Starting with a dimly lit sex tape co-starring Ray-J, Kimberly Noel “Kim” Kardashian has grown into a global brand, with T.V shows, endorsement deals, a workout DVD series, and a clothing line all making her world-famous.

But can she teach Republicans anything?

photo courtesy of: bdhq

Let’s start with her dealings with men which have made her infamous.

In the past Ray-J, now Kanye West and in between, a line-up that includes basketball players, football players, soccer players, actors and would be somebodys.

The question most people want to know is how can she always get new men on the Kardashian Carousel.
Short answer: Niche Marketing

Consider:

1. She’s pretty –  Duh! The main difference between Kim K and many other caucasian women is that while  they try to shrink the size of their butts, Kim flaunts hers.  If you still don’t get it, here’s some further explanation.  There is an entire sub-genre of inter-racial porn dedicated to “phat-ass white girls”. Please don’t ask how I know. So from the waist up she’s pretty and from the waist down she’s really, really pretty to small demographic.

2. Look at her competition – For someone who can’t sing, can’t dance,  and can’t act Kim’s dating life is filled with guys who are celebrities in their own right and though they’d deny it, she’s the best thing to happen to them. Look at who these guys dated before and after Kim Kardashian (excluding Halle Berry’s ex) and you’ll see a line-up of groupies, strippers, and B-list would-be models.  As far as these guys are concerned if a woman is beautiful, poised, demure and working on a doctorate she needn’t bother to wait for their call.

As long as she stays in her niche, she’ll reign supreme.

Can she expand out of her niche? Answer: No time soon.

Why not?

She can step down to people like her brain-addled brother-in-law but that step down would be a step out of the limelight, or she can try to make it to the A-list, which is sketchy.
Brad Pitt, Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg  are older guys who wouldn’t leave their wives for her (Having sex is another matter). She’d also be too high-profile to make a good mistress.  The younger A-listers, Jeremy Renner, Ryan Gosling, Joseph Gordon-Levitt have their own groupies to play with and a number of women whose past dating lives are less public.

So, as long as she stays in her niche, she’ll have an endless supply of customers, victims, boyfriends.
Kim Kardashian getting an A-Lister would be like Snooki trying to get with Paul Ryan, which brings me to the present day Republican party.

Today’s G.O.P

Despite his beatification by them, Ronald Reagan would not recognize the G.O.P of today.  President Reagan once said, “The right hand doesn’t always know what the far right hand is doing.”  In his day the far right was kept far off. Today, moderates need not apply,  you’ve got to be a “severe conservative” according to Mitt Romney .
This severity has created  an unholy alliance of fiscal conservatives, (Grover Norquist)) who would  shrink government down to the size, where  in his own words, “. . . .we can drown it in the bathtub.” and social conservatives (Mr. Todd “legitimate rape Akin) who would make it more intrusive, for instance, sonograms on women seeking abortions.

Anyone seeking to take these ideas mainstream is in for a wild ride for two easy to understand reasons:

A) As the Occupy Wall St movement pointed out the excesses of the 1% are out of control.  Cuts to government programs that benefit the people most affected by the financial meltdown, while cutting taxes on the very wealthy has no mass appeal.

B) A new study has found that the single most common reason women say they use birth control is, the economy. They cannot afford another baby or even another pregnancy.
Most registered voters are women.
The majority of actual voters is women.

See the problem?

Many of the Republicans present positions make the party too niche for the majority of the electorate.
The Republican brand is shrinking and becoming harder to sell but the Kardashian brand is expanding.

What the G.O.P can learn from Kim K.

1.   Know your niche but expand your market.
Kim doesn’t limit herself to rappers as successful as Kanye.  Players of all stripe and sport have a chance.  Click the link on “Southern Strategy” further down to see who gets excluded by the G.O.P.

2.   She might not be liked but she’s not trying to be hated.
No she might not be the brightest but she’s smart enough to keep her mouth shut long enough to avoid making more enemies.

See: Scott Brown  and Todd Akin

3.   She’s not afraid to cut losers loose.
See: Todd Akin (again)

4.   Embrace multiculturalism – The G.O.P want the to get the Hispanic vote without having to ‘get’ hispanics as a people.  Their appeal is to white rich men which is a shrinking demographic made more so by the previously mentioned financial meltdown.
Kim K appeals to men across the racial and cultural spectrum and her products are aimed at women across that same spectrum.

If the G.O.P could take these points to heart, finally ditch the ‘Southern Strategy’ and comeback to a moderate centre, one day in  the future we could see the great Republican nebbish, Paul Ryan with JWOW in tow and the votes of her friends firmly in his back pocket.

What do you think?  Are there any other pop culture icons that can teach the political world something?

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