Have the Republicans lost the art of the dogwhistle?

Have the Republicans lost the art of the dogwhistle?

by digby

Cognitive dissonance at #NRIsummit: Lots of pro-life writers, speakers, activists, but none of the R electeds are mentioning social issues
— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 26, 2013

I trust that Weigel would hear a dogwhistle if they were sending one out. So apparently they aren’t. Not that it would necessarily work with the talk radio, Fox News, internet energized Tea Partying base. I think it’s up in the air as to whether they will accept dogwhistles anymore. But it would appear the GOP isn’t even trying. And that’s surprising.

I don’t know how they thread this needle. Their social conservative base is big and they are going to gravitate to the people who speak their language. And there will inevitably be some who speak it whether it’s Todd Akin, Mike Huckabee or Rick Santorum. I suppose they might not have as many opportunities to fly their flag if Reince Priebus is successful in having fewer GOP debates, but this is a large and powerful bloc and I don’t think they’ll be ignored.

This is yet another crack in the GOP coalition. I’ll be fascinated to see how they deal with it.

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