Forget the religious base and the god, gays & guns strategy.

Rebirth as a non-denominational, non-culture war fighting, libertarian hybrid a la Ron Paul.

Focus on jobs, business, technology, efficiency and fiscal responsibility.

Oh, and no more unnecessary wars that add 5 trillion to the national credit card.

Just sayin'.....

Republicans devoted much of their time during the Sotomayor hearings fretting over what minority Americans might do should they acceed to power. Could white men trust them to follow the rules, especially in cases where the rules have long favored white men or, more recently, white women? They seem deeply conflicted over whether minorities can be accomodated into their system without threatening their own status (e.g., Clarence Thomas, Michael Steele), or whether they must be repulsed (e.g., a reflexive negativity toward all things related to immigration). Neither approach seems especially forward thinking; political parties, like nations, change and adapt to a changing world or fade away. Brittania no longer rules the waves, guys, and "Southern Charm" long ago exhausted the patience of anyone trying to make a way for his or her own family in the world.

You have no ideas. You have no philosophy. You have nothing to offer but recrimination, bitterness and a parasitic attachment to race as the explanation for all your failures.

In short, you **still** fail to grasp the basics that 8 years of Bush have obliterated your stated "conservatism" and your reluctance to admit this means you can continue to spoon clang and bib-dribble, but it will result in your electoral disappointments.

On sees what one looks for, I suppose, but I missed all that Republican sensitivity to Judge Sotomayor's ethnic origins amidst all the Senatorial interest in 'the wise Latina" and the poor New Haven fireman.

And what share of credit goes to the dominance of Republican 'ideas' in defining national discourse over the last 30 years and the multiple deep holes that inertia alone keeps us digging at while Mr. Obama tries to wrench the shovel out of the hands of the diggers? I imagine and shudder at the notion that Senator McCain would have his hands on the shovel.

Exactly where is the record of achievement and the prospects for enhancement that would form the foundation for a hypothetical Republican revival?

Just what are the GOP's core principles. I think I know what they are. Xenophobia, homophobia, and hatred of women! Get off that BS and you may survive as a party, otherwise go away. We are tired of your over moralizing and your walking in lockstep with racist fools.

Anyone other than rich white men would be foolish indeed to vote for any Republican. The Democrats are no dreamboats either, not by a long shot, but the Republicans are murderous greedy lunatics. They must be driven into sobbing defeat and never allowed to run the country again.

-- No-Doz

That paragraph should be put on billboards across the country and broadcast 24/7 on the jumbotron in Times Square.

It’s not about being caucasian that is at the root of your problem. The issue is the “white guys/white men” syndrome. That state of mind prevalent in your party which gives license to umbrage when the superior position historically held by white men is challenged. It seems “white guys” are generally on the wrong side of most socially advancing issues. It’s interesting you chose caucasian. A “white guy” attempt to make being casucasian a problem? Drawing lines? Victimized again? Karl Rove would be so proud of your cleverness. I suspect we will begin hearing the word caucasian over and over as it will be injected into every list of talking points circulated to the troops.

Because their notion of a nation-state is one in which whites are perpetually the ruling class due to their supposed inherent superiority, the executive and legislative branches are dominated by a corporate oligarchy that pays for their elections and expects to be serviced afterwards, a bizarre, extremely belligerent and oppressive fundamental interpretation of christianity is the de-facto state religion and the country is a xenophobic empire in a perpetual quest for world domination.

Mr Greener,

You seem in good faith to be grappling with the challenges facing the GOP. I commend that, as an lifelong independent, because I think our country benefits from the two party system. Right now, the GOP is not holding up its half of the bargain and you rightly want to assess this.

In addition to everything else written here, I would observe that one of the most disheartening aspects of your comments is that not only the GOP Senators but you yourself are completely unaware of how you are perceived if you honestly think that either showed respect to Sonia Sotomayor.

Self-claimed entitlement blinds. It is difficult to understand how others might perceive acts of entitlement if one is caught up in it. There were actually a long list of such behaviors during the hearings. Everyone operating outside of the assumptions of entitlement saw them; some, like me, even winced at them.

One of the sobering challenges facing the GOP is slogging through the realization that as the old white universe shrinks, it becomes more and more clear that their world view is not the norm but simply another ethnic perspective, and not necessarily the "right one".

Last Republican Campaign for the Presidency had a very important candidate that raised huge amounts of money from a mostly young and mixed race crowd. That candidate, Ron Paul - gave the party a fresh new look at what Republicans use to look like before they morphed into puppets of Wall street.

And yet, so feared and marginalized, this candidate still out performed all the traditional "party spoilers" of the past - such as Ralph Nader, etc.

Think about what made this Republican so different? He was old, he was white, he was male, just like all the candidates the Repugs always throw out to the crowd. How was he different?

He did not embrace the "blame the immigrants" routine scapegoating, he did not wrap himself in a flag and declare he was ready to invade and kill people from any country. He believed in free trade, not crony capitalism, he warned us about the corruption of the Federal Reserve and the abuses of wall street - before the shit hit the fan. And yet, you republicans called him a loony. It's like you continually keep walking into a wall and keep expecting that the wall is going to get out of your way. You suffer from blind bullshit of your own making.