The Great Tribulation began for republicans last November when Barack H. Obama handed them their heads in the presidential election. It was an election that many of them thought they had in the bag. After all, in places like Pennsylvania and Florida local GOP lawmakers did everything they possibly could to prevent lower income democrats from voting. From voter ID's to a ballot just a few pages less than the novel, "War and Peace": from sudden and dramatically reduced early voting periods, to post election fol de rol, it looked as if the fix was in. To hell with what the polls were saying. We have our own polls. Our men Dick Morris and Karl Rove are on top of the situation.
Alas, it was not to be. As the numbers mounted the gnashing of teeth and rending of cloth began in earnest. It was a world gone mad. The Grand Old Party could no longer win a national election with white people alone. The barbarians had crashed down the gates and were running amok in the streets with the heady realization of The New Demographic.
"The horror, the horror", as Mr. Kurtz said in Conrad's novel. A few of their number, the nihilistic true believers, tried to blame it on the party moving too far to the left by nominating Mitt Romney. Others wildly claimed that George Soros rigged voting machines. Meanwhile the realists got down to the business of figuring out how to broaden an ever shrinking base that increasingly seems out of touch with twenty-first century America.
The first order of business, they recognized, was to kiss and make up with the Hispanic population. Obviously you can't have a gaggle of marginal candidates spend a year talking about running every Latino out of the country and then expect them to vote for your guy. Marco Rubio instantly has become a rising star.
Now comes word that even reasonable and moderate shifts in party policy may not be necessary. NBC News is reporting that republican controlled state legislatures in the swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virgina, and Michigan are attempting to change the rules of the game.
It all began when the republicans swept into power in 2010, the year every state gets redistricted. During that time frame they were able to gerrymander congressional districts in such a torturous fashion that it ensured them control of the house even in the face of disasters like the one last November. It, in fact, shoved democratic voters into virtual ghettos located in only the most populous cities. It also allowed people like the notorious crank, Todd Akin to win a seat in congress.
There was still a fly in the ointment though. It was that pesky electoral college. In every place other than Maine and Nebraska, the winner of the popular vote got all of a state's electoral votes.
The answer to that vexing problem is now crystal clear to state hacks everywhere. Instead of moderating policies and making even fleeting attempts to woo voters of color, just change the laws under the guise of "giving smaller communities a bigger say in presidential elections." With that change, the allocation of electoral votes by any given state is dependent on who wins, not the state as a whole, but its congressional districts. In most places this is known as minority rule. You know--like they once had in South Africa.
As an example, NBC points out that in the last election Barack Obama won Virginia by 150,000 votes statewide, therefore he got all of Virginia's 13 electoral votes. With the new plan Mitt Romney would have won 9 of the votes and Obama only 4.
NBC notes Alan Abramowitz of Emory University has calculated that if every state had that system in place in 2010, Mitt Romney would have won the presidency 272 electoral votes to 267, despite losing the popular vote by a hefty margin.
Ahh yes, if you can't beat 'em, cheat 'em.
Reince Priebus, the chair of the Republican National Committee assures us that the national party has nothing to do with this. It is an issue the states should address. However he did say, "I think it is something that a lot of states that have been consistently blue, but that are fully controlled by red ought to be looking at." That's right. The head of the republican national party just endorsed a power grab by a bunch of "reds."
And make no mistake about it, this is a power grab. The republicans are basically admitting that they are done as a national entity. They are openly conceding that the only places they can win are where whites remain in a majority. The brute reality is the GOP has lost three of the last four popular votes in presidential elections. Even that wax figure named Al Gore got more votes nationally than George W. Bush. Unfortunately stooping to grave felonies every four years is an iffy proposition at best. This scam saves the trouble and removes the risk.
Every now and then I begin to think the republican party can't go any lower. They never fail to disappoint though.
There are rats and there are republicans. The only way you can tell the difference is by looking for the tail. If it has one you can rest easy.
1-25-13
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