It would be intersting to know the average age American women of different races have children. And the total number of children they have.

And then break that down to those with college degrees and those without.

And then chart those trends into the future.

I bet those curves could prove to the GOP that they must appeal to more than just white people if they ever want to hold any power. If that means changing their 'core values' then it is a change they need to make to stay competitive.

anyone see today's NYT op-ed about affirmative action and the future? if not, go read it.

Perhaps we are seeing the start of a level of sensitivity to how the Republican label is perceived among voters of Latin descent. As one observes the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the next Supreme Court Justice, it is clear Republicans on the committee are determined to be respectful, even admiring of what it means for her to be nominated.

And how does this fit with Senator Coburn's remarks channelling Richie Ricardo?

You pretty much had me until there. You're analysis of the GOP was correct: They have been out of touch with many minorities since the 1970s. But, if these hearings were an example of the GOP being sensitive to minorities, they're in worse trouble than you thought.

How about your party stop preaching about moral issues as if they mattered in a time of economic meltdown.

Stop bashing gays.

Get off the abortion issue.

Stop playing on people's fears and start trying to play on people's hopes.

Start challenging Israel on the Palestinian issue.

Stop acting like a bunch of racist warmongers.

Maybe then, you'll have a hope of winning an election.

Can you say, "Miguel Estrada?"

But all it means is that everyone is so partisan so polarized as to make anything other than identity politics martyrdom impossible. If you imagine that the rest of America is black/brown/gay/Marxist you are incorrect.

The present image of the Republican party has been smoldering beneath the surface and ready to thrust its ugly head skyward for decades. Everyone knew it was there, but the party did its best to keep its rumbling offstage.

It was already gaining momentum, but John McCain and Sarah Palin unearthed and unleashed it unfettered, as a last-stand strategy to fulfill their own personal political ambitions, and once the genie is out of the bottle...

Who do you hear representing the GOP now? Practical moderates like Dwight Eisenhower? No. Even back-room opportunists like Richard Nixon? No.

The GOP's "brand" is now rabid rednecks screaming "Kill him! Kill him!" at rallies, hypocrites who can't keep their pants zipped while preaching "morality" to the rest of us, bigoted elected officials whose best attempts at disguising their prejudices are so clumsy as to be ludicrous, spokesmen whose only message is "no," and the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck urging them on, spewing the most obscene insanity ever masqueraded as news. What has been assumed the "fringe" has become the indelible image of the party. And once that image sticks, no amount of makeup over the tattoo will cover it.

It's a pitiful state of affairs when you have to hope and pray for harm to your own country so that you can regain an illusion of credibility - by default, and out of fear, not out of respect for your "values." Not that the reason for regaining power matters to them. It doesn't.

Republicans get too much attention on economic issues. If Republicans can cast Russia back in the role of an enemy (of our ideals), they can cast themselves as the protectors of Liberty, and of Europe, and make it patriotic to vote Republican, again, like in the 1950's.

"Unless and until Republicans can demonstrate an ability to attract more support from minority voters, from younger voters, from voters living in urban areas, it seems to this die-hard Republican that we are kidding ourselves if we think the 2008 election was just a speed bump on our road to a lasting majority. Looking at nothing more than the math, it appears to me our challenge is far more daunting."

Absolutely! Why not learn and appreciate that all inhabitants of this land are valuable, have and do contribute, and are intelligent enough to know their own interest, and forget the math? Someone should tell Republicans and others so inclined, that the despised Hispanics/Latinos/Latinas are the descendants of the people originally in this land when the illegal immigrants from Europe invaded this hemisphere. And that life is different for young people and others who know the REAL world.

I hope you were being sarcastic. All America needs is another enemy??

Fan of FLW? But in response to your letter, as Colbert has observed, reality has a well-known liberal bias.

If only we could go back to the good old days when white people were still the majority.

I can easily foresee the prospect of the Federal government forcing gay marriage in all the states driving a lot of Hispanics and blacks over to the Republican party.

On most social issues, they agree very much with the Republicans. The Democrat tactic is to paint all Republicans as racist, hence why 90% of blacks vote Democrat.

In the meantime, the Democrats are making a hard push to equate gay discrimination as a civil rights issue, and to get blacks more accepting of gay culture. So far, it doesn't seem to working.

If the Republicans were smart, they would play up the social issues to these two groups, and attempt to debunk the myth that they're racist because they oppose affirmative action and a welfare state.

"As one observes the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to become the next Supreme Court Justice, it is clear Republicans on the committee are determined to be respectful, even admiring of what it means for her to be nominated."

"Juzees got sum hxplainng to do"?

My belief in the possibility of another dimension co-existing along side our own is constantly being confirmed by Republicans. Respectful? How about harping on the "wise Latina" line ad nauseam?

Or maybe it was the phony Ricky Riccardo line (see above). The Republican party as it presents is a dinosaur, working with failed ideas and a soul-less agenda. The "us vs them" mentality has led, not to a thoughtful party base, it has shone itself for what it is, bankrupt.

As for the "liberal press" These are the same guys that gave Bush/Cheney a free ride after 911 to rape and pillage the very foundations of this great nation.

Looking for change? You can't even find your nose with both hands and a map,