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Letters: What ails the Republican Party

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Re “GOP aims to alter tone, not positions,” April 13

I consider myself a moderate Republican, but after holding my nose and voting twice for George W. Bush and then for John McCain, I voted last November for Barack Obama. As summarized by the Bobby Jindal soundbite, I was tired of casting my lot with “the stupid party.”

My vote for McCain, which could have made Sarah Palin vice president, was especially regrettable.

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The oft-repeated mantra by Republicans after their defeat last November is that there’s a perception that the party is out of touch. The problem with that viewpoint is that it focuses on fixing a perception: “We’re not wrong, we just have to communicate better.”

The Republican Party is actually desperately out of touch, and until it acknowledges this and makes the necessary adjustments, it will be lost in the wilderness.

Peter Vincent

Los Angeles

The Republicans recognize that the times they are a-changing. But their process for change reminds of the following story:

A major dog-food company decided it wanted to sell a new gourmet line for the discriminating pooch. It hired the best graphic artist for the label, the best songwriter for a good jingle and the best ad agency. The rollout went well and sales took off.

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But sales quickly plummeted. At an emergency meeting, executives suggested there might be something wrong with the label, the jingle or the ad campaign. Finally, a voice rang out from the back of the room: “What’s wrong is that dogs hate it.”

So what’s wrong with the GOP? I think we see the problem.

Kevin Powell

Long Beach

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