There are many ways that a political party can unwittingly shoot itself in the foot.
Then there is today’s Republican Party.
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With today’s unanimous RNC vote to boycott any and all Republican presidential debates hosted by CNN and NBC, the Republican Party has gone beyond simply accidentally shooting itself in the foot. It has become a childish, whining, bratty, and entirely loathsome group of individuals who clearly don’t respect democracy or the democratic process.
And liberals should hit them and hit them hard.
The Republican Party knows that Hillary Clinton is far and away the candidate to beat in 2016. She has the experience, the credentials, the pedigree, and the likability to completely dominate any candidates named Christie, Paul, Rubio, or (gasp) Santorum. Republicans tried to smear her with Benghazi. That didn’t work, even though Darrell Issa will tell you that there’s still a scandal there somewhere. So, what the next card Republicans play? The liberal media card of course.
The latest Republican attempt to attack Clinton comes via two not-yet-made documentaries from both NBC and CNN. Knowing that these documentaries will showcase Clinton in a positive light (as documentaries are known to do occasionally), the RNC proclaimed them to be obvious liberal propaganda and “little more than extended commercials” for the potential candidate and voted unanimously to boycott any Republican primary debates hosted by the networks in 2016.
So, let’s get this straight: The best way to defeat a popular, well-established candidate is to showcase your candidate to an even smaller audience.
Slow. Clap.
And yet, this is the exact approach the Republican Party has taken if it decides to follow through on its threat. Should this happen, the only potentially undecided voters on the major networks to watch the debates will be the ones on Fox. Let’s repeat that phrase: Undecided Fox voters. This is the audience that the Republican Party will essentially be going for if they decide to keep NBC and CNN out of their primary debates. If their plan comes to fruition, they will essentially lock up the Fox voting bloc. Which is something they’ve had for the past ten plus years.
Mission accomplished.
The fact now becomes clear that Democrats have a prime opportunity to call out Republican hypocrisy and to essentially make the Republican Party go through with its threat to boycott the debates. The first thing that needs to be done is to have Democrats make the issue nationally relevant. This is part of a larger trend of the old Republican strategy of “do as I say and not as I do”. Democrats need to remind the national audience how Fox News played what essentially was a Romney campaign ad during the 2012 election season. Democrats need to ask where Republican outrage when “fair and balanced” Fox News ran this ad and why there was no outrage at that time.
In addition to pointing out this hypocrisy, Democrats also need to push back against the Clinton issue and begin to provide their own hypotheticals. They need to openly ask their Republican colleagues if they would boycott a Fox primary debate if Fox showed a documentary on Marco Rubio in 2014. Now, odds are they will avoid this question like the plague. However, the more Democrats that raise this question, the more the conversation will stem toward the obvious Republican agenda to discredit Hillary Clinton by any means necessary.
Lastly, the DNC needs to take the high road and essentially do the exact opposite of the RNC. Debbie Wasserman Schultz needs to release a statement expressing disappointment in the RNC’s decision but to also affirm how the Democratic Party is still willing to showcase its primary debates on the networks of NBC, CNN, and Fox. This statement also should include the fact that all three major networks were considering doing documentaries on Clinton and her accomplishments and that the DNC is proud that Clinton is being recognized for her positive contributions and impact during her lifetime.
When all is said and done, there is always the chance that the Republican Party will simply give up its boycott and come walking back home with its tail between its legs. If that happens, Democrats can claim victory. However, until that point Democrats needs to be on the offensive and expose the blatant hypocrisy in their decision to boycott the debates. If this boycott does, in fact, come to fruition then it all but guarantees a Clinton presidency. Imagine a series of ten to fifteen Republican debates seen by Fox viewers only. Any and all undecided voters are typically low-information voters who turn to CNN for their news because they simply don’t know any better. Seeing as how CNN will be covering the Democratic Party debates and not the Republican Party debates, this essentially would give Hilary Clinton a huge boost and all but lock up the presidency for her.
Now, wouldn’t that be a nice little post script to the documentaries?
