Senate GOP in big funk

[ClarkUSA]

Here's a news story we can all enjoy. Politico reports:

Down to 42 seats with two still at risk, Senate Republicans are in a deep funk. Some are in denial. Some want a return to conservative principles. Some want to cut deals. Some want more filibusters.

Others want to jump out a window — but they’re afraid they’d screw that up, too.

“We probably wouldn’t die,” a Republican Senate aide joked Wednesday. “We’d just lie there, hurt and suffering, which is not too much different from where we are now.”

Two years ago, the Republicans held a 55-45 majority. They’re down 13 seats since then, with a too-close-to-call race in Minnesota and a runoff in Georgia still to come... On Wednesday night, just off the Senate floor, Republicans planned to gather in tribute to their retiring and defeated colleagues.

It’s a longer-than-usual list this year, and it includes Stevens, Warner, Pete V. Domenici, Elizabeth Dole, Wayne Allard, Gordon Smith, John Sununu, Larry Craig and Chuck Hagel.

“This causes a lot of pain,” said Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson.

:evilgrin:

[Double T]

1. We will be living with the aftermath of the GOP reign of terror for decades.

We'll always remember the SOBs that destroyed our nation.

[tigereye]

20. I think our nation is still standing....

I don't think everything was destroyed. Hope, and some basic principles, for example.

[Double T]

23. If the 'leaders' had basic principles, we wouldn't be in this mess.

Criminals remain in charge.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

2. I hate to say it...

But part of me is enjoying their discomfort...

After what they've done to our country over the past 8 years....

Well, they've earned their discomfort!

:evilgrin:

[ClarkUSA]

8. Ah, schadenfreude!

I hope to feel this way for another eight years - and possibly sixteen - if Team O plays their cards right. :evilgrin:

[TheCowsCameHome]

14. I wish them much more than discomfort.

Sheer agony is a nice starting place.

[firedupdem]

3. Thanks to Bush the entire country is in "great pain"...welcome

to the party assholes!

[backscatter712]

4. Let's hope they add Norm Coleman and Saxby Chambliss to the guests of honor at the farewell party...

Knock on wood...

[racaulk]

5. The word "schadenfreude" comes to mind.

I don't feel sorry for these people for one red second. They deserve every defeat that is being handed to them.

[SeaLyons]

6. What goes around, comes around.....

boohoo GOP.

:rofl:

[CatWoman]

7. great blog item from Jay Bookman today

GOP appealing to a shrinking America
By Jay Bookman | Thursday, November 20, 2008, 06:49 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

I wrote a few days ago about the idea that there is no single “America,” that the country is constantly evolving and that each of us has our own personal concept of what America ought to be and is.

One of the biggest problems confronting the Republican Party is the fact that they have built their party on the basis of an America that no longer exists demographically.

Alan Abramovitz, the very sharp political science professor at Emory here in Atlanta, runs the numbers for us:

“The declining proportion of married white Christians in the electorate has important political implications because in recent years married white Christians have been among the most loyal supporters of the Republican Party. …. Between the middle of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century, the proportion of whites has fallen by about 15 percentage points, the proportion of married persons has fallen by about 25 percentage points, and the proportion of Christian identifiers has fallen by about 10 percentage points.

“Married individuals still make up a large majority of the electorate, whites are still close to 80 percent of the electorate, and Christians are still over 80 percent of the electorate. However, the combined impact of the changes illustrated in Figure 1 has been enormous. Married white Christians have gone from close to 80 percent of the electorate in the 1950s to just over 40 percent of the electorate in the first decade of the 21st century. Moreover, the data displayed in Figure 2 show that the decline in married white Christians has been even more drastic among younger Americans. The proportion of married white Christians among voters under the age of 30 has plummeted from almost 80 percent in the 1950s to less than 20 percent in the first decade of the 21st century.”

Robert Lang, writing in Politico, makes a similar point after noting how quickly the minority population of the United States is growing:

“The bottom line for Republicans is that no matter how this population is defined, an increasing number of current minorities are voting for Democrats.

Republicans can, of course, switch their strategy and make more direct appeals to minority voters. As recently as 2004, President George W. Bush almost won the Latino vote. But at the moment, the Republicans seem branded as the party of white people. Furthermore, much of the Republican base — especially those listening to talk radio — believe the U.S. is being flooded with immigrants (legal and illegal). It may be hard to pivot and embrace diversity without alienating the GOP base. By contrast, many whites in the Democratic Party are comfortable with diversity and now form a transracial coalition with minority voters.”

I have some sympathy for the GOP because, in a sense, the party faces a very similar challenge to that confronting newspapers. Changing demographics, technologies and lifestyles are undercutting their traditional customer base, and to survive they’re going to have to find a way to reach out to woo new customers without alienating their old ones.

It ain’t easy.

http://www.ajc.com/blogs/content/shared-blogs/ajc/bookman/entries/2008/11/20/gop_appealing_to_a_shrinking_a.html

[ClarkUSA]

9. Yes, the GOP is caught in a proverbial Catch-22 and they have no clue how to resolve it.

I am enjoying the aftermath of Obama's victory more than I thought, what with post-mortem articles like these. Thanks.

[CatWoman]

17. My pleasure

:)

[tigereye]

21. they screwed themselves with their policies of hate, division and intolerance

not withstanding their love of violence and back-stabbing. :grr: They alienated and rejected the true, diverse face of America.


What goes around comes around. Palin was like Pat Buchanan in 1992. You would think they would have learned, but no.

[crispini]

10. Hee hee hee. Schaedenfreude. It's what's for dinner! :D

[ClarkUSA]

28. How delicious! I'll have seconds.

}(

[Benhurst]

11. I wish I could be there to see Lidda Dole take off for Kansas in her

hot air balloon.

[11 Bravo]

12. What, her broom's in the shop?

[tigereye]

22. ha ha

:rofl:

[ccharles000]

13. I hope they cry and cry and cry some more.

[Alter Ego]

15. The funk is strong with them, it would seem.

[Robeson]

16. Unfortunately, I'm still stuck with two pieces of crud in my state.

...Lamar Alexander, who has never done a useful thing his entire political career other than being Lamar Alexander, and Bob Corker, a filthy rich Republican who decided to buy himself a senate seat. Oh boy!

[ClarkUSA]

19. Yeah, the Volunteer State's Democratic Party needs to regroup.

I hope Harold Ford runs for Corker's office again with President Obama campaigning by his side with a better economy as a backdrop.
I'm not a big fan of Ford, but the way Corker won his race sticks in my craw. The RNC won't get away with that again... although there
is a part of me that wonders whether Ford's single state is an impediment to his political career. Is there a popular Democratic mayor
anywhere in TN that could challenge Corker?

[Lugnut]

18. Awwww.

What a shame. :nopity:

[TheKentuckian]

24. I scoff at them without even a hint of pity until they accept some accountability

These people need a loooooooooooooooong stretch in the wilderness and at the drawing board. Further, I could give a rats ass how they feel about it from Darth Cheney down to the lowliest NASCAR Dad because they have had their way nearly unchecked for the better part of forty years and have left a dent in America that used to get you bombed into stone age for half the damage.

I'm all for trying to keep it classy and reasonable like...see but the velvet glove must, must, MUST contain a spiked iron fist that won't think much more than twice about bashing that noggin in.

[RagAss]

25. I fart right up their nostrils !

[genna]

26. Don't let the door hit you! You meant it for bad GOP

but (you Bible readers can fill in the rest)



I am thinking of a Chicago line from the movie Untouchables from Al Capone, but for those of you non macho people it would be offensive. So I will settle in saying their family values have cost us protection in health, protection for our education, insecurity for the retirement years, and government in excess on our electronic communications.


Why does any American think from Newt as Speaker on was a moral victory for Republicans? Bush just stuck a fork in our smoking carcass.

[SidneyCarton]

27. Some consolation music for the poor Senate GOP

:nopity: :nopity: :nopity: :nopity:

Suck eggs boys, failure is the best, if the most painful teacher, and a little humiliation is good for the soul, if y'all can get it out of hock that is... :evilfrown: