Late Nite Oddity
AT first I thought it was funny, but now I think it is just plain weird that Republicans think McCain lost because he was not conservative enough.
Anyway, I guess the GOP “lay off McCain” grace period has expired.
MYRTLE BEACH, South Carolina (CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint on Friday became one of the first high-profile Republicans to publicly criticize John McCain following his electoral defeat, blaming the Arizona senator for betraying conservative principles in his quest for the White House.
The conservative senator, speaking to a group of GOP officials gathered in Myrtle Beach at a conference on the future of the Republican Party, described how the party had strayed from its own “brand,” which, according to DeMint, should represent freedom, religious-based values and limited government.
Well, conservatives have a serious problem. Okay, putting on my concern troll hat, I think the problems conservatives have are way more difficult to solve than the problems Democrats had to solve after 2004. Democrats regained themselves by going back to core Democratic principles instead of continuing to be Republican-lite DLC types. Think Howard Dean’s “Democratic wing of the Democratic party” comments.
I can understand why Republicans think going back to their core values is the issue, and I think they’re right in some ways. Calling oneself the party of small government while being big government conservatives did cause them problems. However, I don’t believe Americans really want small government. The first instinct of Americans when crises hit is for the government to intervene, even in conservative areas (Mississippi accepted help after Katrina, right?). Their even bigger problem is that their economic policies don’t work. Trickle-down, deregulation economics led us into this mess we’re in. The only place where conservatives can claim any type of win is with social conservatism (anti gay marriage), but that is probably the least popular part of their platform and is very unpopular with younger voters.
So, conservatives really have to re-invent their ideology and brand. That seems pretty difficult and their party is being reduced to a group of strong ideologues, especially in the social conservative branch of the party.
Conservatives can’t win unless they grow their party. Pretty difficult when your platform is based, in large part, on keeping certain groups out.
The gay issue is going to kill them. Unlike twenty years ago most people have openly gay family members, friends and co-workers. You can’t scare people with the threat of the “enemy” when the “enemy” is someone they love.
I dunno, Pandora, Xenophobia has been the bread and butter of conservativism for as long as America has existed. They’ll just find new targets.