Republican party defeat- Stage 1: Denial

After the shattering defeat of the Republican party, the process of grieving has begun. The press is hounding party leaders for their reaction to what they believed was a slam-dunk presidential and congressional race, based on strict, conservative ideals, epitomized by the Tea Party activists.

The reaction from around the country shows a dazed Republican party trying to understand what happened. The few who already see the writing on the wall, are expressing a need to reinvent themselves as more moderate in their vision of what’s best for America, or face similar defeats in the future.

While everyone else in the nation is witnessing a more moderate America exerting it’s influence on their elected officials, the extremely conservative Republicans are wallowing in denial.

The five stages of grief have begun.

The GOP strategist, Lenny McCallister, began his political double-speak by stating that the the way conservatives want to handle the economy, education and immigration, they have a lot to offer Latino’s and African Americans.

According to CNN today, House Speaker John Boehner, the leader of the still Republican dominated House of Representatives, states it more clearly,

“It’s clear that as a political party we’ve got some work to do,” Boehner told reporters, adding that “the principles of our party are sound” but the question is “how we talk about who we are as a party.”

So basically what he’s saying is that their extremist principals are okay, it’s just the way they talk about them that needs changing.

I guess we can expect more political double-speak as the Republicans struggle for a way to talk to America without offending them, while clinging to the ideals that handed them the defeats in the first place.

The Republicans who still have jobs, or still want them in the future, are placing the blame on everything except their beliefs, such as: Superstorm Sandy; “the moderate Mitt Romney”; failure to place abortion more predominantly on the party’s platform; a couple of poor comments by Mourdock and Akin; and ignoring the positions of more minorities. If they can find anything else to blame but themselves, we’re sure to hear about it soon.

Listening to all the positioning and blaming going on, it’s obvious to the outsider that the Republican party is going through the first of five states of grief—denial.

I wonder what the next stage, anger, will look like?