‘Big tent’ no more: RNC’s Steele says GOP is a hat
Tuesday, June 09, 2009 at 2:02 pm
- 27 Comments
Michael Steele (WDCpix)
Here’s more evidence that the GOP is still struggling to find fitting metaphors to talk about itself. The party was likened to a miffed Eminem by Gov. Tim Pawlenty at the College Republicans’ national confab over the weekend, while at another of the convention’s sessions, RNC chair Michael Steele was coming up with imagery of his own. Steele told the audience that “no one knows what the hell it means” when the GOP refers to itself as a “big tent.”
So he offered another analogy: The GOP is a hat.
Some people wear a hat frontwards, others cocked to the left, he explained. Some wear it backwards, he added, echoing a past statement, “because that’s how they roll.” But “the strength of the party is in this: … the fact that you’re willing to put the damn thing on… The problem we’ve had as a party is: too many of our friends, neighbors, colleagues are taking the hat off, because we’ve decided we don’t like the way they wear it… The GOP is not about how you wear the hat, but the fact that you want to wear the hat.”
A tent large enough to fit all kinds of people seems a more compelling idea than a hat that can be worn as personal preference dictates. But maybe the new metaphor has less to do with how the cap fits than with how the old metaphor doesn’t.
When longtime Republican Sen. Arlen Specter left the party to become a Democrat in late April he used the metaphor: “Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right.” And many news outlets picked up the lingo. The San Francisco Chronicle said the “‘big tent’ shrinks“; The Week ran a cartoon showing an elephant-shaped tent flying a “Conservatives only” flag; and The Hill wrote that the “giant swishing sound you’re hearing is the GOP’s ‘big tent’ being folded up and packed away.”
Hats off to the new branding.
Watch it:
27 Comments
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 3:56 pm
“Hey, look at this hat! It’s gotta be the ugliest hat I’ve ever seen! You must get a free bowl of soup with this hat!”
“Oh, it looks good on YOU though…”
You’ve got to be a dedicated, died-in-the-wool dead-ender Republican to wear that ratty thing on your head.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
The Republican party may be a hat, but unless you wear it straight forward with starch and a polo shirt you’re not a real Republican and your opinions aren’t valued. That much is clear.
I did not leave the Republican party, the Republican party left me.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:03 pm
More like an asshat.
I think it’s funny- it started out as a “big tent”, and has now shrunk down to hat size. It’s not even a big hat, either.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:07 pm
Words of Wisdom from Michael Steele. May he ever challenge us with his wisdom and his profundity. Pretty soon, 8 years will have passed and they are still having little meetings trying to get themselves together……
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:17 pm
That “big tent” concept would be hard to wrap your head around if you were a ruckin fetard like Steele….
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
The GOP is neither a hat nor a tent.
It’s a straightjacket.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:27 pm
When Rush is in the tent, there’s no room for anyone else.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:32 pm
Wait! He called those people up to stand at the front…and didn’t even bring props? I don’t get it! Which one wore their “hat” cocked to the side? Which one was “backwards”? LOL
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
This token still doesn’t get it.He was elected to head the RNC to pull in minorities, and that’s aint happening.Now he is out their saying all these stupid things,doesn’t he know noone is listerning? The GO doesn’t know how to get rid of him. If it is done now it will make them look even more hopeless.If Steele wants this position he has he just need to keep his mouth close.Don’t open your mouth and le everyone know how dumb you are.
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 5:02 pm
tell him to keep it under his hat probably io gallons off hi fat
Comment posted June 9, 2009 @ 7:59 pm
I cannot (well, I do) believe how badly the GOP is out of touch with what the people of America want. They still can’t get over the fact we really like and elected this black guy. They have nothing but unfactual criticisms about what our President is doing and trying to do, after they left this country in a near depression, and yes a depression for many citizens. I feel ashamed of them, and I’m not one of them. Newt took such good care of this next-to-last wife, as she lay in a hospital bed with cancer ! The Republicans all have socialized medicine, and not one of them is saying they would give it up. Mr. & Mrs. Republicans, America LOVES President Obama, and try and get used to it, cause you’re only making yourselves look like the ass….s you really are.
Pingback posted June 10, 2009 @ 12:34 am
[...] Michael Steele’s Big Boner Hat By jabberinwookie 0 Comments Categories: Culture Wars and Politics Tags: big boner, big tent, GOP, steele Noted failure and hapless funnymaker, Michael Steele, has once again unwittingly helped Democratic claims about the GOP’s lack of inclusiveness. [...]
Comment posted June 10, 2009 @ 10:08 am
That fat Cat in the Hat is really a Rat
DRAT DRAT DRAT.
He’ll let you wear a hat
but it won’t make you a cat
and that’s that.
Comment posted June 10, 2009 @ 2:29 pm
Reqirement for wearing H A T:
You AGREE that,
* Jesus loves you, but shares your deep hatred of homosexuals and Hillary Clinton.
* A woman can’t be trusted with decisions about her own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all humankind without regulation.
* The United States should get out of the United Nations, but our highest national priority is enforcing U. N. resolutions against Iraq and Iran.
* “Standing Tall for America” means firing your workers and moving their jobs to India.
* Being a drug addict is a moral failing and a crime, unless you’re a conservative radio host. Then it’s an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
* The best way to improve military morale is to praise the troops in speeches, while slashing veterans’ benefits and combat pay.
* A president lying about an extramarital affair is an impeachable offense. A president lying about WMD existence to enlist support for an unprovoked, undeclared war and occupation in which thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands civilians die, is, somehow, solid “defense” policy in a “War against Terrorism”.
* If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won’t have sex.
* A good way to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies, but then demand their cooperation and money.
* Providing health care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans is socialism.
* HMOs and insurance companies make profits and have the interest of the public at heart.
Comment posted June 10, 2009 @ 3:29 pm
Reminds me of the old cowboy joke often told about GW – “All hat and no cattle”.
Pingback posted June 10, 2009 @ 8:19 pm
[...] Jesus. Some people wear a hat frontwards, others cocked to the left, he explained. Some wear it backwards, he added, echoing a past statement, “because that’s how they roll.” But “the strength of the party is in this: … the fact that you’re willing to put the damn thing on… The problem we’ve had as a party is: too many of our friends, neighbors, colleagues are taking the hat off, because we’ve decided we don’t like the way they wear it… The GOP is not about how you wear the hat, but the fact that you want to wear the hat.” [...]
Pingback posted June 10, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
[...] Michael Steele, RNC chairman: [...]
Comment posted June 11, 2009 @ 12:53 am
Personally, I’ve always thought of the GOP as a dirty diaper.
Comment posted June 13, 2009 @ 10:10 am
My first comment – being from Dallas – “All hat, no cattle”. Perfect.
Comment posted June 13, 2009 @ 3:27 pm
Yeah, but too bad it took over 4000 American and 600,000 Iraqi deaths along with raped and crippled economies for BOTH countries. Why couldn’t moderate republicans see this in 2004?
Comment posted June 14, 2009 @ 5:53 pm
Mr. Steele is articulate, well repected, and a great fundraiser. The quickest way to lose it to become dividied. Has he made some mistakes? Of course, who has not? I fully support Mr. Steele and know the quickest way to victory is being united.
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