Dem: GOP has more than ‘just a brand issue’

Sen. Amy Klobuchar  (D-Minn.)  said on Sunday that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) missed the point when he said the GOP brand “sucks.”

{mosads}Klobuchar said that Republicans have more than “just a brand issue” when it comes to winning new voters.

The remark referred to a comment this week from Paul, who made headlines when he said that the GOP brand “sucks.”

Klobuchar argued Sunday that Paul missed the point with his criticism. She urged the GOP to revisit its policies on taxes, student loans, immigration and abortion rights.

“I respect the work Senator Paul has done on criminal justice reform. But this isn’t just a brand issue,” Klobuchar said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“These are legitimate policy issues. And you can debate them. And I’m glad that Senator Paul has called for civility. But this isn’t just, in his words, about a brand sucking. This is also about major policy differences.”

Paul appeared on three Sunday talk shows warning his GOP colleagues to broaden the party’s appeal.

“I don’t think what we stand for is bad. I believe in what the Republican Party values,” Paul said on “Face the Nation.”

“But we have a wall or a barrier between us and African-American barriers. So I’ve spent the last year trying to break down some of that wall.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus downplayed Paul’s criticism of the GOP’s brand on Sunday.

“I’m very close with Rand,” Priebus said on ABC’s “This Week.” “What he said is that we’re actually on the right track … and we’re doing a lot of the things we should be doing” to court voters who typically lean toward Democrats.

“Rand Paul is saying what I’ve been saying, which is we have spent way too long as national party showing up at the end, and we’ve got to do better,” he said.