Morning Joe on the "Right Path"

by Patrick Gavin, Politico, November 10, 2013.

A new book from former congressman and “Morning Joe” co-host Joe Scarborough lays out both a blistering critique of the current Republican Party and his vision for a return to GOP dominance.

In “The Right Path: From Ike to Reagan, How Republicans Once Mastered Politics — and Can Again,” Scarborough, a POLITICO guest columnist, uses Republican success stories from the 20th century to argue for pragmatism and moderation that can result in electoral success.

“I like to win and I like to win big,” Scarborough writes. “Republicans can kick moderates like General Powell out of its party’s mainstream and drive them into the arms of the Democratic Party every four years, or they can leave their ideological comfort zone, work aggressively to expand their political coalitions, and start stealing swing voters away from Democrats like Hillary Clinton.”

He continues, “Unfortunately, the Republican Party of the moment bears little resemblance to the party of Ronald Reagan, who would have responded to Powell’s critiques of the Republican Party with an all-hands-on-deck effort to win the war hero back. That’s because President Reagan lived by the belief that ‘just because I’m your friend 80 percent of the time doesn’t make me your enemy 20 percent of the time.’”

In the book set to be released Tuesday, Scarborough lays plenty of blame at the hands of right-wing conservatives whom he charges profit off extreme partisanship.

“This may come as a shock to certain ideology- (and profit-) driven talk radio hosts who unleash fury at anyone who disagrees with them on a few issues, but parties win the White House by nominating candidates who win the most votes — not feeding endlessly on base resentments that offend crossover voters and shrink the GOPs voter rolls.”

It wasn’t always so, Scarborough reminds readers.

“With the national Grand Old Party seemingly on a glide path to ideological and demographic irrelevance as a presidential force, it’s difficult to remember, but we used to be the ones to beat,” the former congressman writes. “But as conservatives endure two terms of Barack Obama and face the possibility of eight more years with a Clinton in the White House, all too often these days it’s the Republicans who sound angry, extreme, and too out of touch. If the GOP wants to regain its place as the decisive force in national politics, it needs to reengage with its real legacy, which is one of principled conservatism combined with clear-eyed pragmatism.”

Talk radio and right-wing media both receive a large share of the blame for the Republican Party’s current woes in Scarborough’s take.

“The last two decades have been less kind to the GOP. While the right made great gains on talk radio, the Internet and cable TV, the party has experienced a precipitous fall in national elections.”

As for his own news media diet, Scarborough says he is “a consumer of conservative news through websites, talk radio, and Fox News,” but adds that “I also balance news sources that play to my ideological preferences with those that do not.”