Gimme That Old-Time Religion »
Posted By bruhaha 5 months ago in Political NewsGeorge W. Bush left office with a public approval rating under 30 percent. Less than 30 percent of Americans currently describe themselves as Republicans. The amalgam of evangelical Christians, hardcore gun-rights fanatics, anti-tax, anti-immigrant and anti-choice voters who make up the base of the Republican Party amount to less than 30 percent of the overall electorate.
These numbers reflect the present state of affairs for the GOP: they are a party controlled by their base, the same group of Americans whose support for Bush never wavered, and who still call themselves Republican despite the serial debacles of the last decade. These are the voters who listen to Limbaugh, Savage, Hannity and Beck, who watch Fox News to the exclusion of every other network, who think evolution is a fraud because dinosaurs are not mentioned in the Bible, and who believe President Obama is a secret Islamic terrorist communist Jew with a bum birth certificate.
These voters have spent the last 30 years being the single most reliable voting bloc in the entire electorate, and this has come to present a potentially lethal problem for the Republican Party in general, and for their future electoral prospects specifically. For a long time, the loyalty of their voter base propelled the GOP into a position of complete dominance - if live, man-eating jaguars rained from the sky on election day, the GOP base would still turn out en masse to pull the handle for every candidate on the ballot with an "R" after their name, a fact that made the difference in a half-dozen midterms and at least two presidential elections.
That loyalty made the GOP base the most muscular part of the party, but it is that very strength which is now tearing the party to pieces. Consider the lesson that was provided during the 2008 Republican Party primary season. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee became the darling of the GOP base, earning roughly 50 percent of the GOP base vote in virtually every Red-state primary. The other, more broadly popular GOP candidates like Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney, needed those votes to prevail, but were forced to fight for the base-voter scraps left by Huckabee. This lack of base-voter support was what ultimately doomed their campaigns.
Huckabee was not widely supported by any voter bloc beyond the GOP base, and therefore had no real chance of securing the Republican nomination, but his popularity with the base gave artificial life to his campaign and sucked the air out of the others. Huckabee stayed in the race just long enough to cripple Giuliani and Romney before fading away himself, and in the end, John McCain wound up winning the nomination pretty much by default.
The problem for McCain in the 2008 general election is the same one currently affecting the Republican Party at large: he could not win without the support of the GOP base, but the core beliefs of that base were so out of touch with mainstream America that McCain likewise could not win if he catered to them. He was forced to flee his previous positions on immigration, climate change, taxes and campaign finance reform to satisfy base voters who already roundly despised him because of his positions on immigration, climate change, taxes and campaign finance reform, and this ultimately deranged his whole campaign. Picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate was yet another sop to base voters, and is now widely believed to have been the last nail in his electoral coffin.
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bruhaha
Geologist at an environmental consulting and engineering company here in the Chicago suburbs.
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dunkirk5 months ago
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In other words, a whole lot of Faustian chickens are coming home to roost in the GOP's crumbling coop. The party courted those base voters, championed them, pandered to them and ultimately empowered them. Now, that power is subsuming the party, and for the time being, there is no end in sight.
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The amazing thing to me is how quickly they want to implode.-
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CRYMTYPHON5 months ago
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A dark night; lit in uneven flashes of lightning.
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In the doorway of the chicken coop suddenly stands, - a shadow!
Fox like, - yet glowing red from within.
He walks past the rows of sleeping chickens, - and stops.
Before the rooster, - the ruler of the roost !
Who pretends to snore.
The fox devil produces a scroll from the air;
it is the contract the rooster signed years before!
"No", clucks Faust the Rooster. "I need more time, I need more wishes,
I need to use the barnyard bad,"
The Fox grinns. " gibblets " he whispers.
In the morning the farmer finds a pile of feathers
smelling unpleasantly of sulfur,
- and all the other chicken's feathers have turned white with fear.
Then 2 fbi agents drive up. Scully and Mulder! They -
- I have been asked by Dunkirk to stop this right now so I will stop this now and just go away. Sorry. Going now. Now
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Goppy5 months ago
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I was profoundly disappointed when George W. Bush was nominated through the passionate efforts of America's Christian Conservatives.
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And when he was elected ... while I hoped for the best ... I had grave misgiving's about Republicans controlling every aspect of the Federal Government.
Let me re-phrase ... I had misgivings about MODERN Republicans .. controlling every aspect.
The difference is that MODERN Republicans have consumed vast quantities of Neo-Con Koo-Aid.
As I've often mentioned, the Bush administration was the first ALL NEO-CON Administration. This Neo-Con Ideology is VERY scary.
Wolfowitz, Cheney, Rumsfeld ... these guys believe STRONGLY in a bizarre philosophy of governance.
Here ... read it yourself and tell me you wouldn't think these guys are freaks.
http://www.alternet.org/story/15935
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vor5 months ago
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The truly odd part is the GW Bush was a persona non grata amongst the neo-cons in the 90's. He was not a member of PNAC or AEI. Jeb Bush was a member of PNAC but not GW. Looking back on his years in Texas GW makes very few jingoistic statements as he made post 9/11. Statements he later retracted and apologized for making. Gates at defense. He knows the neocons ruined any potential legacy and drove his approval from nearly 80% into the 20's. Clearly driving away moderates in the party like Powell.
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I still say it all goes back to Philly in '00, the GOP convention. Karl Rove was Bush's champion but the neocons took over at that event. There was talk of a switch at the top of the ticket. There were then meetings that took place that eventually secured Bush's spot. But at what cost? Did they hand the neocons control of our foreign policy?
Post 9/11 it was clear that Cheney took charge behind the scenes. What role had GW ever taken in planning a re-invasion of Iraq? The idea it was revenge for an attempt on daddy just doesn't make sense. This was clearly Cheney, Rummy and Wolfie's (the mad genius) doing. Bush was their proxy. The man behind the microphone. His post presidential silence all but confirms this idea. He has no horse in the race. Those aren't his beliefs that Cheney defends. They are Cheney's own. In the end this past Bush presidency will be defined as one of pathetic leadership at the top undermined by overbearing and egocentric advisors.
No matter Cheney's braying it will be seen as a massive failure. Torture, lies, exaggerated evidence (see Curveball and the bio labs) and in the end the loss of 13 Trillion in American wealth. Iraq still a very shaky situation and add Afghanistan where little progress was made. And all they can say is that it is someones else's fault?
Are the American people really going to believe this? I suppose anything is possible but this is not likely. And then the likes of Limbaugh get behind Sarah Palin who simply cannot make a coherent argument. Sure she can speak from the stump but what is she saying? Slogans are not policies. I sat through her campaign rally and never heard anything but snide insinuations and attacks on Obama. Just what was the Republican plan to prevent a complete economic collapse? George Bush answered that with the first stimulus. And McCain would have had to take a similar course to Obama or the wreckage would be far more devastating than we see today. I haven't heard any new ideas from their side other than further misguided tax cuts. Now they are discussing the secularization of America which is truly a ruse like O'Reilly's silly "War on Christmas". It takes no great genius to understand that the majority of Americans still believe in fairy tales. I suppose the Republicans are counting on this fact. Because at this point the idea of a Republican renaissance is exactly that! -
rally-monkeyComment removed: Abusive4 Replies
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cowboygrandpa5 months ago
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FTA:
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"Picking Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be his running mate was yet another sop to base voters, and is now widely believed to have been the last nail in his electoral coffin.
Seven months later, the GOP is still turning itself inside out over the dilemma posed by the strength and influence of their wholly-out-of-touch base. A wide swath of high-ranking Republicans, especially in the Senate, are trapped between the hard knowledge that catering to their base is a guaranteed recipe for defeat and disgrace, and the cold fact that their base is the only group left in America willing to call themselves Republican. They can't win with them, can't win without them, and this paradox has become where the lines of a full-fledged Republican Party civil war have been drawn.
The question of who is joining which side was made clear Friday in an event at the Rock Church in Hampton Roads, Virginia.
"Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee held court for three hours during a lecture titled "Rediscovering God in America," during which they "urged Christians to get involved in politics to preserve the presence of religion in American life,"
Hahahahahahaaaaaa !!!!!!!!!!!! Hypocritical fools !!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Bible says to go neither to the left or right, but to remain on the path of Jesus Christ !!!!!!
Yeah !!! Lets bring some of that religion of Newt Gingrich who was cheating on his wife while she was undergoing treatment for cancer.
This is the same clown who despised Bill Clinton for his sexual wrong doing in the whitehouse.
Forgiveness ???? What is that to the GOP ??? They forgive their own while castigating and condemning others ????
Religion ??? What is that except what some call their warped beliefs that Jesus loves only those they do ??? Or Allah only loves Muslims ???
Belief and faith in whom one perceives to be God is not religion to me. It is a way of life.
So they want to bring religion into politics ??? Well they wouldn't be the first.
The devil did that in the Garden of Eden when he questioned Gods' Word and deceived Eve.
Satan has been using politics since that time to separate and divide mankind into his vision of the world.
So, oh yes !!!!! By all means bring the politics of satan into the Church so that many more will be deceived and fall for the lies of the blinded ones.
Keep spewing out the lies that only conservatives really love Jesus.
Because ya know, not only will they answer for their lies, they will answer for the lives they destroyed by their lies.
I will say it again. Jesus Christ said that we are not to go to the left or right, but to remain on His path.
Don't let the political parties destroy His message. He loves all people, but will not tolerate those who follow a false sheppard.
That is what the political parties are false sheppards who want to take ones eyes off of the Truth.-
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b-happy5 months ago
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Can I get a "God Damn" America? That's called religion of the left these days.
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Turns out that Obama uses Religion to push his agenda more than Bush did. Read this:
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0609/23510.ht...
So I guess it's ok for Obama to use his warped idea of religion to push his agenda and ruin this country but if it's Bush then well, it's Satanic.
You morons just will never understand how naive and hypocritical you look when you use stupid shiat like this to make some kind of point. Obama went to a racist church for 20 years and you defend him. But Bush goes to church and he is evil. WTF? Where is your logic behind this? -
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cleare5 months ago
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"...but the core beliefs of that base were so out of touch with mainstream America..."
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that single phrase says it all.
thank god that party is now out of power. we'll need the next 30 years to clean up the mess left by the last 30 years of republican power. the time for making public policy based on an evangelical interpretation of christianity is thankfully over.-
capecoralMComment removed: Retracted by user1 Reply
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beavith15 months ago
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what a POS post. i don't drop often. this one is a grounder choice.
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did this guy just get the memo that 'we have to play the George Bush card' early and often? or the other memo that the election is over?
sheesh.
FTA:
George W. Bush left office with a public approval rating under 30 percent. Less than 30 percent of Americans currently describe themselves as Republicans. The amalgam of evangelical Christians, hardcore gun-rights fanatics, anti-tax, anti-immigrant and anti-choice voters who make up the base of the Republican Party amount to less than 30 percent of the overall electorate.
if that's his thesis, here's the counter thesis:
do a Venn diagram of those sets. this mooron assumes that all subsets fall into the same set.
his failure is when he assumes. as we all know, when someone assumes, they make an a$$ out of u amd me. ;-)
i call myself a republican, but i wasn't a big fan of the actions of Bush. i'm not a crybaby like many (here) are and i man up to my support for him.
many aren't that committed. to their politics, to their leader(s) or to themselves. i call them 'weathervanes.'
i proudly fall into that 30%, but i'm not religious, nor do i own a gun, but i support those that are and do.
if you reworded the question to something simple like "which side of the spectrum to you ally yourself with? if centrist, are you an independent?" i'd bet you'd find that number to be just a scoosh different. -
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scott42615 months ago
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One thing I always find amusing is that these fundamentalists do not believe that there is an implicit separation of church and state in the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Thomas Jefferson was quite adamant in his writings that both are best served without interference from the other... The Southern baptist Convention held true to that truth until the 1980s, when the Republican Party built their uneasy coalition among the religious fanatics, the greedy bastards, and the warmongers...
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The tent has collapsed and the GOP has become a circular firing squad. I hope they do nominate Mike Huckabee or Sarah Palin in 2012. It will be gratifying to me to see those nutballs go down in flames again. -
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slate5 months ago
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Since the left has done a good job making Republican analogous to NAZI, KKK and EVIL Southern Baptists it's no wonder that most wouldn't admit being a Republican if asked, especially knowing the vile name calling that would ensue from the enlightened progressives that USED to claim they were about Diversity in thinking and Ideas/Ideals.
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bruhaha5 months ago
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"Since the left has done a good job making Republican analogous to NAZI, KKK and EVIL"
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But Republicans claiming that democrats are Nazi's, Communists, fascists, evil, etc etc etc.....that's just fine?
And no, Republicans are not Nazi's, to compare all republicans to Nazi's diminishes the evil that was the Nazi's and no, most Republicans are not evil or KKK. -
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CaptainLucid4 months, 4 weeks ago
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"Since the left has done a good job making Republican analogous to NAZI, KKK and EVIL Southern Baptists it's no wonder that most wouldn't admit being a Republican if asked,"
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Yes we did, but we never could have gotten it to stick unless the republicans cooperated by practicing torture and gestapo style justice and basically living up to the nasty reputation we gave them.
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jakesguile4 months, 4 weeks ago
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1. I'm a LIBERAL, GAY, CHRISTIAN
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2. Reread the First Amendment to the Constitution and then PLEASE read the Federalist Papers. Jefferson will set you straight.
Do you honestly live in a house where they never taught you how to read and critically analyze sources based on multiple reference points where appropriate? You know that's how the Constitution was formed right? It wasn't JUST John Locke, it was many, many minds that make up our democratic republic. -
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icewater4 months, 4 weeks ago
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Dishonest crap. Many of the sentiments of the 30% mentioned above are the same views shared by a lot of people who don't call themselves Republican. A vast majority of the American public opposes immigration policy as it currently stands. There are many pro-gun citizens who aren't part of the thirty percent who continue to think George Bush 2 was great in office. I'm one of them. I didn't vote for him twice.
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Oh, and can we please stop calling abortion "choice?"
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