The end of the GOP is 'just like the end of the Whig party...'

[dorkzilla]

Just watching Chris Hayes who showed a clip of the Teabilly Wing of the GOP today saying something akin to "blah blah blah...we can't pass Immigration reform because blah blah blah...it will be just like the end of the Whig party...". Very interesting parallel.

I can't help but laugh--yes, the Rethugs will end the way the Whigs did. And what, pray tell, ushered in the end of the Whigs, hmmm?? Nativism and Abolitionism. And the GOP are having a meltdown over??? Brown people and the black man in the White House.

And the irony is totally loss on the asshat who made the connection today. These people make me sick.

[bluestate10]

1. The rallies today was a gathering of the ignorant and fooled. Their "leaders"

that whip them in a frenzy don't give a shit about them. Many talk about the futures of their grandchildren without a fucking clue that their own actions are doing, by far, the most damage to their grandchildren. Their "solutions" will take the nation back at least a half century and leave it at the mercy of an advancing world.

[dorkzilla]

3. Yes, it was hard to watch

I mean wtf were those people cheering for? A gathering of fools and tools indeed.

[Fumesucker]

2. That political space won't remain empty or unorganized

Something will fill it even if it's just former Republicans flooding into the Democratic party with their attitudes totally unchanged.

[dorkzilla]

4. Then we have to change them.

If that does happen we cannot do what the GOP has done and let the nut faction have any kind of platform. When they utter their stupidity they must be shamed and shunned.

[Fumesucker]

7. Take a look at what we're arguing about today

Things that DU was adamantly against ten years ago.

Now NSA spying on Americans is not only acceptable Democratic policy but gains a defense with tenacity worthy of the siege of Stalingrad.

And on and on and on..

The natural urge of the top level Democrats is to move to the right, that's where the money is, having a vast flood of Republicans move into the Democratic party is not going to shift it left.

[Major Nikon]

6. The worst of them already came from the Democratic party

After the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the bigots left the party kicking and screaming. The GOP warmly welcomed the bigots which is where they are today. If the GOP wants to survive, they will eventually have to kick them to the curb as well or at least marginalize them until they are politically irrelevant.

[Fumesucker]

8. As I just wrote, look at what we argue about today vs ten years ago

There was no support for the Patriot Act and NSA spying on DU ten years ago, now it's a huge issue of contention.

The bigots got played by the big money, now that particular scam is wearing out and big money has shifted tactics but their strategy remains the same.

I think I read the other day that Booz Allen political donations ran heavily Democratic.

[Kolesar]

16. Note your (plural) unsourced attack on the Democrats...

...designed to titillate your fellow bored chair occupants.

[Fumesucker]

23. If you don't believe me start an OP asking how controversial the Patriot Act was on DU

And Democrats deserve to be attacked when they act like Republicans.

[HiPointDem]

5. and what is the end of the democratic party like?

[dorkzilla]

9. Seems like we're watching it right now.

Revelations about the NSA, using drones on US soil, not to mention the no-win situation of our involvement in Syria, is IMHO the beginning of the end of the Democrats. Perhaps it only means the Progressives will push the party back to the left of center, or that the hawks will be pushed out. All I know is it feels to me like something dark has taken over our party...when a good person like President Obama could get so twisted that his closest-held convictions went right out the door something radical has to happen. Lets hope our complacency is coming to an end.

[Kolesar]

17. He meant whether he should dance the twist. eom

[malaise]

10. You know history will record that the two men who led the way

into ReTHUG suicide are Reagan and Gingrich.

[dorkzilla]

11. You mean St. Ronnie?

It is a source of never ending amusement that he's been elevated to that level, and you're exactly right.

[malaise]

12. Ok drop that St part

[dorkzilla]

15. You HERETIC!!

They'll burn you at the stake!

[pinboy3niner]

13. More likely the GOP will retrench and survive

If not, Fumesucker is right: something will fill the void.

One-party rule is undesirable and dangerous--even if it's our party.

[dorkzilla]

14. I wholeheartedly agree

One party is the worst possible outcome, no matter which party it is.

Edited to add: if you think about it, the 2 parties are beginning to morph into a nearly indestinguishable mass of pimping for the corporate interests. So perhaps the single party isn't so far-fetched.

[Kolesar]

18. Oh, you forgot to call us: Tweedledee and Tweedledum ! ... eom

[Recursion]

19. Eh. The Whigs fragmented because there wasn't enough ideological unity in their party

They were united in being against a strong Presidency, and that was about it. The GOP today seems to have the opposite problem.

[dorkzilla]

20. Yes there was a lot of infighting in the Whig party and...

a group of Nativist Whigs broke off and founded...The REPUBLICAN party!

[Recursion]

21. I think the Free Soilers had a bigger initial impact on the GOP than the know-nothings

Free Soil was pretty much the only movement that went wholecloth into the Republican party; a lot of the know-nothings and anti-Masonics went Democrat, especially in the South.

[dorkzilla]

22. The point was its in their DNA...

I normally would never use wikipedia as a source but I'm interviewing people for jobs this morning so time is short...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Republican_Party

"The American Republican Party was a minor nativist political organization that was launched in New York in June 1843, largely as a protest against immigrant voters and officeholders. In 1844, it carried municipal elections in New York City and Philadelphia and expanded so rapidly that by July, 1845, a national convention was called..."


They started out, at least in part, as anti-immigrant bigots and it took 160-odd years for the party to come full circle.