You mean a Republican Party similar to that which existed during the era of Enate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen? Then I would tend to agree with his take. The GOP controlled by an extremist minority today doesn't remotely resemble the GOP that existed back then. An exchange in the Senate during the debate over the Civil Rights Act, recently gutted by the Roberts Court, that some should find interesting: From the beginning, the pro-civil rights forces knew that Dirksen was the key to achieving cloture. When the Senate received the House-passed bill, Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) issued the challenge. "We hope in vain," he said, "if we hope that this issue can be put over safely to another tomorrow, to be dealt with by another generation of senators. The time is now. The crossroads is here in the Senate." He then turned to face Dirksen. "I appeal to the distinguished minority leader whose patriotism has always taken precedence over his partisanship, to join with me, and I know he will, in finding the Senate's best contribution at this time to the resolution of this grave national issue." The senator from Illinois (Dirksen) replied: "I trust that the time will never come in my political career when the waters of partisanship will flow so swift and so deep as to obscure my estimate of the national interest. . . . I trust I can disenthrall myself from all bias, from all prejudice, from all irrelevancies, from all immaterial matters, and see clearly and cleanly what the issue is and then render an independent judgment." http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_basics_histmats_civilrights64_cloturespeech.htm What happened to that Republican Party?
No one disputes his incredibly obvious point that in recent history Latinos have distributed their votes among Republicans and Democrats to a greater degree than African Americans. Correct. Just as Latino voting patterns are currently trending Democratic because of Republican policies and attitudes today.
Nixon happened. They made a calculated gamble. The Civil Rights Act broke the Democratic lock on the South. It was a smart move for the party at the time and has continued to be until now. The Republican Party was getting returns on that investment every year. At first, they were winning Southern electoral votes. Then they started picking off Senate seats and some Governorships. Eventually in 1994, they broke the Democratic grip on US Congressional seats. (And in 2010, they wiped out almost all of the entire Southern Democratic delegation outside of VRA protected seats) And in 2010, they finally killed the last of the Democratic controlled Southern legislatures. (Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi flipped to Republican control of the legislature in 2010 and 2011 with Arkansas going Republican in 2012) All that's left of the South is West Virginia and Kentucky. The problem for Republicans now is that there are no dividends to gain off of the Southern strategy anymore. Their conquest of the South is now over and it came at the expense of ceding the Northeast and West coast (which was competitive until 1992) There are no more legislatures and very few Congressional seats to gain. Karl Rove was convinced in 2004 that once the Republicans finished gaining control of all of the Southern legislatures, they'd have control of American politics for a generation. He had just come off finally taking control of the Texas legislature and he figured out the formula to break the Democratic grip of state legislatures in the South. Unfortunately this prognostication isn't working out quite the way he thought it would. Yet Republicans are doubling down on the Southern strategy and using whatever tricks are available to buy time. But in the long run that stuff doesn't work.
lol If you think laws limiting killing babies will turn Texas blue. Texans are much more civilized than that. That is why we are the best state in the union.
No, and really not thrilled with the analogy; not if it's to carp about gerry-mandering and abortion.
This is an enormously entertaining thread. It started off with an obnoxiously absurd premise, and then... Developed into somewhat intelligent debate. That, like, NEVER happens in this place.
OK, I'll contribute a bone... Texas likely will turn blue at some point. Probably alot farther off than many Dem strategists hope, certainly far behind California. But you can't fight demographics. Actual border security would slow the process. Republican outreach might slow it, too. But the inevitable dumbing down of the population will run its course. The entire NATION will turn blue. Even Idaho. Before it collapses. But yeah, it's on. It's going to happen. Just prepare for it.
At a certain point the republican party will realize how their stance on social issues is a losing battle. Until then the whole country is gonna continue to trend blue. Texas will be one of the last holdouts though, and I think there will be a change in the party before Texas turns blue.
Dumbing down huh.... Yet it's a certain party that has members saying enlightening statements such as rape shuts down the female reproductive system, or believing that the Earth is 4000 years old, or too much carbon dioxide isn't bad for the atmosphere, or that Sarah Palin is a viable Vice President. I'm sorry bro but a large base of your beloved party, the Christian Conservative, is not exactly considered the brightest of America.
There may be a time when Texas turns blue, but it wont happen anytime soon. The voter ID laws may annoy people at first but if we're being serious here, I don't know a single person who does not have some form of ID on them at all times be it a driver's license, passport, etc. so it wont be that much of an inconvenience. And for people who don't have an ID, a Texas ID is what, $16? And it's valid for six years? I don't see the problem. The Texas GOP dropped the ball on this abortion nonsense but this is Texas, where people are still significantly pro-life, and it transcends ethnic groups. Wendy Davis's fillibuster and the like may have gotten a lot of national attention but she will be lucky to win re-election to the senate and she will never touch the governor's office. I personally think the GOP is taking Texas for granted and if they don't step up they will regret it big time. But they do have quite a cushion and plenty of time to strengthen the party and make programs like Battleground Texas pipe dreams.
The dumbing down of the population might be a reason why a lot of the country is still red but that is the subject for another debate. I doubt the country will ever be all blue or all red. The two parties are super coalitions and throughout their histories have seen major swings in the make up and issues of those coalitions. By the time certain things like the acceptance of gay marriage become nationwide there will be other issues that will likely divide the parties and regions. Remember that the Republican party started out as the party of the North and the Democrats were the party of the South for much of their history.
fail. I said it was a jackass COMMENT. I insulted the comment. That is very different than insulting a person. So you failed in trying to call me out.
