Anyway – there’s been talk of this being a “re-aligning” election, and I don’t know if I agree with what some are saying about that, but one thing that seems at least possible, is that the religious right is fracturing into multiple camps, which gives both parties opportunities to remake themselves. If Obama succeeds in holding on to and expanding his religious base, the republicans would be forced to build outside of a theocratic frame. This would be of benefit to everyone.

QT

“Why don’t you examine yourself?” Buchanan always refers to 1964, 1968 and Nixon (probably the only time he was actually relevant) but that was FORTY-FOUR YEARS AGO, PAT! It’s a shame that they can’t see or perhaps don’t understand that lip service and wedge issues are no longer going to be enough. What your party does while it’s in power will be dragged out onto the mat and there will be accountability.

This election was a reckoning. Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado (did I forget one?) jumped into the blue paint vat because the old GOP system is broken. Did anyone ever think the Democrats would win Virginia, North Carolina and Indiana in one cycle?! It shows that their system of politics is broken – the Lee Atwater/Karl Rove style, while working well in the 80′s and 90′s and the notion that there could be a permanent republican majority, burned white hot and extinguished itself out in four short years. (I say short in the grand scheme of things – I know they were four very long years for most of us.)

But I don’t know how they can fix it. Being a fiscal conservative is one thing. But being anti-union and forcing religion into the public arena is another. I’m an hispanic and I can’t for the life of me understand why any hispanic or African-American would vote against their own self interests by voting Republican. I’m dumbfounded by the likes of African-American Republican strategists Ron Christie and Joe Watson on the air. What are they thinking?! How do they sleep at night after bold-faced lying on the air daily?

Mike Poll was the first African-American Republican strategist who made any sense, but his basic premise is to change the party. The thing is if you remake the party, if you change the party for the better ethnically, demographically, if you change the philosophy of the party to attract more people of color, then is it really still the Republican Party we all know?

There will always be a base that you can spoon feed the red meat to – just look at Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity making asses out of themselves with the latest wingnut talking point, “The Obama Recession” – but it’s no longer enough. The Republicans that voted for them who still think that their party is what it was 40 years ago are dying out, their base is shrinking and unless they really start paying attention to the fact that caucasians will soon be the minority in this country, the GOP will go the way of the dinosaur, the automat, and $1 per gallon gasoline.

(I’ve been having more luck commenting than actually blogging on my own site, so if you don’t mind, I’m going to crosspost a version of this comment!)