# The GOP - soon to be the "Get Off my lawn Party" ? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167 "2007-09-05T21:26:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/1 "2007-09-05T21:26:22Z")
[WSJ: the increasingly geriatric GOP](http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB118895742058917747.html?mod=blog) According to the article, GOP pollster Tony Fabrizio surveyed the demographics of GOP voters in 1997 and 2007. Here’s a comparison of percentages of Republicans in different age brackets: ```auto 1997 2007 Age 18-34 25 17 35-54 44 40 55+ 28 41 ``` It’s also getting more conservative - guess **Sam Stone** didn’t spend enough time warning them not to get too extreme: ```auto 1997 2007 Liberal 11 4 Moderate 31 21 Conservative 55 71 ``` And of course, it’s 97% nonhispanic white, an anomaly in a nation approaching ‘majority minority’ status. Yep, that’s the GOP of the future: a crotchety old white guy, yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. Grouchy old guys like Giuliani and Thompson are perfect for them. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/2 "2007-09-05T21:45:51Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Yep, that’s the GOP of the future: a crotchety old white guy, yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. Grouchy old guys like Giuliani and Thompson are perfect for them. [/QUOTE] Judging from recent events, the GOP of the future is a crotchety old _precariously closeted gay_ white guy, yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/3 "2007-09-05T22:07:21Z")
I wouldn’t get too excited, **RTF**. That could be an anti-Bush backlash, and Bush will be gone soon. It took less than 8 years for the GOP to go from Nixonian lows to Reaganite heights. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/4 "2007-09-05T22:25:50Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I wouldn’t get too excited, **RTF**. That could be an anti-Bush backlash, and Bush will be gone soon. It took less than 8 years for the GOP to go from Nixonian lows to Reaganite heights. [/QUOTE] You could be right (one can only hope, eh?). However, it could also be a Bush-Cheney-Rove-Rumsfeld-Abramoff-Cunningham-Doolittle-Foley-Craig-Libby-Delay-Stevens-Murkowski-Allen-Allen-Allen-Macaca-Glenn Murphy-Ney-Wilkes-Schiavo-Plame-et al backlash. Or it could be a backlash against the actual effects of fully implemented Republicanism. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/5 "2007-09-05T22:28:14Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Yep, that’s the GOP of the future: a crotchety old white guy, yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. [/QUOTE] Democrats of the future don’t have lawns nor own the property, thus having authority to chase the kids off! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/6 "2007-09-05T22:29:11Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] I wouldn’t get too excited, **RTF**. That could be an anti-Bush backlash, and Bush will be gone soon. It took less than 8 years for the GOP to go from Nixonian lows to Reaganite heights. [/QUOTE] It’s not just anti-Bush. The GOP is largely perceived to be anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant, pro-censorship, pro-war. Red meat for the old schoolers, but non-starter issues for the up-and-coming generation of voters. It’s going to take more than a bizarre hybrid of Fear and Optimism to turn things around; the GOP is going to have to swing left (back toward something resembling the “center”). ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/7 "2007-09-05T22:31:14Z")
[QUOTE=Hentor the Barbarian] You could be right (one can only hope, eh?). However, it could also be a Bush-Cheney-Rove-Rumsfeld-Abramoff-Cunningham-Doolittle-Foley-Craig-Libby-Delay-Stevens-Murkowski-Allen-Allen-Allen-Macaca-Glenn Murphy-Ney-Wilkes-Schiavo-Plame-et al backlash. [/QUOTE] Somewhere out there, Alberto Gonzales is shedding a tear at his exclusion. No love for the colored man? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/8 "2007-09-05T22:36:07Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Somewhere out there, Alberto Gonzales is shedding a tear at his exclusion. No love for the colored man? 😛 [/QUOTE] I regret that there is not enough time for me to comprehensively name everyone in the backlash. I can only say, you know who you are and how important you are to me in elucidating the backlash. (But yeah, who else could make John Ashcroft look really good?) Reflecting on it, I should put together a comprehensive list of the scandals of the current Republicans that could be cut and pasted for such occasions. Hell, he reminds me that I left out Abu Gharaib, Guantanamo, the US Attorney Scandal, John Yoo, John Bolton, Paul Wolfowitz and the World Bank Scandal… Jeez, why do so many people just hate Bush? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/9 "2007-09-05T22:59:58Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] It’s not just anti-Bush. The GOP is largely perceived to be anti-gay, anti-choice, anti-immigrant, pro-censorship, pro-war. Red meat for the old schoolers, but non-starter issues for the up-and-coming generation of voters. It’s going to take more than a bizarre hybrid of Fear and Optimism to turn things around; the GOP is going to have to swing left (back toward something resembling the “center”). [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. If the economy goes in the dumper under the next Democratic president, none of that will matter. Remember, it’s the economy, stupid! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/10 "2007-09-05T23:59:05Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Not necessarily. If the economy goes in the dumper under the next Democratic president, none of that will matter. Remember, it’s the economy, stupid! [/QUOTE] Wow, is that what passes for “Hope springs eternal” for the Republicans now? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/11 "2007-09-06T00:23:25Z")
I’m hoping for a Republican renaissance, a rise in honest conservatives that we can argue with about worthwhile points of contention, one not pinning its hopes on keeping Bruce from marrying Fred, or clinging to power by promoting fear and hysteria. It will require enormous courage, the courage to endure being comparatively powerless while it rebuilds its base. The American process needs an honest conservative wing, like a car needs brakes. There is nothing wrong with progress disciplined by prudence. Perhaps more importantly, a concentration of power attracts opportunists, politicians who will gravitate to the Dem Party simply because the pickin’s are better, I’d rather be fucked by an honest Republican than jerked off by an insincere Democrat, at least I know who to fight, and what to fight about! ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/12 "2007-09-06T00:28:42Z")
Whatever you do, **RT** , don’t check your driver’s license. You’re almost their target demographic. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/13 "2007-09-06T00:36:30Z")
No, it’s ‘The Man From Hope springs eternal’. Clinton got a blow job! ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/14 "2007-09-06T01:29:59Z")
The thing about those crotchety old men is that those fuckers know how to vote. Something the 18-34 year olds just plain suck at. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/15 "2007-09-06T01:38:04Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Wow, is that what passes for “Hope springs eternal” for the Republicans now? 😃 [/QUOTE] I don’t know, you’ll have to ask a Republican. I was responding to the statement that the GOP will have to move left. I don’t see that they have to, and that was one instance in which they wouldn’t. There are quite a few others, including increased terror attacks, a significant worsening of the illegal immigration issue or the Democrats becoming complacent, as the GOP did for the last 6 years or so. History has shown that US politics tends to swing back and forth between the two parties, and the idea that something has fundamentally changed about that is rather simplistic (to say the least). ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/16 "2007-09-06T01:50:59Z")
This will be fun. Just wait until we take over that commie-lib AARP and use it for our nefarious purposes. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/17 "2007-09-06T01:58:13Z")
[QUOTE=NurseCarmen] The thing about those crotchety old men is that those fuckers know how to vote. Something the 18-34 year olds just plain suck at. [/QUOTE] I agree with that completely. I have theorized that the mismatch between the exit polls and the actual vote tally in the 2004 election can be explained by the fact that the younger, more Democratic leaning voters, got their news off the internet, which did not withhold the projected winner, while the older folks stuck with the TV news, which did. My theory is that many of the young, Democratic voters checked the web before leaving work, saw that Kerry had it in the bag, and went straight home, because why bother to vote? The trouble with the Democratic Party is that a sizeable minority of their constituency is comprised of slackers. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/18 "2007-09-06T02:06:08Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] History has shown that US politics tends to swing back and forth between the two parties, and the idea that something has fundamentally changed about that is rather simplistic (to say the least). [/QUOTE] History has also shown that every three to four decades, the party system shifts, and depending on when you define the 5th party system as ending, we might be just about due for the sixth major political landscape. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/19 "2007-09-06T02:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Yep, that’s the GOP of the future: a crotchety old white guy, yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn. Grouchy old guys like Giuliani and Thompson are perfect for them. [/QUOTE] It occurs to me that (omitting the word “white”) that is also the future of all **America,** and of every other modern industrialized state with a “graying population.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167/20 "2007-09-06T02:37:13Z")
[QUOTE=Mr. Moto] This will be fun. Just wait until we take over that commie-lib AARP and use it for our nefarious purposes. 😉 [/QUOTE] Actually, I’m thinking that within ten years, the AARP will be dominated by retired Baby Boomers. The sound system of every nursing-home common room will play Jimi Hendrix, psychedelic posters will hang on the walls, the air will be filled with marijuana smoke and the seven-day pillboxes with tabs of LSD. And they’ll still **vote!** 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-gop-soon-to-be-the-get-off-my-lawn-party/418167.md?page=2)