G.O.P. Begins Soul-Searching After Tax Vote

[DonViejo]

WASHINGTON — When Republican leaders in Congress agreed to raise taxes on the wealthy last week, it left the increasingly fractured and feuding party unified on perhaps only one point: that it is at a major crossroads.

From Mitt Romney’s loss on Election Day through the recent tax fight that shattered party discipline in the House of Representatives, Republicans have seen the foundations of their political strategy called into question, stirring a newly urgent debate about how to reshape and redefine their party.

At issue immediately is whether that can be achieved through a shift in tactics and tone, or will instead require a deeper rethinking of the party’s longtime positions on bedrock issues like guns and immigration. President Obama intends to test the willingness of Republicans to bend on those issues in the first months of his new term, when he plans to push for stricter gun control and a comprehensive immigration overhaul.

The coming legislative battles are certain to expose even more division in the party. And with establishment Republicans and Tea Party activists at times speaking as if they are from different parties altogether, concern is spreading throughout the ranks that things could get worse before they get better.

“The Republican Party can’t stay exactly where it is and stick its head in the sand and ignore the fact that the country is changing,” said Ralph Reed, the founder of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and onetime leader of the Christian Coalition. “On the other hand, if the party were to retreat on core, pro-family stands and its positions on fiscal responsibility and taxes, it could very quickly find itself without a strong demographic support base.”

-snip-

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/us/politics/big-battles-ahead-divided-gop-begins-soul-searching.html?_r=0

[atreides1]

1. Good luck with that

The GOP doesn't meet the minimum requirement...none of them have a soul!!!!

[Scuba]

2. Spin alert: ".. stricter gun control ..." That implies we now have strict gun control ...

... when in fact we have virtually no gun control.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. If anything, it's gotten too lax IMHO

and legislatures are constantly expanding the number of places that people can carry guns at- despite little logical reason to actually need one anywhere and everywhere (this ain't Somalia!)

[Flashmann]

4. G.O.P. Begins Soul-Searching

If those bastards actually ARE soul searching,they're looking for one to steal from someone else....

[Rozlee]

5. 6.5 fewer whites voted in 2012 than in 2008.

That's another thing that Republicans need to address. Why did so many stay away from the polls? Sure, Rethugs are a party that attracts many elderly and a lot of them might have gone tits up since 2008, but I sincerely don't believe a significant number of them did. Was Romney perceived as too moderate to many of them? Was it the Mormon factor? Is there a large moderate faction in the party that finally said, "Basta! We've had it!" ??? A combination of the above? Hatred of Obama rather than support of Romney was supposed to galvanize Republican voters despite their qualms about Romney. Evidently 6.5 voters disagreed. I wonder why. Nonetheless, thank you for your non-participation, non-voting Republicans of 2012. Keep it up in 2014 and beyond.

[leftyohiolib]

7. well it is the party of old people maybe they lost 6.5 through the dying process

[Rozlee]

8. I guess a lot of them might have been Obama voters as well.

The problem with these articles is that they don't break the non-voters down into regional areas. If we knew that most of them came from the South, we could say that they almost certainly were evangelical Christians worried about Romney being a Mormon and too moderate. If from the Northeast or West Coast, they might have been more likely to be Republican females worried about their party's stance on contraceptives and reproductive rights. Or many might have been liberals disenchanted with Obama policies or Ron Paul libertarians making a stand out of principle. All of the above most likely to some degree. And, like you said, a high turnover. The articles just gave the bare bones without going into any details on the origins of the lost votes and their percentages accordingly.

[Rectangle]

6. So, they are on a search FOR a soul?