The Future of the Republican Party

[jazzcyclist]

Who will win the upcoming civil war for control of the Republican party, the dittoheads or the eggheads?

Jim Nuzzo, a White House aide to the first President Bush, dismissed Mrs Palin's critics as "cocktail party conservatives" who "give aid and comfort to the enemy".

He told The Sunday Telegraph: "There's going to be a bloodbath. A lot of people are going to be excommunicated. David Brooks and David Frum and Peggy Noonan are dead people in the Republican Party. The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

Mr Frum thinks that Mrs Palin's brand of cultural conservatism appeals only to a dwindling number of voters.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... party.html

[Conor Dary]

Actually, neither. It will be the Democrats who are coming out of this the real winners, just like they will next Tuesday.

[bad hammy]

The Republican party has been a coalition of special interest groups who are wary of each other but have enjoyed their shared ability to wield power for quite some time now. This election has the potential to see a major split, but conventional wisdom says they lick their wounds and regroup rather than break apart.

Personally I'd say that they would be nuts to split over Palin or to allow her to have any power in the future whatsoever, but that is neither my call nor my worry. If she were smart she'd turn this newfound publicity into a highly-paid Bill O'Reilly-type gig on Fox News.

[Marlow]

Re: The Future of the Republican Party

The litmus test will be: where did you stand on Palin?"

Wow - really? That seems like a disaster-in-waiting to me. Palin the person and Palin the conservative platform are two entirely different entities. You could easily appreciate her old-school conservative views, but not like the person she is. I like W and McCain just fine as people. I think they both mean (very) well and have admirable traits (obviously - McCain is a true American hero), but I wouldn't vote for either one for town dog-catcher.

Q: Did McCain outwit himself in picking Palin in terms of a female Bradley Effect? Did he actually lose conservative votes from people (men AND women) who simply won't vote a woman into the White House?

[bad hammy]

Re: The Future of the Republican Party

Q: Did McCain outwit himself in picking Palin in terms of a female Bradley Effect? Did he actually lose conservative votes from people (men AND women) who simply won't vote a woman into the White House?

Rather than 'a' woman, I think the problem is 'that' woman, at least for centrist Republicans.

[jazzcyclist]

Actually, neither. It will be the Democrats who are coming out of this the real winners, just like they will next Tuesday.

Huh? :? I'm talking about the future of the Republican party, not the election. I assume that the Republicans do plan on fielding a Presidential candidate in 2012. Will it be someone from the Rush Limbaugh/James Dobson wing or from the Chuck Hagel/George Will wing?

[Marlow]

George Will?

I disgree with him a lot, but I admire his intellect and find my own views challenged by his logic. Same held true for William F. Buckley.

[Conor Dary]

Actually, neither. It will be the Democrats who are coming out of this the real winners, just like they will next Tuesday.

Huh? :? I'm talking about the future of the Republican party, not the election. I assume that the Republicans do plan on fielding a Presidential candidate in 2012. Will it be someone from the Rush Limbaugh/James Dobson wing or from the Chuck Hagel/George Will wing?

An analogy is 3 guys are in a mile race with two of the runners brothers. Suppose at the start the two brothers get into an argument and start pummeling each other, while the other guy keeps running. The question which will win soon becomes irrelevant.


When both sides lose in the end, which the Republicans will if they keep on like this, what does it matter who controls the party.


As one liberal blogger, Kevin Drum, puts it:

"But times change. Among vast swathes of the young, the culture war has lost its salience. Worse, it's become an albatross, a sign of intolerance and hatred that young voters despise. The results are crystal clear in party ID polling: twenty-somethings have fled the Republican Party in numbers not seen since the Great Depression, and if social conservatives manage to wrest control of the GOP and start shrieking 24/7 about banning abortion and hating gay people, they'll be guaranteeing Democratic dominance among an entire cohort of voters for decades to come.

Which is fine with me, of course. But the adults in the Republican Party better plan on knocking heads very hard and very fast if they don't share my attitude. Sarah Palin isn't the future of their party, she's the future of mine."

P.S. From Politico.com "In convo with Playbook, a top McCain adviser one-ups the priceless “diva” description, calling her “a whack job.”

[jazzcyclist]

As one liberal blogger, Kevin Drum, puts it:

"Sarah Palin isn't the future of their party, she's the future of mine."

That's a great quote. :lol:

[gh]

Here's an insightful column from David Brooks of the NYT on the Republicans and "class warfare" which I think is germane here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opini ... wanted=all

[jazzcyclist]

Here's an insightful column from David Brooks of the NYT on the Republicans and "class warfare" which I think is germane here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/10/opini ... wanted=all

McCain dismisses people like Brooks as "Georgetown Cocktail Party Republicans". :P

[donley2]

The Republican party has been a coalition of special interest groups who are wary of each other but have enjoyed their shared ability to wield power for quite some time now.

Is that not almost verbatim the same line the R's have been using to describe the D's for several decades now?

[JRM]

Back in the 90s, the Canadian political landscape was re-written when the reviled ruling party (the Progressive Conservatives) were literally voted off the map. They went from a majority in Parliament to holding 3 seats (one of whom, Elsie Wayne from New Brunswick, would have been elected regardless of her party affiliation).

I sometimes imagine that will happen in the US next week, but then I remember that there are only two parties... Perhaps this "future of the Republican party" thread can also address the "future of the two-party system"?

[bad hammy]

The Republican party has been a coalition of special interest groups who are wary of each other but have enjoyed their shared ability to wield power for quite some time now.

Is that not almost verbatim the same line the R's have been using to describe the D's for several decades now?

Perhaps, but I do not believe there is nearly the polarization on the Dem side that you have on the Rep side with the religious right, the neocons and the centrists.

[donley2]

[quote=bad hammy]

The Republican party has been a coalition of special interest groups who are wary of each other but have enjoyed their shared ability to wield power for quite some time now.

Is that not almost verbatim the same line the R's have been using to describe the D's for several decades now?

Perhaps, but I do not believe there is nearly the polarization on the Dem side that you have on the Rep side with the religious right, the neocons and the centrists.[/quote:1h8qy2r2]

I seriously doubt the R's are now more divided than the D's have been on several occasions over the last few decades.