The Lang Report is tremendously grateful to and ecstatic about the permission it has been given by Dr. Robert P. Watson, Ph.D, to published his articles. Dr. Watson is the author and editor of over 25 books on the presidency and topics in American politics and history, and has published hundreds of scholarly articles, book chapters, essays, and newspaper OpEds. A frequent media commentator, he has been interviewed many hundreds of times by local and national print, TV, and radio outlets, including CNN, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, Fox News, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, USA Today, and now…The Lang Report

The enclosed article was written prior to the current hoopla over the “stimulus bill” and the Republican Party’s defiant attitude and unwillingness to vote for it, seemingly turning their backs on President Obama and the American people.

Politics? You bet it is. The “radical right” of the Republican party has opted to play a very dangerous game by hijacking the party and attempting to leave the President standing alone as they pray for his failure.

Dr. Watson saw it coming in his article written in November 2008.

THE COMING WAR WITHIN THE GOP 

In the 2008 election, Republicans lost more than the White House. They lost seats in the House, Senate, and offices all across the country. The numbers show the extent of the problem: Nationally, Democrats carried the black vote by 90 points, the Jewish vote by 45 points, the youth (under 30) vote by 40 points, and the Hispanic vote by 30 points. The only demographic the GOP won was individuals over the age of 65. 

So, after controlling Congress for most of the past 14 years and the White House for the past eight, the GOP now finds itself in the unfamiliar position of being locked out of power, in search of leadership, and headed for an ideological civil war. Indeed, the Republican brand is badly damaged and the party is both in a shambles and at a crossroad in the party’s history. 

Case in point: The GOP can be likened to a three-legged stool insofar as their platform has included: (1) national security; (2) balanced budgets; and (3) values issues. However, because of George W. Bush’s ham-fisted leadership, the first two pillars have been utterly compromised. Republicans no longer have credibility on national security, have abandoned engaged multilateralism for war-mongering and unilateral bullying, and have been anything but fiscally responsible.  

Consequently, the party is bitterly divided over whether or not to stay in Iraq and how to address Bush’s record deficits and debt. So too is there a struggle between the secular branch of the party and the values wing who opposes gay marriage, abortion, stem-cell research, and teaching evolution.  

As the Republican Party wrestles with its core principles, there are two serious challenges it faces. The first is that there are few choices to lead the party. The party’s leadership has been decimated by retirement. Five senior members of the Senate retired in this election cycle – all of them Republicans – and of the roughly three dozen retirements in the House, most were Republicans. After the election, Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, Representative Adam Putnam of Florida, and other members of the Republican leadership team in the House announced that they will step down from their positions, likely an acknowledgment of their failures and an effort to save their tails in 2010. 

The second challenge is that moderates have been purged from the party. This includes, to name a few, the former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, Jim Jeffords, the former senator from Vermont who left the party on account of mistreatment by Bush and the neo-cons in Congress, and Brent Scowcroft, the respected former national security advisor, whose advice and services have been ignored. Tragically, the voices of reason and moderation within the party have been exiled to the ideological hinterlands.  

As a result, Bush’s scorched-earth legacy at home and abroad has one final act: He is bringing down his own party. The GOP’s looming civil war in the weeks and months to come will be for the heart and soul of the party, which used to be at its best when committed to internationalism, security, and fiscal prudence, not when it ignores pressing domestic issues in favor of divisive “values” wars. It should also be remembered that American democracy is better off when both parties are healthy. 

The late humorist, Will Rogers, used to quip that he was not a member of any organized party – he was a Democrat. But it is now the Republicans who are acting like Democrats, tearing themselves apart over rifts in the party’s three pillars. The outcome could determine what will happen in the 2010 midterm elections and possibly even the next presidential race in 2012.

 Robert P. Watson, Ph.D. runs the American Studies program at Lynn University in Boca Raton and has published over 25 books on American politics and history.