In the South, the GOP Is A-OK with Being the White People Party

[babylonsister]

http://prospect.org/article/south-gop-ok-being-white-people-party

In the South, the GOP Is A-OK with Being the White People Party
Paul Waldman
July 12, 2013

In state legislatures in the South, Republicans aren't concerned about reaching out to minorities—just the opposite, in fact!


We've been talking quite a bit about the split between House Republicans—safe in their own districts and opposed to immigration reform—and elite/establishment/national Republicans, worried about how the GOP will fare if it can't reach out to growing minority voting groups. But there's another group of Republicans that hasn't gotten as much attention, one that really makes up the anchor of the party: the Republicans who control state legislatures and governorships, particularly in the South. While we in Washington have been talking about the GOP's dire straits, things are very different down there. If you're a Republican in North Carolina, for instance, you aren't spending time worrying about the GOP's standing among Latinos. You're too busy running amok, fulfilling the legislative fantasies you've had for years, because now you control the legislature and the governor's office. These are the boom times.

snip...



In many places, and in the nation as a whole, the idea that the GOP could become (or stick to being) a nearly completely white party is very bad for Republicans. Consider that nationally, John McCain got 55 percent of the white vote, and Mitt Romney did slightly better, getting 59 percent. It wasn't enough for either of them to win. But if you're a Republican in, say, Alabama, where nearly nine out of ten whites vote Republican, you don't need a single vote from non-whites. An all-white party is just fine with you.

As our terrific state reporter Abby Rapoport has explained, for all the talk about polarization in Congress, polarization is even more extreme at the state level. And if you want to know what happens when Republicans get control, look at North Carolina. In 2010, Republicans finally won control of both houses of the legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, and in 2012 a Republican was elected governor. In the time since they've gone on a rampage, cutting unemployment benefits, Medicaid, education funding, the Earned Income Tax Credit, and basically anything that might help poor people. Now that the Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, they'll be moving to impose voter-ID requirements, as well as things like eliminating early voting on Sundays, because black churches often encourage people to go vote after church. And of course, they're trying to make it all but impossible for women to get abortions.

Those Republican legislators aren't fretting about their party's future. They're too busy with the present, which for them is a dream come true.

[onehandle]

1. It's a new Civil War. nt

[Laelth]

2. k&r for exposure. n/t

-Laelth

[jpak]

3. As LBJ predicted...

yup

[HockeyMom]

4. They expect to win with just rich, old, white men?

Good luck with that one.

[n2doc]

6. There are a lot of poor white men and women in those numbers

Brainwashed? Yes. The GOP is counting on that, and inherited (socially) racism.

[malthaussen]

7. Seem to be doing pretty well, don't they?

27 states have GOP legislatures, which are passing bills as fast as they can to enact the full ALEC program. Meanwhile, Federal legislation is blocked by a GOP majority in the House and a Senate paralyzed by filibuster. The POTUS is reduced to making impotent mouth-noises but can advance almost zero of the programs that the majority of the citizens in this country desire. If that's not winning, what is?

Be nice if 2014 saw a seismic shift. But that remains to be seen. And even if we do see a shift in 2014, we will be years digging out of the manure that the GOP has heaped on us so far.

-- Mal

[bluestate10]

9. At 80 plus % in some southern states, the republican party is winning more

Whites than old men, although old White men and middle aged White men likely voted 100% for Romney. The problem is that republicans are losing all other racial groups and are finally starting to lose educated young southern Whites.

[Thinkingabout]

5. The Southern GOP Party are the Old Dixiecrats who used to vote Democrat.

Most of the ones I talk about with are one issue voters and that issue is abortion. They are not looking at how the GOP doesn't give a damn about the 90%, they ate voting against themselves.

[bluestate10]

8. Georgia and Louisiana are examples of what is going to happen to the republican

party, even in the South if it doesn't change. 88% of Whites voted for Romney in Georgia, President Obama lost the state by just 8%. 84% of Whites in Louisiana voted for Romney, the President lost that state by low double digits. The fact is, President Obama would have lost both states by 30 plus percentage points just a decade ago. Even in the South, republicans are losing their grip on elections. The more republicans piss off voters that aren't White, the sooner and more permanent will be the loss of power for that party.

[Mc Mike]

10. Yeah, in the South, the GOP isn't bragging too much

about how they're the party of Lincoln, and did so much for Civil Rights against the evil Southern Dems.