The GOP poverty PR push: Selling the same old pro-rich policies, but now with free turkeys
"It was a coordinated effort intended to convey one simple message: the Republican Party cares about the poor. Sending that message became a necessity in the aftermath of Mitt Romney’s defeat at the hands of Barack Obama. Romney lost that election in part because he was a living caricature of a comically out-of-touch plutocrat, and in part because the policies he backed were obviously and inarguably designed to favor the rich. The problem facing Republicans is that those policies – wild tax cuts for the wealthy, massive cuts to social welfare programs – form the backbone of the party’s economic agenda and couldn’t just be jettisoned. So they had to set about changing their image while holding on to the same basic ideas that sunk Mitt “47 Percent” Romney. That’s where Americans for Prosperity, the Koch brothers’ primary outlet for political activism, comes in. Last year, the organization resolved to set about revamping the image of conservatives and Republicans as a party concerned primarily with the wealthy."
