It's like they don't get that it's not the 19th Century anymore.

How can you see a poll saying 58% of Americans support gay marriage and say "OK, our party will include the 42% of people that don't! Now to win some elections!"

This position is untenable. It's sooooo good to see the GOP caught between a rock and a hard place.

Paul, you must be pointing to the weird people in your office or something (you, you, and you).

Because that sure-as-shit ain't what is happening everywhere else.

The talk of the "big GOP tent" is the zeitgeist...

Why would the GOP bother with appealing to groups that they plan on exterminating?

Log Cabin posers.

@6 What are you talking about? They get people to vote against their own interests all the time. If there was truth in politics, they would have to rename their party the Deceptive Propaganda Party.

The GOP must be terrified, they're paying all sorts of people to post on Slog.

His definition of inclusive simply means "get their votes."
Listening means "long enough to get their votes."
Allow for differences means "right up until we are elected."

The point isn't to be inclusive, but to be "inclusive". The latter can be accomplished with a simple phone call to Fox News.

It's going to be fascinating to watch when the GOP finally accepts gay marriage. Because there will always be that hard-shell core of opposition, which might be as big as 1/3 of the electorate. I guess it'll have to be smaller than that -- 24%, or one vote less than half of half -- before they do change. but 24% is still a lot of people. Watching them lose their shit as they realize their party is gone is going to be HIGH-larious. Split off? Dems get in. Suck it up, and go along with the sinners? Still probably going to lose. WHAT'S A BIGOT TO DO?

Eh, Gene? What's your plan, then? Blow your brains out, or what? Just be sure and do it in the shower, or out in the desert, for easy cleanup.

Don't think that the money behind the GOP doesn't understand this. Party strategists obviously thought that with same-sex marriage they'd hit upon another issue, like abortion, that would convince working-class evangelicals to vote against their own economic interests. Clearly public opinion has shifted more quickly on this issue than conservatives predicted.

But don't count on them giving up -- it's possible that, again as with abortion, the empty promise of rolling back these societal changes will prove an even more powerful incentive than attempts to keep it illegal in the first place did. Evangelicals may well be convinced to spend the next 30 years trying to get back to the time before legal same-sex marriage in the same way they've spent the last 30 years trying to roll back abortion rights.

Or the GOP could place its bets on the tea-party/faux-libertarian branch of the party, call it a "states-rights issue" and go back to their real core platform, dismantling the federal regulatory structure and cutting taxes for the rich down to nothing.

5, zeitgeist =/= hot air.

Team Rape's bigotry goes beyond gay marriage. The AR senate, completely along party lines, just voted to pass the voter ID law, which demands that every voter must purchase an ID card. This is in essence a poll tax, and it's a very basic voter-suppression tactic. Aimed at, of course, minority groups.

Team Rape hasn't stopped these tactics, and no matter how much they scream "inclusion," they're simply not interested. Along w/ gerry-mandering and propaganda, it's the only way they'll continue to win elections. Not only have they not grown up into the 21st C, they refuse to.

I want to rejoice listening to Priebus's bullshit this week, but I can't shake the feeling that the GOP knows pretty darn well how to forge coalitions willing to vote against their interests. I think they'll do exactly what they're planning on doing, and I think there's a decent chance (demographics not withstanding) that it'll work, at least a few more times. They can't reelect Bush, but they'll find somebody just as bad, and it'll be a nightmare. This is not the time to gloat. This is the time to donate, phone bank, stay active politically. The right-wing keeps going to church between elections. We have to keep our coalitions engaged, too.

So 'GeneStoner's posts dont make sense to others, too? Check, just another angry and mostly incoherent wingnut.

Iys all about the money. The GOP thinks there's still something to milk out of their core audience by taking a hardline on this issue. When the top campaign donors have their own kids coming out to them, then we'll see the GOP change course.

@15 "The right-wing keeps going to church between elections."

One of the wingitty-doo-dahs kvetched something in the comments the other day about liberals invading churches. I suppose he was upset to realize that there are people who hold spiritual and ethical values which are more aligned with Christ's own inclusive message of equality and brotherly love than with the nonsense spewed by the fuckwits leading some of the so-called conservative churches.

The thing that got a lot of early Christians tossed to the lions wasn't the thing that a lot of "conservatives" practice today. Quite the opposite.

Bring your beliefs in Equality, Community, Integrity and Peace to a liberal church near you. Some of them are fighting the good fight, have good people, and deserve support. These are deeply religious principles, whether or not you care to associate them with some anthropomorphic diety. The problem is, those right-wing, social-conservative "Christians" have made such a mockery of what should have been a fulfilling spiritual quest, that many of the rest of us have just discarded any notion of religion, and it's the liberal churches which have borne the brunt of that loss. Religion itself doesn't have to suck, and the religious influence in modern life doesn't have to be socially backwards, sexophobic and exclusionary.

The title says it all. And it's not just for gay folk either.

@16 Dr Awful,
Its funny I feel the same way reading through the dribble from you Commies. It’s like we are writing in different languages. Ching-chang, ping tang wang (pigeon for- WTF U Say?)

BTW y'all. Let’s try a little more concinnity. These long winded rants of yours are mostly just words without real meaning.

Fnarf @12,

I don't think it'll be quite as delicious as you imagine. After all, the GOP accepted desegregation many decades ago, but still finds ways to appeal to racists. They're certainly not going off and forming their own successful splinter movement.

I imagine they'll figure out ways to send dog whistles to anti-gay bigots, not quite obvious enough for people who don't want to vote for an overtly bigoted party, but also don't vote based on civil rights issues.

@20: I see your "ching chong Chinaman" act is on par with your Stepin Fetchit impression. Where do you learn these racist caricatures so well?

Why can't both be true?

Venomlast honey, I'm just trying to be "diverse" in my communication techniques.

I can't help it if you don't understand, but I'll type slower for you, MMMkay?

@24 - He understands. And no you're not.

@24: Go ahead and type slower. I'm intrigued by this possibility. In fact, if you could type so slowly that it took you a whole day to post, we'd all appreciate it.