Watch For Civil War In The GOP
BY SAM FIELDS
A war is about to break out within the Republican Party.
I shall call it “The Purists” versus “The Big-Tenters”.
The Purists, led by the Teabaggers, will blame the November 6 losses on everything except their philosophy.
Why did they lose?
They will tell us that Rick Santorum warned us that Mitt Romney and his Etch-A-Sketch belief system would never convince the public that he was a real conservative leader.
They have hollowed out the last of the GOP moderates like Richard Lugar. Their replacement candidates have lost Senate and House seats to Democrats who otherwise had little or no chance. They demand ideological purity which includes their religion and joining the GOP war on science.
Purists will deny that explains losses in Senate races in Missouri or Indiana. They will blame the media for lying about then and holding back the truth about Bengazhi along with Obama’s birth, religion, philosophy, etc. They will never concede it was them.
The other side of the debate will be the Big-Tenters. Their most compelling argument is that the demographic trend makes it clear that the GOP’s “White Only” membership rules are a losing hand.
They will point to the steady decline in the percentage of White voters in the electorate.
In 1980 it was 89% White, 9% Black and the remainder Hispanic, Asian, etc.
By 2008, the percentage of White were only 74%. This year, it is 72%.
Meanwhile, 10% of the voters are now Hispanic.
By 2016 or 2020 Texas will be a tossup state.
A party built on the White vote like the current GOP can not survive.
Stay tuned for the bloodbath. I wish both sides good luck.
(Sam Fields is a long-time Broward Democratic activist. During the just completed election, Fields was a volunteer lawyer at the polling locations for the Democratic ticket.)
November 7th, 2012 at 4:04 pm
I’ve believed this for a long time. I’ve warned my friends on the Republican committee that we had better start reaching out to gays, Hispanics and blacks in Broward. The teaparty element and the religious are determined to keep the party like it is and continueplatform positions that don’t sell farther than the Coral Ridge Presbyterian.
November 7th, 2012 at 5:19 pm
It will be the Teabaggers vs. the Religious Social Conservatives vs. the Ayn Rand Objectivists vs. the Rockefeller Republicans vs. the Rebel Flagwavers vs. the Neocons.
Great entertainment? You betcha!!!
November 7th, 2012 at 6:52 pm
candidates need to stop saying really dumb stuff with groups of people around, whether they believe it or not.
in the age of cell phones, photos and video capabilities from phones, nothing is private or confidential
romneyy comments at the boca raton home awhile back did not help him in any way.
I also think obama spent times on those shows like The View, Jon Stewart, Letterman, etc, because thats what many like and like to tune in to. They are not buying/reading newspapers, watching national or cable news and doing those old school things.
whether you want to call it the dumbing down of america or the lowest common denominator approach, that is how most of americans spend their time
not judging, just saying
November 7th, 2012 at 8:22 pm
Winter is coming 🙂
November 7th, 2012 at 8:32 pm
I love it…
Especially those religious fucks… Hunched over their ancient scrolls, written by a bunch of nutjobs lost in the bronze age… Cherry picking the verbiage to suit their needs.
Which, I suppose, if you follow their logic, there’s biblical justification why we don’t need Obamacare.
Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save him that is sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, it shall be forgiven him. (James 5:14-15 ASV)
I’ll bring the lions if someone else can arrange the arena.
November 7th, 2012 at 9:06 pm
Wishful thinking, Sam. Romney lost because Obama went to the lowest common denominator, pandering. Free contraception and abortion on demand, win the women vote. Bail out the auto union pension plan, win the union vote, free cell phones, permanent unemployment insurance, 47% increase in food stamps, eliminate vulnerability of a miserable stagnant economy. And all while demonizing those who make this grab-bag give-away extravaganza possible. Perhaps the next time Springsteen travels with Obama the Boss should sing his holiday classic “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. Obama Claus figured out an effective yet uninspired strategy. It works in elementary school elections and apparantly in this once great country as well. Of course, it only works until the money runs out, and one day the money will run out.
November 7th, 2012 at 10:48 pm
anyone who calls trying to survive since the crash living in a “grab-bag give-away extravaganza” is a heartless twit
November 7th, 2012 at 11:13 pm
At a time when our country needs to most come together, when John King’s magic board displayed a very scattered panorama of blues and reds, it is consoling to know that there are folks like Sam and others, who appear to delight and incite further fragmentation.
November 8th, 2012 at 12:00 am
Thank you Mr. President…I am safe for the next 4 years.
November 8th, 2012 at 6:21 am
@ WWRD – your claim is false in several different ways. Firstly, let’s look at wealth distribution among Americans:
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/19/households-wealth-american-1-percent_n_1687015.html
Half Of American Households Hold 1 Percent Of Wealth
Posted: 07/19/2012 2:30 pm
WASHINGTON — The share of the nation’s wealth held by the less affluent half of American households dropped precipitously after the financial crisis, to 1.1 percent, according to new calculations by Congress’s nonpartisan research service.
By contrast, the share of total net worth held by the weathiest 1 percent of American households continued rising, hitting 34.5 percent in 2010. The top 10 percent’s share was 74.5 percent.
The bottom half’s share of wealth has declined since it reached a high of 3.6 percent in 1995. But the most dramatic drop occurred after 2007, according to the analysis of data from the Federal Reserve’s latest Survey of Consumer Finances.
Another staggering indicator of the concentration of wealth at the top in the U.S: When all household wealth is divided by the number of households, the mean household net worth in 2010 totals $498,800. But the median household net worth — the level at which half the households have more and half have less — was $77,300, meaning that the rich have so much that the average net worth in the U.S. is actually 6.5 times that of a typical American family.
The study found that the share of wealth held by the top 10 percent of households grew from 1989 to 2010. In every other segment of the remaining 90 percent of households — i.e. the middle and lower class — that share went down. […]
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Secondly, Romney repeatedly lied to the American people. He took every side of every issue, raising flip-flopping to a new level (let’s call it “Human Weathervane”!!).
Thirdly, at Bain Capital, he borrowed money to buy healthy companies, raided the workers’ retirement funds, bled the companies dry with huge “management fees” and then left the companies to go bankrupt and die, turning otherwise happy and productive American workers into unemployed Americans whose once-promising retirement funds have vanished and are now being used to buy dancing horses for Romney’s wife. Did I mention that Romney also took a huge tax deduction for those dancing horses, ripping off the American taxpayer as well???
The American people want what Bill Clinton promised: to work hard and play by the rules, and be treated fairly.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:49 am
I hope “What Would Reagan Do?” and the rest of the Florida GOP keeps thinking and speaking out in this manner. It will insure that Florida becomes ever more blue.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:51 am
There is nothing wrong with values. I think it is needed for a society to survive. The reason Romney lost is because he stood up for the country as a whole but the people in this country have turned into takers instead of makers. Greece here we come.
November 8th, 2012 at 8:09 am
@Mary Queen of Snots
As a card carrying member of the Socialist Party USA, I’d like to extend a personal invitation to you to join our ranks.
But, before you get your granny panties all wadded up, there’s some good news, and also some bad news.
The good news? Though for different reasons, we, like you, also reject ObamaCare.
The bad news? At our meetings, you won’t run into President Obama. Because, trust me on this, he ain’t no Socialist. And I know socialists… Been one myself for quite sometime now.
Oh, and if you are wondering we reject ObamaCare, it is because we believe it to be “a corporate restructuring of the health insurance industry created to protect the profit margins of private insurance companies.”
November 8th, 2012 at 9:00 am
Mr. Fields,
You are forgetting one very important demographic about white people in the GOP. Many of us have been chased out for good years ago for rejecting the lunacy and racism which took over. The GOP can not even rely on whatever percentage of white voters exist because of this. My white skin I found gave everyone I knew who was tin foil hat crazy to tell or send me an endless stream of vile and horrific emails about gays, Blacks, Hispanics, Women, Muslims the disabled atc.
Since science is not something valued by the far right, noticing the corelation between this hate and the loss of those voting demographics can only mean one thing.
More hate and vile towards those demographics. Now they are all want “free stuff” . Do they include every professional sports team that has tax payer paid for facilities? Multi mega billion oil businesses who need subsidies?
Being a “real American” means you can’t wait to send eveyone but your kids to be in endless wars and refuse to pay for the damn war.
I was astounded by the useage of racist phrasing I grew up with in the 1960s being used so effortlessly by the Romney and GOP teams about Obama.
Driving to work is when I get to listen to the Cheap AM Talk Radio show of Steve Kane and Brian Craig. They are driving themselves further off the deep end and I encourage it. Nothing like people who love Jesus so much and demand that we have a “you are on your own” health care system. I am sure that a weekly chicken wing get together charity bash will cover all of the uninsured. Obama’s reelection has given them employment for 4 more years. Nothing funnier than Steve doing a segue from Medicare being a Communist conspiracy to a commercial for a medical sponsor who Steve announces takes Medicare.
BTW, I voted for Reagan twice, Bush Sr, Bush Jr twice and Jeb Bush for gov every time.
November 8th, 2012 at 10:13 am
sorry to say ex u r right on.old rom chased me away by his hawkish view on the military and further wars with the muslims, hell let them kill each other, keep us out og it period….
November 8th, 2012 at 1:34 pm
2016 will be Clinton v. Santorum. Clinton will win, and it will be the final nail in this modern day conservativeism’s coffin.
November 8th, 2012 at 3:32 pm
maybe. but Hillary turned 65 two weeks ago so even if elected in 2016 she would be 69 with 4 years ahead of her in the WH. and that means no unintended consequences come about in the US in the next 4 years under the democrats. lots can go wrong to derail her or dems. the demographics won’t be getting any whiter, and just as obama ‘appeared’ at the DNC in 2004, another unknown star whether male or female but likely minority will eventually appear. an editorial in the NYT wednesday stated Romney was the last of his generation (just like McCain) that would or could be the nominee for the RNC. since Bush41, the last 3 presidents have taken office around age 50 +/- w/obama the youngest of the 3, so the trending is younger, not older, and not for an older, first woman prez. Just as 2012 was a different lay of the land than 2008 leading up to election, it will likely be moreso in 4 years, but hopefully improved.
November 8th, 2012 at 4:59 pm
As far as president’s ages, it all goes in cycles. Kennedy was young, then we had several older presidents after him. She’ll be 69 when election time rolls around.. but she’ll look about 10 years younger after the wizard gets done with her. The resume is very impressive. I see her doing her current job about another year, taking a year off to recharge her batteries, then being the nominee in 2016 and America’s first female president.
November 8th, 2012 at 7:16 pm
Dear Purists,
I love it when GOP purists insist that their only problem is that they have not been able to properly communicate their message to people of color.
“It’s not our fabulous ideas. It’s that we have not dumbed it down enough for the Black, Brown, Red and Yellow races. We Republicans must remember that the vocabulary that we use to communicate to Whites may be a little beyond the intellect of “those people”.
As a Democrat I hope you keep that thought front and center along with telling gays that Jesus will cure them.