How Bush Helped The GOP Commit Suicide

[WillyT]

How Bush helped the GOP commit suicide
A new study shows that unless the Democrats self-destruct, they could walk into the White House in '08 -- and might hold it for years.
By Gary Kamiya

<snip>

...

But the significance of the Pew study, the latest in a series that started in 1987, goes beyond Bush or the upcoming election. On virtually every issue, it shows that the public holds views that are closer to those of the Democrats than the Republicans -- and that long-term trends are moving in that direction, too. For the GOP, its move-to-the-right strategy paid short-term dividends, but that ploy is now looking like a case of live by the sword, die by the sword. Its greatest challenge is now to find a way to recapture the political center without alienating the right-wing base to which it has so effectively pandered. For it looks like hard-right positions aren't playing in Peoria anymore.

Take public support for government programs, a key index of difference between the parties. Sixty-nine percent of Americans believe that "government should care for those who can't care for themselves" -- up 12 percent from 1994, the year of Newt Gingrich's anti-government "Contract With America."

Another remarkable finding concerned social conservatism -- the issue that inspired so much hand-wringing after the 2004 elections, with many pundits opining that most Democrats were simply too liberal and secular-minded on "values" issues to win. This was always overblown -- and, in fact, this and earlier Pew surveys have consistently found that Americans have been growing less conservative on social values issues over the last 20 years.

The survey asks six questions dealing with social values, including homosexuality, the place of women in society, and whether one has "old-fashioned values about family and marriage." As the report sums up its findings: "In 1987, about half of the survey's respondents (49 percent) gave conservative answers to at least four of the six questions. In 2007, just 30 percent did so. This trend has occurred in all major social, political, and demographic groups in the population. While Republicans remain significantly more conservative than Democrats or independents on social values, they too have become substantially less conservative over this period. The decline in social conservatism is being hastened by generational change, as each new age cohort has come into adulthood with less conservative views on the questions than did their predecessors."

For example, the number of Americans who said they had "old-fashioned values about family and marriage" dropped from 87 in 1990 to 76 in 2007. Still more striking was the change in attitudes toward gay teachers: In 1990 49 percent of those polled said that school boards had the right to fire homosexual teachers. In 2007, only 28 percent did.

Since his group's studies have shown that Americans have been growing less conservative for 20 years, how did Kohut explain the 2004 elections? "Well, I'd say that was a case where we were still being affected by the 9/11 attacks," he said. "There was a lot of concern about Kerry's strength of decision making, and Bush's leadership was still positively regarded. And second terms are different from open elections."

If "values" isn't a winning card in 2008, national security may not be, either. The Pew study casts serious doubt on whether Republicans can still count on this being an ace in the hole. In 2002, after the 9/11 attacks, 62 percent of Americans agreed that the best way to ensure peace is through military strength. Five years and one war in Iraq later, that figure has declined sharply, to 49 percent. Republican support for that proposition remains overwhelming and unchanged at 72 percent, versus 40 percent of Democrats (down from 55 percent in 2002). But the critical figure is the independents. Only 46 percent of independents agree, while 51 percent disagree. This suggests that the Democratic fear of being labeled "weak on national security" is overblown and may be caused more by unconvincing attempts to appear "tough" than by actual policy positions.

...

<snip>

Link: http://www.salon.com/opinion/kamiya/2007/03/27/pew/print.html

Lots of interesting stuff here folks.

:shrug:

[PDJane]

1. Read it.

Hope, and sincerely, that a Democratic majority will change things for the better. I am about hopeless at this point, quite honestly.

[Raine]

2. So am I

the Democrats seem to have a knack for self-destructing. :-(

[tridim]

6. I think you two are watching too much corporate news.

Please explain this "knack for self-destructing". We might have a knack for giving up too easily (2000, 2002, and 2004 for example), but that's not "self-destructing". That's trying to play the election game against cheaters who don't follow the rules and pay off the referees.

[ourvoicescount]

9. Amen.

[Vox Acerbus]

3. Perhaps the only goodness to come from a Bush...

The long term death of the GOP.

Democrats, don't fuck it up. Leave the GOP in the grave and move on. Don't let the corpse rise again.

[youngdem]

4. Yep. As Michael Moore likes to remind us, it is a liberal country

People in general are for stronger labor protections, better schools, less war, stronger environmental protections, increased minimum wages, universal healthcare and on and on. Republicans are just better at lying and packaging and selling the public a bill of goods. It's how many got rich in the first place.

We are waking up, and resuming our rightful place as the representative of the people's interest. May we not lose our way or our nerve again.

[Firespirit]

5. Let's not get complacent

1. For all these polls, the 2006 elections showed that even in the midst of widespread scandal, over 40% of the public would still vote for them.

2. There's a hardcore base of about 33-35%.

3. If a large faction of the GOP jumps ship, a 3rd party could form.

4. They won't take it lying down. The GOP will retool its image. Count on it.

5. 2010 census.

I don't mean to rain on anyone's parade, but we should not take 2008 for granted--and certainly not anything long term.

[NewJeffCT]

21. great post

As I just posted in another thread - the GOP has Bush-like control in the 1920s and it resulted in the Great Depression. In the 1930s, Republicans advocated allying with Hitler & Mussolini and even did business with them.

Yet, despite that, and the fact that FDR and Truman led America out of the Great Depression and through WW2, Republicans still managed to elect Eisenhower in 1952.

[Wilber_Stool]

7. And we didn't have to

gerrymander a single district.

[Demeter]

8. It's Jonestown, The Sequel

With Dubya as Jim Jones spiritual heir.

[whistle]

10. Like lemmings following their leader over the military/industrial cliff

....just for a few dollars in lowered taxes....reThuglican jerks!

[WillyT]

11. may i request one more rec

just so people can see this study

thanks

[Gabi Hayes]

12. OK, but this is the second time, at least, I've seen this in a thread today.

and I'm much too leery of the capacity for deceit, the murderous callousness of these people to think for one minute that the death of the pug party is as close as this poll would have one infer.

how could they have possibly gotten enough legitimate votes to steal the last two presidential elections?

between the electronic voting machine companies and the MEDIA, it's going to be much much harder to prevail (and lord knows what sort of DLC/DINO we'll nominate). even if a dem wins, who's to say they won't do the same thing Clinton did, which is IGNORE all the criminality that went on before he came into power. It was just this ignorance that allowed the second iteration of the BFEE to steal power.

be afraid. be very afraid

hope I'm wrong, but lookit what the media is doing as I type, to sweep the MYRIAD crimes of this junta under the rug. They try to tell the average joe that he isn't INTERESTED in any of this inside politics garbage, and the dems are screwing themselves by looking into it.

it was the very act of nonstop investigation of clinton that laid the groundwork for the 2000 election, convincine enough people that Clinton/Gore were crooks, and BAD for the country.
The media KNOW this, cause they were the ones who allowed it to proceed, and they don't want the public to know just how rotten things are in the castle.

[WillyT]

15. I Dunno... I've Been Seeing All Around Me Lately...

at least anecdotally. Folks that were proud bushies, now say nothing are have come to see what we see.

And then there's the 2006 elections.

I'm not saying sit back and relax, I'm saying that we've pushed hard, moved some of the media, and we've been proven right about our suspicions and concerns time after time.

All I think that that study says, is that people are finally coming around.

:shrug:

But my powder is still dry.

[Elwood P Dowd]

13. Delete. Wrong thread.

.

[WillyT]

14. Deleted. Right Thread.

:evilgrin:

[Diane R]

16. Let's not count our chickens.

[KingFlorez]

17. There is still a lot of work to be done

Democrats must continue to build new blocks of support across the country, strengthen the base and make strides in state legislatures before the next census to ensure fair redistricting. Sure, the erosion of support for the GOP is helpful, but Democrats still have to work hard.

[Olney Blue]

18. Kick.

:kick:

[GCP]

19. I'm not counting any chickens

1. The pukes are not going to give in.

2. The US Attorney firings show how far down the road Rove is looking - 8 of the fired Attorneys were in states where the republicans were looking to lose in 08. And they were fired because they weren't working to keep down the democratic vote.

http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/16962753.htm

3. Keeping down voter turnout is their next big push.

4. They have corporate money up the kazoo. Corporations run this country, not government.

5. The media have reneged on their fourth estate function.

We have to keep fighting and supporting the dems by giving them as much money and time as we can afford.

[bread_and_roses]

20. Keep in mind that Democrats approval is not rising much

from the article:

I asked Andrew Kohut, the Pew Center's director, if there was a single ray of hope for the GOP for 2008 in his group's report. He pointed out that if the poll showed Americans turning away from the GOP, they weren't very enthusiastic about the Democrats, either. In fact, he noted that "the favorable ratings for the Democratic Party really haven't improved that much since 1994." And he added that voters in presidential elections are heavily influenced by the qualities of individual candidates, not just party affiliation.

Nonetheless, this article cheers me up. And once again shows how out-of-touch, how bought-and-sold, how worthless are the media pundits, who keep warning and cautioning the Democrats not to overstep. As well as trumpeting every anti-global warming, every anti-Gay marriage, every stay-at-home mom and millionaire-next-door, every up-from-bootstraps story they can milk.