The Republicans Are In Danger Of Becoming A Fringe Party
By ThePresidentialCandidates.US on Nov 19, 2008 in Barack Obama
With the massive failure of George W. Bush’s presidency over the last 8 years and failure of the GOP’s usual character assassinations during this election, the Republican party finds themselves in danger of becoming a fringe party at worst and a regional party at best.
If the nonsensical reaction to Obama’s landslide victory is any indication things are going to get worse for the Republicans before they get better. I’ve actually heard some right wing talking heads talking about how Obama’s win proves America is a “center-right” country or that the real problem with the Republicans is that they are
“not conservative enough.”
This after they spent the entire election defining Obama as “the most liberal Senator in the Senate” and “the most liberal major party Presidential candidate ever.” Guess what right wingers, America just overwhelmingly voted in “the most liberal…” and they did that not because they are “center-right” country or because they want the GOP to be “more conservative,” they did that because the majority of Americans think that the Republicans ideas flat out do not work.
The worst possible thing the GOP can do? Go the Sarah Palin route. It’s amazing me to me that any Republican would think that Sarah Palin is even close to a reasonable choice for the leader of their party. While she strongly appeals to the core constituency of the Republican party (social conservatives) she just as strongly repels the rest of America.
Palin as the Republican nominee in 2012 would guarantee Obama’s re-election.
If the Republicans want to have a chance in 2012 and beyond they must re-invent themselves and leave behind the “know nothing” social conservative pandering of the past.
Really, progress always comes eventually. Remember that conservatives were against civil rights in the 1960s just like they are against gay rights today. We’ve seen it all before. Eventually enough people will understand that the real American thing to do is to leave other people’s personal lives alone.
The social conservatives do not deserve their own major party. They are the lunatic fringe of our society.
The GOP needs to leave behind the old social conservative wedge issues of gay marriage and abortion. America (if it hasn’t quite already) will eventually move beyond these pathetic arguments. Those still having these old arguments will be entirely irrelevant in the future.
How little you understand about the GOP.
We conservatives have been incredibly upset at the direction the Republican party has taken over the past several years. We are no long the party of limited government and fiscal responsibility. A plethora of conservatives competing in the primary allowed the vote to be split and the liberal John McCain to win the nomination. He started the race with the majority of the party not even really supporting him. Lose the base, lose the race. He ran an embarrasing campaign while Obama ran an excellent campaign. If you had no prior knowlege of the candidates, and only listened to the talking points without doing any in depth research, you would exit with an assumption that Obama was the conservative in the race. True conservatives stayed home not thinking McCain worthy. Center-right independents voted for Obama. Just look at the numbers compared to 04. It’s obvious.
Obama is a big lib (endorsed by the socialist party of Illinois for crying out loud!), but he didn’t run like one. He knows most americans would reject big government.
In the end, his “middle class tax cuts” will go the way of Clintons… nonexistant and instead one of the largest tax increases in our history. Just watch.
Bob | Nov 23, 2008 | Reply
Bob you are exactly one of the Republicans I was talking about who thinks that the Republican party is somehow “not conservative enough.” This idea is laughable as is your assertion that members of the GOP base didn’t get out and vote AGAINST BARACK OBAMA. We both know they did. They may not have been in love with McCain but they hated Obama and they all voted. And guess what? There’s just not enough of them to win anymore and they Republican party no longer appeals to independents so thus they are a fringe party just as I asserted in this mofo.
admin | Nov 24, 2008 | Reply
Sorry Johnny, Bob’s right.
I voted Libertarian instead of Republican because the GOP was a bunch of fascist anti-conservatives didn’t.
My entire family of 6 has voted republican for 40 years, and NONE of us voted republican because they weren’t conservative this year.
John McCain IS a liberal. Only liberal republicans voted for him.
McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Feingold, McCain-Lieberman
McCain even considered switching to the Democratic party in 2000. McCain was mentioned as a possible Vice President to John Kerry (democrat) in 2004.
McCain and Obama both voted for the Bush’s bailout, which republicans majority voted against.
TRUE conservatives are angry at Bush, angry at the Bush-McCain-Obama bailout, angry about Bush-McCain-Obama amnesty, angry.
But don’t mistake TRUE conservatives for republicans. We’ve left the party.
Ron Paul was the last TRUE conservative to run in the GOP primaries.
Jonathan | Nov 27, 2008 | Reply
Oh, but I agree Sarah Palin is a disaster. John McCain is a disaster. They are both liberal anyways. They both want to bailout the banks. They both want to bailout homeowners. They both support the Federal Reserve scam.
But a good example of how the GOP has abandoned true conservatism, yet conservatism is stronger than ever, is my home state of Minnesota.
Minnesota 2008: Obama 53.0%, McCain 41.8%:
McCain lost by an amazing 12%.
But what about the senate race, which the SAME people vote for?
Norm Coleman (Republican 41%
Al Franken (Democrat) 41%
Dean Barkley (Independent Conservative) 15%
So as you can see, the Republican is winning by 300 votes right now. How can that happen, if the GOP is a fringe?
If you add the independent conservative Dean Barkley, and the GOP Norm Coleman, 56% of the population voted right-wing in the senate race, but 53% voted for Obama also.
Once the GOP returns to CONSERVATIVE values, they will regain that 15% that voted for Dean Barkley, and be the majority again.
However, there is a part of the GOP that is Neocon, and wants war, spending, socialism, like John McCain. It will be hard to eliminate socialists like McCain from the GOP.
Jonathan | Nov 27, 2008 | Reply
You guys are missing the point: The current incarnation of the GOP is all about appealing to social conservatives as long as that continues to be the case – they will increasingly become a fringe party because social conservatives will become a smaller and smaller part of the overall voting population.
Republicans are turning off everyone who isn’t a bible thumping loony. And I don’t think there’s going to much of a market for the kind of financial conservatism you are talking about either if Obama is successful over the next four years.
admin | Nov 28, 2008 | Reply
I agree with you that the GOP is all rhetoric towards the right. But in reality they fail to deliver at all towards that large voting bloc.
On the other hand, you’re also mis-interpreting what conservatism is about. The father of the modern conservative movement was Barry Goldwater. The “Goldwater movement” led to Reagan’s landslide election eventually. Obama himself is being praised for winning over “Reagan democrats” with his “Reaganesque” speeches.
Now what if I told you Goldwater was an avid opposer of all things “biblical”? Goldwater was for gay rights, abortion, and on the left of all the social issues.
Yet Goldwater (practically apostate) started the conservative movement.
That is my point. Conservatism is about limiting the size of government. There is no such thing as “social conservatism” as it is portrayed today. Those on the right who want to give the FEDERAL government more power to legislate tyrannical laws are not conservatives.
True conservatism tries to decentralize power as quickly as possible because we know “absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Whereas liberals dispute that and claim history can be “progressive” and that somehow human nature is improving over time.
That is also why Ron Paul won over many many democrats. Were it not for a rigged voting process, perhaps he would of been nominated. In his own home county, 15,000 people voted. For the president, 12,000 for McCain, 2,000 for Ron Paul, 1,000 for huckabee. For the house race, 12,000 for Ron Paul, 3,000 for the McCain-Bush-Cheney-endorsed opponent who spent much more money on the race than Paul.
So, in the bullshit results we are to believe at MINIMUM 9,000 McCain voters for presidential primary (60% of all voters) voted for McCain for president, then backed Ron Paul for representative?
My ass. And it’s not like they could’ve “not known” who Paul was. Paul personally delivered the vast majority of babies born in the county.
Just like in critical New Hampshire primaries, one town said only 4 people voted for Ron Paul. Then multiple families, hundreds of people from the town gathered and protested.
Sure enough the town said “woops” they had “misplaced” 300 ron paul votes, but none of any other candidate (somehow the votes were divided by candidates as well, allowing such distortions to easily occur).
The real people in danger of becoming a fringe, are freethinking citizens. Wake up to tyranny before it’s too late. If you think Bush-McCain-Obama “cares” about you, you’re absolutely wrong.
Just listen to the Biden tape where he explains that 6 months into Obama’s presidency there will be a “generated, international crisis” like JFK’s (cuban missile crisis, WW3). It’s kinda funny, cuz june 2009 (6 months in) is when Israel said they plan to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities.
Jonathan | Nov 29, 2008 | Reply
The GOP needs a massive rewrite of their status. As a proud republican i have to say the thought of Sarah Palin as vice or even president give me the chills. We have to come much closer to center instead of clinging to the Avenganical right
James | Dec 4, 2008 | Reply