Republicans fear long exile in the wilderness

[Bozita]

Source: Guardian, UK

Republicans fear long exile in the wilderness
In America's conservative heartland the talk now is not just of a win for Obama. With the Democrats poised for gains in the Senate and the House, moderate Republicans fear a wipeout that would leave their party in the grip of evangelicals increasingly out of touch with the public. Could the country be on the brink of change as deep as that ushered in by Reagan?

Paul Harris in Texas
The Observer, Sunday October 26 2008
Article history


Voting for a Republican president runs in the blood of places like Gainesville. The pretty little town of 15,000 sits in north Texas ranch country and it is safe to say that Barack Obama has few fans here. Certainly Jim Farquhar, who works in the justice system, has taken to heart warnings that Obama has links with dangerous radicals, such as former 1960s militant Bill Ayers.

'Obama scares me. He has all these friendships. You just don't know how that might effect him once he gets into office,' Farquhar said as he stood outside Gainsville's sturdy old courthouse. 'I'm voting for John McCain.'

Such worries are increasingly not shared by many other Americans. Weeks of relentless attacks on Obama by McCain and his running mate Sarah Palin have not succeeded in denting Obama's lead. Instead it has strengthened. Across America, battleground states such as Ohio and Pennsylvania are falling into Obama's column and southern states such as Virginia and North Carolina are going from red to blue. Some Democratic insiders are even whispering about the prospect of a landslide.

The flipside of that is a potentially devastating Republican loss. If current polling holds true, the party may be reduced to its core support in the solid red heartland that runs through Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Georgia and other southern and western states. That would trigger a profound crisis for a party that just three years ago was basking in the afterglow of a convincing presidential win and dreaming of creating a 'permanent majority'.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/26/uselections2008-republicans

[MikeNearMcChord]

1. Good! Let them learn a hard lesson.

Hell let the Libertarian Party become the opposition, at least they don't want to put an eyeball in my bedroom, and force Jesus down everybody's throat.

[mitchum]

2. Fuck them...let them forage for rocks and nettles in that wilderness

[ck4829]

3. I'm feeling pretty sorry for that wilderness right now.

[CoffeeCat]

4. Oh great. There goes the wildnerness.

Whatever they touch, turns to shineola.

[Jester Messiah]

5. It is way too early for this kind of talk!

I want to see the 'pubbies exiled as much as the next guy, but we need to just focus on winning the election right now! Triumphalist stuff like this, while it makes us smile, is exactly the kind of thing that gets out the Republican vote. We'll have time to crow on November 5th!

[ACTION BASTARD]

12. Testify!

These christo-fascists plutocrats are like Nosferatu, they claw, steal, lie and would crawl over their mother's to hold onto power. With them nothing is off the table until Nov 5th.

We will drag them with us into history.

[Trajan]

19. In all fairness : It is THEY who are talking ...

We are more or less nodding our heads in agreement ...

[tclambert]

32. Please resist the urge to gloat.

The gloating of the Republicans after the 2004 election still rankles. And I think it was part of what contributed to their downfall.

Quiet satisfaction and magnanimity in victory are more dignified. Watch Obama's reaction. I'll bet he won't boast that he "earned political capital and intends to spend it" the way George did.

[baldguy]

6. Where evil finds fear, good finds hope.

Fear vs Hope




Hope has always been a more powerful emotion.

[crossroads]

24. Great graphics! Thanks... I snagged...lol

[knixphan]

42. indeed!

[bluestateguy]

7. Them and the New York Yankees

nt

[Faygo Kid]

8. Let Hannity/Limbaugh continue to be their "strategists." Please.

McCain was confused: It's Sean Hannity/Limbaugh/Faux News who runs the party now.

Except James Dobson wants his pound of flesh. And will now get it.

But chalk this one up to Hannity, primarily. He is now officially on the decline.

[Demeter]

9. This Change Will Be MUCH Deeper Than Reagan's

because it will build the nation, instead of destroying it. We will improve people's lives, not reduce them to to poverty, despair and illness.

And THIS time, we will heavily drug and/or therapize those who fight it kicking and screaming. Or fine and jail them, if necessary.

[Zhade]

10. "Sane, decent people anticipate with glee long douchebag exile in the wilderness"

Suggested revised title.

[santamargarita]

11. We can't let them stink up the wilderness. How about...

...someone help me here. Where is the worst place on Earth?

[Historic NY]

14. Death Valley during the summer.

[tomreedtoon]

15. Rolla, Missouri. Hands down.

Little college town, south-central Missouri. Place full of Baptists and lunatic militias, and students at a little technical college. One Wal-Mart that has driven all the downtown stores out of business (good deal, they cheated the college students). Nothing, but NOTHING for about fifty miles around.

[Trajan]

20. I've been to Rolla ...

I have family in Houston, Willow Springs and Mountain View ... Oh .. and West Plains ...

Crazy; since most of us were born in New Jersey ...

In any case: Yeah .... To Rolla .... a perfect place ..... or Branson ....

[santamargarita]

21. Chernobyl

It's polluted - a perfect paradise for every Republican

[tclambert]

30. Insufficient safety regulations contributed to the Chernobyl disaster

Just what the deregulators would have wanted to have happen here. We require a containment building around the reactor chamber. The Russians didn't.

[damonm]

36. FAR too close to my Democratic Mother and Aunt...

Stick'em in Texas where they belong.

[WCGreen]

13. Daaa, Black man no like 'Merca... He terryst...

He make white people bow and scrape...

[LynnTheDem]

16. Oh now...Alaska ain't that bad. Quit yer whinin'.

:rofl:

[tabasco]

17. I fear their exile won't be long enough.

If the fuckers get the White House before I die, I'll be sorely disappointed.

[ThoughtCriminal]

18. Toxic Party that is going to get worse

The pro-Armegeddon, Palin Core may take over the GOP. The Klepto-Kapitalists may flee try and buy influence with the DINOs.

One quibble with the article - the Republicans did not have "a convincing presidential win" in 2004.

[sellitman]

22. They shit the bed , now let them enjoy the smell.

They brought it upon themselves.

[palmertracker]

23. It's hard to believe people who are traditionally republican can buy everything their

political leaders are spewing.

[beachmom]

25. Um, Georgia is going to be close. So even our state is beginning

to turn away from their extremism.

[fed_up_mother]

26. 40 years in the wilderness at least

[Malidictus Maximus]

27. And don't come back until you learn how to not make messes in the house!

[VoodooGuru]

28. I kind of fear that kind of GOP...

That's a lot of crazy to keep in one place.

[rsweets]

35. Amen

[MetaTrope]

29. As if Rove, Limbaugh, Coulter, Malkin, Drudge, Fox, etc etc are going to fade away

Doesn't matter how small the actual Republican Party becomes, its noise machine will continue to fling feces forever.

[tclambert]

31. "Some Democratic insiders are even whispering about the prospect of a landslide. "

Who's whispering? I've been predicting an electoral landslide for about a month. Obama by about 200 electoral votes. Popular vote, not so much. Maybe 10-15%. But how do you define landslide?

I've also been predicting the internal conflicts in the McCain campaign. That one is confirmed. New prediction: It will get worse.

And I predicted there would be external criticism of the management of the McCain campaign. Two separate sources have already used the term dysfunctional when discussing the campaign. That's another one confirmed. Other words to look for: floundering, flailing, failing, confused, disarray, rudderless.

More finger-pointing and blame-gaming will occur within and without the McCain campaign.

[LoKnLoD]

33. Boo fricken hoo

Heck of a job Georgie, you brought down a 150 year old political party almost by yourself. Good riddance.

[Critters2]

34. I've always wanted to use this smiley:

:nopity: :cry:


:rofl:

[kestrel91316]

37. Twice in the last 70 years Republicans have damned near destroyed

this country. We'd better not be giving them ANY MORE CHANCES.

[snake in the grass]

38. No sympathy here.

Fuck these assholes! I hope they stay in the wilderness.

[Democat]

39. Republicans want to destroy the wilderness too!

:rofl:

[JackDragna]

40. I'd love to see a more liberal Republican Party.

What passes for the "center" in this country is so far to the right, it makes even mainstream Democrats seem far to the right of leftist politicians in other countries. I'd love to see the bar pulled to the left again so true liberals can get their voices heard.

[wroberts189]

41. Smithers: ...Let the wolves loose. n/t

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

43. but they aren't going to fade into the wilderness, their going to blow shit up

The american terrorists are still out there - they have just been appeased for the last 8 years.