This is an aside titled 'The Future of the GOP' dated 10/8/08

So what is a conservative now? Most remarkable about this election, Obama is smashing the electoral college. In the comments of an post on Georgia’s quite possibly Obama win, someone points out how the English Tory party outgrew its social platform. The shocking lack of diversity we saw at the Republican national convention is proof the party message has got to change. By 2042, minorities will be the majority. Already, Asians, Hispanics, and African-Americans overwhelmingly favor Democratic candidates. The world is also increasingly urbanizing. The GOP can’t keep ignoring people in cities (let alone calling us unpatriotic, elite, etc.) Great post on BLDGBLOG about this here. Bless her heart, Sarah Palin does show a glimmer of hope that the GOP is moving toward a modern image: “full civil rights equivalent to marriage” for gays, redefining gender roles, and sorta! pro-civil liberties. Right now, typically divided-government loving libertarians largely support Obama. Now it’s up to the GOP to decide whether they are going to put up Mike Huckabee (left economically, social conservative) or a libertarian (free-market, culturally liberal) in 2012. Guess which of the two can win. UPDATE: Hrag comments: “I think you misunderstood Palin’s endorsement of full civil right for gay couples. She said she thought they should be able to go into contracts…that’s not the same thing. Gwen Ifill didn’t clarify that and you’re the third person/blog I’ve heard misquote that. The gov’t has no role limiting personal contracts. What some of us in same-sex relationships want is a law that ensures that our partners are covered by our health insurance and that covers issues like immigration. What Palin said was nowhere near to ANY of that, on the other hand Biden supported equal rights under another name (civil unions).” UPDATE II: pretty good thread here on why Bobby Jindal will really have to tone down his biblical literalism to be considered in 2012. More on that here.

Posted by Joanne on Oct. 8, 2008 Tagged: , , , , , ,

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