Honey, I Shrunk the GOP

American Spectator ^ | April 29, 2009 | W. James Antle, III

[RobinMasters]

Both demography and Bush have gotten the Republican Party to where it is now. Republicans faced long-term demographic challenges even when they were still in the majority. If the racial/ethnic composition of the electorate was the same in 2008 as in 1976, John McCain would have won the popular vote. Republicans have been unable to significantly increase their share of the black vote since it was decimated by the Goldwater campaign in 1964.

Asians went from supporting George H.W. Bush more strongly than any other group besides white evangelical Christians in 1992 to becoming a Democratic bloc today. And of course, there is the rising Hispanic vote, which neither the Tancredo nor the McCain wings of the party knows how to win.

[nyconse]

Good article...Sadly Bush has damaged the GOP as much as Carter damaged the libs. I don’t know how go on from here.

[chicagolady]

Illinois VETERANS are SILENCED, by Illinois GOP!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SXVONxmXVQ&feature=related

[Chi-townChief]

Little confused here - don’t we want to shrink the party back to the conservative base rather than expanding for the “RINOs” ???

[CaspersGh0sts]

The Asian bloc is the one I simply don’t understand. Frankly, the policies of the Rats more directly countervail the Asian ethic of hard work, family unity, and enjoying the fruits of one’s labor more than any other racial demographic.

And yet they charge off the cliffs for the Rats.

The demographic problem is huge, though. Whites simply aren’t having enough kids, and well, the black vote isn’t going anywhere.

[nyconse]

Not if we ever want to be in the majority again...the conservative base is essential to win elections, but is not enough by itself...lol

[rarestia]

Can anyone speak to the nature of society in Asia? Specifically, I’m curious if the Asians are ga-ga for socialism, but at the same time, they are hard workers and support family values, etc. One would think that if corruption wasn’t an issue, Christian leaders would be excellent for a nation, but sadly, the idiots on Capitol Hill are more concerned with keeping their jobs than representing the people.

Time for term limits, plain and simple!

[dirtboy]

I disagree with the core premises of this article. What we are seeing is the electorate getting sick and tired of the corruption of the party in charge. The GOP had a mandate during most of the Bush era and squandered it on petty corruption and pork. The Dems are now doing the same, and Rasmussen already has the GOP ahead on generic Congressional ballots. IMO the electorate will see the corruption and overreaching of the Dems in 2010 and start shifting back to the GOP.

It is up to the GOP to decide if it wants to stand behind the Reagan Dem/Working stiff pubbie and give that shift some staying power. It was the likes of Dick Armey who made the AIG debacle possible (the same Dick Armey who was an advisor for McCain and called Americans whiners). That asinine element needs to be stricken from the GOP. The GOP has to stand for rational regulation of financial markets, for conservation instead of enviormentalism, for working to generate more domestic energy, both oil and nuclear, to make the case that fighting illegal immigration helps the wages of working stiffs AND improves quality of life (instead of letting the libs and corporatists paint such opposition as bigotry), and that the GOP will once again embrace enumerated rights. All while demanding a higher level of integrity in the GOP, to contrast the likes of Chris Dodd. IMO that is the path back.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

Good article...Sadly Bush has damaged the GOP as much as Carter damaged the libs. I don’t know how go on from here.

I'd argue that the last Republican majority in both houses of Congress did far more to damage the GOP than Bush, and that makes the GOP's problem much more difficult. If GOP congressmen gorge on taxpayer funded pork as greedily as Democrats, protect members involved in sex scandals and refuse to stand up for basic conservative concepts like limited government and free markets, what good is the GOP?

Arlen Spector illustrates the nature of the GOP today - Bush and the GOP leadership supported this man despite the fact that he is not a conservative because guiding principles no longer matter to the GOP - gaining power and hanging on to it do. Spector left for precisely the same reason - he thinks he can get re-elected as a Democrat, and the principles that made him a Republican are replaceable. And so we have today's GOP.

[lone star annie]

I agree. You don’t go from a majority to a super minority because of a successful Presidency. Bush was a disaster and gave us communism. Even before he left office, he could have been little Barak with his crackpot bailouts and TARP. This wrecklessness gave Obama and the RATS enormous cover by saying Bush recommended the bailouts.

I hope I never see the likes of him again. He was nothing more than an elitest who talked tough on terror. He could not even get permanent tax cuts. I think even his “tough on Terror” was a failed policy because he left the borders wide open. He would have been better off taking a tough stand on border enforcemnt and not tackling Iraq.

After 9/11 he could have shut the borders down with popular support. Now we have a demographic in this country that ensures over 40 years of the GOP wandering in the wilderness. To me, he was much worse than Nixon.

[Hawk1976]

The faster this whole sick system the Democrats have crafted collapses the better. No man has the right to live off of another. The faster the better.

The Whites are going to become America’s version of the Jews before too much longer. Every other group will look at us as the cause of their problems, despite what they did to themselves. That is the lesson I took from the election.

I wish it would be different, but it won’t be.

I’m not lumping everybody in an ethnic group together, just it won’t be enough to make a difference.

[gusopol3]

the GOP just got outspent by 10-1 on the books in the last election, let alone the hundreds of millions of free disguised campaign ads in the coverage of BO by the networks and every other media outlet, including the wilding of Sarah Palin. This financial discrepancy was at least partially due to obama's gaming the system by the tap on the brakes of pledging to accept public financing, then flooring it with bundling of Wall Street and corporate cash, foreign contributions ,etc. For this he bought about about 5 m votes that would otherwise not have turned out, thus claiming a 54-46% victory (not of Nixonesque or Reaganesque proportions), instead of the 51.5-48.5% that would have left him several votes short of the filibuster proof Senate majority. Anyone not including these facts in the analysis is setting up a straw man, at least from the conservative side, to make the glory hallelujahs all the louder at the glorious resurrection of the GOP in the next election cycle.

[Dreagon]

Blaming the whole thing on Bush just plays into the Democrats hands.
The problem with this party is that it isn’t really willing to sell what it stands for. It treats Christian Conservatives as people that should be seen and not heard, instead of defending their values as something that should be promoted. The parties fear of being called “haters” on issues from gay marriage, abortion, and hate laws have resulted in them already conceding the argument to the liberals, while relying on the votes of people who’s position they are no longer willing to defend or promote.
Thats the real recipe for failure.

[precisionshootist]

The Media is the main problem. The media is engaged in deception 24/7 and it’s taking it’s toll. If we don’t somehow stop the constant lying to the people we will lose our freedoms. We need to demand an investigation of media deception and ties to the anti-american left. The media is protected by freedom of speech but that does not give the right to commit fruad which is what they are doing. peronally I don’t see anything even on the horizon that is going to reverse this trend. We simply have too many voters that don’t have a clue they are voting for their own demise.

[roses of sharon]

Balderdash...the GOP is shrinking because modern day Americans vote for the party that will give them the most government goodies!

Republicans/Conservatives can come back when they decide on a battle plan to beat the big gov DNC propaganda machine, ie, the MSM/Hollywood/Academia.

This will allow us to begin teaching again...the constitution, American history, and economics.

[Chi-townChief]

Of course not but many have called for the ejection of Specter and clowns like him so until they are replaced with conservatives,the GOP will have to deal with minority status like in ‘64, ‘76, ‘92, etc.

[Chi-townChief]

I agree - that’s what the liberals want you to do.

[lone star annie]

I can tell you this an activist, the GOP have the worst consultants ever. They are totally out of touch and don’t have a clue as to how to run a campaign.

I think McCain was sabotaged by that Mark Zandi of Moody’s. He is on TV all the time touting the Obama stimulus plan and how good it will be for the ecnomy. He was McCain’s economic advisor and not he is an Obama cheerleader and one of the only economists that thought that the “stimulus” plan was great.

[nyconse]

I agree with you 100%...this dump the RINO’s push will leave us weaker and unable to stop the Dems in the foreseeable future. I don’t like Spector...but what did the GOP expect...they were going to primary him...he would lose. In the end, Toomey won’t win a general election...one more Dem for Obama-stupid is as stupid does...we have to win.