Zogby: GOP Faces Extinction Risk

[Oscar Wao]

GOP "centreing" itself means whatever very few differences there are right now between the GOP and the DNC will be vanished.

 

[GHook93]

The GOP was never the "conservative movement". There was a separate conservative party and a conservative wing of the GOP. But mistaking right wing religious activists and "neo-cons" for "conservatives" is a huge part of the reason that the GOP is having problems.

And the more wingnuts usurp the party, the more problems the GOP will have.

It's not dead... everything is cyclical. But as long as the wingnuts think it's better politically to be the party of no, and offer nothing, no one benefits.

What happened to the smart repubs?

Be honest! The reason the GOP is having problems is:
(1) The economic meltdown and credit crisis happened right before the election.
(2) 8 yrs of GWB
(3) No WMDs found in Iraq and an expensive and unpopular war of choice over there!
(4) Did I mention the Village Idiot in charge of the US the previous 8 years!

Obama won, but nothing like how Reagan won! Surprisingly you can take a look and see similarities of the Republicans taking over in the 80s:
(1) Economic meltdown mared by Carter's stupid economics
(2) Carter's Presidency
(3) The hostages still in Iran
(4) Did I mention the Original Village Idiot as Commander and Chief


Trust me if the economy doesn't pick up during Obama's second term, the tide will shift back to the Republicans.

 

[Tommy Lucchese]

If the GOP gets shut out again in '10, you guys are in huuuuuuuuuuuge trouble.

 

[Oscar Wao]

Heh, understatement...

 

[sealybobo]

If the GOP gets shut out again in '10, you guys are in huuuuuuuuuuuge trouble.

Other than busting each others balls on USMB, it really doesn't matter. Think about it. The GOP are irrelavent so what do the lobbyists do? They go after the "blue dog" democrats.

There is never a shortage of corrupt mother fuckers in Washington.

But at least the Dems don't pass anti labor bills and they even occasionally throw us a bone.

The GOP has to change. Not what they say, but how they vote. Notice they still refuse to change? Instead they will just wait for the public to turn on the Democrats.

And for you young folks, you need to realize what the GOP is saying right now is exactly what they were saying in the 90's. I think it was called the Contract With America. Sounds really good. But we see what they did with power. They sold us down the river to the international corporations. They didn't worry about the middle class at all.

They should never be trusted with power. They represent the top 10% at best so they should only have 10% of the seats in Congress.

 

[Oddball]

Don't you have some customers to whine about, slacker??

 

[GHook93]

If the GOP gets shut out again in '10, you guys are in huuuuuuuuuuuge trouble.

What do you mean if? 2010 is right around the corner. Getting shut out is a foregone conclusion. 2012 is where the GOP sinks further or begins to rise again.

 

[Sarah G]

I'm actually surprised that Zogby is reporting something so obvious.

 

[Sarah G]

Oh, it's a Newsmax story...

 

[sealybobo]

Don't you have some customers to whine about, slacker??

Check how much I have been on here today asswipe. Not much.

 

[sealybobo]

Don't you have some customers to whine about, slacker??

Don't you have some dicks to suck?

 

[eagleseven]

I seem to recall the Democrats being the party of NO back in 2005.

History repeats itself. *Yawn*

 

[MaggieMae]

Same thing as what happened to the smart Dems, Jill.

They got lost in a sea of stupid ones as the ___.N.C. leaderships pandered to the prejudices and confused thinking of the stupid in order to get their attention and their votes.

The winner of this process is the INDEPENDENTS but they are not organized, neither do these independents all agree on what needs be done.

Hence we have the case where the tail wags the dog because the dog doesn't have a single mind to stop it from happening.

I agree in part, but not in full. No question that there is a left wing of the dem party which isn't much brighter than the right wing of the repubs. I don't have a lot of use for them either. But the problems in the GOP go far deeper. There is a massive objection on the right to anyone who wants to work with the "other side" -- the whole RINO thing. I saw Lindsey Graham's frustration with it after the Sotomayor hearings. The fake and dangerous "populism"... the whole concept that anyone who disagrees with the radical right is "unamerican". You're smart, I don't need to explain it to you. You see it here every day.

The radical right is still a small minority, although more vociferous since the Internet. But they will not succeed in being relevant. Same goes with extreme liberalism. I saw Nancy Pelosi do exactly what Denny Hastert/Tom DeLay did when the Dems took a slight lead in 06 and an even larger lead in 08, and look where it's gotten her. She overreached with the Stimulus Bill, and Obama allowed her to rewrite it to suit her liberal following. (First lesson learned for Obama.) Now she's finding her House version of the health bill which she assumed would be lauded has instead been assailed and she's now scrambling to save face. (First lesson learned for Pelosi. I hope.)

 

[kwc57]

The GOP is a venerable institution and it is highly unlikely they will go away.

However, unless they are willing to expand beyond their conservative base - and they seem to be going the other way - they will be a minority party for quite some time, which is a bad thing IMHO. It is important that there are two robust parties so that one party does not control everything.

Expand beyond their conservative base?!?!?!?!???....You can't be serious.

The last election, the GOP nominated exactly the kind of squishy, appeasing, woibbly-kneed "moderate" all the supposed conventional wisdom claims that they need to run in order to win, and he got his ass kicked.

Look, I'm no Obama supporter, but if Ronald Reagan had been resurrected from the dead and ran against Obama, he likely would have gotten his ass kicked too. After W, the pendulum had swung and Obama was the first non-black black person to run and stand a chance.

Had Obama not gotten the Dem nomination, a squishy moderate would have stood a chance at winning and would have won over an uber-conservative.

 

[MaggieMae]

Question:

Are there more conservative Republicans in the Senate or "Blue Dog" Democrats?

Those labels don't really mean a god damned thing.

Seriously, they don't.

When we're talking about the future viability of the Republican Party they do.

If the Democrats continue to grow their numbers of moderates, conservatives even, the GOP faces losses from both sides of their political spectrum. The growing population groups could continue to find a home in the Democratic Party while the GOP continues to pander to a shrinking white Southern base...

The problem is neither party likes outright defectors. It's the way they will vote on important bills that defines them as being realists or panderers. This is an interesting forecast, albeit an early one. It has a map link and evaluation of what will become high profile battles in 2010 for certain house seats.

CQ Politics | 2010 House Outlook: Democrats Look Secure

 

[MaggieMae]

Those labels don't really mean a god damned thing.

Seriously, they don't.

When we're talking about the future viability of the Republican Party they do.

If the Democrats continue to grow their numbers of moderates, conservatives even, the GOP faces losses from both sides of their political spectrum. The growing population groups could continue to find a home in the Democratic Party while the GOP continues to pander to a shrinking white Southern base...

That might be true if it were happening, Washington Post poll though gives lie to the premise.

Read the whole poll. What you've seen in the RW media blitz only covers the last 3 questions, and even those show the independents (moderates) controlling the agenda.

Washington Post-ABC News (washingtonpost.com)

 

[Oscar Wao]

Those labels don't really mean a god damned thing.

Seriously, they don't.

When we're talking about the future viability of the Republican Party they do.

If the Democrats continue to grow their numbers of moderates, conservatives even, the GOP faces losses from both sides of their political spectrum. The growing population groups could continue to find a home in the Democratic Party while the GOP continues to pander to a shrinking white Southern base...

The problem is neither party likes outright defectors. It's the way they will vote on important bills that defines them as being realists or panderers. This is an interesting forecast, albeit an early one. It has a map link and evaluation of what will become high profile battles in 2010 for certain house seats.

CQ Politics | 2010 House Outlook: Democrats Look Secure

History speaks otherwise.

 

[MaggieMae]

The GOP is a venerable institution and it is highly unlikely they will go away.

However, unless they are willing to expand beyond their conservative base - and they seem to be going the other way - they will be a minority party for quite some time, which is a bad thing IMHO. It is important that there are two robust parties so that one party does not control everything.

Expand beyond their conservative base?!?!?!?!???....You can't be serious.

The last election, the GOP nominated exactly the kind of squishy, appeasing, woibbly-kneed "moderate" all the supposed conventional wisdom claims that they need to run in order to win, and he got his ass kicked.

No he didn't. In spite of the huge black turnout, and in spite of the demand for a 180 from the Booooooooosh years, McCain/Palin still didn't lose by a landslide like they should have.

 

[MaggieMae]

The GOP was never the "conservative movement". There was a separate conservative party and a conservative wing of the GOP. But mistaking right wing religious activists and "neo-cons" for "conservatives" is a huge part of the reason that the GOP is having problems.

And the more wingnuts usurp the party, the more problems the GOP will have.

It's not dead... everything is cyclical. But as long as the wingnuts think it's better politically to be the party of no, and offer nothing, no one benefits.

What happened to the smart repubs?

Be honest! The reason the GOP is having problems is:
(1) The economic meltdown and credit crisis happened right before the election.
(2) 8 yrs of GWB
(3) No WMDs found in Iraq and an expensive and unpopular war of choice over there!
(4) Did I mention the Village Idiot in charge of the US the previous 8 years!

Obama won, but nothing like how Reagan won! Surprisingly you can take a look and see similarities of the Republicans taking over in the 80s:
(1) Economic meltdown mared by Carter's stupid economics
(2) Carter's Presidency
(3) The hostages still in Iran
(4) Did I mention the Original Village Idiot as Commander and Chief


Trust me if the economy doesn't pick up during Obama's second term, the tide will shift back to the Republicans.

It won't shift as long as the Republicans don't offer any alternatives. And they'd better start talking it up instead of an occasional Boehner grandstanding "We have a plan..." and then leaving the room. They are splintered; they do not know what their platform SHOULD be. And until that happens, the only way they will win elections is by swiftboating every inconsequential issue that comes along (i.e., Gatesgate) and hoping the more ignorant among their supporters will think those are important enough to elect people to run an entire government.

 

[Oscar Wao]

The GOP is a venerable institution and it is highly unlikely they will go away.

However, unless they are willing to expand beyond their conservative base - and they seem to be going the other way - they will be a minority party for quite some time, which is a bad thing IMHO. It is important that there are two robust parties so that one party does not control everything.

Expand beyond their conservative base?!?!?!?!???....You can't be serious.

The last election, the GOP nominated exactly the kind of squishy, appeasing, woibbly-kneed "moderate" all the supposed conventional wisdom claims that they need to run in order to win, and he got his ass kicked.

No he didn't. In spite of the huge black turnout, and in spite of the demand for a 180 from the Booooooooosh years, McCain/Palin still didn't lose by a landslide like they should have.

Yes, he did. McCain won all the "typical" red states. Obama conquered a few of the "typicals," the battlegrounds, and the "usual" Dem states.

Moderates don't win elections. The way you present your message is how you win the election.