David Broder: The GOP Goes South

As a rule, a new president's choice of a secretary of transportation makes few headlines, even when the appointee is a member of the opposition. In 2001, George W. Bush decided to name as transportation secretary Norman Mineta, a former representative from California, to be the token Democrat in his Cabinet, and no one noticed. And no one except for Mark Shields, who lavishly praised the appointment, paid much attention last week when Barack Obama made Ray LaHood, the retiring representative from Peoria, Ill., the second Republican in his Cabinet.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[rabiddog6708]

Civil Rights Act of 1964 sent southern Dems over to Republican ranks....Lyndon Johnson knew that by signing it he had lost the south for at least a generation. Free Market Dead Enders and southern fried rac.ists are pretty much the Repub base. The GOP has nothing to offer anyone else, so their chances of expanding this base are pretty much nil when lowering taxes and outlawing abortion are basically the entire party platform.

[BPCentrisAmerican]

Every time a kid graduates from college a Republican lost, the party just dosen't appeal to thinking people anymore, the base is so dumb down it's scary. A Republican John Furry stratagest tried to make this very point

[blkcat x lady]

From a lil' su-thern chick:

GOP = Grampa Olda$$ Party!
Texas has always been home to me physically, cause my mom and daddy made me! lol I left to go to college, got married moved to Cleveland and Philidelpia (ex-husbands job) moved back, early retired and moved to silicon valley, moved back. Something always keeps pulling me back and it's getting on my nerves! lol I never had the southern mindset except for the manners driven into me by my mom and pops. I say that to say this, this party will continue to implode until they get a new guru like Lee Atwater. They are going to retool and regroup with the premise of being more inclusive...then when they get a little stronger their true intent will surface as it always does. When bush started that compasionate conservatism bull$h*t , it was just what he (cheney, rove..either or) needed to once again fool the nation. Then, when they got into power..man did the worm turn. Same song...same result. I think that we are going to eventually get the country back to the wonderful place that we love. We have to realize that we are in fact our brothers keeper and we will only survive if we work together.

[dmspeech]

I live in Alabama where Hillary is the "devil", a carload of rednecks tried to run my daughter off the road (car had an Obama sticker on it) and where the "n" word is used constantly, the dropout rate is high and schools are poor. No wonder the GOP is so popular here. This is representative of all their beliefs.

[305Rider]

That's the rural South for the most part.

[Buddy McCue]

Most of the South IS rural. I live in the Metro Atlanta area, and if I travel 10-20 miles in any direction I'm in the country that dmspeech describes.

[BatMasterson2]

As a southern Democrat I look forward to the collapse of the conservative movement with in the Republican party, not the collapse of the GOP itself. I have been voting against, and speaking out against, their philosophy for 30 years. That said, there needs to be a counter argument to progressive ideas. If one is honest then you have to acknowledge the unintended negative consequences of various welfare programs, forced bussing, ect. Look what has become of our economy because everyone jumped on the Milton Friedman bandwagon and anyone that disagreed was banished. Of course, as a Ga. Expat living in the Fl. panhandle, I was sorely disappointed when that cowardly draft dodger Chambliss was reelected to the US Senate and look forward to the day he is sent home. The south maybe the last stronghold of the republicans but that too shall pass.

[HollywoodBill]

Really all that's left of the GOP is the South. With Alabama's Richard Shelby being the spokersperson for the automakers, the swing states in the Great Lakes area are highly unlikely to join with the South on electoral issues. The GOP then becomes a rump political party with no ability to play, much less win in 50 states.

Obama is hitting the middle ground where elections are won. The Republicans have ceded the territory and are now demanding purity tests for becoming a Republican. But that creates opportunities for ambitious poiticians. If the GOP jettisons the religious whackos demands and learns how to keep them under control, the Republicans can reemerge. It has happened before and it will happen again.

But the present players will have no shot at things. Palin will continue shooting moose. Jindal will continue excorsing demons. And at some point in the future, the political center will be up for grabs again. But it could be a VERY long time off. Counting on political errors, particularly with someone like Obama who is a great instinctive player, is hoping for issues that no one has control of. And might not happen.

[AllenD]

It is time for GOP moderates to form their own party, one that actually practices balancing the budget, and allow the current republican Party go the way of George Wallace's American Independent Party.

[Wilbur]

"It is time for GOP moderates to form their own party..." What, all THREE of them?

Wilbur

[neesy08]

I want to know why my post from last night was deleted by HP. All I said was the GOP is made of remnants of the Old Dixiecrats. The Dixiecrats were the ones who keep the South in poverty, and was responsibile for the low education, backwardness of the region because of Jim Crow. That changed when LBJ signed the Civil Rights Bil in 1965. At that time, the GOP was inclusivie and the Dixiecrats exclusive. That changed when LBJ signed the CRA of 1965. The Dixiecrats were so appalled that Blacks were being told they were to be treated as equals, that they were invited to join the GOP. And so they did, and so they remain. The Dixiecrats took over the inclusive GOP and turned it into the exclusive GOP. They are no different now than they were then: racists, white male bigots who as backwards as backwards can be. It is enough to make me ashamed of the region of my birth.

[teron678]

Excellent post .. couldn't agree more ...

[DougNTexas]

Way to much cen sors hip on this site. i used the term gest apo to describe a few Rethugs and it never made it to this site.

[tigerakabj]

Well said. I too live in the south and it is just as you described. Nixon formulated his "southern strategy" off the events you just listed, and the GOP has been doing it ever since.

After 40 years of sowing, it's reaping time for the GOP. It's funny how the region that largely successful strategy of divide-hate-conquer, is the region in which they are being pigeon-holed into. Even then, state by state, their are being picked off (i.e. Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina).

And since Obama intends to make education, infrastructure (i.e. broad-band lines), and jobs his top priorities, that will further diminish them. People who think critically, ask questions, and don't take to kindly to ignorance and bigotry are less likely to vote for the party that emphasizes that.

[vjoseph]

Agreed and they won't change, they will simply go to the Libertarian Party

[batbird]

David Broder: The GOP Goes South

Good riddance!

GOP has become a regional southern (bigot) power with small pockets of support in other, more populated states.

[Mayoyo]

Republican please keep underestimate BO.....At your own peril.

[tigerakabj]

Lol. I agree.

He just ran a billion dollar campaign that changed the face of politics, and they still are acting like he is some empty-suit, who doesn't know what he is doing (and who doesn't know their dirty tricks).

[pinseeker]

For those that want to say the south is not as smart as the rest please tell me why you blame republicans. The south has been run by dems since the cival war. Repubs took over in 2002 in georgia. Dems still run Atlanta and you would be hard pressed to find a more ignorant group than the atlanta city council. About 14 dems to 1 repub on council. Look at the schools that have been run by the dems forever. More money per pupil spent than most districts and they graduate 50% of the class.
Please explain why these dem libs do such a bad job with no repub involvement?

[hortonhearsawho2]

The old saying..."if you have to ask".

[CyrusBeaucephus]

Please explain to me why you dim wingnuts have failed to learn anything from the disasterous Bush presidency.

[DougNTexas]

Bush is a God here in Texas to this day. Yet he dismantled the civil services while he was Gov. He privatized all the services from prisons on down to unemployment. Thus wages and benefits all went south. I know people who don't have a pot to pi ss in, nor a window to throw it out of, yet they vote solid Rethug cause Bush was against abor tion. In Texas, abor tion is the only issue that counts in a election for a great deal of the voters.

[hapaglloyd]

Look at the southern states that have been run by Republican Governors over the last decade or more---Mississippi ,Alabama, Georgia,and a few others. They are at the bottom of the list in SAT scores. The majority of the citizens have no health insurance,the most obese,the highest illiteracy rate. Over all southern states are the poorest. This is the Republican enclave.

[pinseeker]

Georgia has had a repub gov for six years and a democrat gov for 100 years prior. Yes, they are at the bottom of the list and they have been at the bottom since the dems put them there. As far as the other slams such as obesity and illiteracy lets take a look at west virginia, home of the famous klansman Byrd and his oil millionaire buddy rockafeller. Dems represent that state and have for years. What stsate is known for having residents with the fewest states.

[BatMasterson2]

Now hold on just a d*m* minute. These are some bold statements," bottom of the list in SAT scores". You need to define the parameters of this claim, to compare the scores of states that require all students to take the test against states that only test students that graduate and go to college is what is know as a misleading fact. " The majority of the citizens have know health insurance". Texas leads the way at 23.5% but 4 of the top 6 are outside of the south. Lack of health insurance is a nationwide problem.
" The most obese". Okay Miss and Alabama lead the way followed closely by La. but you have to admit they have some pretty d*m* good food in Louisiana, Ga. 27.4%.. Mich 27.7% ...Texas 27.2%...Ind 27.5%....NC 27.1% .. Ohio 26.9% .... FL 23.3% .. NY23.5% .. Again a nationwide problem. " Poorest" 6 out of 10 okay but cost of living needs to be factored in.

[Skepticat]

After the 1964 civil rights bill - which was opposed by filibustering Southern democrats supporters of the unproductive racist etc old ways were adopted by the Republicans as part of their Southern strategy in 1968 - and have had a near solid lock on Southern politics outside big urban areas for the last 40 years. Urban areas generally have a more diverse population - and much higher per capita demand on social service - more poor, more immigrants, more homeless, etc so costs are generally higher than the more prosperous suburbs - and school score usually less for the same reasons. Current Republicans generally don't do well in urban politics because cities generally do not have enough of their narrow base to sustain them and cities need tax supported services to survive that Repubs are generally against.

[pinseeker]

Skepticat - You cite reasons to which urban areas have problems. you cite diversity in population, isn't that a positive not a negative. The other problems you cite are usually blamed on republicans like homelesness. Why can't a totally democrat run council fix the problems that are blamed on republicans when republicans have never, in the history of Atlanta, run that town.

[vjoseph]

Like Sonny Perdue has done a better job! You seem to forget what happened not to long ago, when gas stations had no more gas. What did your buddy, Sonny Perdue do? I am not disputing the fact that some of the politicians in Atlanta are not inefficient, such as Shirley Franklin, but the dems don't have monopoly on that

[marijam]

RE: Will congressional Republicans again sacrifice their political interest to satisfy their Southern-baked ideological imperatives?

That all depends on which faction of the Republican party wins the argument, the Rush Limbaugh wing or the wing that wants an inclusive party. It doesn't look good at the two sides coming to a meeting of the minds any time soon, since the Rush Limbaugh wing has decided that the inclusive wing tried it that way already and failed miserably.

[tinarm]

Listen, parts of the south suck, no doubt about it. There are major cities in the south and they tend to vote independent or democratic. Arkansas elected Beebe two years ago and he is a dem., but voted for McCain-Palin because of the christian rights influence down here. Unfortunatly there are a lot of ignorant people who wanted to believe that Obama was a muslim or the anti-christ. You see racisim does still exist in people over the age of 55 down here and it's deep in their core. I'm not sure why other than ignorance and stupidity, because let me tell you the racist pigs that wouldn't vote for Obama becasue of the color of his skin, would die if some of our athletes left the state. They sure love their basketball and football players that are black, but give anyone any authority oh, lord no. It's gonna take about another 10 to 20 years to change the south, to many idiots are still living.

[sonomarc]

Now I know what Ross Perot meant by the "great sucking sound" in the south....

[hortonhearsawho2]

Bobby J. will lead the South...hell freezes over.

[TRex86]

William Faulkner opined about 60 years ago that most of the intelligent people had left the South. Not entirely true, but nothing will change until African Americans and Hispanics are the majority in the Deep South. For now I hope the Republicrooks continue to think they can dig their way out of a hole.

[pinseeker]

The African Americans, democrat party, have run Atlanta for fourty years with no repub competition.
Can someone show me a worse school system that spends so much per pupil. Can someone explain why these democrat African Americans have been content with dumping sewage into the chattahoochie river and just paying the fines to the epa ? If the Hispanics were so smart, why do mexicans have to leave Mexico.

[vjoseph]

Your racism is showing sweetie