The closer November’s elections get, the more obvious the Democratic strategy becomes. It’s looking more and more like all they’ll have to do is wait for the GOP to defeat itself.

The Republican Party has again found itself affiliated with a polarizing public figure. Cliven Bundy — the most recent Republican hero — has revealed his true colors as a bigot and a racist, forcing Republican officials to backpedal furiously.

Bundy’s previous claim to fame was his ongoing battle with the Bureau of Land Management that has spanned across two decades. He had been the GOP’s best connection to the far right, becoming a champion for states’ rights. However, last week he slipped up and unleashed several remarks that can only be described as disturbing.

In a panic, Republican officials made every effort to distance themselves from Bundy. According to an April 24 Washington Post article, Senator Rand Paul (R- KY) said that Bundy’s, “remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him.”

Paul was not the only GOP leader to speak out against Bundy and his remarks. But, for years the Republican Party has spoken of Bundy as a champion of the fight against big central government. Regardless of the public relations gymnastics, the GOP does not look good in light of this story.

The fact that they ever extended support to a man like Bundy is a potential hot button issue with elections drawing even closer. Even with the public denouncement of Bundy and his ideas, Republicans have held the man up for years in an effort to connect with the far right.

In retrospect, not their best move.

In a time where support for civil rights is growing at an accelerating pace, Republicans tied themselves to a man whose racial beliefs are on par with Don Sterling and the 1950s South. Any connection, no matter how tenuous, to this kind of thinking sends a message to voters that the GOP can’t afford.

Senator Kelli Ward (R-AZ.) spoke about Bundy’s remarks at length. She was approached for comment after she spoke at a Bundy rally earlier this month. Ward said, “Apparently he has some thoughts that aren’t shared by many Americans. He is free to think and speak as he chooses, even if it may offend, and we are free to listen, or not, and form our own opinions,” according to the April 24 Washington Post article.

If the Republican Party doesn’t want to be associated with ideas like this, they need to refute them much more assertively. Otherwise, Democrats can sit tight while conservative individuals with ties to the GOP continue to put their feet in their mouths.

At this stage in the game, this sort of publicity is unprofessional and unacceptable. The Republicans are going back and forth between who they endorse and who they condemn and all it takes is a misstep like Bundy’s to make the party as a whole look foolish.

The conservative right has been the fastest growing support system for the GOP in recent years. Sarah Palin and the Tea Party Movement have proved that there is a significant portion of the population that aligns with the far right. As a result, the Republican Party has done their best to garner that support without committing to their ideology. However, the more scenarios we see like Bundy’s, the closer the GOP comes to being perpetually associated with ideas that seem to be behind the times.

Many important Senate seats are up in November and for Democrats everywhere, we can only hope Cliven Bundys continue to come out of the woodwork.

Chris Piemonte is a senior political philosophy major. He can be reached at [email protected].

 

Published on April 29, 2014 at 1:00 am