Mixed messages from the GOP...

Yesterday I wrote about Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana who has been facing a lot of criticism since he addressed the nation after President Obama addressed Congress last week.  Jindal is one of the rising stars in the GOP, and he along with another rising star, Michael Steele have been getting a lot of negative press over the last few days.

Last Friday, Michael Steele, the newly elected chair of the Republican National Committee appeared as a guest on comedian D.L. Hughley's show 'D.L. Hughley breaks the news.'  Steele and D.L. get into a back-and-forth over who is the de-facto leader of the RNC....Steele or Rush Limbaugh... 

Needless to say, Rush Limbaugh who is arguably the most powerful conservative voice on the air, did not take very kindly to Mr. Steele's remarks and vehemently defended himself and gave Steele some suggestions on how he could best serve the party. 

Steele recently claimed that the GOP needs a hip-hop makeover; a new PR initiative to attract younger, primarily minority voters, the same demographic that helped President Obama win the election.

This is where the mixed messages begin:

-As noted above, the Republican party seems to be struggling to find to right message as well as the right messenger; Limbaugh vs. Steele vs. Jindal vs. whomever

-Also, if the GOP needs a "hip hop makeover," then what is to be said about the political cartoons and racially insensitive illustrations that have surfaced since the election of President Obama?

In October, the Chaffey Community Republican Women Federated sent an email out to its members with this photo, saying that if elected, Obama's image would appear on foodstamps and not currency like other U.S. Presidents:

The image has President Obama's likeness printed on a food stamp with images of fried chicken, ribs, watermelon, and kool-aid....Pretty offensive if you ask me.  

-Last month, Sean Delonas, a political cartoonist with the New York Post offered this image the day after the stimulus bill was signed into law:

I think the cartoon speaks for itself...once again pretty offensive. Some of you may be asking what the New York Post has to do with the Republican Party.  The post is owned and operated by Newscorp, the media giant owned by Rupert Murdoch who also owns FOX News. See the connection now?

-Oh yeah, speaking of watermelons..Dean Grose, former mayor of Los Alamitos, California sent an email out titled "No Easter Egg Hunt this Year" to some  of his friends. The email contained a picture of the White House with a huge watermelon patch covering the front lawn:

 Again...pretty offensive.

As I said before, Bobby Jindal's speech was largely criticized for being insincere and lacking emotion. With Michael Steele, the elected leader of the RNC saying the party needs a hip hop makeover, but at the same time defending himself and his comments about Rush Limbaugh, I don't see that makeover happening any time soon.  Those nasty emails and cartoons won't help the 'makeover' either. As far as I know, using racial stereotypes (watermelon, chicken, kool-aid, foodstamps, apes) is not an effective strategy to woo an increasingly key demographic to change affiliations. Maybe Rush Limbaugh with his 20 million listeners IS the top dog for now. Only time will tell.