What will the GOP do now...

[sandorski]

Republicans are too eager to War Monger. That needs to end. The US has the means to wage War, but Americans don't have the Will to wage War without a damn good reason. WW2, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan were/are Wars where the Will has existed and were sustainable. Other than those though and the Leaders who War monger quickly fall out of favour.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Republicans are too eager to War Monger. That needs to end. The US has the means to wage War, but Americans don't have the Will to wage War without a damn good reason. WW2, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and Afghanistan were/are Wars where the Will has existed and were sustainable. Other than those though and the Leaders who War monger quickly fall out of favour.

True...

Bill Clinton at the 2008 Dem convention....

"People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power."

 

[yowolabi]

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Lemon law
If anything, the religious right is the biggest loser.

I don't think it is that simple.

Look at the gay marriage amendments that passed even in California.

The problem the Republicans have is that the religious right as a political movement only includes whites when it should include blacks and hispanics who have similar religious and cultural views.

What the party really needs to work on is breaking through the false 'Republicans are racist' view that exists and get more minorities into the party.

You say false, I say potato. The republican platform might not be inherently racist, but the party seems to be far more welcoming of racists than it is of minorities. Any black person that talked to 10 random die-hard republicans, wouldn't have to wait long to hear something offensive.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: yowolabi

Originally posted by: ProfJohn

Originally posted by: Lemon law
If anything, the religious right is the biggest loser.

I don't think it is that simple.

Look at the gay marriage amendments that passed even in California.

The problem the Republicans have is that the religious right as a political movement only includes whites when it should include blacks and hispanics who have similar religious and cultural views.

What the party really needs to work on is breaking through the false 'Republicans are racist' view that exists and get more minorities into the party.

You say false, I say potato. The republican platform might not be inherently racist, but the party seems to be far more welcoming of racists than it is of minorities. Any black person that talked to 10 random die-hard republicans, wouldn't have to wait long to hear something offensive.

He is right that all republicans are not racist, but almost all racists are republicans...

If you look at the republican rallies you saw a whole lot of white people, angry, scared white people... Its not a picture that most minorities want to associate with. I am white and I dont even want to associate with it.

 

[m1ldslide1]

I'll probably end up splattering this on several threads, but this article on fixing the GOP from Slate is awesome:

http://www.slate.com/id/2203800/entry/2203801/
(Make sure to click on all of the pages to get the full effect)

A highlight:

Once the party figures out what it's for?or more precisely, against?it ought to stick to its story. People respect principle, even if they disagree with it. That was Ron Paul's secret. (The gold standard? Who's for that? Didn't matter. Paul seemed like he sincerely was.) Let's say you spent decades extolling the genius of the free market, then, the moment an economic crisis struck, your first instinct was to swoop in and nationalize entire industries.


People might begin to suspect you weren't really sincere in the first place. They might also wonder if you ever really understood your own policies. You could lose an entire election over something like that.

Finally, after the party has settled on what it believes, it ought to go shopping for a leader. I recommend someone who speaks fluent English. This matters, it turns out, and not just for aesthetic reasons. In a democracy, eloquence is a basic condition of leadership. A president has a moral as well as a political obligation to explain his program. His constitutional powers are limited to just a few (war, the veto). His real authority comes from persuasion.

It helps if you can talk.

 

[Puffnstuff]

Well what I would say is that many minorities are conservative but are turned off by the religious segment of the republican party. I'm a middle of the road kind of guy and yes I'm a republican however I hate it when the bible beaters start up their crap. I believe that the big R would fare much better if they would jetison the catering to this portion of the party.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: Puffnstuff
Well what I would say is that many minorities are conservative but are turned off by the religious segment of the republican party. I'm a middle of the road kind of guy and yes I'm a republican however I hate it when the bible beaters start up their crap. I believe that the big R would fare much better if they would jetison the catering to this portion of the party.

I agree they should... But getting rid of that large a portion of the party will make it hard to win. Its a really tough spot to be in (not that I am shedding any tears). =)

 

[Moonbeam]

What should happen to the Republican party is the same thing that is happening to the Polio virus. You have done enough crippling of this great country.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

The Republican Party dug their own grave the second they started pandering to the religious right and anti-intellectualism crowd. They cannot win a national election relying on White America. They absolutely need to find a way to be more inclusive, especially with minorities.

They have no message, no footing, no principles. They are morally and intellectually bankrupt. The Republican Party as it stands today is a dying breed. Hopefully something good will rise out of the ashes because the Democrats having full control isn't a good thing either.

 

[Mani]

Originally posted by: loki8481

Originally posted by: Mani
If the republicans do just what the "base" of the party is calling for right now - jettisoning the moderates, it will make them even more of an irrelevant minority than they are right now. Rush, Hannity, and their ilk just have serious trouble coming to terms with the fact that their views are way out of the mainstream and in fact on the lunatic fringe in many cases.

it's not just the base that's calling for it, though. republican moderates are consistently getting voted out of office.

And they are winning in places Republicans normally wouldn't have a prayer. Pawlenty, Schwarzenegger, Bloomberg, etc. Moderate republicans aren't losing because they are moderate - the ones that were displaced mostly were because they were running in blue states/districts to start with and were caught in the nationwide GOP purge.

if we held a convention of GOP moderates today, it may as well be called the unemployment line.

The base will always have their candidates, who do well in solid red states. But as the nation has moved left, many of those far right candidates have started to get challenged for their spots. Look at Allen in VA two years ago. Or Dole this election in NC. And solidly red states had their far-right candidates challenged by centrist dems like in Kentucky, Georgia, and Mississippi. The problem with the GOP is not its moderates, it's been the lack of them.

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

This thread is entirely too civil and well-reasoned for ATP&N. You monkeys need to start flinging some poo or I'm gonna check out.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
What should happen to the Republican party is the same thing that is happening to the Polio virus. You have done enough crippling of this great country.

LOL - that might be extreme... but there is some truth to it.

More likely the religious right that took over the party did the damage. If they go back to thier basic principals of small govt. low taxes, pro business, govt. out of our private lives they will be fine.

 

[uclaLabrat]

The republicans have built a message on fear, greed, selfishness and animosity. It works to win elections too, as long as they have a common enemy. However, when the infighting between the different factions began, the enemy was the one within, and they've spent the last few years purging themselves, basically waging a civil war between the social and fiscal conservatives. We'll see who wins.

Fiscally this country needs to move to the right. Socially, it needs to move to the left.

 

[Lemon law]

Originally posted by: uclaLabrat
The republicans have built a message on fear, greed, selfishness and animosity. It works to win elections too, as long as they have a common enemy. However, when the infighting between the different factions began, the enemy was the one within, and they've spent the last few years purging themselves, basically waging a civil war between the social and fiscal conservatives. We'll see who wins.

Fiscally this country needs to move to the right. Socially, it needs to move to the left.

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No, I think uclaLabrat misses much of the point. The GOP has long had success selling a message of fear, greed, selfishness, and animosity, slice and dice the various constituencies, get 50.1%, and no matter who you offend in the 49.9%, it can last forever.

There are two fatal problems with such a strategy and GWB&co managed to run a foul of both.

1. You have to deliver prosperity to your 50.1 % base, when times get bad for everyone, the allure of that seductive music dies. Even after running up 4 trillion in public debt, the economy keeps going down. Not only is it killing main street, but when even gasp Wall Street Starts really hurting, the end is already there as the election of 11/08 showed. We are not better than we were 4 years ago and much worse off than we were eight years ago. For everyone but a tiny percentage of the population, that is undeniable fact.

2. While the American 49.9% is perhaps too complacent, the my way or the highway flops everywhere else that its tried. And when even 5% of the populations of Iraq and Afghanistan are ready to grab their guns rather than take the GWB bullshit and neglect, its just something the GOP is unprepared to even anticipate.

 

[SagaLore]

In 2012, the Republican party is going to have to find a moderate female Presidential candidate and a conservative hispanic VP.

 

[retrospooty]

Originally posted by: SagaLore
In 2012, the Republican party is going to have to find a moderate female Presidential candidate and a conservative hispanic VP.

Its funny. I just saw on CNN.com how the republican conservative leadership is blaming moderate republicans for the loss. LOL. I guess its impossible for these freaks to look at themselves in a fair light. They are too busy basking in the halo.

 

[Mursilis]

Originally posted by: retrospooty

Originally posted by: SagaLore
In 2012, the Republican party is going to have to find a moderate female Presidential candidate and a conservative hispanic VP.

Its funny. I just saw on CNN.com how the republican conservative leadership is blaming moderate republicans for the loss. LOL. I guess its impossible for these freaks to look at themselves in a fair light. They are too busy basking in the halo.

Depends on which moderates they're talking about. I have no use for fiscal moderates, who seemed to combine the worst of both worlds (low taxes AND high spending), and blame them tremendously for selling out, but I don't think the social moderates have harmed the party.

 

[Siddhartha]

I am not sure if the Republicans have to do anything. This election was all about George W Bush. He is gone. The classic Republican issues can easily still be the issues they run on in 2012.