One would think that the data evidencing the flight of moderates from the Republican Party - I myself fled a number of years ago - would be a wake up call to the Party that the embrace of the lunatic Christianist elements has been an ill-advised move regardless of the temporary success of Rovian politics. Should the McCain/Palin ticket and numerous Congressional Republicans go down to defeat next Tuesday, the evidence would seem even stronger that far right extremism and intolerance is driving the Party toward a permanent minority status. But that would require leaders who are in touch with reality - something that automatically excludes the Christianists who seek control the Party with an iron fist. Perhaps it is time for moderate Republicans to start a new party and allow the current GOP to become an irrelevant religious party lost in the political wilderness. Here are some highlights from the Los Angeles Times that look at the battle for the soul - or what's left of it - of the Republican Party:*
The social conservatives and moderates who together boosted the Republican Party to dominance have begun a tense battle over the future of the GOP, with social conservatives already moving to seize control of the party's machinery and some vowing to limit John McCain's influence, even if he wins the presidency.In skirmishes around the country in recent months, evangelicals and others who believe Republicans have been too timid in fighting abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration have won election to the party's national committee, in preparation for a fight over the direction and leadership of the party.
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The growing power of religious conservatives is alarming some moderate Republicans who believe that the party's main problem is that it has narrowed its appeal and alienated too many voters. . . . Some moderates argue that the party's top priority must be to broaden its outreach, a caution laid down by retired Gen. Colin L. Powell on national television this month when he broke from the party and endorsed Obama. Surveys show McCain beating Obama among white men but losing with almost every other demographic group.
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A focal point of the GOP fight is the selection of the next chairman of the Republican National Committee -- the party's power center for fundraising and strategic thinking. With various factions already trying to build support for their favored candidates, some conservatives are warning that McCain cannot serve as the party's spiritual guide even if he becomes president.
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One moderate contender for party chairman, Jim Greer, is pushing a theme of ethnic outreach. Greer is chief of the state party in Florida and is a close ally of the state's governor, Charlie Crist, who some in the party say is laying the groundwork to spread his brand of centrist Republicanism to the national stage. . . . Greer and Crist have also moved to distance the Florida party from some of the more aggressive tactics of the McCain campaign. In recent weeks, the state party declined to pay for direct-mail pieces linking Obama to 1960s domestic terrorist-turned education professor William Ayers, a connection that the McCain campaign has tried to highlight.
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Some conservatives argue privately that an Obama victory would clear out strategists and policy thinkers from the Bush era and the McCain campaign, leaving the party in a better position to rebuild itself as a contrast to the Democrats, who would have control of Congress as well as the White House.
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