# \<--- Republicans - the wilderness is this way (turn left) **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [January 23, 2013, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141 "2013-01-23T19:45:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/41 "2013-01-28T04:01:54Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > Upon review of some of the other threads on gerrymandering and vote suppression, it becomes clear that the GOP feels that it needs the equivalent of _ACORN as perceived by GOP partisans_ (i.e. a ruthlessly amoral election-stealing machine). šŸ˜• Donā€™t they already have one? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/42 "2013-01-28T04:20:14Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Since the election and around the inaguration I saw several news stories about the Republican leadership attending a [private retreat](http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-embark-weekend-self-help-151829856--politics.html;_ylt=A2KJjb1FOQBRShgAEfjQtDMD), seemingly to discuss new strategies for moving the party forward. Are they just licking their wounds, or will they come up with something more palatable to a country that seems to be trending less white, less evangelical, and more tolerant? What do you think they will become? How might they change their positions? I do not think they will become irrelevant, but the trajectory they have been on is not sustainable. > > Also, what do you think the Democrats need to change in order to maintain their position, and not let portions of their coalition erode to the other side? I can see them alienating a large number of responsible gun owners, for example. the GOP canā€™t move away from their rightward positions because the base is very activist and will primary anyone who is seen as too liberal. Saxby Chambliss and Lindsey Graham are going to be hit with primaries in 2014 because they are too liberal for the contemporary GOP. Chambliss is retiring to avoid the hit. But the fact that even people like that are too liberal tells you how much wiggle room GOP politicians have. The true GOP strategy to win will be to continue with terrible policies, but to gerrymander districts, suppress democratic voters, obstruct in the hopes the democrats lose interest in politics and misinform the electorate about policy (theirs and the democrats). That has been their strategy for the last several years, I donā€™t see it changing. I donā€™t see why responsible gun owners would be opposed to reasonable gun laws. According to polling that was shown on the Rachel Maddow show, even republicans support the majority of Obamaā€™s gun law changes, just so long as they donā€™t know those are Obamaā€™s ideas. All the democrats need to do is be inviting to all the people the GOP treats like shit. Non-white, non-wealthy, non-hetero, non-christians, non-male, etc. With luck (and emphasis on luck) by 2020 the demographics in the US will be so drastically different that the GOP will be down to 40% of the vote or less on the national level. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/43 "2013-01-28T06:18:22Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > the GOP canā€™t move away from their rightward positions because the base is very activist and will primary anyone who is seen as too liberal. Saxby Chambliss and Lindsey Graham are going to be hit with primaries in 2014 because they are too liberal for the contemporary GOP. Chambliss is retiring to avoid the hit. But the fact that even people like that are too liberal tells you how much wiggle room GOP politicians have. I think Lindsey Graham can survive getting primaried. Also it seems to me in the last few weeks the GOP in Congress has been ceding ground to President Obama for once, such as its agreement to raise the debt ceiling (albeit temporarily) or the agreement on the fiscal cliff. > [@](#): > > The true GOP strategy to win will be to continue with terrible policies, but to gerrymander districts, suppress democratic voters, obstruct in the hopes the democrats lose interest in politics and misinform the electorate about policy (theirs and the democrats). That has been their strategy for the last several years, I donā€™t see it changing. Sadly this has been true in many cases, although many of these attempts (at least for the Voter ID laws) have ended up getting bogged down in courts. Hopefully any attempts at electoral college ā€œreformā€ will meet the same fate. > [@](#): > > I donā€™t see why responsible gun owners would be opposed to reasonable gun laws. According to polling that was shown on the Rachel Maddow show, even republicans support the majority of Obamaā€™s gun law changes, just so long as they donā€™t know those are Obamaā€™s ideas. Depends on which ones. Virtually everybody (I hope) can agree on universal background checks for example but something like an assault weapons ban does little to fix the problem while being polarizing and constitutionally questionable. > [@](#): > > All the democrats need to do is be inviting to all the people the GOP treats like shit. Non-white, non-wealthy, non-hetero, non-christians, non-male, etc. With luck (and emphasis on luck) by 2020 the demographics in the US will be so drastically different that the GOP will be down to 40% of the vote or less on the national level. The millennial vote is going to help in this regard (assuming that the GOP is like it is to-day, Iā€™ll probably end up pulling the lever for Governor Cuomo or Schweitzer). ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/44 "2013-01-28T14:12:07Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > And opponents of marijuana legalization are less concerned about the issue than its proponents-very few in the GOP base is going to abandon the party over this while many marijuana proponents will back the GOP (especially young nonvoters). There isnā€™t enough weed in the world to make young non-voters turn into Republicans. The Republicans have made their bed, took a massive dump in it, and now have to lie in it. Republican officeholders either have to toe the batshit right wing line or lose the next primary to someone who is truly batshit right wing. The rabid right has made ideological purity their litmus test and compromise is a dirty word. Rational Republicans (quickly becoming an oxymoron) may know the way out of the wilderness is to turn left but they are incapable of doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/45 "2013-01-28T23:21:40Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > The millennial vote is going to help in this regard (assuming that the GOP is like it is to-day, Iā€™ll probably end up pulling the lever for Governor Cuomo or Schweitzer). True, as long as millennials retain their liberal bias. They were about a 25-35 point margin for Obama in both 2012 and 2008, and in 2006 they gave dems a 20 point margin. I think the margin shrank in 2010 but 2010 was about turnout, not ideology. In 2012 millennials made up as big if not a bigger % of the electorate than those 65+. By 2020 they should make up 40% of the electorate. But again, this assumes they retain this political bias. But I think they will. Millennials generally disagree with the GOP on science, civil rights for minorities, social safety net, activist government roles, internationalism, alternative energy, poverty, etc. Unless the GOP changes on those issues I donā€™t see them winning. ---
**Author:** ![CJJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@CJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/46 "2013-02-01T16:38:55Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > the GOP canā€™t move away from their rightward positions because the base is very activist and will primary anyone who is seen as too liberal. Saxby Chambliss and Lindsey Graham are going to be hit with primaries in 2014 because they are too liberal for the contemporary GOP. Chambliss is retiring to avoid the hit. But the fact that even people like that are too liberal tells you how much wiggle room GOP politicians have. I agree, but it isnā€™t just the base. A lot of GOP megadonorsā€“the guys who would finance those primary challengesā€“are people like Foster Friess, Rick Santorumā€™s sugar-daddy in the 2012 presidential primary who [recently said the following](http://www.usnews.com/opinion/blogs/robert-schlesinger/2013/01/25/gop-megadonor-foster-friess-city-votes-should-be-discounted): > [@](#): > > In terms of sheer numbers, Obama won by five million votes. But Friess dismissed that margin, arguing that a 350,000 vote flip across four states (which he couldnā€™t name) would have given Romney the election. ā€œTo me, 350,000 votes is not a huge mandate, even though the total numbers, which take into account a lot of those center cities, went for Obama.ā€ > > When I asked him if he was saying that votes from ā€œcenter citiesā€ should be discounted, his answer, in full, was: ā€œYes.ā€ Iā€™m guessing ā€œcenter citiesā€ is the new racist dog-whistle for ā€œinner citiesā€. My point is, it isnā€™t just some ā€œgrass-rootsā€ or ā€œactivistā€ base; this attitude is pervasive at all levels of the GOP. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141/47 "2013-02-01T16:47:57Z")
Wow. Got to admire that reasoning. ā€œSure, we lost by 5 million votes, but we would have won if weā€™d only lost by four and a half million!ā€ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/republicans-the-wilderness-is-this-way-turn-left/648141.md?page=2)