Extinction Watch --- The Pending Demise of the North American Mammoth?

A former McCain Advisor, and by definition a RINO, is predicting no easy way out of the current Republican Slump.

People define the GOP by their failures and the excess of their rule. Wooing the voters back with a more competent version of Bush-style governance just won’t cut it. A new Republican Ice Age is a coming if there is not a quick course correction:

Rather than face up to all this, too many in the GOP are stuck in a swoon of nostalgia. Most of our party leaders come from bloodred GOP states or safe districts, so they are far more at home in the tribal politics of Republican primaries than in those of the country as a whole. You could say their radio dials are stuck on AM. The result is we hear a lot about going back to "the winning ways of Ronald Reagan." Well, I love Reagan too. But demographics no longer do. In 1980, Reagan beat Jimmy Carter by 10 points. If that contest were held again today, under the current demographics of the electorate per exit polls, the election would be much closer, with Reagan probably winning by about 3 points.

It is true that attitudes change. A magnificent Republican renewal may still be possible. Conservatism is traditionally energized by a reaction to liberal excess, and the unabashedly leftish tilt of the Obama Administration's domestic agenda does give hope. But demography is a powerful force. Waiting and hoping didn't do much for the Whigs. I prefer a Republican reformation right now.

Young voters need to see a GOP that is more socially libertarian, particularly toward gay rights. With changing demographics come changing attitudes, and aping the grim town elders from Footloose is not the path back to a Republican White House.

I think the inmates running the NRO and the Talk Radio Ranters realize that demographics will paint the party into a corner without change. This is why they want Obama to fail. It is the only way to retake power without change.

Because Mike Murphy is not a team player and won't tear down the country to benefit the fringe, I am going to take this opportunity to label him as treacherous RINO for inclusion in the Rino hall of Shame.