The direction of the Republican Party if McCain loses

[Person Man]

Can the party go any more right than it already has?

I wonder how that would manifest.

[Person Man]

I think both the GOP and the country can swing much more to the right, well beyond the point where I would support the GOP.

Explain.

[Person Man]

I think both the GOP and the country can swing much more to the right, well beyond the point where I would support the GOP.

Explain.

I think that there are several currents.  A traditional conservative view on social issues coupled with a willingness to uses the forces of big government to enforce those views.

Could you be more specific? I mean, are we talking about state-sponsered religion?

[Person Man]

Uh huh. Disagree. We're seeing the start of a backlash against washington consensus economics. For the dems it was evident with the ohio campaign and for the GOP the fact that vthey've focused more on social and not economic issues.

LMAO. Apparently the fundie wing and paleocons both don't exist in your universe.

I think it McCain loses, there may be a successful resurgence of the "fundie wing."

Then again, let's see who votes for McCain in 2008. McCain seems to have consolodated his supported among fundamentalists. If he loses the election, yet still wins 75% of the Fundie vote, which sent out the same 30 million voters it did last time, he may have to tell them that a Fundie-pandering GOP simply doesn't have enough votes. I guess the same would go for Obama if we see 15% black turnout at 91-92% and he still loses Ohio and Colorado.

Then again, I think a lot will depend on the map in 2008. It will depend on who had the votes, who didn't have the votes, who remembered to vote and who actually won.

Another thing to realize is that if the Dems cannot win in their best year since Watergate or even Black October, they are no longer a viable national party, barring the near-destruction of the country due to the Republican's negligence. If the Republicans cannot carry all of the Northern Planes or all of the states below Mason-Dixon, they no longer have a reliable base, much like the democrats between 1978 and 1996.   

[Person Man]

Good for us.

[Person Man]

I really think that we will do better, because IMO Obama if elected will fail as a president, and may lose in a landslide when he runs for reelection.  The coattails will probably give the GOP a bunch of seats in congress.  That said, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

But seriously, how is anyone supposed to know how the political direction of the GOP will go?  All of this speculation seems very odd at this point in time.

Nor can you predict whether Obama will succeed or fail as President. No one thought Bill Clinton in 1994 or Reagan in 1982 looked like winners (or Bush in 2002 looked like a loser).

Although, its more interesting to think about what the U.S. will look like in 2020 than 2010 because of Obama's legacy.

[Person Man]

Although, there could be a rise in a 3rd party that could simply replace on of the two current parties.

[Person Man]

....like the Democrats in 1984 and 1988. Basically, the GOP still thinks this will blow over.

[Person Man]

After the loss to McCain? Its hard to say. Apparently Moderates did just as well Reactionaires in 2010...but even Kirk and Brown can be seen voting with the reactionaries on reactionairy legislation. It appears that the Republican Party hasn't changed much but how its held together. In good times, it was your emotionless puppetmasters who courted the last few tens of thousands of votes by claiming that we'll spend money to wein you off of the other guy's programs (ownership society). Now, in bad times, its basically crazy puppetmasters who claim that the other guys want to use these bad times to make you their bitches.  The policies of W remain, but the message is a lot more...uh...bipolar.