In which a rightwing columnist for Politico states that the Republicans lost because they did not go negative enough on Obama who we all know is a bad and evil man who resorts to negative attacks on the Republicans who are sweethearts. But he does not want to GOP to go fully crazy er I mean negative - because they have to explain to the stupid American people why discriminating against women’s equal pay, tax cuts for the rich, deporting millions of immigrants, why gays are bound for hell and other right wing “ideas” are good for stupid Americans.

In the end he calls Republicans stupid wussies - and those sentiments are for the party he supports!

Republicans need to go negative

Mitt Romney wasn’t able to serve as a true Republican foil to the president, author says. | AP Photo

By KEITH KOFFLER | 2/28/13 4:53 AM EST

What a sad state Republicans are in. Leaderless and rudderless, they flail about, trying to figure out who they are and which of various political Pied Pipers onstage today will lead them from the wilderness.

What they fail to see is that there will be no real agreement among them about what to do or whom to support for years, until a leader emerges in 2016 who is charismatic and principled enough to unite the party behind a set of ideas that might sweep them to victory.

If Republicans want a chance at resurgence, they must take a page or two out of President Obama’s worn playbook and veer sharply negative.

But only a page or two. Republicans should not lower themselves to the level of a president who routinely lobs ad hominem political epithets their way, castigating them as intolerant, heartless and petty ogres who live only to serve their masters in the top income tax bracket.

Rather, they must explain why the seemingly good-hearted prescriptions of the Left go all wrong and create more pain than they were intended to ease. Only by first knocking down the liberal edifice constructed by Obama can Republicans rebuild the popular conservative mandate that had dominated politics since Reagan.

Mitt Romney indeed attacked Obama’s policies and delineated his failures. But, not being a true conservative, he couldn’t explain why Obama’s policies don’t work, or why conservative ideas would succeed. Without an understanding of what was at stake, enough voters decided to stick with the status quo and kept Obama in power.

Only once people understand why liberal policies fail and link the miserable state of the economy to Obama – something the president has skillfully avoided – can Republicans begin to make the case for their own ideology.

But today, Republicans are hiding in their bunkers, cowering at the thought that someone might not like them if they suggest tough medicine and point out that the Democrats’ offering of sugary treats is bad for the nation’s health.

It takes a little bit of extra effort, and a little faith in the intelligence of your audience, to explain why seemingly benign measures are harmful. It also takes a certain fearlessness, because people like Obama will immediately brand you as a comrade of Satan for giving the hook to Uncle Sam as he’s handing out money to the aggrieved.

And so Republicans must explain their principles as they turn negative. Like saying, for example, that …

• Obama’s proposal to raise the minimum wage costs jobs.

• His federal bailout of the automakers was merely a gift to the unions.

• Obama’s insistence that women should be guaranteed equal pay is wrong – they should instead be guaranteed they won’t face discrimination.

• Amnesty for illegal immigrants should not be easily granted – if at all – because we are a nation of laws, and ignoring laws undermines our system of government. What’s more, other societies are different and it is hard to assimilate so many people into our culture so quickly.

• New spending by Obama on education won’t be any more helpful than past spending.

• Obama’s defense of Social Security and Medicare will destroy both. Benefits must be cut– and not just for the wealthy – if the programs are to survive.

• Obama’s tax increases on the wealthy sap the initiative of the most productive members of society while forcing them to shelter their money in unproductive ways. If Obama had tried to stimulate the economy by reducing taxes further instead of “not wasting a crisis” and throwing money around, the economy would be in better shape.

• Well-meaning and pleasant-sounding Obama “investments” are an expansion of government that steals money from the private sector and uses it in unproductive ways.

• Obamacare’s guarantee of coverage will lead to socialized medicine that will ruin today’s high standard of care and deny its benefits to our children. And it’s a major new entitlement that enlarges the culture of dependency on government.

• And, no matter how many children Obama appears with at the White House, the Second Amendment helps guarantee freedom, and curtailing gun rights increases the rule of the government over individual lives. And in a country already awash in guns, law-abiding citizens need more bullets, not fewer.

Now that’s a solid roster of negativity.

These are tough positions to take. But if they are explained as objections to a left-wing philosophy that is curbing freedom and prosperity for all, they will not seem so objectionable.

Republicans love to look longingly to Ronald Reagan, wishing he’d return in the person of some living politician to save the party and the nation.

Reagan today is viewed as kind of an avuncular figure who meant well, even if some disagreed with him.

What even Republicans forget is that before rising to the presidency, Reagan was often portrayed and perceived as a lunatic right wing ideologue who said mean things and might get us into a war.

People don’t remember how unusual it was then to openly proclaim conservative values without worrying about seeming un-hip and heartless.

Today’s Republicans have forgotten about Reagan’s courage. And so they have none of their own.

Keith Koffler, who covered the White House as a reporter for CongressDaily and Roll Call, is editor of the website White House Dossier.

Read more: politico.com

Good luck with that, Republicans!