Republican Woes

The oft-flawed Danny Finkelstein has managed to come up with a decent article here about the problems of the Republican party. For my part, this little story here sums up those problems perfectly:

And then, a few days before the event, Kent County Republicans announced very publicly that they were withdrawing the invitation. They had discovered that Governor Huntsman favoured civil partnerships between homosexuals. They did not want to be addressed by such a man. Two weeks later Barack Obama announced that he had offered Governor Huntsman an appointment as Ambassador to China. And he had accepted.

Top stuff, that. Take a popular moderate from your party and then drive him into the hands of the opposition. Great way to expand your party base, increase your support and help you to the White House next time out. Or, more realistically, make your party a fan club for the likes of Sarah Palin and Mike Huckabee and no-one else. 

The Republicans need to sort their game out as a matter of urgency. Especially now that Barack Obama has decided that the fabled "change that you can believe in" is second-rate social democracy with an aggressive spending plan. But they won't sort themselves out whilst they remain in the thrall of the Christian Right. The Christian Right is a minority in America, and the Republicans won't win by appealing just to that minority. Particularly since the views minority alienate so many of the more moderate voters the Republicans so desperately need to win. 

Of course, I'm not a Republican, and I can't vote in US elections. If I did, it would probably be for the sanest Libertarian candidate regardless of party. But every country needs a strong opposition. And at the moment, the Republican party can't be an effective opposition. It has hobbled itself with Christian fundamentalism...