WASHINGTON — Republicans, out of power and divided over how to get it back, are finding even the most basic questions hard to answer.
Here’s one: Who speaks for the GOP?
The question flummoxes most Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds, which is among the reasons for the party’s sagging state and uncertain direction.
A 52% majority of those surveyed couldn’t come up with a name when asked to specify “the main person” who speaks for Republicans today. Of those who could, the top response was radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh (13%), followed in order by former vice president Dick Cheney, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Former president George W. Bush ranked fifth, at 3%.
Fine. Let 50 Mitch Daniels and Bobby Jindals bloom.
The Susan Page piece goes on to say:
So the dominant faces of the Republican Party are all men, all white, all conservative and all old enough to join AARP, ranging in age from 58 (Limbaugh) to 72 (McCain). They include some of the country’s most strident voices on issues from Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court to President Obama’s policies at home and abroad. Two are retired from politics, and one has never been a candidate.
Democrats have their fair share of AARP-age white guys too. And what’s wrong with that? (Mitch Daniels should not be penalized for not being exotic to the conventional political scene.)
The GOP, by the way, also has a governor with a “slutty flight attendant” look. And because she has a following some who would love to distract and obsess about Rush and McCain(!) will continue to dismiss and ridicule her. There are legitimate reasons to criticize Palin — and she’s not and shouldn’t be above it — but there is a transparency to some of the overkill, too.