Kinder Consultant Cites His Boss as One of GOP's Problems

Peter Kinder's web guru David All is featured prominently in a Washington Post story today about disillusionment amongst young GOPers, and he has some comments that don't reflect too kindly on the Lieutenant Governor.  Per the story, All says:

"I think the Republican Party is staring down a very long, dark, quiet night,"

And why does All have such a pessimistic view of the Republican Party's chances?

"When Reagan was president, I was 9 years old, doing cannonballs and watching 'Rambo,' " says All, 29, who prominently displays the requisite grip-and-grin photos of himself with President Bush in the office of his own L Street consulting firm. He recalled that first Republican presidential debate of the 2008 campaign, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California; it was a veritable Reagan love-fest, with each contender claiming to be more like the conservative icon than his opponents. They sounded like old fogies and intoned the icon's name at least a dozen times.

"For me, I don't even know what that means," All says. "The Republicans are sort of talking down to Gen-Nexters, not bringing them in."

All cites never-ending Reagan worship as part of the reason why the GOP has failed to attract a generation of younger voters. 

What does this have to do with Kinder?  Some of us remember Kinder's unfortunate endorsement of Fred Thompson in the 2008 Presidential primary:

Fast forward eight years to my college days. The spring of ‘76 found a gallant former Gov. Reagan, the beau ideal of our doughty band of conservatives, mounting an historic, unforgettable, magnificently inspiring insurgency for the GOP nomination against an unelected President Gerald Ford. Establishment Republicans recoiled against Reagan, telling us Ford was the safe choice, the electable one. (He wasn’t.)

Missouri Attorney General Jack Danforth asked me to abandon my Reagan commitment as a delegate to the convention and switch to Ford. I respectfully declined, standing by the Californian. As Reagan vaulted easily over leadership hurdles where so many others have faltered, a new term — Reagan Democrats — entered American political discourse, to describe the converts by the millions he added to our ranks.

Trust me, fellow Republicans, when I say this: Fred Thompson is the real deal, the closest thing to a natural we’ve had (or are likely to see) since Reagan.

Looks like Kinder is one of those "old fogies" mentioned in the Post story and who David All laments.

Kinder's campaign paid David All's firm $20,000 last quarter to provide his campaign website, and, apparently, to spit in the candidate's eye.

UPDATE, 3:23pm cdt: Had to add classic David All photo filched from the appropriately dismissive Politico post about his WaPo appearance this morning (which links this post).  Welcome, Politico readers.