WHY ARE REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS SO AFRAID OF THE MODERN WORLD?

Well-known fact: Pygmies fear technology

Not all pollsters and consultants are born losers, like the ones employed Inside the Beltway by Establishment (anti-grassroots) Democrats. In fact, in business, consultants never have the kinds of track records the Democrats' consultants have. That's because in a business situation they'd be fired long before they could prove themselves even nearly that incompetent. Every now and then my old friend Dave Beasing, a nationally respected consultant and researcher who gets results joins us for some observations regarding the intersection of politics and popular culture. Since the number of tremulous Republicans agreeing to a YouTube debate has doubled from 2 to 4-- Huckabee and Tommy Thompson joining McCain and Ron Paul-- Dave took the opportunity to ask a question about the GOP:

WHAT ARE THEY AFRAID OF?


According to the Washington Post, the Republican version of the so-called YouTube presidential debate may have to be postponed from September 17 until December. There are plenty of home video questions being submitted, but there may not be any candidates to answer them. Seems several-– including two of the frontrunners for the nomination, Rudolph Giuliani and Mitt Romney-- still haven’t consented to appear, as of this writing.

During the Democrats’ turn last week, using questions submitted by YouTube’s webcammers gave the forum a decidedly populist feel-– even if the producers from CNN missed an even greater opportunity by allowing questions to be chosen by an online vote. At Jacobs Media, own research indicates that involvement in the process matters to Gen-Y. Indeed, although the overall ratings for the Dems’ YouTube face-off weren’t high, they were the best among 18-34 year olds in the history of cable channel debates.

What do the GOP candidates have to fear? Plenty. Questions from the public tend to be blunt and personal. Telling a journalist your abstract position on gay rights or health care or Iraq tends not to tug at the heartstrings. But try answering the same questions from friendly people with real names and faces, right there on camera-- that they shouldn’t adopt children, should lose their savings to cancer, or that you’re sorry their husband didn’t come home from war.

Anyone marketing any product in 2008 must give up control, allow the public to have input, and have the courage to respond with sincerity and honesty to real people. That’s a new way of exposing yourself, and it's scary for all of us. But what we-- and Republicans-- should fear even more is appearing outdated and irrelevant to an entire generation.