In a Q&A session Thursday, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus pointed out a potential conflict raised by the Clinton Foundation’s acceptance of millions in donations from foreign governments.
“I don’t know how Hillary Clinton’s going to take a 3 a.m. [call] from a leader in Yemen or Algeria or Saudi Arabia when she was willing to have her foundation take potentially millions of dollars from those governments,” said Priebus, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Priebus raises a valid point. It will be difficult for Clinton to tell the American people that she will be tough on terrorism or fight for women’s rights when her foundation took money from countries with abysmal records on those issues and others.
Should Clinton become the Democratic nominee, the issue could help Republicans combat the “war on women” narrative that is shaping up to be a central theme in 2016.
Asked specifically how else Republicans plan to combat that narrative, Priebus gave the well-known response that the GOP needs to do a better job communicating its policies.
“We have to put people out on television and radio … that you know, don’t look like me,” Priebus, a white male, said. “And I think that means promoting the successes that we have in our party and we’ve had a lot of success in our party and whether it be through different demographics or more women that are representing our party.”
Priebus gave as an example the Rising Star program launched by the RNC, which seeks to promote Republicans throughout the country that can speak for the party and broaden the base.
Further, Priebus emphasized the importance of having a good message to deliver. He specifically cited Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., who during the 2014 election challenged incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall’s insistence that the Republican wanted to block women’s access to birth control. Udall’s laser-like focus on women’s issues was panned by local papers and even by some in the national media.
Priebus stressed the importance of “combating the narrative with both the facts and people that can speak for our party … And so whether it be Obamacare, whether it be the economy, whether it be the fact that, this morning fewer people went to work this morning than at any time since Jimmy Carter was president.”
As a specific example, Priebus brought up abortion, and how Republicans are consistently painted as being anti-woman for their stance on the issue, even when just trying to ban the issue beyond five months (20 weeks) into the pregnancy.
“The fact that we would be having a debate over whether or not, you know, we outta allow abortions after the fifth month. We’re like what, only one of three or four countries in the entire world?”
Beyond that, Priebus said that the best way to reach constituents is to be engaged and connect.
“You have to take the fight to the place and to your audience and I think sometimes, you know, we have to be engaged more and I think our elected officials need to be willing to engage more to see where the fight takes you.”
