GOP: Party of Hate

The GOP has descended into the party of hate. They have nothing left after America turned on their president for a disastrous war.

In Washington, House Minority Leader John Boehner is struggling to rebrand a downtrodden and disheartened Republican Party in time for the 2008 elections. It's no wonder. Its agenda stymied and burdened by an unpopular war and an even less popular President, the GOP is being pulverized in the polls. And with its evangelical base splintered and big business supporters jumping ship, the only message seemingly uniting Republicans is disdain - of immigrants, of blacks, of gay Americans and above all, Muslims. The GOP is now the Party of Hate.

Boehner's task in recreating Newt Gingrich's marketing magic in the 1994 Contract with America is a daunting one. After all, heading into 2008, the Republicans are saddled with a bad product. The current Republican brand combines an unpopular President George W. Bush, an unpopular war in Iraq and unpopular positions across the gamut of domestic issues, all tainted by the GOP epidemic of corruption. The face of the GOP is now neither Lincoln nor Reagan, but Bush, Libby, Delay, Abramoff, Cunningham, Ney, Stevens and Fletcher. The enduring image of the Party is not Bush in a flight suit, but a Most Wanted Poster. And now the people who brought you Abu Ghraib, Terri Schiavo and Hurricane Katrina can only offer $100-a-barrel oil, a housing crisis, a credit crunch and saber rattling with Iran.

To help him in his Herculean task of marketing the Edsel that is the Republican Party, Boehner called on Richard Costello, the brain behind GE's famous "We Bring Good Things to Life" campaign. Sadly, in the era of George W. Bush, the GOP brand has been reduced to incompetence, greed, closeted gay bashers and utter disregard for the law.