Buchanan: GOP A "Heavily White Party"

Pat Buchanan acknowledged to MSNBC anchor Tamron Hall on Tuesday that his party is facing a severe "demographic problem" in the years to come -- specifically, the GOP is on its way to becoming an all-white party.

"There's a real demographic problem with the Republican Party," Buchanan said. "It is a heavily white party, quite frankly. And as a share of the electorate, that is diminishing and Hispanics are growing very rapidly, Asians are growing rapidly, and by two-thirds they tend to vote Democratic."

Buchanan told Hall that the party is losing young people as well.

"Young people increasingly are more liberal and more socially moderate, and they move away from the Republican Party," he said. "These things are undeniable, the Republican party ... is in tough shape."

But Buchanan said the party shouldn't be written off just yet, and said Republicans have made impressive comebacks from deep deficits before.

I went though the Goldwater disaster, when we were down to 140 House seats and we were dead forever, and I came with Nixon in '66 and we won 47 House seats and we won 5 out of the next 6 presidential elections. I don't think that's necessarily in the cards, but I think it'd be foolish at this point when Obama is at his peak, really, to write off the Republican party for 2010.

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Comments

[Exit]

Skin color has nothing to do with it. It has to do with sanity. If you want to convince anyone to vote Democrat tell them to listen to Fox News or Sean Hannity for just one day and tell them they are Republicans.

[MyGuyO]

Don't you just LOVE this!

[hapiday]

"I suspect it will take many years and many sitting senators to die off before the GOP has the ability to grow at all".

If you want to live into your 90's become a senator, male and white you are guaranteed longevity.

[historymatters]

It's fascinating to see the GOP finding itself so completely on the wrong side of history. They are much like the conservative Democrats of the 1960s and 70s (Bull Connor, the segregationists, etc.) in the once-Solid South. Back then, the conservatives were convinced that racial equality and (gasp!) interracial marriage would lead to the downfall of America. Now, it's abortion, gay rights, and gun control. They were wrong then, and they're wrong now.

But I think it's important to note that the conservative strain - heavily leavened with xenophobia, nativism, and a reactionary hatred of change - has been alive and well in the U.S. since its founding. Maybe the GOP as we have known it will disappear, or restructure (kinda like GM is doing), and I won't be surprised if the party manages to stagger back from the cliff's edge and become viable again. Or if the saner remnants coalesce to form a new party. Our political system is just too entrenched with the two-party system. But unfortunately, the haters and the reactionaries, those fearful of change and "the Other" will always be with us. Best to keep an eye on them, and see what new guise they develop to worm their way back into positions of influence. It's happened before (see: Reagan Revolution) and they surely think it'll happen again.

[Davwbaird]

they have so been taken over by the nutty fringe they will cease to be.

[historymatters]

well, for sure we'll also always have the nutty fringe with us. But I still don't see conservative ideology (both the less extreme versions and the more extreme) ever going away. And I think it's best not to get too complacent that conservatives of any stripe won't ever get back into power. But maybe I'm just a pessimist! I'll try to have more faith in my fellow citizens.

[PhilipB]

I read your thoughtful comment, and I am thinking about what you said. thanks!

[special muppet]

Heavily white, heavily straight, heavily middle aged, heavily Christian, heavily nationalistic, heavily anti-science, heavily ignorant, heavily xenophobic, heavily anti-gay, heavily anti-choice, heavily pro-gun, heavily unimaginative, heavily short-sighted, heavily obstructionist, heavily unprincipled, heavily irrelevant.

[Lisbeth35]

Well said. You are Heavily Accurate.

[ZimboChick]

lol

[Reighben Labilles]

Also add heavily loud, heavily violent, and heavily empowered to do everything possible to get what they want. Liberals and moderates need to learn from these people how to create a contiguous, unified, and empowered movement. They are so damn united, and so dang coordinated, they manage to enforce their backwards beliefs towards other sectors in society--or at least always make others know that they don't like the liberal path.

We must do the same thing. A progressive movement must be started to counteract what they're doing. But unlike them, we will promote values of acceptance, reason, love, and integration. The movement doesn't even need to alienate them, it will, if done properly, can save these people stuck in their ideological rut. The result will be beneficial for all sectors and will save democracy from being turned into a evil theocracy.

[vonPinto]

Arh, arh, arh, arh, like the count, 1, 2 , 3 ,4 and the beat goes on. Very good observation Special Muppet (Count)

[ZimboChick]

Last week they were Srub Stock and this week they are, say,,,. essential? Make up your mind potato man

[tel8034]

At a 21% approval rating who is left in the republican party?

The Sarah Palins? The Michelle Bachmans? The Joe the DUMBERS? Larry, Darryl and his other brother Darryl?

[LiteSleeper]

Excellent Newhart reference

[indy girl]

Rush Limbaugh and all his toadies. That's about it--

[Harmony1812]

Duh. Golly gee he's smart!

[goingnow]

Mr. Buchanan equates this as another racial issue, whereas it actually is related to terrible policies and leadership.

[historymatters]

which maybe gives insight into the worldview of Mr. Buchanan. He only views things in terms of race, and only seems to worry about the white folks getting overtaken by all those other colors. I bet it keeps him up a lot of nights.

[trimom]

Let's not forget what the Republican party did to McCain during the 2000 election campaign. Pure, unadulterated evil. These folks reap what they sow.

[freethinkergirl]

Thanks for mentioning that, then remember what McCain did.........he kissed a$$ with the ultra right wing, that's when he lost respect as a possible leader for this country.

[MagicalPossibilities]

Ummm really??? I never noticed...

[Davwbaird]

Thus a party of racist, the party of the south and the worst parts of the south'

[stringer]

It's the no young people that's going to kill them. You can't have a Party with a future with no young people. And young people are the last ones to favor this shift to the right. They hate it more than anyone. Ask Megan McCain.

Not having any Hispanics hurts a lot, long and short-term as well. But not having any young people in your Party, and alienating the few you have, is long-term suicide. Period. They can't survive like this.

[petphotos]

Very good post.

[historymatters]

Indeed. But it is the logical outcome of their hyper social conservatism. I think it shows how huge the generation gap (to bring back a quaint term) is between older conservatives and younger ones. The older conservatives just can't grasp that young people don't think it's weird or wrong to see interracial couples, gay couples, women making more money than their husbands, women bosses and men subordinates, people enjoying their sexuality, and so on.

Then again, I guess this is why the older conservatives have often gotten apoplectic over pop culture images and over school curricula. They knew that if kids grew up seeing all that stuff as normal in pop culture and in their schools, they wouldn't question it when they got older. And the older conservatives' battle to perpetuate their exclusionary and bigoted practices indefinitely would be lost.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

That doesn't have to imply that those people, "the young" (who don't vote in great numbers.....still!), will by default become Democrats. They might join a NEW party which might succeed the Republicans--just as the latter succeeded the Whigs. A NEW party might offer a home to more "progressive-but-pragmatic" voters from both Republicans and Democrats. The Republicans could remain as the party of hollow slogans about "tax reductions" and abortion.....whilst a portion of the Democrats could continue looking for a "racial angle/justification" to EVERY issue.

[Layman23]

Pat ? Have a word for ya. Stop referring to other races as "Shrub Stock" and then maybe you can stop wondering why minorities dont vote for ya.

[sepiasiren]

Amen to that my friend, amen!

[rockyersocksoff]

I applaud Patrick Buchanan for his thoughtful and eloquent Anti-War writings over many recent years.

Not many Republicans (nor enough Democrats for that matter) criticized Bush publically and consistently over Iraq.

Pat did.

[ADVOCATE4ZPG]

How true! He also recognized the harm recent economic policies have wrought on "working class" Americans: offshoring manufacturing and importing hordes of legal/ILLEGAL immigrant labour......

[freethinkergirl]

Every now and then my husband and I will look at each other in surprise, did Pat say that? Hmmmm, he can be very lucent at times.