GOP: Sink or Swim

[Mathematician]

I believe this is the last Presidential election the GOP can win on the platform established in the late 1970s. Unless drastic reform is enacted, they will not have a shot at winning another election should they lose.

I should clarify: on a national scale, the electoral map is turning blue right now, especially in places once thought to be GOP strongholds. Georgia is having huge influx of minority populations, for example, and will be in play in the next presidential election. States like Nevada, Virginia, and Ohio are now increasingly Democratic. In effect, it's becoming impossible for the GOP to win presidential elections, especially with spoiler candidates like Gary Johnson. The deep South and Central Pacific remain the only guaranteed GOP victories.

 

[crossfire]

The RNC's use of the Kim Jung Il method of "party unity" on how they treated their delegates doesn't help matters, either.

 

[tytlyf]

GOP is done. No one buys the lies. Greed will only get you so far.

 

[Falvlun]

I dunno, guys. I think the nation's still pretty much 50/50 split.

 

[Quintessence]

I dunno, guys. I think the nation's still pretty much 50/50 split.

Possibly, but I think what Eugene is pointing out is that the demographic landscape of America is shifting in a fashion that is NOT in the favor of the Republican party. Traditionally, they appeal to male, white, middle to upper class voters. They tend to marginalize or ignore minorities, which are becoming more prevalent in population demographics (notably Latinos and non-Christians). The Republican party has a serious image problem that needs to be corrected if it expects to last over the long term. It continuously alienates minorities, and the minorities are becoming larger. They can't keep doing that if they expect us to vote for them.

Personally, my bigger gripe against the Republican party is that they're flat out anti-environmental now. I absolutely cannot and will not vote for them for many public offices because of it. It's unbe$#@%inglievable. It's like they want to accelerate the sixth mass extinction and humanity right along with it.

 

[Mathematician]

WASPs (White Anglo-Sax Protestants) are the new minorities of the future. To appeal to the voting population, the Republican Party has to reliably marginalize its ultra-conservative religious element. That will take years. The Democratic Party has emerged as the party of moderation since the 1990s, which works in its favor for younger generations.

 

[fallingblood]

I dunno, guys. I think the nation's still pretty much 50/50 split.

I think you're correct. However, I think that regardless of the split, the GOP is weak in the sense that the candidates that they get to run for Presidency simply are laughable. Last election, I was convinced that they wanted to loose as I saw no logical reason to have Palin as a VP choice. This year, I'm now convinced that they are out of touch with reality, with their new VP choice.

 

[Shermana]

I believe this is the last Presidential election the GOP can win on the platform established in the late 1970s. Unless drastic reform is enacted, they will not have a shot at winning another election should they lose.

I should clarify: on a national scale, the electoral map is turning blue right now, especially in places once thought to be GOP strongholds. Georgia is having huge influx of minority populations, for example, and will be in play in the next presidential election. States like Nevada, Virginia, and Ohio are now increasingly Democratic. In effect, it's becoming impossible for the GOP to win presidential elections, especially with spoiler candidates like Gary Johnson. The deep South and Central Pacific remain the only guaranteed GOP victories.

Looks like the GOP is going to learn real fast what happens when you kick around the independents and focus an entire campaign on a mantra of "better than Obama" without any regard to actual specifics.

Now what's this "Central Pacific" you're talking about? Texas?

 

[Shermana]

I dunno, guys. I think the nation's still pretty much 50/50 split.

Even Foxnews and Rasmussen are admitting that Obama has a major lead. They can't even spin the stats to look even.

 

[Copernicus]

The problem won't go away, because the House is very likely going to remain under Republican control, and, unless the Senate ditches the filibuster, the Democrats will have very little ability to control the political agenda. There is even a good chance that they will lose the Senate. Meanwhile, climate change is going to have a stronger and stronger impact on everyone's lives. The massive, unusual changes in weather patterns and out-of-control fires will disrupt food and water supplies. More wars may break out as nations compete for dwindling resources. It is a lot easier to focus on near-term solutions than to take radical action to avert an inevitable catastrophe. The US is probably going to remain deadlocked until the problem grows too serious to ignore.

As long as there are humans alive, there will be liberals and conservatives. As people grow older, they do tend to become more conservative. Change is much more threatening to older people than younger ones. So you shouldn't look at the changing demographic as if people who are Democrats today will never switch parties to become GOP staunch defenders of the current status quo or advocates of an idealized past. The Republicans will regroup if they suffer a defeat in the House and Senate, but I think they will likely see themselves largely in control of two of the three branches of government at the end of the election. If Romney were to manage to win--something that seems very unlikely right now--then the country will go into fulltime denial of reality. And the Supreme Court will likely become even more dominated by the Republican political agenda.

 

[Quintessence]

Perhaps it's about time for an armed revolution to overthrow this broken system? I don't relish the idea, but there are times it is necessary. *sigh*

 

[tytlyf]

Perhaps it's about time for an armed revolution to overthrow this broken system? I don't relish the idea, but there are times it is necessary. *sigh*

Don't worry the FauxTV lovers are already calling for a civil war on FoolsNation if Obama is re-elected. They are told their viewpoint is the majority by FauxTV and Rushy, but we all know those are lies.

In reality, the GOP is trying to rid itself of the TP cancer of lately. There is no upside to voting people in based on fear and ignorance.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

In reality, the GOP is trying to rid itself of the TP cancer of lately. There is no upside to voting people in based on fear and ignorance.

I get a feeling that may not work. That cancer has spread. They're no longer standing on the sideline spouting their extreme conservative view point. they've now nestled themselves into government office. Something the Occupied people haven't really seemed to do.

 

[Alceste]

I get a feeling that may not work. That cancer has spread. They're no longer standing on the sideline spouting their extreme conservative view point. they've now nestled themselves into government office. Something the Occupied people haven't really seemed to do.

There is some evidence that the tea party was a pet project of republican insiders. A PR campaign to rebrand the party in a more Ron Paul kind of way to appeal to younger voters, (but without actually including Ron Paul.) The most likely reason they are nestled in the GOP is that their "movement" was created by the GOP. The OWS movement is a real grassroots movement. They are in opposition to both parties. If they want to take a prominent role in the Democrat party, it's going to take a lot more time, and they will have to fight for it.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

There is some evidence that the tea party was a pet project of republican insiders. A PR campaign to rebrand the party in a more Ron Paul kind of way to appeal to younger voters, (but without actually including Ron Paul.) The most likely reason they are nestled in the GOP is that their "movement" was created by the GOP. The OWS movement is a real grassroots movement. They are in opposition to both parties. If they want to take a prominent role in the Democrat party, it's going to take a lot more time, and they will have to fight for it.

This I agree with.

 

[Old Scratch]

Perhaps it's about time for an armed revolution to overthrow this broken system? I don't relish the idea, but there are times it is necessary. *sigh*

And with what replace it?
Another pathetic human group?

 

[Revoltingest]

There is some evidence that the tea party was a pet project of republican insiders. A PR campaign to rebrand the party in a more Ron Paul kind of way to appeal to younger voters, (but without actually including Ron Paul.) The most likely reason they are nestled in the GOP is that their "movement" was created by the GOP.

A conspiracy theory? Evidence?

 

[Alceste]

A conspiracy theory? Evidence?

Lol - a "conspiracy theory". It's such a common practice there's a name for it.

"Astroturfing may also involve front groups, where a corporation or politician sponsors academic or citizen-run organizations that carry grass-roots credentials.[11]"

Evidence that the Tea Party fits that profile:

The Billionaire Koch Brothers’ War Against Obama : The New Yorker

A few weeks after the Lincoln Center gala, the advocacy wing of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation—an organization that David Koch started, in 2004—held a different kind of gathering. Over the July 4th weekend, a summit called Texas Defending the American Dream took place in a chilly hotel ballroom in Austin. Though Koch freely promotes his philanthropic ventures, he did not attend the summit, and his name was not in evidence. And on this occasion the audience was roused not by a dance performance but by a series of speakers denouncing President Barack Obama. Peggy Venable, the organizer of the summit, warned that Administration officials “have a socialist vision for this country.”

Five hundred people attended the summit, which served, in part, as a training session for Tea Party activists in Texas. An advertisement cast the event as a populist uprising against vested corporate power. “Today, the voices of average Americans are being drowned out by lobbyists and special interests,” it said. “But you can do something about it.” The pitch made no mention of its corporate funders. The White House has expressed frustration that such sponsors have largely eluded public notice. David Axelrod, Obama’s senior adviser, said, “What they don’t say is that, in part, this is a grassroots citizens’ movement brought to you by a bunch of oil billionaires.”
...
A Republican campaign consultant who has done research on behalf of Charles and David Koch said of the Tea Party, “The Koch brothers gave the money that founded it. It’s like they put the seeds in the ground. Then the rainstorm comes, and the frogs come out of the mud—and they’re our candidates!”

 

[Reverend Rick]

2008 was a land slide, the pendulum swung to the left. Two years later the TEA party showed up and took congress away from Nancy Pelosi. If Obama gets reelected and the economy does not improve, no way in hell will the American people continue following failed policies.

It's all about the pendulum, no way either party holds the presidency 12 years in a row, it hardly ever happens.

 

[Alceste]

2008 was a land slide, the pendulum swung to the left. Two years later the TEA party showed up and took congress away from Nancy Pelosi. If Obama gets reelected and the economy does not improve, no way in hell will the American people continue following failed policies.

It's all about the pendulum, no way either party holds the presidency 12 years in a row, it hardly ever happens.

You'll just have to see whether the Republicans keep marginalizing themselves by stampeding further and further to the right, or whether they come to their senses after they lose this election.