Thank the Lord!
March 24, 2007 at 3:54 am 4 comments
Ding! Dong! The Republican Party seems to be dying, if not quite dead.
From the Los Angeles Times:
Public allegiance to the Republican Party has plunged since the second year of George W. Bush’s presidency, as attitudes have edged away from some of the conservative values that fueled GOP political dominance for more than a decade, a major new survey has found.
The survey, by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center for People and the Press, found a “dramatic shift” in political party identification since 2002, when Republicans and Democrats were at rough parity. Now, half of those surveyed identified with or leaned toward Democrats, while only 35% aligned with Republicans.
That Bush and the myriad scandals issuing from his administration are bringing down the Republican Party is especially delicious because it shows the failure of Karl Rove’s strategy to achieve a GOP hegemony by dividing the electorate. The political attacks against gays, people of color, non-Christians and immigrants still have some currency, but their power has been diminished. The party sold its soul to extreme right-wing nutcases who claimed moral superiority and demanded that Americans adhere to their twisted values system or face retribution.
Of course, the Republicans are refusing to see the politically damaging writing on the wall.
Whit Ayres, a GOP pollster, said he believed the Pew poll exaggerates his party’s problems and that the situation will improve as attention shifts to choosing Bush’s successor.
“Once we have new nominees to redefine the Republican and Democratic party in 2008, then we will have a far more level playing field than we have today,” Ayres said.
And that’s just fine by me.
This doesn’t mean that Democrats can sit on their asses and expect voters to come to them. They seriously need to grow a pair (or two), hit hard and advocate for the things that Americans care about like universal healthcare, improved public education, global warming and ending the war in Iraq.
Entry filed under: Conservatives, Democrats, George Bush, Politics, Republicans.
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Bloggernista 
1.
madmouser | March 24, 2007 at 6:59 am
You live in a different world, somewhere in LALA land. No true American would want to be a Democrat and turn their backs on our military while at war.
2.
bloggernista | March 24, 2007 at 10:15 am
Mouser you really are mad if you think the GOP gives a hoot about our troops. Have yu not been paying attention? First Bush sends them to fight an unnecessary war without a strategy to achieve success, without the needed equipment including body armour and without the proper training, then he insists on sending even more troops as the Iraq descends into civil war and when injured troops come home they are treatment like animals at Walter Reed.
All of this and you can’t get past you partisan bull?
3.
Kulia | March 24, 2007 at 10:30 am
A true American would not want to be a Democrat? Madmouser, have you been living in a cave?
I live in VIRGINIA, and am pretty damn sure that there are few who would publicly admit to having ever even been a Republican after all that party has done to destroy America both internally through the internal military draft (IA Program), horrible foriegn policy and an inability to stay honest.
I understand your position, if you’ve been living in a mouse hole for the last eight years with occasional bursts from Fox “news” – but otherwise you must be blind as a mouse!
4.
Brent | March 24, 2007 at 11:16 pm
I will agree that the Republican Party has been damaged. But it isn’t because of conservatism. It’s because of the lack of it.
George W. Bush is a Republican. But he is NOT leading a conservative movement as Reagan and Gingrich once did. There aren’t many true conservatives left in government.
Until we have real conservative leadership, I’m afraid the Republican Party is totally screwed.
Not too many people are talking about Fred Thompson or Newt Gingrich right now, because they aren’t officially running. But if they decide to run, I can see a huge shift in the future outlook of the movement. A Thompson/Gingrich ticket will save the Party, even if they don’t win the election. But I think that they can win.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. It’s not about parties anymore. It’s about ideology and leadership. It’s about conservatives and liberals, especially because of community involvement, due to the Internet.
Times are a changin’. It’s a good thing. Movements move people, not politics.