RNC: Voters see GOP as 'scary' and 'out of touch'

[Torie]

Who knew? In a not so veiled way, the generalized fluff of a text basically is saying that the Pubs need to throw social conservatives under the bus. Either that, or figure out how olds can live to be 200 (what a horrible thought!).

[Modernity has failed us]

They're learning! Run!

[All Along The Watchtower]

Social conservatives are the electoral base of the GOP, and they control the party in pretty much every state (if not, indeed, every state). They are truly in a Catch-22.

[fezzyfestoon]

They're learning! Run!

Don't worry, based on the reaction among Republicans, they won't be changing a thing. Not that they're trying to change the right things anyway. They're just as delusional as always, they're just starting to become self aware enough to notice how much most people hate them.

[TJ in Oregon]

Some retreats will clearly be made, but be careful what you wish for GOP...

[Antonio the Sixth]

Republicans are just as "scary" ("terrifying" might be a better word, though) on economic issues as they are on social ones.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Republicans are just as "scary" ("terrifying" might be a better word, though) on economic issues as they are on social ones.

That's what's difficult for me about all of this talk about change.  Though I've generally been moderate socially (except quite conservative on abortion), I worry about completely disconnecting ourselves from religious values.  I'll take people who might misinterpret, but at least profess to follow, the words of Jesus Christ over those who follow Ayn Rand any day of the week.

Freedom for gays may be close at hand, but freedom for the poor seems to be further away than ever.

[memphis]

It's not just the social issues. People are not feeling confident about their economic situations and their future. Then they see the GOP persistently proposing to slash Medicare and while lowering taxes for rich people. It doesn't play well in Peoria.

[freepcrusher]

Social conservatives are the electoral base of the GOP, and they control the party in pretty much every state (if not, indeed, every state). They are truly in a Catch-22.

Well I wouldn't say every state. The GOP in Illinois is a pretty sane organization. You have a few downstate socons (Brady and Shimkus come to mind) but control of the party is by a lot of garden variety milquetoast republicans in greater Chicago (think of someone like Mark Kirk, Judy Biggert, Kirk Dillard etc)

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

It's not just the social issues. People are not feeling confident about their economic situations and their future. Then they see the GOP persistently proposing to slash Medicare and while lowering taxes for rich people. It doesn't play well in Peoria.

Exactly. If the Republican party was to give up all their unpopular positions, they'd end up to the left of the Democratic party.

[Sbane]

Some retreats will clearly be made, but be careful what you wish for GOP...

Would you vote Democrat if the GOP gives up on opposing gay marriage?

[Modernity has failed us]

Some retreats will clearly be made, but be careful what you wish for GOP...

Way ahead of you mate

[Beezer]

Well, I suppose this report is a step in the right direction. Everybody recognizes that the GOP needs its own DLC. I suppose the big difference is though that the GOP has a base that is strong enough to fight moderating efforts while the Dems were demoralized and on the verge of extinction throughout the entire nation in the 1980s, making a shift to the center far easier to sell/push through.

[opebo]

Freedom for gays may be close at hand, but freedom for the poor seems to be further away than ever.

For sure.  Both parties and all aspects of society are firmly committed to the poor remaining enslaved forever.

[TDAS04]

Who knew? In a not so veiled way, the generalized fluff of a text basically is saying that the Pubs need to throw social conservatives under the bus. Either that, or figure out how olds can live to be 200 (what a horrible thought!).

There are many sensible olds whom I would not mind having live to be 200; you might even be one of them.

[Sbane]

Well, I suppose this report is a step in the right direction. Everybody recognizes that the GOP needs its own DLC. I suppose the big difference is though that the GOP has a base that is strong enough to fight moderating efforts while the Dems were demoralized and on the verge of extinction throughout the entire nation in the 1980s, making a shift to the center far easier to sell/push through.

This is why I think it will take even bigger Democratic victories and even more time in the wilderness before the GOP will change.

[opebo]

Who knew? In a not so veiled way, the generalized fluff of a text basically is saying that the Pubs need to throw social conservatives under the bus. Either that, or figure out how olds can live to be 200 (what a horrible thought!).

There are many sensible olds whom I would not mind having live to be 200; you might even be one of them.

Maybe he'll last long enough for the Revolution to come and he can be guillotined.

[Sol]

Yeah, I think the recent GOP anxieties are unfounded. Sure, they did lose the presidency, but they have a death grip on the house. It'll take a little longer for them to really be in dire straits.

[pbrower2a]

Well, I suppose this report is a step in the right direction. Everybody recognizes that the GOP needs its own DLC. I suppose the big difference is though that the GOP has a base that is strong enough to fight moderating efforts while the Dems were demoralized and on the verge of extinction throughout the entire nation in the 1980s, making a shift to the center far easier to sell/push through.

Republicans can deny that they are in trouble all that they want, but that isn't going to stop them from losing. They will probably gain a Senate seat on the net and might lose little in 2014 in the House. But when things go bad for them things will go very bad very fast.  They are not finding new constituencies, and the ones that they have are at best not losing in numbers. They have the moneyed elites. Protestant fundamentalists are shrinking in numbers due to age.

America is becoming less white, Anglo, Christian, and straight every year, and the GOP is losing just about every identifiable group that isn't white, Anglo, Christian, and straight even as such people join the middle class and start paying higher taxes than they used to. Democrats have the majority of schoolteachers, people who can influence youth. Young adults are going strongly Democratic, and they are setting their tendencies. It won't be long before the youth born in the 1980s start making high office, and they are already predominately Democratic. They have been learning from one of the most masterful strategists of politics that America has ever had. They associate the Republican Party heavily with one of the worst Presidents in history.   

[Mr. Illini]

Some retreats will clearly be made, but be careful what you wish for GOP...

1) That is pretty much already the standard now.
2) What are Ohio Republicans going to do? Vote Democrat because the GOP went liberal on social issues?

Seems to me like you are simply using this to stop the GOP from moving forward on social issues for your own interests (looking at your scores on the matrix).

[Indy Texas]

They have the moneyed elites.

"Ugh! Not true! Don't you understand that we are the REAL people out here in REAL America? The Democrats are the ones who live in their ivory towers on Wall Street, counting all the money they make from aborting babies and getting ACORN money from Obama. See, the Republican Party is basically the vanguard in the struggle of the American working class against the elites who think they know better than them. We all need to come together - workers of America, unite. Hey, that's a catchy slogan..."

[TNF]

Moving to the center on social issues won't help the GOP. It'll just send their white working class voters into the hands of the Democrats, who actually would do a better job representing them anyway, at least on pocketbook issues. If the Republicans want to make themselves electable and make inroads with minorities, they don't need to move to the left on social issues. Rather, they need to stop being the elected patrons of plutocratic privilege.

Of course that will never happen. The Republicans have been in plutocracy's grip since 1876, and every time they nominate a reformer (T.R., Ike) they ultimately get outmaneuvered by the bone-headed business elites that want to drag the country back into the Gilded Age. If by some miracle the GOP could move to the center on economics, or even the center-left, they'd have a good shot at rebuilding themselves as a mass party, conservative social positions or not.

[opebo]

Moving to the center on social issues won't help the GOP. It'll just send their white working class voters into the hands of the Democrats, who actually would do a better job representing them anyway, at least on pocketbook issues. If the Republicans want to make themselves electable and make inroads with minorities, they don't need to move to the left on social issues. Rather, they need to stop being the elected patrons of plutocratic privilege.

Of course that will never happen. The Republicans have been in plutocracy's grip since 1876, and every time they nominate a reformer (T.R., Ike) they ultimately get outmaneuvered by the bone-headed business elites that want to drag the country back into the Gilded Age. If by some miracle the GOP could move to the center on economics, or even the center-left, they'd have a good shot at rebuilding themselves as a mass party, conservative social positions or not.

Correct, and this, coupled with the possibility that the Democratic party could someday move left due to the browns makes me anticipate some form of (further) anti-democratic alteration of the State - as our own pbrower has often predicted.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Moving to the center on social issues won't help the GOP. It'll just send their white working class voters into the hands of the Democrats, who actually would do a better job representing them anyway, at least on pocketbook issues.

How many white working-class Republicans think like that though? "Oh I'd vote for the Democrats, except I'm a social conservative." In my experience, people who are right-wing on social issues are also usually pretty damn right-wing on economics, regardless of income (this is especially true in places like the South or the West). And as opebo often alludes to, a lot of the economic AND social conservatism of working-class and working-poor whites is due to racism (and also paired with sexism, particularly among white men, and xenophobia/nativism regarding immigrants).

[opebo]

Moving to the center on social issues won't help the GOP. It'll just send their white working class voters into the hands of the Democrats, who actually would do a better job representing them anyway, at least on pocketbook issues.

How many white working-class Republicans think like that though? "Oh I'd vote for the Democrats, except I'm a social conservative." In my experience, people who are right-wing on social issues are also usually pretty damn right-wing on economics, regardless of income (this is especially true in places like the South or the West). And as opebo often alludes to, a lot of the economic AND social conservatism of working-class and working-poor whites is due to racism (and also paired with sexism, particularly among white men).

Good points, but anyway, it doesn't really matter what these people do, there aren't enough of them anymore..