GOP Leadership Gives In To Teabaggers

(The image above is by Nikahang Kosar at roozonline.com.)

The Republican Party national leadership did an assessment of their party after their poor showing in the 2012 election. They came to the rather obvious conclusion that they needed to reach out in a more effective way to minorities (especially Hispanics -- the fastest growing minority) and to young people (because many young people set lifetime voting habits in the first one or two elections they participate in). They lost both groups in the last election by large majorities.

Some of the smarter members of the GOP leadership realized that softening their rhetoric or choosing a different ultra-right-wing candidate wasn't going to accomplish the goal of making inroads into these groups. They decided that some moderation of policy was needed, and outlined two areas where this change should take place -- on immigration reform (to appeal to Hispanics) and on same-sex marriage (which a huge majority of young people support).

We will see in the coming few weeks whether the party can moderate its stance on immigration reform, as the reform effort is taken up in the Senate. Some senators are trying to reach consensus on a bipartisan bill, but it is still unknown whether such a bill (offering a path to citizenship) can get the support of enough Republicans to pass both the Senate and House, or whether it can pass muster with the party's base voters (who up to now have been pretty racist and anti-immigrant).

But the leadership has already discarded the idea of softening their stance on same-sex marriage to appeal to younger voters. Almost immediately upon hearing of the idea, at least 13 fundamentalist and teabagger groups threatened to bolt the GOP and form their own third party if the national party didn't maintain its total opposition to same-sex marriage -- and the national party leaders folded immediately.

Last week, the Republican National Committee met in Hollywood, California -- and they unanimously voted to keep their old position of opposition to same-sex marriage. That pretty much closes the door on any attempt by the national party to soften its stance on this issue. It seems that at least some of the leadership knows what the party must do to reverse their shrinking numbers in national elections -- but they don't have the courage or the numbers to follow through and try to convince rank-and-file GOP voters of the necessity.

I'm betting they wind up not looking too good on immigration reform either -- as they try to weaken any bill offered with amendments to make it virtually worthless. The base (and too many GOP congresspeople) are just not ready to moderate their extremist positions. That's very good news for Democrats -- since significant majorities of the general public are now in favor of same-sex marriage and immigration reform with a path to citizenship (and not just young people and Hispanics).