Much like Harvey Milk…

David Frum wants to recruit you. No, not like that. In his National Post article, he opines that the Republican Party is faced with a horrible fracturing, and a dearth of reliable voting blocks.  He suggests that the Republican Party faces a choice between two futures: One is the sorts of ideas and people on display at Sarah Palin’s rallies, the other is…well, us.  Specifically, he’s talking about college educated voters, who used to vote largely Republican.He says that Joe the Plumber (that is officially the last time I will ever write those words) is actually the Republican base, and can still largely be relied upon to vote Republican.  Joe, however, is no longer enough.  He says that Bush tried to “shore up Joe” with the Latino vote, but notes correctly that the Latino vote is lost to the Republican Party for the foreseeable future.  He says instead they should be pursuing those with a college education.

But how is the college-educated crowd not also lost to the Republicans?  Our generation has enormous numbers, a disproportionate amount of college education, and every four years there’s a whole new slew of us eligible to vote.  We will soon utterly dominate the degree-holding demographic, and Bush has helped turn us from an already blue-leaning demographic to a more than 2-1 blue group, maybe forever.  This election allowed us to go to the ballot box and not only elevate Barack Obama who spoke to our generation in a way no politician ever has, but also to repudiate everything Bush, which we have come to hate with an intensity that I would argue is not mirrored in any other demographic (except maybe black voters).

Who in the Republican Party does Frum think is going to win us over?  I admire the man’s mind, and he’s trying to save the Party he loves, but this seems like wishful thinking.  He further faces the problem that there are elements within the Republican Party who see Sarah Palin as their glorious future.  If they keep playing that card, they’re going to find young people and college-educated people fleeing in every direction like roaches when you turn the light on.  Her approval ratings dipped very low in this campaign, staggeringly low for someone who hasn’t even been elected yet, but her overall ratings were bright compared to her ratings among young voters.  (So much for us liking Barack Obama because of his age.)

So where is the Republican Party going to turn?  If Democrats can solidify young voters who will soon be the largest demographic in the country, if they can hang on to black voters and get them to the polls as effectively as they did this time, if they can hang on to latino voters, a majority among women, then who does that leave Republicans?  It leaves them Joe, and that deranged lady with the weird hair who said Obama was a Muslim.  It doesn’t look good, and they’re going to have to get rid of Palin, Kristol, Limbaugh and the like if they’re going to get any traction.  

It is fun to watch them squirm, though.

Rating:

(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)

 Loading ...

Tags: David Frum, GOP, Jared McClelland, Joe the Plumber, Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, sarah palin, William Kristol

Related Posts: