Eugene Robinson: "Here’s the basic problem: The Democratic Party seems likely to grow ever stronger nationally while the GOP remains firmly entrenched locally. This means the stubborn, maddening, unproductive standoff between a Democratic president and a Republican majority in the House may be the new normal.
Demographic trends clearly favor the Democrats in presidential elections. Hispanics and Asian Americans, the nation’s biggest and fastest-growing minorities, respectively, both voted for Obama over Mitt Romney by more than 70 percent . This is not just a function of the GOP’s hostility to immigration reform, although that certainly doesn’t help.
Republicans are also out of step with these voters on other issues, such as health care. And all too often they transmit a breathtaking level of hostility.
Republicans are also out of step with these voters on other issues, such as health care. And all too often they transmit a breathtaking level of hostility.
A case in point is the recent allegation by Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) that for every young undocumented immigrant who becomes a valedictorian, “there’s another 100 out there who weigh 130 pounds — and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”
Criticized by his colleagues — ixnay on the igotrybay — King insisted his comments were “factually correct.” And the GOP’s outreach to Latino voters returned to square one.
None of this eliminates the possibility that Democrats will nominate flawed presidential candidates or that Republicans will nominate attractive ones. But all things being equal, the Democratic Party likely will go into presidential elections with a structural advantage. Eventually the GOP will be at pains to defend even Texas, the party’s only reliable mega-state.
Yet the Republican majority in the House, ensconced by clever redistricting, will be hard to dislodge. Perhaps Democratic registration and get-out-the-vote efforts can reshape the midterm electorate enough next year to recapture the majority. I wouldn’t bet the mortgage on it.
It may be, then, that we’re in for a much longer period of divided government in which the principal way that Republicans can affect federal policy is through obstruction. The whole “party of no” thing is more than a meme; it’s a logical — if somewhat nihilistic — plan of action. Or inaction.
Republicans know they cannot repeal the Affordable Care Act, for example, but they can hamper its implementation. They cannot impose their vision of immigration reform — all fence and no citizenship, basically — but they can ensure that no reforms are approved. They cannot choose their own nominees for federal judgeships, but they can block Obama’s."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-gop-obstruction-as-the-new-normal/2013/07/25/26bbbcea-f56a-11e2-9434-60440856fadf_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
Alan: The online version of the above article contained a "sidebar poll" asking if Republicans were right to threaten government shutdown if Obamacare was not defunded. The question beggars belief. Obamacare is settled law. To re-open the "debate" -- and to threaten dire consequence in the process - is not only a logical monstrosity but a technicolor snapshot of a society (or at least a political party) struggling for "one last gasp" within the existing system rather than undergo inevitable molt of its outgrown skin. "Angry white guys" are no longer in charge and, demographically, their political clout will continue to diminish.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/eugene-robinson-gop-obstruction-as-the-new-normal/2013/07/25/26bbbcea-f56a-11e2-9434-60440856fadf_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions
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Alan: The online version of the above article contained a "sidebar poll" asking if Republicans were right to threaten government shutdown if Obamacare was not defunded. The question beggars belief. Obamacare is settled law. To re-open the "debate" -- and to threaten dire consequence in the process - is not only a logical monstrosity but a technicolor snapshot of a society (or at least a political party) struggling for "one last gasp" within the existing system rather than undergo inevitable molt of its outgrown skin. "Angry white guys" are no longer in charge and, demographically, their political clout will continue to diminish.
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The Party of Nope
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Check out the previous Republican Jobs Plan
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"Republican Rule and Economic Catastrophe: A Lockstep Relationship"
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2012/05/republican-rule-and-economic.html
Obama is a Rockefeller Republican
Obamacare is a Republican plan
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