GOP In Worse Shape Than Previously Thought

[Mariahxxx]

Well well. First it was McCain choosing Palin as his VP running mate and then the tea party began to infiltrate and divide the party even more. Now with the failed strategies and the ass whipping that Romney took that for some reason republicans were certain was going to be a landslide victory, the party was already seeing all time low numbers even before the shutdown disaster. Now polls show the GOP nominee trailing in a Virginia governor's race that history says a Republican should win.

2016 hopeful and rising star of the party Marco Rubio pissed off a lot of GOPers with his cramming of an immigration bill through the senate. Mitch McConnell may very well lose his once set in stone seat to either a tea party challenger or a very well-regarded democrat challenger.

Even people within the party are dumbstruck about the collapse of the party's popularity with the American people. Strategists are fumbling for new ideas to focus on to try an steer this away from what's become of the right wing. "If we don't find common ground and stand on the same side of the line, we're going to have a very ugly and rough couple of years," said Sara Taylor Fagen, who directed political affairs in President George W. Bush's White House.

To John Ullyot, a former Senate aide to moderate Republicans, "the big takeaway from this last battle was the true separation of the pro-business, establishment Republicans, and what they see as the rebels who are driving the party over the cliff."
Many GOP donors, Ullyot said, "are starting to hold off on any contributions for the time being, until the party figures out how to deal with these upstart Republicans."

Peter A. Wish, a veteran GOP fundraiser from Sarasota, Fla., said the activists he talks with are "pretty much divided" over the fallout from the debt and shutdown debates. Some support Cruz's hard-line stand "regardless of the consequences," Wish said. But another faction, he said, "is totally fed up" with an ideological group "picking fights it can't win."

Tea party groups aren't waiting.

For a third straight election, they hope to oust Republican incumbents they view as too willing to work with Democrats. Those targets could include 35-year veteran Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, whose resume includes managing the 1998 effort to impeach President Bill Clinton.

Many Republican consultants say the party's internal struggles will continue until a leader emerges as the 2016 presidential nominee. Fagen, however, says she worries that the nominee could be nearly perfect, "but it's not good enough for the ideologues, and they run a third-party candidate."

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[Mariahxxx]

the sections in bold I wanted to point out, just how ridiculous and dangerous this frame of mind is. Punish republicans for being willing to work with democrats? make demands regardless of the consequences? Even if it results in people not getting paychecks and tax payers on the hook for $24 BILLION dollars that the shutdown cost us?

How are these conservative ideas? What would Barry Goldwater or Ronald Reagan think of this new GOP? I would bet that they would be embarrassed and ashamed of what it's become. Goldwater warned of the religious right. He said "The religious right scares the hell out of me". Reagan embraced it and gave it it's first taste of real power in government. But refusing to work with the other side? Regardless of the cost to the party and it's standing with the people? Regardless of the people who are hurt by their actions?

What general would take this strategy in a war? If you lose too many battles the war is next.

 

[Jack Davenport]

I agree 110 percent.
You so smart!

 

[mongo18]

The republicans won't be around much longer if they don't pull their **** together. They've always been an embarrassment, but people have just ignored them and put up with their insane rantings like you would a racist grandparent. But now they're going too far and causing real significant damage to this country and the economy, to save us all from what the majority of Americans support, and there is some serious anti-republican backlash building up. Pretty soon for the first time they'll know what it's like to have the same kind of anger and hatred they've been dishing out for years directed back at them. Let these idiots destroy themselves and maybe what few sane ones are left will be able to build a new sane party and this country will be much better off for it.
The republicans are what's wrong with this country, everybody knows it, some just won't admit it, and we need to fix the problem so we can move ahead.

 

[Jack Davenport]

My god! What else can I say except I HAVE BEEN SUCH A FOOL!

 

[Rey C.]

Most of the various TEA party groups began life as fiscally conservative groups without any sort of central leadership. My initial hope was that it would be somewhat similar to the only political organization that I have ever belonged to: Perot's United We Stand. But as most of the TEA party groups, once based on fiscal conservatism, morphed into generic socially conservative movements, that were basically just places for neo-Confederates, frustrated social conservatives, irrational ideologues and holy rollers to yell & scream, it seems that the movement has lost much of the broader support that it once had among the public. But with a large enough percentage of the (remaining) Republicans, especially in the South, still supporting the TEA party radicals, it likely means tough times ahead for the GOP nationally.

Despite the claims (er... revisionist fantasies) that we often see, where Republicans explain away national losses by claiming that if their candidate had just been MORE conservative, he'd have won, simple math (like, why didn't the "true conservative" win the GOP primary contests in the first place???) suggests that as the TEA party ****** the party to the right, at least nationally, it will likely continue to struggle. Radical extremism, which relies more on hyperbole and grand standing than data and facts, is seldom a good, long term strategy. But some people have to jump in the lake to figure out that water is wet. :dunno:

If Democrats would swerve to the left as the Republicans aim for the guardrail on the right, I hold out hope that more Americans will abandon both parties and stop being sheeple. I've been wrong so far, but if nothing else, I am an eternal optimist.

 

[Mayhem]

My god! What else can I say except I HAVE BEEN SUCH A FOOL!

This is what I've been fuckin' telling you. Now that you finally realize this, just follow my lead and think what I tell you to think. How easy is that? It's just like being a Republican, only different.

 

[Rey C.]

After the corrupt and ineffective leadership of teabagger Bob McDonnell, the people of my state should be ready to choose Daffy Duck as Governor, rather than let another (even worse) teabagger, Ken Cuccinelli, take that office. I don't care for the Democrat, Terry McAuliffe, at all. But as I explained to the NRA when they called my house to try to get me to vote for that extremist goofball, Cuccinelli, they would have been better served asking me to vote for the Libertarian, Rob Sarvis - since that's who I'm voting for anyway. But I also explained to them that if the race was tighter (Cuccinelli is going to get his ass whipped like a rented government mule), I would cast my vote for the crooked Democrat over the teabagger Republican. Sarvis won't win, but looks like he may get about 10% - which is pretty good for a third party candidate here. He's got degrees in math and econ and he has real, practical business experience. I honestly believe he is the best man for the job. But we still have too many party-line sheep here for him to win.

We also had another chat about them (the NRA) selling my name and address to the S@rah Palin PAC a couple of years ago. The girl on the phone apologized (again) and said she understood my position on the Governor's race... and S@rah Palin.

 

[Rey C.]

Well, ol' Kookinelli did better than I thought he would. It looks like some of my fellow Virginians lost their nerve at the moment of truth and pulled the lever for Cuccinelli instead of Sarvis (the Libertariasn had 10% support at one point - but finished with about 7%), since he appears to have lost almost exactly what Cuccinelli gained by the end. But still, I am proud to say that the good people of my state sent the two main teabaggers packing. Both Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson went down. Mark Obenshain (R) and Mark Herring (D) are still in a virtual tie for the office of Attorney General and it's going to go to a recount. But Obenshain, though a Republican, is not a wingnut or a teabagger. From what little I know about him, he's an OK guy. If he wins, I don't think he'll make us look like a bunch of backward goobers, the way Cuccinelli did when he was Attorney General.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Virginia is a solid blue state not surprising that "The Punk" won. I am starting to think that Chris Christie could be a good choice for the Republicans in 2016. He puts the Northeast in play but he may not go over well in the south. If it came down to Hillary and Christie, I think Christie would be considered more likeable. I'd rather see someone more conservative win the nomination but I will support Christie if he is the nominee.

 

[bobjustbob]

Don't think for a second that Christie's win was a shift of any kind. The democratic senate kept all of their seats and lost 1 or 2 in the assembly. He could very well govern for the next 4 years then take a cushy job. Campaign for others but no more. I don't see a run. Too much of a pain in the ass. Party bosses won't like him.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Don't think for a second that Christie's win was a shift of any kind. The democratic senate kept all of their seats and lost 1 or 2 in the assembly. He could very well govern for the next 4 years then take a cushy job. Campaign for others but no more. I don't see a run. Too much of a pain in the ass. Party bosses won't like him.

I am not under any illusion about this. His decisive victory was no more of a bellwether than the Virginia race was for Democrats.. But Christie can carry northern states. The party bosses are establishment Repubs. Mitt Romney during his interview on Meet The Press last Sunday did everything but give him an endorsement. They will love him. The Tea Party is a whole different story. Christie will be a hard sell to southerners but if Hillary is the nominee, they may go with him. The Repubs are desperate for a win. If I will support him, a whole lot of other conservatives will too. The question for Christie is if he could bring himself to choose a staunch conservative as his running mate to balance the ticket. he has already started taking pot shots at the Tea Party. And there could be a lot of bad ***** between him and the likes of Paul and Cruz.

 

[bobjustbob]

Nah, they still voted blue for Trenton so he ain't carrying any other NE states.

Have you ever seen the Monty Python Flying Sheep sketch? "Once they get a thought into their mnd, there's no shifting it."

 

[Rey C.]

Virginia is a solid blue state. :rofl: Uh no... not even. VA is the quintessential purple state. We tend to vote for whichever party is not in control of the White House when we have our off-year races for executive state offices. Where the Republicans shot themselves in the balls this year, and broke a long running trend of the incumbent party recapturing the governor's office (especially when the other major party is occupying the White House), is when they put a fix in their nominating process. In order to make sure that TEA Party extremists like Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson could be nominated, the radicals in the party changed the nominating process from a primary (which would have gauged actual popular support of the candidates) to a convention that they could better control. Had the Repubs nominated the current Lt. Governor, Bill Bolling (R), he would have likely beaten McAuliffe... who was very "beatable". And E.W. Jackson... anyone who has ever heard this man speak would come away thinking that S@rah Palin ain't so stupid after all. What genius thought he was a good candidate to win any elected office above town dog catcher???

What the good people of my state have done is show the GOP that if you run extremist candidates, then don't expect to win in a state that is generally not extremist.

 

[Jack Davenport]

Virginia is a solid blue state. :rofl: Uh no... not even. VA is the quintessential purple state. We tend to vote for whichever party is not in control of the White House when we have our off-year races for executive state offices. Where the Republicans shot themselves in the balls this year, and broke a long running trend of the incumbent party recapturing the governor's office (especially when the other major party is occupying the White House), is when they put a fix in their nominating process. In order to make sure that TEA Party extremists like Ken Cuccinelli and E.W. Jackson could be nominated, the radicals in the party changed the nominating process from a primary (which would have gauged actual popular support of the candidates) to a convention that they could better control. Had the Repubs nominated the current Lt. Governor, Bill Bolling (R), he would have likely beaten McAuliffe... who was very "beatable". And E.W. Jackson... anyone who has ever heard this man speak would come away thinking that S@rah Palin ain't so stupid after all. What genius thought he was a good candidate to win any elected office above town dog catcher???

What the good people of my state have done is show the GOP that if you run extremist candidates, then don't expect to win in a state that is generally not extremist.

I listened to an interview with Doug Wilder yesterday. He said that Cuccinelli performed far better than anyone thought he would considering the Tea Party being blamed for the shutdown. He also mentioned that the blame for the shutdown was a bout a 50/50 split during the exit polls. It seems that the Tea Party is alive and well in the Old Dominion State.

 

[Rey C.]

He did pick up some steam near the end. But Cuccinelli was behind well before the shutdown ever happened. As best I can remember, he never led in the polls. His popularity as Attorney General started going down hill about a year and a half ago. The scandals around Bob McDonnell hurt him and a lot of women's groups have been on his ass for awhile.

As for the TEA Party's popularity here, sure, it's alive. As for how well it is... that is up for debate. They have pockets of popularity - mostly in the less populated, less educated, less affluent rural areas, it seems. But I wouldn't look for them to win any more statewide races anytime soon.