"THE GOP"- STILL LEADERLESS, AS THEY CONTINUE SHOOTING THEMSELVES IN THE FOOT

The former party of "family values" appears to have no values at all and very little commonsense.

...RNC Chairman Michael Steele at the Young Republican National Convention

It now seems that if a younger, very knowledgeable, charismatic and hopefully honest leader of the GOP doesn´t appear on the scene soon, the party´s "political-implosion" will be their only other alternative.

When looking at who is out there today for the Republicans, I´m afraid that with the recent failures and stumbles of the Governor´s of Louisiana, South Carolina, and of course Alaska, plus the debacle of the junior senator of Nevada, there´s not much of anything positive in new leadership hopes for the GOP to look forward too. Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota looks pretty OK, but so far no real comprehensive plans for America´s future and he appears to be anything but an exciting and charismatic leader.

What´s left out there is the "same ole, same ole" of Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney, Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi and former Governor Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and now (God forbid), the failed VP candidate, Sarah Palin of Alaska.

The only potential GOP "Dark Horses" today include South Dakota Senator John Thune, and previous business executives such as Carly Fiorina of H-P, Meg Whitman of E-Bay and perhaps Republican politicians; Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas and Senator Mel Martinez of Florida. Again, anything but outstanding and charismatic.

Actually, the real issue for the original "party of Lincoln" is not for just finding inspiring leadership candidates. What use to be called the "party of ideas" and the "party of family values", continues to shoot themselves in the foot as the "party of NO, with no ideas" while continuing to fall on their faces in the "theater of public opinion" and particularly in failing to grow their party.

Along with all of their internal confusion, they are currently alienating large numbers of those individuals within the major growth of America´s voting groups of the future. That being; independent voters, Hispanic and Asian voters and the new, growing numbers of young blacks, young whites and other growing minorities.

For some good examples, let´s look at the latest comment from Michael Steele, the Republican National Committee Chairman regarding getting new, young blacks into the GOP.

While attending the Young Republicans National Convention, Chairman Steele joked that he would welcome young blacks to the party with "fried chicken and potato salad." And at the same meeting, the executive group then threw racial sensitivity to the wind by electing a woman as its new president, even though she had posted a controversial and racially offensive message on her Facebook page.

Then there was the awkward situation of Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, going after Judge Sonia Sotomayor, the Supreme Court nominee, over racial language in her speeches. Now, this is the same Republican Senator Sessions whose own nomination, by President Ronald Reagan, to the federal court was thrown out after reports emerged that he had called the NAACP "communist-inspired." He had also joked that he had thought the Ku Klux Klan was an "OK group".

There seems to be no understanding by the Republicans that the population in America is changing dramatically. This last week, the "good ole boy", GOP pundit and MSNBC analyst, Pat Buchanan, suggested that Republicans should mount a reverse-discrimination assault on Supreme Court nominee Sotomayor as part of the effort to win back the GOP´s lost white voters. According to Buchanan, Sotomayor is; "a political activist whose career bespeaks a lifelong resolve to discriminate against white males."

Mr. Buchanan, in his old-fashioned "white-centered" Republican world, is playing the victim as a route to victory. He says that, "If Hispanics are offended by Republicans attacking Sotomayor, so be it." After all, Buchanan says, "there were 10 times more white voters [last] November than Hispanics".

If Republicans continue to buy this "so who cares" reasoning, they´re destined for more future defeats.

According to an October 2008 report by the Pew Hispanic Center, last year the number of Florida Hispanics who were registered Democrats outnumbered those registered as Republicans by 13%. For demonstrating the growth of the Hispanic vote, as recently as 2006, those registered as Republicans outnumbered those registered as Democrats by 11%, but that is now just old history.

No wonder Barack Obama won 57% of the Hispanic vote in Florida.

The future overall will have an even larger impact. The same study said that from 2006 to 2008, the percentage increase in the number of Hispanics registered to vote in Florida outpaced the increase among non-Hispanics. Hispanics increased by 18% versus 6% for non-Hispanics.

Hispanics are also shifting their allegiances, and in Florida, it is the key swing state with the most electoral votes.

As further proof, in 2004, George W. Bush won Florida by 5 percentage points. Last November, John McCain lost it by nearly 3 percentage points, while both candidates received about the same percentage of the white vote.

Nationally, the total percentage of the electorate that is white has fallen by 15% since 1980. Conversely, the Hispanic portion keeps growing and most of the state´s Hispanic voters have also swung to the Democratics.

As the Op-Ed writer, Charles Blow of the New York Times wrote: "It´s going to take more than fried chicken and potato salad, or arroz con pollo, for the Republican Party to address this problem".

Copyright G.Ater 2009

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