Experts Expound

“Registration in the state GOP trails Democrats by 12 percent. Four out of five Republicans are white, dramatically different from the state as a whole, in which roughly four out of 10 are white. Is the GOP in an unstoppable downward spiral?”

Yes, the California GOP has become like the Hawaii GOP – able to win governor’s races and occasionally the top of the ticket, but not legislative majorities.

Not unless the Democrats are capable of screw ups, which is entirely possible if the ultra-progressive wing forgets that Democrats have made their gains by appealing to DTS voters.

When you’re circling the drain, is it unstoppable or just really bad?

External events like the economy will determine some of this. Newer voters are registering as independents or less partisan oriented Dems. If open primary passes in June it will make it more unpredictable.

They are certainly snared in a vicious spiral. The more extremist and fanatical the base becomes, the more centrists walk away, which in turn makes the base that much more extremist and fanatical. When Republican legislators actually fire their leaders for trying to negotiate in good faith with the majority to end a costly and harmful stalemate (and win concessions in the process), it tells you that they may have passed the tipping point into irrelevance.

Let’s hope so. From Three Strikes and Prop. 186 to budget roadblocks that led to devastating cuts to schools and programs to help the poor, the GOP has shown it cares less about the people they serve than protecting the rich.

Yes. It is on its way to becoming a right-wing special interest group instead of a viable, statewide political party. Schwarzenegger has shown that even a (once) popular GOP governor can’t stop the downward spiral of the party.

It is not the GOP’s downward spiral that matters; it is the State of California’s downward spiral. It is both interesting and telling that these two downward spirals seem to be contemporaneous.

Not unstoppable in the long term… in the short term the slide will continue.

Yes, it’s an unstoppable downward spiral. This is not a new revelation. Many inside the party have been attempting to change it for years and to encourage movement away from old man whitey and the religious conservatives. But nothing ever changes.

The saviors of the Republican party are an African American male from Illinois and a woman from San Francisco. They are doing a fine job getting things turned around.

The cruel irony is they’re destined to the same irrelevance as the Communist Party. There might be options but they won’t take them. It’s like a mammoth wading into a tar pit.

Andrew Acosta, A.G. Block, Mark Bogetich, Barry Brokaw, Morgan Crinklaw, J Dale Debber, Peter DeMarco, Jim Evans, Kathy Fairbanks, Jeff Fuller, Rex Frazier, Ken Gibson, Evan Goldberg, Deborah Gonzalez, Sandy Harrison, Bob Hertzberg, Jason Kinney, Greg Lucas, Mike Madrid, Nicole Mahrt, Steve Maviglio,  Adam Mendelsohn, Barbara O’Connor, Bill Packer, Kassy Perry, Jack Pitney, Adam Probolsky, Tony Quinn, Matt Rexroad, Matt Ross, Roger Salazar, Dan Schnur, Will Shuck, Ralph Simoni, Sam Sorich, Ray Sotero, Garry South, Kevin Spillane, Robin Swanson, Angie Wei, Rich Zeiger.