The GOP's Problem With GOD

O-M-G!! Kathleen Parker is amazing. After she had the courage and insight to flat out call out McCain and say that Bible Spice Palin was unfit to be the VP candidate, she was labeled a traitor by Republicans and apparently received all kinds of horrid abuse from the self-styled "godly Christian" set. Now Parker has taken a brick bat to her detractors and called out the harsh truth about the GOP and its real problem: the Christianists and whacked out religious fanatics who now comprise the party's base. They drive more people from the GOP with every passing day and are particularly unpopular with younger voters. I suspect that these folks will now be calling for Parker to be assassinated or burned at the stake. She speaks the truth and the question is whether there are any rational folks still left in the party to seek to recapture it from the nutcases. Here are highlights from her column in the Washington Post:

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As Republicans sort out the reasons for their defeat, they likely will overlook or dismiss the gorilla in the pulpit. Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D. I'm bathing in holy water as I type. To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.

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Simply put: Armband religion is killing the Republican Party. And, the truth -- as long as we're setting ourselves free -- is that if one were to eavesdrop on private conversations among the party intelligentsia, one would hear precisely that. The choir has become absurdly off-key, and many Republicans know it. But they need those votes! So it has been for the Grand Old Party since the 1980s or so, as it has become increasingly beholden to an element that used to be relegated to wooden crates on street corners.

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[T]he GOP has surrendered its high ground to its lowest brows. In the process, the party has alienated its non-base constituents, including other people of faith (those who prefer a more private approach to worship), as well as secularists and conservative-leaning Democrats who otherwise might be tempted to cross the aisle.

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Religious conservatives become defensive at any suggestion that they've had something to do with the GOP's erosion. And, though the recent Democratic sweep can be attributed in large part to a referendum on Bush and the failing economy, three long-term trends identified by Emory University's Alan Abramowitz have been devastating to the Republican Party: increasing racial diversity, declining marriage rates and changes in religious beliefs.

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[L]ike it or not, we are a diverse nation, no longer predominantly white and Christian. The change Barack Obama promised has already occurred, which is why he won. Among Jewish voters, 78 percent went for Obama. Sixty-six percent of under-30 voters did likewise. Forty-five percent of voters ages 18-29 are Democrats compared to just 26 percent Republican; in 2000, party affiliation was split almost evenly.

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Given those facts, the future of the GOP looks dim and dimmer if it stays the present course. Either the Republican Party needs a new base -- or the nation may need a new party.