Understatement extraordinaire! Huckabee warns GOP could become 'irrelevant'

[jefferson_dem]

Huckabee warns GOP could become 'irrelevant'
From CNN Ticker Producer Alexander Mooney

Huckabee says the GOP must not lose social conservatives.

(CNN) — Days after national Republicans launched a new campaign to broaden the party's outreach, former upstart presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the GOP is at risk of becoming "irrelevant as the Whigs."

In an interview with the California newspaper The Visalia Times-Delta, Huckabee said the GOP would only further decline in influence should it alienate social conservatives — largely considered the most energetic and loyal faction of the party.

"Throw the social conservatives the pro-life, pro-family people overboard and the Republican party will be as irrelevant as the Whigs," he said in reference to the American political party that largely disbanded in the mid 1800s.

"They'll basically be a party of gray-haired old men sitting around the country club puffing cigars, sipping brandy and wondering whatever happened to the country. That will be the end of the party," he said in the interview published Thursday.

Huckabee's comments come the same day former Vice President Dick Cheney warned his party's leaders not to moderate their views as they launch an effort to regain control in the nation's Capitol.

"The idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy," Cheney also said. "I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most of us aren’t," he told conservative talk-radio host Scott Hennen.

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http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/08/huckabee-warns-gop-could-become-irrelevant/

[Brother Buzz]

1. Visalia Times-Delta? Huckabee is pretty damn irrelevant if his soundbites are coming from

Visalia.

[KansDem]

5. I broke down in Visalia once...

...many, many years ago.

I wouldn't want it to happen again...

[ej510]

7. It is in the Valley about 70 miles away from the bay area.

It's near Modesto and Modesto is in the cuts.

[Brother Buzz]

8. 70 miles? Visalia is not like 'Oh ! Lord, Stuck in Lodi again'.

Visalia is south of Fresno!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA7iGxV6rt4

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. 70 miles. That's a gazillion light years as the political crow flies.

What does "in the cuts" mean?

[tanyev]

2. Keep kowtowing to the social conservatives and the Republican party will be irrelevant, too.

A win-win situation!

[janx]

3. This just gets funnier and funnier!

:rofl: How long will this fight continue?

[StrongBad]

4. Oh Mike, you good natured fool.

The constant catering to the "social conservatives" is what finally wrought this comeuppance against the Republican Party.

The more correct response would be to become less rigid with your social agenda, as well as lightening up on free-market theology.

[Arugula Latte]

6. It's pretty simple. If they stay far right, like Huck wants, they're screwed.

Yet, if they move closer to the middle they lose the loons and they're also screwed.

Ba da dah dah dah -- I'm lovin' it!

[Arkana]

10. Huck, pal, you're one of the major reasons this is true.

You and the social conservatives (aka bigots). You force this maniacally Puritanical crap on the rest of the country to the point where the majority of the elected officials in your own party know it's political suicide to oppose you.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. ...could beome irrelevant?

Aren't they pretty much already there? Let's face it, their moral and intellectual leader is a drug-addicted pervert and right now you're thinking, "Sure, but which one?"

Their objections to the Obama Administration are now pretty much limited to his choice of mustard.

Could become irrelevant? More so than at this very minute?

That would actually take a friggin' miracle.

[ShadowLiberal]

12. Gee, funny how polls show just the opposite about social conservatives

Isn't it funny how polls show social conservatives and the GOP being forced into their stances on stuff like gay marriage are hurting them badly among young voters and moderate voters and in swing states.

[IDemo]

13. Could? Become?

[zulchzulu]

14. The Religious Right is one of the 800 pound gorillas in the room and they are headed for extinction

The other 800 pound gorilla is Rush Limbaugh.

Until the GOP allows moderates in, it will clearly only be a party for 20-25% of the voting public...max! If they serve harder right or have no one with real political talent at the top, they are headed to become a footnote.