Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Jon Chait defends Rush Limbaugh:

Rush Limbaugh is drawing some ridicule for saying, “One thing we can all do is stop assuming that the way to beat [the Democrats] is with better policy ideas.” But I think he’s basically right. Good ideas are meritorious. But being meritorious isn’t what wins elections. Most voters have only the faintest idea what policy ideas candidates advocate when running or implement when in office. External conditions (such as the economy, but war and scandal matter also) have much more influence over which party wins.

I agree — up to a point.  I do think that the GOP needs to moderate some of the hardcore social positions that have alienated young voters in droves, but aside from that it’s not shiny new ideas that will save them.  That’s not what saved Democrats, after all.  National health care?  That’s been on our wish list for about a century.  Fighting global warming?  Liberals  have been environmentalists since the 60s.  Fiscal stimulus?  Can you say “New Deal”?  Pulling out of Iraq?  Not exactly a milestone in progressive thought on foreign policy.

You can take this too far, of course.  Liberals might be longtime environmentalists, but global warming is a newish issue and a market-oriented cap-and-trade program is a newish way of dealing with it.  Our healthcare plans this time around are different (and frankly, more modest) than in the past.  Obama is pulling out of Iraq but getting us ever deeper into Aghanistan.

So: not new ideas, perhaps, but certainly different takes on classic ideas.  What’s more, Dems have also backed down on social issues a bit over the past decade, sometimes in fact (gun control), sometimes only rhetorically (abortion).  This is likely to eventually be the road back for Republicans too.  Cut down on the gay bashing and the hellfire preachers who are too often seen as forces of intolerance, and then come up with newish ways of selling small government and lots of overseas wars.  It’ll work someday.  Not anytime soon, but someday.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate