Does the Republican Party need to GTFO??

[IndyFan]

Good luck. You think a Republican Congressman like Steve King is going to suddenly turn away from being a lifelong racist?



Maybe he can be swayed to appeal to an "urban" demographic? Maybe not.



Pretending away the problem your party has with minorities is like an ostrich sticking its head in the sand. You know who agrees with Steve King (R-IA)? The constituents that keep re-electing him. And there is the real problem for your party and the nation.

Too bad SBC is not around anymore. Wasn't this guy her poster child for what's wrong with congress? IIRC, King is everything that's wrong with congressmen rolled up into one 'little ball of hate'. Corrupt, racist, homophobic, doesn't he have personal issues also.

This guy is not the guy the GOP has to worry about. He will always be a problems for them. This guy would be the bad example for whatever party he belonged to.

I do see LMG's point though. The GOP house members are the way they are because the represent the voters who vote for them. The same thing is true about the Democrats. Expecting a change in party philosophy to be imposed from the party professionals is optimistic at best. Made even tougher with the gerrymandering of congressional districts. The challenge to the guys who want to become more a more moderate party will be from the radical side of the party in the primary.

One more observation. Whatever lessons the GOP learned from the election do seem to be wearing off. The fiscal cliff negotiations are starting to resemble the debt ceiling negotiations and every other negotiation the 'Party of NO' has engaged in. Now maybe the behind the scenes negotiations are going along well, but the GOP hasn't changed in the public ones.

[cabernetluver]

Too bad SBC is not around anymore. Wasn't this guy her poster child for what's wrong with congress? IIRC, King is everything that's wrong with congressmen rolled up into one 'little ball of hate'. Corrupt, racist, homophobic, doesn't he have personal issues also.

This guy is not the guy the GOP has to worry about. He will always be a problems for them. This guy would be the bad example for whatever party he belonged to.

I do see LMG's point though. The GOP house members are the way they are because the represent the voters who vote for them. The same thing is true about the Democrats. Expecting a change in party philosophy to be imposed from the party professionals is optimistic at best. Made even tougher with the gerrymandering of congressional districts. The challenge to the guys who want to become more a more moderate party will be from the radical side of the party in the primary.

One more observation. Whatever lessons the GOP learned from the election do seem to be wearing off. The fiscal cliff negotiations are starting to resemble the debt ceiling negotiations and every other negotiation the 'Party of NO' has engaged in. Now maybe the behind the scenes negotiations are going along well, but the GOP hasn't changed in the public ones.

You are absolutely correct about Steve King being SBC's poster child of horrible House members.

You are also half correct that the representatives vote the way they vote because that is representative of their primary constituency. What they are afraid of is being primarried. Interestingly, to me, this is the Republican conundrum. These guys will not be able to run statewide.

In the 2012 congressional popular vote, the GOP lost the majority. They retained their House majority because of gerrymandering. Statewide and national elections will be a GOP loser as long as they hold to their far right constituency. On the other hand, they keep their seats as long as they hold to their far right constituency.

The GOP elders learned a lot. They just have no power.

[Labgrownmangoat]

The simple fact is that the GOP faced a choice. They could elect folks like Steve King and state rep Virgil Peck (R-Tyro Kansas)(shoot Latinos from helicopters like feral hogs), or they could appeal to Latino voters. They've made that choice. There is no tent that is big enough to contain Jan Brewer and a significant percentage of Latinos.