Thursday, November 12, 2009

Opinion

Robert Schlesinger

The GOP Is Becoming a Regional Party

November 04, 2008 10:48 PM ET | Robert Schlesinger | Permanent Link | Print

My Thomas Jefferson Street colleague Jack Farrell makes a great point about demographic trends killing the GOP. Read his post and consider these additional points: The electoral map shows a GOP focused in the South with, likely, the Texas-North Dakota belt bisecting the nation. And consider that Rep. Chris Shays, the last House Republican standing in New England, fell this evening. The GOP is looking increasingly like a regional party.

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Tags: election results | politics | Republicans

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Reader Comments

Republican Party Injured, but Conservativism is Alive

As a conservative Republican who voted for Bush and then McCain (whom I'm proud of for fighting an impossible fight against a powerful political machine) - I couldn't agree more with Martin of TX. More than anyone on the left, Bush and especially Cheney and the so-called neo-"Conservatives" have taken the Republican brand far away from traditional social and economic Conservativism. Though Karl Rove's strategy was high on rhetoric - it essentially was a ploy to get us to follow an unrealistic and destructive foreign policy and a wreckless disregard for the Constitution on several issues while being disguised as a strict constructionist. I was confident that Senator McCain could get America back on track by bringing fiscal restraint, consistant following of the Constitution, and a realistic foreign policy (at this point though going in was not the greatest idea, I think we should stay until we are sure that we can responsibly leave Iraq). I hope Obama can do these things, his victory speech indicates that he may be. I hope so.

Given the circumstances of an unpopular incumbant President, the financial crisis, and general and understandable calls for "change" - it is striking that McCain-Palin still were able to get just under half the popular vote -- more strikingly, many moderates and fiscal conservatives voted Obama. This means that if Obama governs too far to the left, a regrouped and revitalized Republican party has a very bright future.

Bush Killed GOP

In general I liked Bush, but he has done more to kill the GOP than anyone in history. His failure to be open with the public with what he was doing is what did him in and with him, the GOP.

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Robert Schlesinger is a deputy editor at U.S. News and World Report and oversees all opinion editorial content. He is the author of White House Ghosts: Presidents and Their Speechwriters.

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