The Republicans Are Going to Lose in 2008

[A recurring feature pointing to evidence and analyses of the GOP’s pending defeat in 2008.]

Daily Kos has a pice from DemFromCT summing up some major problems for the GOP in 2008.

The point being the GOP will lose, big.

From DemFromCT:
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As First Read notes today, "'Future of the GOP stories' are starting to hit critical mass". And why not? We have the WSJ reporting on disaffected business types and the Bush borrow and spend policies have alienated fiscal conservatives like Alan Greenspan.

The Republican Party, known since the late 19th century as the party of business, is losing its lock on that title. New evidence suggests a potentially historic shift in the Republican Party's identity -- what strategists call its "brand." The votes of many disgruntled fiscal conservatives and other lapsed Republicans are now up for grabs, which could alter U.S. politics in the 2008 elections and beyond.

Miss Laura covered the NY Times writing about the religious right and their issues (we are all values voters; they are the religious right).

After the 2004 elections, religious conservatives were riding high. Newly anointed by pundits as "values voters" — a more flattering label than "religious right" — they claimed credit for propelling George W. Bush to two terms in the White House. Even in wartime, they had managed to fixate the nation on their pet issues: opposition to abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research ...What unites them right now is their dismay — even panic — at the idea of Rudolph W. Giuliani as the Republican nominee, because of his support for abortion rights and gay rights, as well as what they regard as a troubling history of marital infidelity. But what to do about it is where they again diverge, with some religious conservatives last week threatening to bolt to a third party if Mr. Giuliani gets the nomination, and others arguing that this is the sure road to defeat.

The SCHIP veto doesn't play well with anyone, but especially moms and Latinos.

Of children who would have been newly eligible for SCHIP under the bill, at least one-third likely would have been Hispanic, Edwin Park, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said. About 40% of Hispanic children already receive health coverage through SCHIP or Medicaid, though many eligible Hispanic children are not enrolled, according to Park. He added, "Every day, there's going to be more uninsured kids in this country, and because Latino children in particular are much more likely to be uninsured, they will be disproportionately affected."

Add the no-shows at a recent debate focused on minority issues:

"I think the best that comes out of stupid decisions like this," said former Oklahoma Rep. J.C. Watts, is "that African-Americans might say, ‘Was it because of my skin color?’ Now, maybe it wasn’t, but African-Americans do say, ‘It crossed my mind.’"

Add in the well-known and well-demonstrated homophobia of the modern GOP and actually, it looks like we are seeing the creation of a biphasic GOP core: rich old [outwardly] straight white guys and young childless Ayn Rand-style Objectivists.

"No one else is left," concludes DemFromCT.
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And one could add decreased turnout for Republicans from three other demographics: Arab-Americans, rural Americans and western-state libertarians.
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