Pat Caddell Lambastes Republican Consultants at CPAC 2013

The Brenner Brief has the Pat Caddell audio that Rush Limbaugh has been trying to find. We will be uploading this audio to our site later today, so check back to hear it soon.

Attendees at CPAC 2013 gathered to discuss the political consultants’ role in the failure of the GOP to capitalize on the unpopularity of Obamacare, and other issues to gain more seats in Congress as well as the White House. Little did they know that Pat Caddell was about to lambaste the Republican consultants from the 2012 campaigns.

Seated at the table were Morton Blackwell  of The Leadership Institute, Jeff Roe of Axiom Strategies, and Pat Caddell – Pollster, and it was moderated by the Honorable Matt Schlapp of Principle Strategies. It was obvious from the mood in the room, the answer to the question posed in the title of this article was “yes.”

Pat Caddell, CPAC 2013

Morton Blackwell started with a lesson in campaigning 101, which is that all voters must be identified and motivated to vote.  Obama beat Romney on the ground.  Consultants have extraordinary power, sometimes complete power, over a campaign.  Consultants who are challenged by time management will often emphasize media intensity because it requires very little of their time compared to focusing on grassroots, because that requires more time.  Another fact that Blackwell revealed was that consultants receive a 15 percent commission from media vendors for bringing them business.  Money spent on grassroots brings the consultant zero dollars in commissions.  If a consultant spends $1,000,000 on media, he stands to earn $150,000 on commission from the vendor.  There is a clear, selfish motivation then to focus on advertising versus grassroots.

Pat Caddell wasted no time in taking his fellow panel members to task.  Calling it “whitewash from the Republican Party,” he explained why their consultants failed. It was laughable that the GOP would ask the very people who designed the campaign to tell them what went wrong.  He vehemently stated that the republican 2012 campaign cycle was a “massive failure.”  Caddell maintained that he did not care about the Republican Party so he was going to say it like it is:  Democrats play to win, they play to live or die, Republicans play only within their own party.  He reiterated that the 2012 campaign was a frightening failure for the GOP.  He further announced that the Romney campaign was the single worst campaign in the history of the United States.

While the consultants passed the blame on to donors, whom they argued controlled the campaigns and are responsible for such a dismal out come to the 2012 season, they seized upon the number of Republican Governors as proof of their worth.  While unwilling to take responsibility for the losses, they were more than willing to take credit for wins, such has Senator Cruz.   However, they were unable to debate Pat Caddell as, point after point, he verbally displayed their short-comings.  They lost seats they should have won in South Dakota and Montana.  They lost seats in the House, as well.

Rush Limbaugh cannot find the audio for this exchange.

But, The Brenner Brief has a complete recording of Pat Caddell’s revelations. We will be uploading this audio to our site later today, so check back to hear it soon.

As the exchange continued, Caddell’s words grew more heated, but he hit the nail on the head when he compared how both sides ran a campaign.  We are fighting for the future of our country and it would certainly be nice to see the GOP act like it.  If you are not here to win and fight with every tactic available, please go home.  You are putting my freedom, my liberty, and the United States at risk.

The Republicans are getting their clock cleaned because they refuse to learn lessons from lowly organizers involving grassroots efforts.  Maybe instead of just hiring consultants they should hire a couple of organizers.

Let’s discuss the 47 percent gaffe that Romney made.  That tape was released by the bartender. He has worked both Democratic and Republican events, so why this time?  He explained that when he worked the Democratic event for Obama, they came over, greeted him and treated him like a human being.  When the Romney campaign came in, that same bartender didn’t even get a “hello.” from the guests at the event. I can’t imagine why Republicans have the reputation they have of not connecting with the working class (sarcasm).

Romney and his staff of consultants violating the 1^st commandment of organizing and winning people over: bond with those whose support you need to have to win.  This does not mean that you are required to take them to lunch or become “BFF’s,” but it does mean you acknowledge someone as a person who deserves, at the very least, a “hello.”

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