Another GOP Post Mortem

I've written often about the demise of the GOP from what it once was - i.e., the days when did not have to be a wingnut evangelical, racist, or miser worried only about what YOU will pay in taxes. I like many question where the party goes from here. Sadly, I suspect the party will trend even further to the irrational far right before the reactionary forces now controlling the party tire of politics after more future election debacles or some leader appears who can lead the party back from Christianist lunacy. Anyone who sees Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee or Louisiana Governor Jindal as the future of the party has not received the message that moderates and independents do NOT want a quasi-theocratic party in the White House. The Chimperator - currently the least popular president EVER - has shown the perils of a small minded fundamentalist Christian holding that office. Charlie Cook in National Journal has a column that looks at what the Christianist lock on the GOP is doing. Here are some highlights:

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One key to Barack Obama's victory, however, was his overwhelming support among voters ages 18 to 29, whom he won by 34 points, 66 percent to 32 percent; and his support among those ages 30 to 44, whom he carried by 6 points, 52 percent to 46 percent. Those numbers are ominous for Republicans looking to 2010 and beyond.

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Republicans have lost an enormous amount of support among upscale voters, basically just breaking even among those with household incomes above $50,000 a year, a traditional GOP stronghold. Similarly, McCain's losing to Obama among college graduates and voters who have attended some college underscores how much the GOP franchise is in trouble. My hunch is that the Republican Party's focus on social, cultural, and religious issues -- most notably, fights over embryonic-stem-cell research and Terri Schiavo -- cost its candidates dearly among upscale voters.

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Those who write off the 2008 election by saying that Republican candidates weren't conservative enough are in denial. They are political ostriches, refusing to acknowledge that the country and the electorate are changing and that old recipes don't work any more.

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[T]he Republican Party's message and agenda haven't changed much other than becoming even more fixated on cultural issues and tax cuts. . . . The question is whether the party's leaders and members will be listening. Will they be open to new approaches to dealing with a dramatically changed country? Or will they simply say, "Back to the Future"?