Rightwing Culture War To Die Terrible Death

Republican Party Sees Some Kinda Light: MUTATE OR DIE.

Via the Sydney Morning Herald:

"The Republican Party must abandon its 'stringently right wing' positions on gay marriage, abortion and immigration or it could be banished to the political wilderness by the American people for decades, says the deputy director of a conservative think tank.

As the recriminations over the Republicans' defeat in last week's elections continued, the deputy director of the Hoover Institution, David Brady, said the party had moved too far to the right, leaving behind a significant proportion of its supporter base, and that more would leave unless the party returned to the centre.

"In order for the Republicans to win again they have to drop the anti-gay, anti-immigrant, strict pro-life, no-abortion social positions they have taken," said Professor Brady, who is in Australia as a visiting fellow at the United States Studies Centre at Sydney University.

"They have to drop those things and move to the centre where the American voters are. Look at gay marriage - support for gay marriage in America is going up; it's not going down. It's a similar situation if you're pro-life. The majority in America has been pro-choice for a while, and it's not moving anywhere."

Using a series of internet surveys to determine voter preferences, the Hoover Institution found that 8 per cent of the Republican base had [already] shifted towards the Democratic Party since 2004."