I heard that the Republican ‘brand’ was damaged ‘beyond repair’ for the first time in 1975. I heard it again in January of 1977. I heard it again in 1992 and 1993.
It ignores the simple fact that 46 million voted for ‘the other guy’ this time around, one that spend much of the previous seven years intentionally pissing off the entire GOP base.
We also heard the same said about the Democratic Party in 1981, 1984, 1988, and again in 02, 04.
Its become something of an urban myth that is predicated on which party won the last race or two, and ignores history.
The reason we self destructed is largely because of divisions within our base that even with this loss and devastation shows absolutely no sign of healing.
The party was doing OK until divisive issues emerged and were pushed to the forefront by various associated and like minded groups within. These issues and issues like them were previously given less priority and were generally overlooked when they interfered with party unity which was viewed by most as being more important then the issue.
That has undeniably changed in favor of continuous churn and turmoil as various groups fight to win power and thus their issue advocacy within the party with little or no importance placed on coalition building and retention.
This mindset while not entirely new, has now become prevalent and I see no reversal, much less healing within what once was a broad based coalition of various interests with a common platform.
While nothing would please me more then a return to the Reagan era coalition, I don't believe it to be possible unless and until the damages have been mitigated by time and a new mindset reemerges.
Four years does not seem to be enough time, and much pain needs to be endured to change a mindset. This is why I said what I said.
There has been so much effort by the democrats to damage our brand that the destruction is almost 100%. They still continue to do it and I see the results right here on this forum everyday. All this has to be overcome before we can regain ground, and the dem's must self destruct as well.
6-8 years maybe, but four seems unlikely at this time and in four years, with this mess running the show, there may well be no Washington DC to reclaim.