You sir, need to go back on your meds. You are an ideologue who would prefer that candidates like Ogonowski lose. Your mindless criticism is not a strategy for victory for the GOP. I suppose you would like to replace Snowe and Collins as well with more conservative candidates, but the people in Hell would like ice water. What you condsider negativity and sarcasm is called political reality. I see no concrete solutions coming from you except for some emotional generalizations and exhortations. People like Ogonowski are in the arena doing more than just talking. He deserves our support not your negative criticism.
How about the MA posters telling you the same thing ? They're fed up with candidates offering them nothing but Socialist or Socialist-lite alternatives, because these are non-alternatives.
Then they should participate in the political process instead of just criticizing the lack of alteratives. Have you ever run for political office?
You have a very dubious grasp on politics, I'm afraid. Without that "Southern Strategy", the Republican party would be in the supreme minority. Did it ever occur to you that many in those states where liberalism ran amok under both parties that millions of people have voted with their feet and moved south and west ? My family did, otherwise I'd have been a New Yorker today. Without the foresight of Nixon to go into areas that had been previously hostile to the GOP, our party might've folded already. It's too bad you seem to think such vision is wrong-headed.
You are the one without a grasp on politics and reality. The movement of the Dems in the South to the GOP has more to do with the actions of the Dem party than anything that the Reps have done. LBJ knew that the the Dem support of civil rights would hurt them in the South, which was the conservative wing of the Dem party. The Dixiecrats, George Wallace, et. al. were examples of the fissures within the Dem party that preceded Nixon or LBJ. .
The movement of people from the Northeast and liberal states to the South and West are not the prime reasons why the South is now the power base of the GOP. Your anecdotal evidence just doesn't wash.
News flash, pal. The media and the rodents can openly display bigotry towards the South and just about anything Conservative or Republican. Get it, they're leftist, and they hate us. It's that simple. Most of your old-line racist Democrats from the South died as Democrats. You'd be hard pressed to find many living examples of those old-timer Dixiecrats as Republicans today. The only one of prominence who switched was Strom Thurmond, and after he switched, he embraced Civil Rights and consistently received the highest percentage of the Black vote of any prominent Republican in the South.
Long on emotion, short on facts. Plenty of "old-line" Dems shifted over to the GOP, including many who held elected office. You don't have such a seismic shift in the political landscape without wholesale defections. Here are some former Southern Dems who are now Reps: Senator Shelby wiltched after being elected as a Dem to the senate; Albert Watson [R-SC], Bill Archer [R-TX], Jesse Helms [two years before he ran for the Senate], Trent Lott, Miles Goodwin [Governor of Virginia], Elizabet Dole, Phil Gramm, Andy Ireland [R-FL], Richard Baker [R-LA], Bill Grant [R-FL], Waltern Jones [R-NC], Jimmy Hayesw [R-LA], Billy Tauzin [R-LA], Natthan Deal [R-GA], Mike Parker [R-MS], Sonny Perdue, Ralph Hall [R-TX], and many, many more.
States swing back and forth. You'd have been sounding the alarm about Colorado in the early '70s when it went against the national trend ahead of Watergate... only to swing back to the Republicans again. Most of your states that are due to gain seats after the next apportionment are in Republican leaning ones.
Demography is destiny. I have a home in Scottsdale, AZ. I can tell you that AZ is becoming more liberal and more Dem as the demographics change [half of the those under 21 are Hispanic] and there has been an influx of white liberals from CA, CO, NV, and NM are changing similarly. Hispanics, who comprised 16% of Arizona's population in the 1970s, now are approaching 30% of the population. Over 40% are under the age of 18.
NOVA has been trending that way for some time, because of the influx of superrich liberal big gov't types. They mess their nests where they come from and come elsewhere to successful areas to spread their cancer.
It depends on how you describe for some time, but Fairfax County went for Kerry, the first time that has happened in over 40 years when Goldwater ran. I have seen the changes over the past 30 years I have lived in the area on and off. It is not only the super-rich liberals moving in, but also Hispanics. There is a reason why Herndon, Prince William County, Loudon County, Manassas, etc. are passing anti-illegal immigrant laws. Close to 30% of Fairfax County residents are foreign born.
And with that, our discussion is concluded. I've tolerated your nonsense long enough. When you wish to have a mature discussion, you let me know. Have a nice day.