Admit I was wrong (maybe) - Long discursive holiday post
Immediately after the election, when all the questions were "where will the Republican Party go?," I got into a bit of an argument with a couple of you over that direction.
My contention was that cooler, more strategic heads would prevail, and the Republicans would temper their more extreme elements, and work their way back towards revitalization by capturing centrist elements peeled off from the Democrats. I figured that in a natural equilibrium, elements of that center would, at least, become available to the GOP.
The other option (forwarded by Todd and EPM that I remember) was that, left with this southern rump on the national level, the Republicans would, in fact, go further right, further restricting their access to the center.
It's way too early to call this argument over, especially with the RNC chair race still alive, but, thus far in the chaos, it has been the more extreme voices winning, and the House and Senate leadership are already showing some signs of being pulled to the right by their membership. The "we just weren't pure enough" argument appears to be winning the early debate.
There are voices out there that could bring back some of those centrists stripped away in this election, but, right now, they seem to be getting drowned out by the harder right which is defining the Republican brand.
I had figured that the GOP couldn't be so stupid as to choose a decade in the wilderness, but the early dynamics of the "civil war" seem to support a movement further from the center that isn't so much a result of choice as a result of their political geography.
We'll have to wait and see how it develops once they have the opportunity to really establish themselves in opposition, but, thus far, I'm willing to admit I was (provisionally) wrong.
My contention was that cooler, more strategic heads would prevail, and the Republicans would temper their more extreme elements, and work their way back towards revitalization by capturing centrist elements peeled off from the Democrats. I figured that in a natural equilibrium, elements of that center would, at least, become available to the GOP.
The other option (forwarded by Todd and EPM that I remember) was that, left with this southern rump on the national level, the Republicans would, in fact, go further right, further restricting their access to the center.
It's way too early to call this argument over, especially with the RNC chair race still alive, but, thus far in the chaos, it has been the more extreme voices winning, and the House and Senate leadership are already showing some signs of being pulled to the right by their membership. The "we just weren't pure enough" argument appears to be winning the early debate.
There are voices out there that could bring back some of those centrists stripped away in this election, but, right now, they seem to be getting drowned out by the harder right which is defining the Republican brand.
I had figured that the GOP couldn't be so stupid as to choose a decade in the wilderness, but the early dynamics of the "civil war" seem to support a movement further from the center that isn't so much a result of choice as a result of their political geography.
We'll have to wait and see how it develops once they have the opportunity to really establish themselves in opposition, but, thus far, I'm willing to admit I was (provisionally) wrong.
posted by mikevotes at
11:14 AM
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