Social conservatives warn Priebus they could abandon GOP

[alp227]

A group of high-profile social conservatives warned Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a letter this week that their supporters could abandon the GOP if the party seeks to change its position on social issues, particularly same-sex marriage.

Thirteen social conservatives, representing various influential groups, wrote Priebus ahead of the RNC's quarterly meeting this week in Los Angeles to sternly rebuke the conclusions of a post-election report that advised Republican elected officials to adopt a softer tone toward social issues.

"We respectfully warn GOP Leadership that an abandonment of its principles will necessarily result in the abandonment of our constituents to their support," concludes the letter, which was obtained by and independently verified by NBC News in advance of the meeting this week.

The letter further asks GOP committeemen to pass a resolution at their meeting this week re-affirming the party's 2012 national platform, which includes language calling for bans on abortion and same-sex marriage.

full: http://firstread.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/10/17691775-social-conservatives-warn-priebus-they-could-abandon-gop

2014 in the bag yet, anyone????

[dgibby]

1. If the GOP was smart,

they'd pay them to leave.

[Jackal87]

2. re:

GOP is stuck between a rock and a hard place, endorse gay marriage and lose fundie support or don't and can't win states besides the south. I'm just begging right now for radical right wing or third party candidate to split the GOP in 2016 so Hillary can win much easier.

[Warpy]

3. Well, they still have Utah, Idaho and the Moron Corridor

outside the south. The real reason the fundies are restless is because even with a few teabaggers in Congress, they haven't been given total control of the party after reliably delivering votes for 30 years. This is about power, not about ideology or doctrine.

That's the problem with making deals with the devil, the devil always tries to take over at some point.

The only thing that would save the GOP as a political party is if the Reagan coalition broke down and all the crazy people left. I don't think they're really going to. I think they're going to hang around just long enough to rip that party apart.

[Jackal87]

4. Re

Had it not been for the fundies then the white vote would of been split evenly between the Dems and the GOP. Good thing is that even just a few million fundies splitting off means that states like Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, NC, SC and even texas could be in play for 2016. We only lost most of these states the past 12 years by a 1-3 hundred thousand. So even if just a fraction of those votes go into a third party candidate and we can bump up black, hispanic and white dem votes by a few percent then it might start to look like a slaughter. And the best thing is that would mean we won't be in danger of losing ohio, virginia, or florida in the near future.

[jmowreader]

7. The GOP shouldn't count too heavily on the Idaho vote

There is a very real threat to the GOP in Idaho, especially North Idaho: they're not seen as conservative enough.

If the Constitution Party or another one of the extremely far right parties produces an attractive slate of candidates, they could very easily sweep North Idaho. I don't think this would dislodge Raul Labrador, seeing as how his district runs well into Mormon Country (and Labrador is a Mormon), but it could put a lot of serious teabaggers into the state legislature.

[Bake]

5. Gee, just when they were starting to do so well with their "minority outreach."

Bake

[unrepentant progress]

6. Leave the GOP? Really? Is that a threat or a promise?

"Much of the conservatives' letter to Priebus stresses the issue of gay rights, and challenges the logic of the Growth and Opportunity Project's advice to broaden the party's appeal. Holding the line against same-sex marriage, the letter argues, would allow Republicans to make better inroads, for instance, into more traditionally-minded corners of the African American community."

Dudes! How are you going to make inroads among more conservative African-Americans when you keep trying to stop them from voting?

My fantasy would be for real progressives and populists to take over the GOP so this country would actually have a two party system again.