Via J.S. Mill in HC Deb 31 May 1866 vol 183 cc1554-666:
What I stated was, that the Conservative party was, by the law of its constitution, necessarily the stupidest party. Now, I do not retract this assertion; but I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any hon. Gentleman will question it.
Andrew covers recent polls that show Millennials moving away from the Republican party:
Drum chimes in:
[The GOP's] earlier embrace of social fundamentalism was largely responsible for driving away young voters in the first place, and now, left only with a core of middle-aged and elderly voters that they need to keep loyal, they’re likely to pursue policies that push the young even further away. This might produce occasional victories, but no political party can survive this kind of vicious cycle in the long run. Having long since alienated blacks, Hispanics, and virtually the entire Northeast, Republicans can hardly afford to permanently lose young voters as well. The white South and the elderly just aren’t enough to sustain a national party.
Filed under: Republicans
I understand why they call themselves “Conservatives” but can the GOP take a page out of the Tories playbook and at least accept that society, socially acceptable preferences and ideas, and people are changing?
This is disgraceful. But as the lady says at the end, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. This is just one opinion that I certainly do not agree with.
Filed under: Republicans
Via Andrew:
“I’ve always been a Republican for the traditional principles that have been associated with the Republican party since I became a Republican, when I registered to vote. And that is limited government, individual opportunities, fiscal responsibility, and a strong national defense. So I think those principles have always been a part of the Republican party heritage. And I believe that I reflect those views and I haven’t changed as a Republican. I think more that my party has changed,” -Senator Olympia Snowe.
Are the Democrats gain? Possibly – do we have a realignment on our hand?
Take a look at what Gallup‘s recent poll says and make your own conclusions:
And those Millennials that I am so obsessed with:
As was shown earlier, the GOP’s loss in leaned support over this time is evident among nearly every subgroup. The losses are substantial among college graduates, which have shown a decline in GOP support of 10 points. (The losses are even greater — 13 points — among the subset of college graduates with postgraduate educations.) This may reflect in part Barack Obama’s strong appeal to educated voters, a major component of his winning coalitions in both the Democratic primaries and the general election.
Realignment! Realignment!
Is this what you want your party to stand for?
The list of things wrong with these posters is just too long to write out.
But seriously, Republican Party – do you think “Tea Parties” = anti-war protests? Seriously? Think again.
Oh and on that note, this is nothing compared to European protests – nice try though.
Just finished watching it (I know, I’m a little late on this…):
Watch it for yourself if you haven’t already:
She makes a lot of sense. The Republican Party will become irrelevant to young people (i.e. the will probably never put up a strong fight in an election until the Millennials die) unless they put up a good candidate in 2012. The way they go about winning over the young vote is not by anti-semitic comments. Good job Meghan – maybe a Republican that I could actually respect – at least on of them has to speak the truth.
After looking at photo from CPAC, listening to the speeches, and reading the commentary, the overwhelming view that I’ve gleaned from these conservatives is that Obama and the Democrats are socialists – putting a socialist agenda on capitalist America.
Here’s TNC:
When you don’t have any ideas…
It seems that “socialist” has supplanted “liberal” as the go-to slur among much of a conservative world confronting a one-two-three punch of bank bailouts, budget blowouts and stimulus bills. Right-leaning bloggers and talk radio hosts are wearing out the brickbat. Senate and House Republicans have been tripping over their podiums to invoke it. The S-bomb has become as surefire a red-meat line at conservative gatherings as “Clinton” was in the 1990s and “Pelosi” is today.
“Earlier this week, we heard the world’s best salesman of socialism address the nation,” Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, said on Friday, referring, naturally, to a certain socialist in chief.
Former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas decried the creation of “socialist republics” in the United States. “Lenin and Stalin would love this stuff,” Mr. Huckabee said, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference here over the weekend, a kind of Woodstock for young conservatives.
“Socialism is something new for us to hit Obama over the head with,” said Joshua Bolin of Augusta, Ga., who founded a Web site, “Reagan.org,” which he calls a conservative analog to the liberal MoveOn.org.
Right. Something new. Because no one called Obama a socialist during the general election. And had they, the GOP clearly would have won.
Oh boy! TNC makes a good point about the election. But to take things a bit further – away from electoral politics and more to the policy-side of things… if Obama is a socialist, what do you then call all of Europe? Communist? Conservatives need to brush up on some of their comparative policy readings there.
