From Tom Edsall at Huff Post:
GOP aspirants [to head the RNC] face the possibility of a nightmare scenario: taking the helm of a party so weighed down by doctrinaire hard-liners and hectoring moralists that no one, especially an RNC chair, will be able to change course and avoid a tsunami of culturally disinhibited, secularizing 'creatives,' Hispanics, African Americans, and a young netroot-savvy demographic cohort larger than the Baby Boom....
The single largest block of Republican votes is made up of conservative white Christian evangelicals, who cast 4 out of every 10 ballots McCain received. These voters are overwhelmingly anti-abortion; they see homosexuality as a sin and as voluntary; many believe that women are subordinate and obliged to submit to the authority of men. These deeply held beliefs are increasingly out of tune with an electorate that has, in the main, come to terms with the sexual and women's rights revolution. Such trends are one of the reasons that the only age group McCain carried is people 65 and older - the voters who will die soonest....
With the near elimination of GOP moderates from the House and Senate, the short term direction of the party on the national front will most likely be determined by its conservative wing.
House Republican Leader John Boehner, no slouch on the ideological front (100 percent rating from the American Conservative Union in 2007), faces a challenge from the right for his leadership post by California Congressman Dan Lungren, whose appeal to a broad electorate was demonstrated in the 1998 California gubernatorial contest when he lost to Gray Davis by 1.46 million votes, 39-59.
Nothing is set in stone. I remember back in 1992, when I worked for Ted Stevens, Republicans thought it was the end of the world when Bill Clinton got elected. They were in the minority in the House and Senate, and now lost the presidency. They'd never recover, they thought. They did recover - in only two years. So anything can happen. But. I've felt for years that the GOP was boxing itself into a corner with its coddling, and feeding, of the religious right. First off, these are very nasty people. They spin a good tale about family values that resonates with the American public on its face, but all you have to do is scratch the surface of these folks and their inner nutjob is all-too-easily revealed.
At their core, the religious right is run by angry, mean, arrogant and backward people. Just look at their leaders (far too many of whom bear a striking resemblance to rather fey, closeted gay men). Look at their spokesmen (ditto on the gaydar front). Their message might work in the deep South. But as the Edsall piece illustrates, the deep South has already fringed itself nicely. thank you. The phrase big fish in a small pond comes to mind. Well, big nasty self-important fish that nobody likes.
So, yes, we still have battles to fight against the bigoted Mormons, and in many a civil rights battle. But the Mormons, like the Republican party, sucked up to a losing team. And in the long run, it's going to bite all of them in the ass.
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