The GOP "big tent" is growing smaller and smaller (only 21% of americans now identify as "republican" according to a new Washington Post poll, the lowest percentage in 25 years).
Now watch. From the ABC News site:
Exclusive: Utah's Republican Governor Warns GOP Leaders, "You Can't Just Say No"
It's Time for Party to Advance Workable Alternatives Rather Than Block the Door, Gov. Says
With the party reeling from Sen. Arlen Specter's defection, a prominent moderate Republican governor is warning that GOP leaders in Washington have failed to offer a positive alternative to President Obama's initiatives.
"You can't just say no. You can't just obstruct or obfuscate," Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said in an interview with ABC News. "Instead of just kind of grousing and complaining, it would do us all a whole lot of good if we actually started engaging directly in finding compromises and common ground and shared solutions"
Huntsman is one of the most popular Republican governors in the country (winning re-election with 78% of the vote in Utah) and a possible candidate for president in 2012.
"When you are devoid of the ideas, or the content that would allow you to articulate or paint a better future, you have no choice other than to fall back on 'no, we are not going support it, it cannot be done,'" Huntsman said.
Exclusive: Utah's Republican Governor Warns GOP Leaders, "You Can't Just Say No" - ABC News
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Yesterday, moderate republican Olympia Snowe said: "Many Republicans feel alienated and disaffected from the party.... Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history. If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle."
There is now a discernable, irreconcilable split in the republican party it seems, with hardline conservatives, like Limbaugh, wanting nothing at all to do with "moderates" whom he reflexively calls "RINOS". There is now a litmus test for the "true conservative" (you must be pro-life, you must be against Obama's economic policies, among other things) and if you fail to meet the litmus test, or if you're a senator sufficiently moderate enough to wish to work across the congressional aisle, the "true" conservatives have a way of making you feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.
And the chasm between the moderate republican and self-described "true" conservative grows deeper.
Now watch. From the ABC News site:
Exclusive: Utah's Republican Governor Warns GOP Leaders, "You Can't Just Say No"
It's Time for Party to Advance Workable Alternatives Rather Than Block the Door, Gov. Says
With the party reeling from Sen. Arlen Specter's defection, a prominent moderate Republican governor is warning that GOP leaders in Washington have failed to offer a positive alternative to President Obama's initiatives.
"You can't just say no. You can't just obstruct or obfuscate," Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman said in an interview with ABC News. "Instead of just kind of grousing and complaining, it would do us all a whole lot of good if we actually started engaging directly in finding compromises and common ground and shared solutions"
Huntsman is one of the most popular Republican governors in the country (winning re-election with 78% of the vote in Utah) and a possible candidate for president in 2012.
"When you are devoid of the ideas, or the content that would allow you to articulate or paint a better future, you have no choice other than to fall back on 'no, we are not going support it, it cannot be done,'" Huntsman said.
Exclusive: Utah's Republican Governor Warns GOP Leaders, "You Can't Just Say No" - ABC News
-------------------
Yesterday, moderate republican Olympia Snowe said: "Many Republicans feel alienated and disaffected from the party.... Ultimately, we're heading to having the smallest political tent in history. If the Republican Party fully intends to become a majority party in the future, it must move from the far right back toward the middle."
There is now a discernable, irreconcilable split in the republican party it seems, with hardline conservatives, like Limbaugh, wanting nothing at all to do with "moderates" whom he reflexively calls "RINOS". There is now a litmus test for the "true conservative" (you must be pro-life, you must be against Obama's economic policies, among other things) and if you fail to meet the litmus test, or if you're a senator sufficiently moderate enough to wish to work across the congressional aisle, the "true" conservatives have a way of making you feel uncomfortable and unwelcome.
And the chasm between the moderate republican and self-described "true" conservative grows deeper.