Do all country club Republicans think like tards? Her argument reminds me of the reaction after 9/11: "Al-Qaeda has attacked us. Let's get Saddam!"
Here are quotes from her column and my responses:
"In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle."
Yes, surveys clearly show that moderates went for Obama because the GOP panders to born-agains. The prospect of The Great Depression 2.0 had nothing to do with it. And don't give me the "Palin Screwed It Up For Us" argument. If there are people who decided against the Republican ticket because of Palin, it was because they perceived her as being stupid. They never got past that. The lesson there is to pick candidates who instill confidence, not that evangelical candidates are losers.
"Anyone watching the two conventions last summer can't have missed the stark differences: One party was brimming with energy, youth and diversity; the other felt like an annual Depends sales meeting."
Right, nursing home residents speak in tongues, but young people have nothing to do with all that stuff. All those born-again clubs I see on campus are just anomalies. Here are the percentage of people who say they are born again by age group (GSS):
Percent who are born again
18-29 33.9
30-44 37.2
45-59 36.2
60 plus 35.9
That's 18 million born-again young adults. The only young people Kathleen is aware of are the ones she reads about in the New York Times.
"The young will get older, of course. Most eventually will marry, and some will become their parents. But nonwhites won't get whiter."
Exactly, all those black and Hispanics reject the GOP because it's too religious and anti-science. And evangelism is a wacky, white thing:
Percent who are born again
Blacks 60.1
Hispanics 31.8
Parker calls for a new Republican base. Perhaps secularists? A whole 20.6% of those who never attend church voted for that famous holy roller Bob Dole. All we have to do is kick out the oogedy-boogedy Christians, and the secularists will come running.
New York City Republicans should become the center of the party. That there are six of them and 100 million born-agains isn't the point; the NYC-ers are way cooler.
(By the way, I'm not an evangelical. Not even close.)
No shit. The Republican electoral strategy is actually working fine IMHO. Sometimes you just can't win.
ReplyDeleteIf anything you guys need to figure out how to sneak an intelligent candidate past your base. Romney was basically sunk by anti-Mormonism.
Well said. She's right that non-whites are not getting any whiter. Of course, there is no time in which they were. As far back as exit polling by race extends (1980), the GOP has never won the non-white vote and has never lost the white vote. Increasing the size of an electoral bloc that consistently votes against you while rejecting one that always backs you is... well, characteristic of the parasitic neocon illness that has infected the Republican party.
ReplyDeletejesus freaks is what i hate most about the republicans. she got it right on for me.
ReplyDeleteI think she's right, but I hope the Republicans don't take her advice. They can't possibly win much longer by playing to (and only to) the creationists on the right. It just turns off too much of the middle. Just look at the reaction Palin -- the quintessential Christianist moron -- got.
ReplyDeleteAudacious -- Palin is a neocon. Evangelicals are strong supporters of both Israel and Christian efforts against Muslims in Africa. Along with buying and freeing slaves in Africa. Palin as Governor had an Israeli flag in her office and spoke out in support of Israel long before being picked by McCain.
ReplyDeleteThe evangelical base of the Party is neocon. Inconvenient for you I know, but there it is.
I don't know if I'd call the evangelicals neocons. They may be pro-Israel, but that's like calling the Catholic Church left-wing because they're against the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think trying to be anti-Israel isn't a winning position for anyone right now (and I say this as someone who thinks AIPAC has gotten too powerful). You might try to work directly within the religious community to turn them against Israel; dispensationalism never made that much sense to me, though I'm not a believer. But for any paleocon, apart from the Israel thing, the evangelicals are your people.
And I think the Bible-thumping is a great strategy. Sometimes outside events intervene and you can't win. Do you really think losing in 1976 was something the Republicans could have overcome with good strategy? the country was disgusted with nixon after watergate and wanted to punish the party. Similarly, when the economy tanks fast, you lose the election. Period. Try again in four years. The country believes in Jesus and despises snooty people with graduate degrees in New York and Boston. It still will in four years.
I'm not sure why Evangelicals are so unpopular. I personally am very opposed to teaching creationism, but it's not an unpopular view.
ReplyDeleteNor is the anti-pro-choice position unpopular. Nor public display of religious symbols.
And while I personally believe there is enormous room for our MidEast policy to move away from Israel, a firm pro-Israel approach is clearly the most popular.
So what exactly is it about having Evangelical support that should be so damaging to Republican electoral hopes?
Evangelicals are much more pleasant company than jewish atheists, that's for sure. A far less corrosive social force, too.
ReplyDeleteThe reality is the GOP were outspent by the liberal illuminati. Then they were also viewed in a negative light by the media.
ReplyDeleteThe media's liberal and has been for years. You just got screwed because the economy crashed before the election. Give Obama four years.
ReplyDelete