Can Reince Preibus smile? Can he?

By Richard K. Barry

Looks like he's in pain.

There is not a losing political party in the history of creation that has not uttered the words recently said by RNC Chair Reince Priebus, to wit:

It's not the platform of the party that’s the issue. In many cases, it's how we communicate about it.

These words were spoken at an event in which Republicans came together over four days to figure out where to go from here. 

Losers always say this. Absolutely always. Nothing wrong with the message. We just didn't communicate it effectively enough or didn't have the right candidate to communicate it. 

A variant of the argument was articulated by Ohio Republican Chairman Bob Bennett who said that the GOP needs to catch up the Democrats technologically. 

My favourite comment in the Politico story about the event was this:

A big focus of the four-day session, which wraps up Saturday, was adopting a more positive attitude – and smiling! – when interacting with voters and reporters. New Hampshire chairman Wayne MacDonald said party leadings need to work on “not being sour-pusses on television or the radio” – that there is a way to be firm and assertive without being mean-spirited.

It's not what you say, it's how you say it. I guess. Oh, my.