Mr. Freeze

The Republican Party has bigger problems... especially if they think that this race means they are back on the "right track". Less than 20% identify themselves as Republicans... a number lower than the last 30 years. Winning a special election seat from a nobody candidate means nothing. The party has little support among 18-35 year olds (the next generation voting block), no hispanic support (hay, even Bush jr TRIED to get work visas passed... but the Party would have none of that).

While public support for the President and Congress are down... support for Republicans is NOT up! They have been unable to truly capitalize on their opponents mistakes because their brand is so badly damaged. And, for some ridiculous reason... the party LOST mainstream support when they became more neo-conservative and aligned themselves with the christian right... so what did they do? Party leaders decided to move FARTHER to the right, not more centrist. NY-23, they backed a super crazy man and lost the seat. The party of small government pushes HARDEST for abortion and gay marriage restrictions.

While the Democratic party is pounding rocks like idiots, the Republican party is flailing around like a chicken with it's head cut off... and they have no fucking clue. The Republicans controlled every branch of office from 2000-2002 and they did nothing (besides start the Iraq War). The ONLY domestic initiative passed was No-Child Left Behind... and we know how popular THAT turned out (Answer: Abject Failure). The Republicans had SIX YEARS to address concerns about Health Care, SIX YEARS to address banking regulation, SIX YEARS to "Cut Federal Spending"... and they did NONE of it. Nothing. Not a god-damn-thing. Say what you will about the Democratic Party, but at LEAST they're doing SOMETHING!

Arlen Specter noted that, before he switched parties, the GOP national platform was to just obstruct EVERYTHING Obama did, because a successful America meant poor gains for Republicans. Sorry, I can't vote for a national platform that puts "reelection" as the highest priority above issues like "Health Care Needs". The Republican Party is in BAD shape... and they're too retarded to see it/fix it.

Scuba Steve said:

The party of small government pushes HARDEST for abortion and gay marriage restrictions.

I hate you. I fucking hate you. You know why?

Because you are absolutely right.

The biggest flaw of the GOP -and the reason why I am seriously considering switching my party affiliation to Libertarian- is because of this.

We have a war going on, a rising national debt, earthquakes in Haiti, and a possible threat from North Korea (to name a few), and most Neocons only care about abortion and gay marriage?

Talk about misplaced priorities.

Wrangling in conservative Christians was a large part of what helped the GOP take over Congress in the early 90s, and they did it in part by focusing on social issues like gay marriage and abortion. It's easy to get those groups riled up because they're convinced if nothing is done to stop these things, the whole of Western civilization is doomed. It's hard to top that in terms of motivating people to rush out and vote.

Now the GOP is stuck in a Catch-22. They are still dependent upon that conservative Christian vote, and it has helped them so much in the past, but on the other hand, I think a lot more people would be open to the idea of conservatism if it didn't seem to hinge so heavily on this religious/social bullshit.