TGIF Open Thread [8.16.13]

So today, the RNC is going to vote to “punish” NBC and CNN for even considering making a Hillary miniseries and a Hillary documentary, respectively, while not punishing Fox at all, which is odd since Fox Television Studios is also considering producing the same Hillary miniseries. Meanwhile, the plan to have only Fox host the Republican primary debates took an even stranger turn. From the Washington Times:

Republican insiders say the next presidential campaign season may see some star power from the hard-core conservative crowd, via debates moderated by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levin and Sean Hannity.

Said one GOP insider: “It makes a lot of sense. We’d get a huge viewership, they’d make a lot of news and maybe have some fun, too.”

They think it is a good idea!!! Now, the concern with not having NBC or CNN do the debates was because both would ask questions that would paint the GOP in a bad light by having the candidates take positions that make them unattractive in a general election. Ok. If that is true, then how is answering the questions of Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin going to paint the GOP in a good night? Booman:

I don’t agree that a debate hosted by radio shock jocks would be good. At least, it wouldn’t be good for the candidates or their party. […] Limbaugh, Hannity, and Levin are charlatans and entertainers. […] [A] shock jock debate would be all about the right’s manufactured heat fever dreams. In other words, it would be about lies that Republicans are afraid to admit are lies. The whole point would be to keep everything safe within the bubble where those lies are never challenged. But to anyone who hadn’t marinated in that bubble for the last five years, it would appear like a lunatic asylum having a lecture series.

Please proceed, Governor…. er ah I mean Republicans…

Meanwhile, initial unemployment claims have fallen to pre-Great Recession levels for the first time:

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) is speaking again, this time wondering aloud about why Republicans are even talking about immigration reform.

Said King: “Last year, almost everybody in my conference would’ve agreed with me on this immigration issue. And this year, it seems as though after the presidential election a spell’s been cast over a good number of Republicans and they seem to think the presidential election was about immigration. I’d ask them, find me that debate between Mitt Romney and Barack Obama that addressed immigration. I don’t remember it. I can’t find it. The election was about jobs and the economy, not immigration. And yet some Republican strategists and leadership have decided let’s just go ahead and debate immigration for twelve months and then we’ll see if we can solve the problem.”

Let’s unpack this. First, is Mr. King aware that he and his Republicans lost the election? So if the election were just all about the economy and jobs, then it seems to me that a majority of the American people have, by a large margin, disagreed with his and his Republican views about jobs and the economy. Second, the election wasn’t just all about jobs and the economy. It was also about Obamacare. And again, the American people agreed with Obama about Obamacare, not Steven King and the Republicans. So I assume that Steven King and his Republicans will cease their repeal and hostage taking efforts. Third, and most importantly, the election was about immigration reform. Mitt Romney took a hard right stance on self deportation to win the Republican primary. The President instead campaigned on a comprehensive plan that would include border security and a path to citizenship. Once again, Steven King and Mitt Romney lost. The President won. And he won by winning Latinos by 70-30%.

The reason why Republicans are talking about immigration reform after the election is because they can no longer lose Latinos by that aforementioned margin and ever again win a national election, based on the group’s growing demographics and the declining numbers of angry conservative whites out there. The Republicans, the smart ones anyway, realized that they must repair their relationship with Latinos, and the way to do that was to both modify their stances towards immigration and pass immigration reform. So that is why you and your Republicans are discussing it, Mr. King.

But, please proceed Governor… er ah, Congressman King. Please keep talking about Latinos all being drug dealers with cantaloupe calves.

Those smart Republicans I talked about…. well they are getting a little depressed. From Politico:

“It is almost impossible to find an establishment Republican in town who’s not downright morose about the 2013 that has been and is about to be. Most dance around it in public, but they see this year as a disaster in the making, even if most elected Republicans don’t know it or admit it.”

“Several influential Republicans told us the party is actually in a worse place than it was Nov. 7, the day after the disastrous election… These Republicans came into the year exceptionally hopeful the party would finally wise up and put immigration and irresponsible rhetoric and governing behind them. Instead, Republicans dug a deeper hole. This probably doesn’t matter for 2014, because off-year elections are notoriously low-turnout affairs where older whites show up in disproportionate numbers. But elite Republican strategists and donors tell us they are increasingly worried the past nine months make 2016 look very bleak — unless elected GOP officials in Washington change course, and fast.”