Extinction Watch --- The Final Fits and Throes?

Is the GOP headed to the ash bin of history? Probably not, but the current configuration of the GOP does not have much hope for a return to prominence.  But is all Hope lost?

For conservatives fretful over the future of the party to which they have given allegiance, “How Barack Obama Won: A State by State Guide to the Historic 2008 Election” reads like something out of Edgar Allan Poe.

Co-authored by NBC’s Chuck Todd, it is a grim tale of what happened to the GOP in 2008, and what the future may hold.

Yet, on second and third reads, one discerns, as did Gen. Wolfe’s scouts 250 years ago, a narrow path leading up the cliff to the Plains of Abraham — and perhaps victory in 2012. First, the bad news:

Obama raised the national share of the black vote to 13 percent, then swept it 95 percent to 4 percent. The GOP share of the Hispanic vote, now 9 percent of the electorate, fell from George W. Bush’s 40 percent against John Kerry to 32 percent. Young voters ages 18 to 29 went for Obama 66 percent to 31 percent. And Obama ran stronger among white voters with a college education than did either Al Gore or Kerry.

Put starkly, the voting groups growing in numbers — Hispanics, Asians, African-Americans, folks with college degrees, the young — are all trending Democratic, while the voters most loyal to the GOP — white folks and religious conservatives — are declining as a share of the U.S. electorate. And demography is destiny.

OK sounds bad.  The GOP is shrinking and unpopular.  The rest of the article reminds us that George Bush really sucked and was a drag on McCain, like concrete boots to the bottom of the ocean.  And also at some point in time we won’t have George Bush to kick around anymore and the referendum will switch to Obama's job performance.  

But here is the key point of the article: the one thing the GOP absolutely should not do is to avoid culture war.  Rather they should hit hard with the Gay Marriage and Immigration and other Sarah Palin-esque attacks to trying to return to the White House.  This is where the action is thus leading to a narrow pathway to success in 2012.  However Buchanon closes with this:

The tide is still running strong against the GOP. But there may be one or two more White Houses in the Grand Old Party yet.

Just one or two White Houses left?

Is Buchanon telling us that the GOP, as it is currently formulated, is in its final throes?  Does it only have one or two more shots at the Presidency before its ultimate collapse?  

Interesting.  

Maybe this explains some of the extreme forms of wingnuttery we see at The Corner and Red State.  You know, like the desperate attempt to cling to relevance from a wounded and cornered beast.

Post Script:  Looks like Buchanon can’t help himself with reminding his readers of another French Military Defeat on the Plains of Abraham in Canada on the same day as the Cinco de Mayo Celebration which also commemorates a French Military Defeat that occurred in Mexico.