GOP today: Zero votes for Matthew Shepherd Act, zero votes for the budget. They are finished.

[Faygo Kid]

I am really starting to believe the GOP may be finished as a viable second political party. They may hang on as a third party. But they no longer have dissenters, and will tolerate none (hell, the governor of UTAH was disinvited from a GOP dinner in Michigan because he favors civil unions. He is, of course, finished in the party).

Plus, they are growing more, not less, strident. All they have now are two senators from Maine who are aberrations. All the rest have to fall into line - the party line.

I cannot remember any time in my life (I recall the Nixon-Kennedy election well) when an entire party has voted on the key issues of the day in such a monolithic way. They are completely taken over by the cacophony of Rush Limbaugh and his now-countless minions and imitators.

We sometimes (often?) get mad at Dems here who defect on certain votes, but I have no doubt that we would be concerned at DU if EVERY vote went just one way. That's what we have now from the GOP.

As I sit here and listen to President Obama's measured press conference, dealing with issues that people care about, I know that I may disagree, but I appreciate his tone, tenor and (greatly for the most part), his policies.

So do most Americans. The GOP has to go down this road, I suppose, as an inevitability, but I no longer feel the 20% approval party will be bouncing back.

Ever.

[yardwork]

1. The Republican Party today sees the fruits of its purges.

I think that they gambled everything and lost.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. What's fascinating watching them is

that they keep doing the same things, over and over, expecting different results.

It's almost as if they're in a fugue state - they can't remember what they did the last time, so they do the same thing again. And again. And again. And they don't catch on.

I keep getting the sense from what they do that they are simply waiting for the American voters to wake up and realize they've voted a black man into office, which will horrify them, they'll run Obama out of office, the GOPigs will step in, Gingrich will be anointed President (if, that is, he can beat Cheney to the White House, a dicey bet), and life will go back to those wonderful 1950s, when those minorities all knew their places, and life made sense.

I really do think they're that insane, clinically. Otherwise, there is no explanation for their behavior. No rational explanation, that is...........................

[yardwork]

17. Until recently, it was working very well for them. They made millions on the war in Iraq.

Republicans were rolling in the dough, raking in millions from their jobs on Wall Street, in finance, in the military-industrial complex. The vast majority of them had no idea that it was nothing but a shell game, a ponzi scheme bound to fall sooner or later. A few got out with their money safely stashed overseas. The rest of them have ashes.

[struggle4progress]

18. What they're doing has worked for them for decades. Republicans made a conscious decision

years ago to reach out to enroll wackos and racists in the party, and they found that heated rhetoric stunned their opponents into silence -- and 15-20% of voters were highly motivated by that tactic. Driving out the moderate Republicans was initially offset by their gains on the lunatic fringe. They're committed to the strategy now: they've alienated so many people, that nobody is inclined to believe in a moderate Republican party, so a move towards the traditional center will not pick up new centrist votes but will merely alienate the base

[Tangerine LaBamba]

21. I think you nailed it ........

If you're right, and I think you are, then they have nowhere to go. If an intensely competent and charismatic candidate doesn't show up - their very own Barack Obama, which isn't likely - they might have a chance.

But, seriously, they now have nowhere to go. They have no young people in their base, no significant numbers, so, like the dinosaurs, they're heading for extinction.

[xultar]

10. what do u think of all the duers who wanted to purge our ranks and

Purge duers whom they thought weren't pure enough?

[jberryhill]

Purge them...

Simple.

[Number23]

26. What do you think, Xultar?

I'd be very interested to hear what you think about that.

I think it's the height of stupidity, but because I'm not a Democrat my opinion may not matter that much. :)

[TheCowsCameHome]

2. Stand aside and watch them swirl down the drain of irrelevancy

No need to get involved - they'll do all the dirty work.

[Laelth]

3. That's exactly what David Michael Green suggests, here:

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/11/24

If the two of you are right, the Republicans are, indeed, finished.

:dem:

-Laelth

[11 Bravo]

4. And the Log Cabin Republicans say ... never mind.

[MikeNearMcChord]

5. Not even one time, a chance for being decent.

Have you no sense of decency, Republican? Have you left no sense of decency?
:shrug:

[walldude]

11. It was beyond not being decent... Shepards mother was there

and she had to listen to them talk about how it was just a robbery gone bad, they actually tried to claim his murder wasn't a hate crime. . Frankly I'm glad I wasn't there because I would have had to spit in someone's face.

[spanone]

6. they are the party of nothing...they have nothing...

[driver8]

7. They are the party of hate, fear, ignorance, and greed.

That is all they have...

[RB TexLa]

9. 18 Republicans voted for The Shepherd Act

Rep. Judy Biggert Aye
Rep. Mary Bono Mack Aye
Rep. Anh Cao Aye
Rep. Bill Cassidy Aye
Rep. Michael Castle Aye
Rep. Mike Coffman Aye
Rep. Charles Dent Aye
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart Aye
Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart Aye
Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen Aye
Rep. Jim Gerlach Aye
Rep. Mark Kirk Aye
Rep. Leonard Lance Aye
Rep. Frank LoBiondo Aye
Rep. Todd Platts Aye
Rep. Dave Reichert Aye
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Aye
Rep. Greg Walden Aye

[Forkboy]

12. We Dems should thank them for showing some courage within their party.

They'll probably be attacked by the rest of the GOP for these votes, so maybe our niceness will draw some more our way. :evilgrin:

[SemiCharmedQuark]

24. Especially when some of our own didn't have the courage to join their party.

[DevonRex]

14. OMG. My representative voted AYE!!!!! I can't believe it but I'm thankful.

OTOH, we in Colorado were kept informed about the case since it happened just to our north.

[glitch]

22. Of course my creepy puke rep isn't on the list. Good for Dave Reichert though.

He's better on this than some conservative dems, sadly for them.

[XOKCowboy]

27. Mike Coffman of CO?? I'm amazed...

Maybe this hits a little close to home for him.

[Pacifist Patriot]

30. Not my congresscritter. Suprised not.

I was really hoping that with the retirement of the Hon. Rep. Pinhead my district would get a moderately compassionate representative. (Snowball's chance in hell of a democrat) No sign of that yet.

[Canuckistanian]

13. The transformation to a regional, special interest party is complete

They no longer represent anything CLOSE to the majority of Americans.

Let the fork be stuck.

[ColbertWatcher]

15. Not even Snowe or Collins? n/t

[RB TexLa]

19. Hasn't come up in the senate. Snowe, Spector and Lieberman are co-sponsers

It's S.909. Kennedy is the sponsor with 33 co-sponsors.

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Okay. Thank you. n/t

[patrice]

16. WTF!!! What kind of chicken-shit human beings can't support anti-hatecrime legislation???

THAT is soooooooooo profoundly disturbing. Honestly, I've thought a lot of negative stuff about their stupid asses, but I always sort of hoped they were really okay, just confused or something, but THIS absolutely takes the cake.

[JonLP24]

23. Some GOP did vote for it

Greg Walden
Ileana Ros
Dave Reichert
Todd Platts
Frank LoBiondo
Leonard Lance
Mark kirk
Jim Gerlach
Rodney Frelinghuysen
Both Diaz
Charles Dent
Mike Coffman
Michael Castle
Bill Cassidy
Anh Cao
Mary Bono
Judy Biggert
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/vote.xpd?vote=h2009-223&sort=party

on edit: If you pay close attention I shortened some names because I was giving the whole list of republicans who voted 'aye'

[dgibby]

25. It's a cult, not a political party.

[fujiyama]

28. Future demographics in regions with growing populations

doesn't bode well for them either.

That Latino bashing hasn't made them particularly well liked in that community...Hell they aren't particularly well liked among ANY minority community.

Their only base now is white males and a majority of them, by now must have realized they aren't being well served by them.

[Mari333]

29. its all really ass backwards

the dnc is like what the republican party used to be and the dlc is what the dems used to be. There are so many dems now who act like moderate republicans all the lines are blurred.
of course, the GOP itself shifted so far into neocon territory it doesnt even know where its at.
I remember when dem meant pro worker, pro union, anti war, and fought for civil liberties. a lot of them are corporatists now and remind me of republicans.