Let me begin by saying I consider myself neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I vote for the best qualified candidate (which, considering the recent performance Inside the Beltway, would qualify as an oxymoron).

That said, as a public relations and crisis counselor, I am simultaneously amused and appalled by the comments of numerous, high profile Republican office holders (and wonder how, in god’s name, the party ever hopes to win back the White House in 2016).

To wit:
– Representative Pat Garofalo, a five-term Republican Congressman from Farmington, Minnesota, recently Tweeted: “Let’s be honest – 70 % of teams in the NBA could fold tomorrow + nobody would notice a difference w/possible exception of street crime.’
– Steve Martin, a Republican state senator from Virginia, referred to a pregnant woman as the child’s “host” in a Facebook message.
– In the past few months, Republicans have also called Wendy Davis, a Democratic candidate for Texas governor, ‘Abortion Barbie,’ likened Alison Lundergan Grimes, a Senate candidate from Kentucky to an ‘empty dress’ and criticized Hillary Rodham Clinton’s thighs.

There’s dumb. And, then there are the words spoken by Republicans.

Were I the chairperson of the Republican National Committee, job one would be finding a combination word and crisis coach for my party’s candidates in the upcoming races.

Considering the nation’s ever-changing population demographics, it strikes me the Republicans are creating a real-time Harvard Business School case study. I think I’d call it ‘How to alienate key audiences in every conceivable way.’
And a tip o’ Rep’s cap to Thom “Le Poer” Powers for this idea.