFPB director and longtime Democratic politician Richard Cordray earlier this month told Bloomberg News that managing retirement savings is ‘one of the things we've been exploring ... in terms of whether and what authority we have.’”
“What business, exactly, does a U.S. government that has rung up over $16.6 trillion in red ink have giving consumers advice on how to save money?
“What can a consumer learn about frugality and responsibility from a corrupt, insatiable Washington leviathan that screams about the sky falling when just 2% in automatic spending cuts kick in?”
“What doesn't work is the government, which should be told to stuff its offer of help at managing people's money. Better to have Typhoid Mary run the Centers for Disease Control.”
“The Pew results actually show support for what official Washington would consider massive spending cuts… The problem is with the way the numbers were reported.”
“To most Americans, maintaining spending at current levels would mean spending the same amount in 2013 as we spent in 2012. However, to those experienced in the mysterious ways of Washington, maintaining spending at current levels means spending $3.5 trillion this year and $4.5 trillion in five years. To most Americans, that's a trillion dollars in spending growth.
“The Political Class, on the other hand, would consider holding spending unchanged at current levels to be a massive spending cut. Why? Because it wouldn't allow for the trillion dollar spending growth that is already built into the budget.”
“Consider the Pew numbers for roads and infrastructure projects: 38 percent want more spending, and only 17 percent favor a spending cut. But a plurality (43 percent) wants to hold infrastructure spending steady. Since the Political Class would consider holding spending steady to be a ‘cut’ in spending, 60 percent in the Pew poll favors what official Washington calls cuts.”
“Using this understanding, the Pew data shows that voters prefer what the politicians call budget cuts in 17 out of 19 programs.”
“So when politicians claim that sound polling data like the Pew study shows a lack of public support for spending cuts, they're either wrong or deliberately trying to deceive us. Voters shouldn't need a translator to understand what the Political Class is saying. But those in the Political Class bubble just don't speak plain English anymore.”
“Normally, the president’s request is the beginning of the annual budget process and Congress relies on its detailed spending information to come up with its own budget resolution.”
“House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) plans to put out his own budget — one that balances in 10 years… That budget is also slated to get a House vote before the House embarks on a two-week Easter recess March 22.
“The Senate will be putting together its own budget plan for the first time in four years this month. Under ‘no budget, no pay’ legislation enacted in January, it must pass a budget resolution by April 15 or senators' pay will be withheld.”
“[W]hile the President speaks of his deep concern for American workers and families, he fails to even submit to Congress his financial plan to help those workers and families,” Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala. and ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, @budgetgop) said in a statement.
“Under the law, the president must submit his budget request no later than the first Monday of February. Last month, the Obama Administration announced that for the fourth time in five years it would fail to meet this deadline…”
“In just one term, President Obama has missed the budget deadline more than any other president…”
“All presidents from Harding through Reagan’s first term met the statutory budget submission deadline in every year…”
“Since the statutory deadline was extended to the first Monday in February, with the exception of the first budget for a new president, this deadline has only been missed three times: Clinton FY 1998, Obama FY 2012, and Obama FY 2013.”
“Every family must balance its budget. Washington should too, and it’s time for President Obama and Senate Democrats to embrace this common-sense goal.”
Storified by Brian Empric· Sun, Mar 10 2013 14:36:39
See this link for the full 56 page report: The Rise of Post-Familialism: Humanity's Future?
“For most of human history, the family — defined by parents, children and extended kin — has stood as the central unit of society…”
“Today, in the high-income world and even in some developing countries, we are witnessing a shift to a new social model. Increasingly, family no longer serves as the central organizing feature of society. An unprecedented number of individuals — approaching upwards of 30% in some Asian countries — are choosing to eschew child bearing altogether and, often, marriage as well.”
“The reasons for this shift are complex, and vary significantly in different countries and cultures. In some countries, particularly in East Asia, the nature of modern competitive capitalism often forces individuals to choose between career advancement and family formation. As a result, these economies are unwittingly setting into motion forces destructive to their future workforce, consumer base and long-term prosperity.”
“The new emerging social ethos endorses more secular values that prioritise individual personal socioeconomic success as well as the personal quest for greater fulfilment.”
“The change in the role of women beyond sharply defined maternal roles represents one of the great accomplishments of modern times. Yet this trend also generates new pressures that have led some women to reject both child-bearing and marriage. Men are also adopting new attitudes that increasingly preclude marriage or fatherhood.”
“The current weak global economy, now in its fifth year, also threatens to further slow family formation. Child-rearing requires a strong hope that life will be better for the next generation. The rising cost of urban living, the declining number of well-paying jobs, and the onset of the global financial crisis has engendered growing pessimism in most countries, particularly in Europe and Japan, but also in the United States and some developing countries.”
“Societal norms, which once almost mandated family formation, have begun to morph. The new norms are reinforced by cultural influences that tend to be concentrated in the very areas — dense urban centres — with the lowest percentages of married people and children…”
“A society that is increasingly single and childless is likely to be more concerned with serving current needs than addressing the future oriented requirements of children… We could tilt more into a ‘now’ society, geared towards consuming or recreating today, as opposed to nurturing and sacrificing for tomorrow.”
“[F]or many people, the basic motivation for hard work is underpinned by the need to support and nurture a family. Without a family to support, the very basis for the work ethos will have changed, perhaps irrevocably.”
“Seeking to secure a place for families requires us to move beyond nostalgia for a bygone era and focus on what is possible… Amidst all the social change discussed above, there remains a basic desire for family that needs to be nurtured and supported by the wider society.”
“First, for many younger Americans and especially those in cities, having children is no longer an obvious or inevitable choice. Second, many of those opting for childlessness have legitimate, if perhaps selfish, reasons for their decision.”
“Postfamilial America is in ascendancy as the fertility rate among women has plummeted, since the 2008 economic crisis and the Great Recession that followed, to its lowest level since reliable numbers were first kept in 1920. That downturn has put the U.S. fertility rate increasingly in line with those in other developed economies—suggesting that even if the economy rebounds, the birthrate may not…”
“The global causes of postfamilialism are diverse, and many, on their own, are socially favorable or at least benign. The rush of people worldwide into cities, for example, has ushered in prosperity for hundreds of millions, allowing families to be both smaller and more prosperous. Improvements in contraception and increased access to it have given women far greater control of their reproductive options, which has coincided with a decline in religion in most advanced countries. With women’s rights largely secured in the First World and their seats in the classroom, the statehouse, and the boardroom no longer tokens or novelties, children have ceased being an economic or cultural necessity for many or an eventual outcome of sex.”
“A plurality of Americans—46 percent—told Pew in 2009 that the rising number of women without children ‘makes no difference one way or the other’ for our society.”
“It’s time for us to consider what an aging, increasingly child-free population, growing more slowly, would mean here. As younger Americans individually eschew families of their own, they are contributing to the ever-growing imbalance between older retirees—basically their parents—and working-age Americans, potentially propelling both into a spiral of soaring entitlement costs and diminished economic vigor and creating a culture marked by hyperindividualism and dependence on the state as the family unit erodes.”
“Forty-four percent of millennials agree that marriage is becoming ‘obsolete.’ And even among those who support tying the knot (including many of those who say it’s obsolete), just 41 percent say children are important for a marriage—down from 65 percent in 1990… On the flip side of the coin, the percentage of adults who disagreed with the contention that people without children ‘lead empty lives’ has shot up, to 59 percent in 2002 from 39 percent in 1988.”
“In 2007 the fertility rate in America was 2.12 and had been holding nearly steady for decades at about replacement rate—the highest level of any advanced country. In just half a decade since, the rate has dropped to 1.9, the lowest since 1920 (when reliable records began being kept) and just half of the peak rate in 1957, in the midst of the baby boom, according to the Pew Research Center.”
“In the short run, the falling birthrate has coincided with the emergence, for the first time, of the single and childless as a self-aware, powerful, and left-leaning political constituency. Yet what’s proven good for the Democratic Party may not be so good for the country in the long term. Even using the more optimistic 2008 projections, the proportion of retirees to working Americans—sometimes called the ‘dependency ratio’—is likely to rise to 35 retirees for every 100 workers in 2050, twice today’s ratio. That sets the stage for a fight over debt, austerity, benefits, and government spending that will make the vicious battles of the last four years seem more like, well, a tea party.”
“The strong correlation between childlessness and high-density city living has created essentially two Americas: child-oriented and affordable areas, and urban centers that have become increasingly expensive and child-free over the last 30 years—not coincidentally the same span over which middle-class incomes have stagnated…”
“This trend is likely to reshape American politics in the coming decades. As the number of single women swelled by 18 percent in the last decade, they have emerged as a core constituency of the Democratic Party, a group pollster Stan Greenberg has identified as ‘the largest progressive voting bloc in the country’ and a key part of demographer Ruy Teixeira’s ‘emerging Democratic majority.’ That majority emerged with a vengeance in the 2012 presidential contest, as married women narrowly favored Mitt Romney, according to exit polls, while two out of three single women backed Barack Obama—and their overwhelming support accounted for the president’s margin of victory in the popular vote.”
“But if singletons are swelling as a voting bloc and interest group now, the demographics of childlessness mean that they’re likely to lose out in the long term. Already, retirees have bent government to their will, with people 65 and older receiving $3 in total government spending for every dollar spent on children younger than 18 as of 2004…”
“There are several steps our government could take that might mitigate postfamilialism without aspiring to return to some imagined ‘golden age’ of traditional marriage and family. These include such things as reforming the tax code to encourage marriage and children; allowing continued single-family home construction on the urban periphery and renovation of more child-friendly and moderate-density urban neighborhoods; creating extended-leave policies that encourage fathers to take more time with family, as has been modestly successfully in Scandinavia; and other actions to make having children as economically viable, and pleasant, as possible…”
“In the coming decades, success will accrue to those cultures that preserve the family’s place, not as the exclusive social unit but as one that is truly indispensable. It’s a case we need to make as a society, rather than counting on nature to take its course.”
“While the Harrisons are a fictional family, they are like many of the families I met as I traveled the country in my campaign last year. Not only are there harsh economic realities stacked against the Harrisons, but the message they hear from Washington and hear and read in the media doesn’t offer much hope. In communities that once thrived on the strength of the economic base, strong institutions and strong families, our leadership in Washington makes climate change and gay marriage its priority. Our liberal leaders go out of their way to protect teacher unions and environmentalists while stepping up regulation on promising new industries.
“Instead of addressing the widely accepted root causes of poverty head on – having out-of-wedlock children and dropping out of high school – we get the message that family structure is unimportant. Promoting marriage and creating incentives through our tax code is now politically incorrect. And encouraging our young people to postpone sex is treated by the mainstream media as right-wing nuttiness. Hollywood doesn’t help, of course, and seemingly celebrates the rejection of the American family and the once strong communities of the heartland.”
“The solutions that will create hope and opportunity for the Harrisons and those who remain on their block will not be bigger and fatter federal entitlement programs that provide gasoline in the engine of dependency and poverty. Obamacare is not going to save the Harrisons. And they don’t want food stamps. What will give the Harrisons’ sons a better life will be a vision and policies that address their community – incentives for manufacturers and small businesses, tax policies that encourage and reward marriage and strong families, education that is affordable and practical and rhetoric from the top that inspires.”
“There is only one statistic needed to explain the outcome of the 2012 presidential election. An April YouGov.com poll—which mirrored every other poll on the subject—found that only 33% of Americans said that Mitt Romney ‘cares about people like me.’ Only 38% said he cared about the poor.
“Conservatives rightly complain that this perception was inflamed by President Obama's class-warfare campaign theme. But perception is political reality, and over the decades many Americans have become convinced that conservatives care only about the rich and powerful.”
“As New York University social psychologist Jonathan Haidt has shown in his research on 132,000 Americans, care for the vulnerable is a universal moral concern in the U.S.… citizens across the political spectrum place a great importance on taking care of those in need and avoiding harm to the weak... Raw money arguments, e.g., about the dire effects of the country's growing entitlement spending, don't register morally at all.”
“The irony is maddening. America's poor people have been saddled with generations of disastrous progressive policy results, from welfare-induced dependency to failing schools that continue to trap millions of children… Meanwhile, the record of free enterprise in improving the lives of the poor both here and abroad is spectacular… It occurred because billions of souls have been able to pull themselves out of poverty thanks to global free trade, property rights, the rule of law and entrepreneurship.
“The left talks a big game about helping the bottom half, but its policies are gradually ruining the economy, which will have catastrophic results once the safety net is no longer affordable. Labyrinthine regulations, punitive taxation and wage distortions destroy the ability to create private-sector jobs. Opportunities for Americans on the bottom to better their station in life are being erased.”
“Raging against government debt and tax rates that most Americans don't pay gets conservatives nowhere, and it will always be an exercise in futility to compete with liberals on government spending and transfers.”
“[T]he core problem with out-of-control entitlements is not that they are costly—it is that the impending insolvency of Social Security and Medicare imperils the social safety net for the neediest citizens…”
“By making the vulnerable a primary focus, conservatives will be better able to confront some common blind spots. Corporate cronyism should be decried as every bit as noxious as statism, because it unfairly rewards the powerful and well-connected at the expense of ordinary citizens. Entrepreneurship should not to be extolled as a path to accumulating wealth but as a celebration of everyday men and women who want to build their own lives, whether they start a business and make a lot of money or not…”
“With this moral touchstone, conservative leaders will be able to stand before Americans who are struggling and feel marginalized and say, ‘We will fight for you and your family, whether you vote for us or not’—and truly mean it. In the end that approach will win. But more important, it is the right thing to do.”
“Organized labor's instantaneous support for President Obama's recent proposal to hike the minimum wage doesn't make much sense at first glance. The average private-sector union member—at least one who still has a job—earns $22 an hour according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's a far cry from the current $7.25 per hour federal minimum wage, or the $9 per hour the president has proposed. Altruistic solidarity with lower-paid workers isn't the reason for organized labor's cheerleading, either.”
“The data indicate that a number of unions in the service, retail and hospitality industries peg their base-line wages to the minimum wage… The two most popular formulas were setting baseline union wages as a percentage above the state or federal minimum wage or mandating a flat wage premium above the minimum wage.”
“Minimum-wage hikes are beneficial to unions in other ways. The increases restrict the ability of businesses to hire low-skill workers who might gladly work for lower wages in order to gain experience. Union members thus face less competition from workers who might threaten union jobs.”
“Such considerations are worth keeping in mind when contemplating the president's wage proposal and the fervent Democratic support for similar and often more ambitious measures, such as Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin's bill to raise the minimum wage to $9.80. Labor unions spent an estimated $174 million on the 2012 election, with 91% of the money going to Democrats, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Now many union members could see their paychecks grow as the result of a Democrat-backed mandate—even though the overwhelming majority of scholarly evidence says that these wage increases have a negative effect on employment.”
“A growing push to get Republicans to alter their position on same-sex marriage could put some of the party’s major donors and political strategists in conflict with social conservative activists who make up a large part of the GOP at the grassroots level.”
“The bipartisan Respect for Marriage Coalition has already released a pair of ads seeking to sway Republicans in favor of gay marriage… More than 130 Republicans signed an amicus brief advising the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Proposition 8, California’s popularly enacted ban on gay marriage.”
“A November 2012 Gallup poll found that 53 percent of Americans ‘believe same-sex marriages should be recognized by law as valid, with the same rights as traditional marriages.’ That was tied for the highest public approval of gay marriage since Gallup began polling on the issue… But only 30 percent of Republicans supported gay marriage, while 69 percent were opposed…”
“’Only an elite that believes the Republican Party can exist in abandoning traditional marriage,’ (National Organization for Marriage president Brian) Brown told The Daily Caller News Foundation, saying that support for gay marriage is limited to ‘the country club wing’ of the party and that alienating social conservatives would be like ‘severing a limb’ from the GOP.”
“Social conservatives nevertheless say that the Republican movement for same-sex marriage is exaggerated. Most of the Respect for Marriage Coalition members are, according to their website, liberal interest groups…”
“In fact, some social conservatives liken it to 1980s and early ’90s attempt by GOP strategists, donors, and blue state elected officials like then New Jersey Gov. (Christine Todd) Whitman and Massachusetts Gov. William Weld to delete the pro-life plank from the Republican platform.”
“Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, has said that while he opposes same-sex marriage, it should be a state issue… A Supreme Court decision could nationalize the issue and renew social conservative calls for a federal marriage amendment.”
Storified by Brian Empric· Mon, Mar 04 2013 11:10:44
“[T]here is a more general sense that Obama, sleeves rolled up and taking his case to the people, wants to avoid letting Republicans up off the mat.”
“Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons (@JamalSimmons) said that stump-style appearances are ‘what he’s best at. It’s why he got elected twice. It is his core strength. People voted for him because they wanted him to shake things up and go in a different direction and that’s exactly what he’s doing.’”
“Obama faces the dilemma that confronts all second-term presidents. He needs to accomplish as much as possible before lame-duck status kicks in — and postpone that day for as long as possible.”
“Obama’s current strategy might not only help him advance toward those goals; it could also assist Democrats in their battles to hold onto their Senate majority and even seize control of the House of Representatives in the 2014 midterm elections… There are no guarantees that the Democrats can buck precedent, which indicates that the party of a second-term president usually loses seats in midterm elections.”
“The risk of an endless campaign is neglecting the task of running government,” GOP strategist Ken Lundberg (@newscall) told The Hill. “All the affiliated rhetoric, brow-beating and posturing will produce very few tangible results because it alienates potential allies and energizes political adversaries.”
“There is another, simpler part of Obama’s current approach, however. The president sometimes has a thinly veiled impatience with the ways of Washington in general and the idiosyncrasies of Congress in particular. Supporters and independent observers note that, temperamentally, he is more suited to the stump than to legislative sausage-making.”
“In private meetings and phone calls, Mr. Obama’s aides have made clear that the new organization will rely heavily on a small number of deep-pocketed donors, not unlike the ‘super PACs’ whose influence on political campaigns Mr. Obama once deplored.
“At least half of the group’s budget will come from a select group of donors who will each contribute or raise $500,000 or more, according to donors and strategists involved in the effort.”
“[I]t is not bound by federal contribution limits, laws that bar White House officials from soliciting contributions, or the stringent reporting requirements for campaigns.”
“The money will pay for salaries, rent and advertising, and will also be used to maintain the expensive voter database and technological infrastructure that knits together Mr. Obama’s 2 million volunteers, 17 million e-mail subscribers and 22 million Twitter followers.”
“Next month, Organizing for Action will hold a ‘founders summit’ at a hotel near the White House, where donors paying $50,000 each will mingle with Mr. Obama’s former campaign manager, Jim Messina, and Mr. [Jon] Carson [OFA’s new executive director], who previohttp://storify.com/brian_empric/monday-s-menagerie-3-4-13/editusly led the White House Office of Public Engagement.
“Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the president, along with other meetings at the White House. Moreover, the new cash demands on Mr. Obama’s top donors and bundlers come as many of them are angling for appointments to administration jobs or ambassadorships.”
“Organizing for Action appears to be an extension of the administration, stocked with alumni of Mr. Obama’s White House and campaign teams and devoted solely to the president’s second-term agenda.”
“Organizing for Action said it would accept unlimited personal and corporate contributions, but no money from political action committees, lobbyists or foreign citizens. Officials said they would focus — for now — on grass-roots organizing, amplified by Internet advertising…”
“After his electoral wipeout in November — and motivated by years of resentment that’s spilling over — Rove’s credibility within his own party is at an all-time low.”
“He’s been re-signed by Fox, which guarantees him a powerful bully pulpit going forward. But, while it might be a stretch to say he’s gone from guru to goat, he will have to spend months making a case to skeptical donors, several Republican fundraisers conceded.”
“’He’s got a donor backlash and he’s got an activists backlash,’ said one prominent Republican donor. Several people who cut big checks to Crossroads feel burned, this person said, adding some believe Rove is letting his group off too easy with his insistence that the problem last year was bad candidates.”
“A few rich Republicans have flatly rejected solicitations from Rove since Election Day, according to a GOP strategist who works with donors.”
“Nobody played more ironclad hardball than Karl for a long, long time,” said one operative. “When you don’t have all the power or cards, don’t be surprised [that] when you make mistakes … that long knives come out.”
“In the states, Republicans are governing successfully. At the think tanks, conservatives are arguing intelligently. Around the country, activists are organizing energetically. All well and good. And important. But not enough.”
“If Republicans in Congress lack the nerve to stand up to President Obama, or the moxie to do so effectively, all other admirable efforts could end up being for naught. The federal nanny state could be so expanded, its tentacles could become so much more deeply embedded in the fabric of American life, that it would prove almost impossible for the next administration, however well-intentioned, to extricate us from it…”
“It may be that resistance is less edifying than reform. It’s perhaps true that resistance is less intellectually stimulating than devising remedies. It could well be the case that resistance is less inspiring than reviving a party or rebuilding a movement. And there may well be occasions where emergencies and the national interest will call us to work with the president. But the chief duty for Republicans over the next four years will be resistance.”
“This is a moment, as we face Obama, to emphasize the superiority of conservatism’s facts even at the expense of the accusation of meanness. There will be time, in 2016, to leave the meanness behind. But fact-based resistance is needed now.”
“The British have known for centuries that it’s not enough to hope for happy and glorious days in the future. It’s also necessary, with God’s help, to act in the present to scatter our enemies and make them fall. It’s necessary to confound their politics and frustrate their knavish tricks.”
“I’m told we’re living in a Moderate Moment. After Mitt Romney lost the election, moderate Republicans started emerging from every corner of the country, from Northwest Washington, D.C. to Arlington, Virginia. It was time, they declared, for calm voices to prevail in the Republican Party. The Tea Party, the right-wing, the ‘Conservative Entertainment Complex’ — all this must be cast overboard for the GOP to win again.”
“Parker calls for a RINO uprising, a new faction on the right to counter the Tea Party. That’s all well and good. There are genuine differences of opinion on the right, and a little inward dialectic never hurt anyone… But how would her brand of Republicanism differ from the conservative base she derides?”
“Since the election, we’ve heard a lot of nebulous chatter from self-styled moderates about how the GOP must reach out to the middle class, appeal to Latino voters, change, modernize.
“But how exactly do we do that? So far the only concrete answer seems to be softening the conservative stance on immigration. But according to the Pew Hispanic Center, education, jobs and the economy, health care, and the deficit all rate as bigger concerns for Latinos than immigration. Well then, counter moderates, conservatives need to gear their message towards jobs instead of deficit reduction. But Romney talked about jobs constantly during the campaign (‘Mr. President, where are the jobs?’). And many conservatives believe job creation is directly linked to reducing the debt and regulatory burdens on small businesses. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.”
“Beyond that one line about policy, her column is little more than a train of supercilious advice about how to distinguish RINOs from righties. Righties are ‘the fringe.’ RINOs are ‘defiantly proud, aggressively centrist and unapologetically sane.’ Righties carry ‘gigantic photos of aborted fetuses to political conventions.’ RINOs are ‘too busy Being Normal to organize.’”
“Parker’s primary objection seems to be one of culture and temperament rather than substance. Those tri-cornered-hat-wearing Tea Partiers are embarrassing all the normal and well-bred people out there.
“This is the dichotomy established by many moderate Republicans: shrill, rigid, movement conservatives on one side and open-minded RINOs on the other.”
“In reality, the conservative movement consists of traditionalists, libertarians, and hawks; politicians, writers, scholars, and radio hosts; angry and wonky, loud and soft, following in the tradition of Burke and the politics of Reagan, but disagreeing vibrantly on both issues and techniques…”
“The RINO movement consists of…well, people who say they’re RINOs. They’re pro-library-voices and anti-tri-cornered hats and pro-middle-class. Beyond that it’s hard to tell. But the left seems to approve.”
“62% of the public says the GOP is out of touch with the American people, 56% think it is not open to change and 52% say the party is too extreme.”
“The Republican Party’s image has been hit hard over the past decade. In January, just 33% said they viewed the party favorably, among the lowest marks of the last 20 years. The GOP’s favorable rating has not been above 50% since shortly after George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004.”
“Republicans are more critical of their party than Democrats are of theirs on most issues. For example, 36% of Republicans say the GOP is out of touch with the American people. Just 23% of Democrats say their party is out of touch…”
“However, Republicans overwhelmingly credit their party for having strong principles; 85% say the GOP has strong principles while 13% say it does not. And 80% of Republicans say their party is looking out for the country’s long-term future.”
“Among Republicans themselves, 69% had a favorable impression (of the GOP), down from a recent high of 89% reported after the GOP convention.”
“The national party is leaderless and nearly issue-less, but besides that, is thriving and in fine fighting trim.
“It used to be that the Republicans were nasty people because they exploited ‘wedge issues,’ which was the pejorative way to describe issues that were popular with the public but made Democrats uncomfortable. The phrase has been long-ago retired. Even if it hadn’t been, it’s not clear what Republican issue it would apply to anymore.
“Once, taxes and national security were the party’s pillars, supplemented by domestic issues like welfare reform and crime and by symbolic issues like the Pledge of Allegiance and flag burning. Now, the pillars are in a state of despair.”
“The latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has Democrats leading on the following issues: looking out for the middle class, Medicare, health care, reducing gun violence, Social Security, immigration, taxes and the economy. The good news for Republicans is that they lead on everything else. The bad news is that everything else is only spending, the deficit and national security.
“The problem with the deficit as an issue is that people care about economic growth more, and the problem with spending cuts is that people like them more in the abstract than in reality.”
“The House Republicans mainly have blocking power… Woe to the republic if they didn’t. But if you block things, you’re easily labeled an obstructionist and wouldn’t you know it, people don’t like obstructionists.
“Their only hope to deflect the nation a bit from its profligate budgetary path is confrontations coinciding with key fiscal inflection points…”
“Two hundred and thirty members of the House don’t have a chance against a president, let alone a celebrity. This won’t change anytime soon. It is way too early to have a presidential candidate or even a presidential field, so the party lacks a head and therefore a unified voice.”
Storified by Brian Empric· Sun, Feb 17 2013 17:26:09
