Whoever would have guessed it? The permanent Republican majority lives.
For a few years now it has been a joke - Rove and Mehlman talking about a Republican movement so strong that the Democrats simply couldn't take it down. But in 2004, after Bush's reelection it wasn't a joke. Republicans were making inroads with Hispanics and African-Americans. Democrats were demoralized and defeated.
But then it all imploded. Iraq imploded. Faith and trust in Bush imploded. Republicans imploded. People started talking about a permanent Democratic majority. No more.
What is happening in the Democratic party right now threatens to destroy it for the foreseeable future. Andrew Sullivan summarizes tonight's data:
what is striking in the exit polls is the polarization on three lines: gender, race and age. It was dead even with men; but a massive advantage for Clinton among women. The racial difference is obvious as well. But what really leaps out is age. Obama lost every cohort over 40; Clinton lost every cohort under 40. Race also affects the generations in turn: 67 percent of whites over 60 voted for Clinton - a massive 24 point advantage.
This death match will march on and on through the remaining primaries. The polarization will grow. And when one of them "wins" the nomination they will have won the right to preside over a party divided against itself- young against old, black against white, rich against poor.
Then they will lose - badly - to John McCain and the Democratic infighting will only continue. It will take a decade - more? - for the party to recover and in the meanwhile that once mocked dream of a permanent Republican majority will have been resurrected. Amazing.
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Permanent Republican Majority, You keep using that sentence, I don't think it means what you think it means. See you in ten years.
November 4, 2008 News Flash (Washington, D.C.):
Rove's "Permanent Republican Majority" died last night after suffering for the last four years from a long, painful, and terminal ailment that was apparent to others, but difficult for the Majority to self-diagnose.
The Permanent Republican Majority, which was reaching the ripe old age of nearly six years, is survived by its three offspring: Record Federal Deficits, Tattered U.S. Constitution, and Shattered U.S. Economy.
The family requests that all donations in memory of the Permanent Republican Majority be made to the DailyKos website.
R.I.P., Permanent Republican Majority.
Who's 'David Kuo'?
A permanent republican majority - in Appalachia
I take it you didn't notice that Barack Obama was a transcendent figure who in the end united black and white, young and old, believers and nonbelievers. You also failed to understand the depth of the organization that the Dems brought to the race. You likewise didn't understand the power of hope versus the politics of fear. I hesitate to fall into the same short sighted trap you did but here goes: perhaps for all these reasons we are seeing the genesis of a permanent progressive majority. Now isn't that the direction human society has been going anyway, with slight detours such as the Bush administration?
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