G.O.P. R.I.P.?

Tonight the GOP finds itself facing the tar pit of irrevelency. After eight years of Rove, Cheney and Bush bringing the standard of American politics to a new low, Republicans are confronted with the possibility of spending the next eight being crushed by a Democratic majority in Congress and an overwhelmingly popular Democratic president. They way I see it, the GOP has two paths it can take. One leads to a sustainable future, the other will land them somewhere between Neve Cambell's career and stacks of left over "Cool Runnings" VHS tapes.

Rovian politics have doomed the GOP. While the man might be playing nice as a pundit and contributor, his way of business has been adapted by the whole of the Republican party, and the GOP is suffering for it now. Spreading lies that John McCain was the father of a black illegitimate baby might have won George W. Bush the 2000 primaries, but Rove's strategy of zero-sum arguments and fear mongering just plain don't work any more. The electorate has wisened up to his wascally ways. It might have taken us eight years to figure it out, but hopefully the lessons will stick. Observe the dismal performance of supposed inheritor to Rove's throne, Steve Schmidt. His big idea was adding Palin to the ticket. Smooth move, Schmidt!

Because after the Bush presidency, what we all wanted was a folksy, good looking, compassionate conservative who's main experience was being governor of one of the largest states in the union. Er, wait a second... Haven't we had enough of nepotism, willful golly-gee-shucks ignorance, and a foreign policy that bares startling resemblance to the Children's Crusade? What about another eight years of hearing it pronounced "Nuke-you-lar"?

Hearing its own death rattle, McCain Staff reached out for the bluntest weapon handy: Rove's tactics. Yet nothing seemed to stick. Obama is a Muslim! No wait, Obama is a Christian with a crazy Black preacher! Obama is a socialist who wants to take all your money! No wait, Obama is a wealthy Elitist! Obama is a terrorist! Finally they settled for "Obama is really really famous!" to which America grinned and said, "I know! Isn't it exciting! I've never cared about politics before!"

Each time they trotted out a new attack, McCain's image of a decent man running for a hallowed office faded a little more. Today, the Senator looks like the guy who doesn't understand how he lost - and to that one.

By going for Rove's GOP big guns, McCain wasted his last election by desperately reaching out to the most hardcore of the base: anti-gay rights, anti-environmental legislation, anti-black people vote. The campaign became about being against things and in a time that's so depressing it's hard enough to get out of bed as it is, people were turned off. Just like their heat and water!

Rather than continuing to purify itself into its darkest, most cynical, most nihilistic self, the GOP must re-learn to be for things. It has to shuck off the Bush years and clean house. You've heard of de-Batthification? The GOP has to de-Bush. No wax involved.

Social issues like immigration, gay rights and abortion continue to mire the GOP in personal issues that might comfort base voters, but leave the party behind as society moves forward. Politicians who hung on to segregation became obsolete as civil rights legislation went into effect, and whether or not the United Reformed Church Of Hating Fags wants to admit it, gay rights will become this generations great fight for living in a free, humane society. The GOP must be on the side of progress, otherwise...

Rather than catering to a base of voters who cannot get their candidates elected, the GOP must focus on their hallmark issues: conservative economic and foreign policy. Ironically, these are the two areas that used to make up the foundation of McCain's platform. With the choices of Schmidt and Palin, McCain bamboozled himself out of winning the election on his experience in these fields -- the only leg up on the competition he may have had.

The Bush years have seriously impaired the GOP's brand. If it wants to survive, the grand ol' party must go back to the drawing board. I hope it does. Give me something good to fight against. Just this time, keep out the cynics.

Comments

[cyberbian]

I hope it splits into two weaker fragments, which eventually become Obama Wannabees.

A three party system would do us all good. They don't even need to discard their ideals, they have done that long ago, and no-longer have any. They can get right onto the business of finding Better Angels to steal a coherant idealisim from.
Excuse me, I meant to say, to emulate, and improve upon! Paradigm shifts take some getting use to.

[kaukerc]

I would like to think that your premise that the GOP must evolve or die is correct...­. but unless you have been in a southern baptist church, you realize that this is merely wishful thinking. These people aren't going anywhere--- if anything, they will just see this election as proof that the "end of days" are here, and that they need to get even more radical. You can't reason with people who gave up rational thinking years ago --the idea that men rode on dinosaurs should be your first clue. The only hope the GOP has is to excommunicate the evangeilicals from their party----but actually, i hope they just stay put. It will be a slow, painful death.

[MisterMore]

Somehow the Bushies failed to steal this one.
Reallyoldman is grateful.
Maybe the Rove's and Cheney's and W's realize they've raped and pillaged as much as any junta can.
For now.
Let Obama clean it up.
The war, the recession, the increased hatred for the U.S. around the world.
Let Obama try to fix it.

[BillZBubb]

Nah, the Republicans will be around for a long time. Myths like "the government is the problem", "we can just cut taxes and it will always make things better", "the free market", and "let business do it's thing without interference" will always find a ready market of the ignorant. And there a plenty of them.

Once the Democrats get the economy back on track and the middle class feeling comfortable, foolish voters will go right back to buying the Republican snake oil for a 50 cent a day tax cut. Add in the religious fundamentaless and they are back in the majority.

[compulady]

The base of the Republican Party should start believing in evolution. Evolve or die.

[PitBull6]

Hardly. They were saying the same thing about the Democrats about 8 and 4 years ago, with a majority in both houses and a Republican president (voted in again even during a longer-growing war)

If one understands conservative values, one would understand that this is a message to the Republican Party that it became too indistinguishable from the Democrats (bigger government, out of control spending, neo-con/liberal foreign policy), not that it was too conservative.

Also, Senator Obama can thank the US economy, a free-market force over and under-regulated by both parties, as much as he can any campaign mistakes by McCain.

Enjoy the victory but don't be blinded by it.

[chucklasker]

I wrote about something similar from the viewpoint of a Republican.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chuck-lasker/moderate-republicans-unha_b_138696.html

[davism97]

This is earily similar to the 1800 election that forever destroyed the Federalist party. Could the same be happening to the GOP? I think we can say the neo-conservatives are done for at least.

[NoSandwiches]

R.I.P?
I don't think so!
D.I.C!
(Devolve Into Chaos!)

[TheVicar]

Grammatical nitpicking: "wizened" means "wrinkled". You probably meant "wisened", as in "had become wise".

(It's one of those words like "enormity" which every political writer gets wrong. "Enormity" means "evilness or immorality of something"; people usually want "enormousness". Look it up.)

[E. A. Hanks - Huffpost Blogger]

Thanks, Vicar, and apologies to all the readers. My fingers were flying and my brain was just repeating "ohmygodoh­mygodohmyg­od."

[FinnofBlaxAlternate]

Well, I don't think the Republicans should necessarily abandon the concerns of religious voters either. There should be a party for those who believe certain things, and that moral behavior creates policy decisions that the government must deal with. However, there is a way to do it where one does not alienate people. McCain abandoned his central core, and then, on top of that, ran a downright nasty campaign, packed with lies.

Thus my vote for Obama. Republicans do have to refocus on sound economic policy, but also with some real changes and not simply push tax cuts. They have to go beyond tinkering.

They also have to sell their own ideas, rather than try to drag down the opposition with lies. McCain spent all of his time pushing fabricatio­ns.... while at the same time courting and getting support from a religious right that could not see the hypocrisy of their own moral dualism. Hopefully enough religious voters will get a more exapansive view of what morality should be, and what decency should be and learn from this loss.

In any case, the country has gained.

[NoSandwiches]

Barack Obama was the values candidate.
Married once.
Obviously in love with his wife.
His Brother's Keeper by example.

John McCain was clearly not a representative for family values.

[RRonin]

Here's how McCain COULD have helped the Republicans win tonight: In January of 2007, if he had made a speech in the Senate declaring his opposition to the Bush administration on three points:

1) Opposition to the Bush Doctrine, and it's product, the Iraq Invasion/O­ccupation.

2) The failure of the adminstration to rescue and re-build New Orleans post Katrina.

3) The Bush Kleptocracy giving away the people's fortune to Big Business.

and as a result of reaching this conclusion, he would have called for the impeachment of the Bush/Cheney death cult, McCain could have emerged as the only REAL leader in the Republican Party and saved his party and restored dignity and honor to the Republican Party.

But he lacked the courage and wisdom to do this. What a shame.

[Kevbo68]

Agreed. McCain 2000 ed. would have done so much better.

[egghumor]

What a fantaistic post! ON THE MONEY!

Yeah, watching Rove offerning analysis in front of the electoral map is yet another hugely profound and ironic political moment. Hubris usually does get them in the end.

[Kassandra]

Well, it sure got us in the end. I'm happy tonight: Politico just informed me Obama won Virginia!
But, we have SUCH a mess on our hands. Oh! my gawd!

[Chironomid]

I think if McCain had stuck to his centrist brand and emphasis on experience, I think this would have been a much closer election. The wild card would have still been the economic meltdown -- he was running around like a headless chicken. If he could have kept his cool (which he's famous for not being able to do), his post-convention lead might have stuck.

His move to Rovian mudslinging and Palin selection turned me from seeing this election as "win win" for the country and into a rabid Obama supporter. Out came my checkbook, out came my cell phone and canvass sheet and my free time. I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

By all appearances, it is now going to be time to govern. This Dem majority has a very clear choice -- govern centrally and efficiently and build a multi-decadal hegemony to the benefit of the country, or devolve into multiple warring factions all trying to get their piece of the pie.

Lastly, a 60-seat Senate majority won't happen, never would. But, if the remaining Republicans use the filibuster to obstruct, I predict we will see another house-cleaning two years from now. We are ready to move forward.

[S1m0n]

In fairness to McCain, he had a wide array of bad options to choose from in this election, and his only route to victory involved the kinds of high-risk, unlikely moves he made.

There was no way McCain could win this by hitting singles; he had to get a home run nearly every at bat just to have any chance at all of winning, and that meant -- as was more or less inevitible all along -- that he went down swinging.

[unitedstatesofamerica]

Perfect article; it insightfully dissects exactly what was wrong with McCain's candidacy. He could have been a reasonable adversary, rather than a mud-slinging right-wing extremist; caving to the Limbaugh sector of his party destroyed his chances to be competitive. It will be interesting to see if this defeat causes the GOP to moderate, fragment, or isolate.

Honestly, given their tendency to blame this loss on biased media and ACORN, I'm going to guess they miss the real lesson of this election.