Civil War Among Republicans
After Obama's election victory, Republicans are licking their wounds and stumbling into a fight over their future direction.
Mitt Romney's Republican critics are complaining. Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator, said, "We wanted someone who would fight for us. What we got was a weak, moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country club establishment wing of the Republican Party," adding, “The presidential loss is unequivocally on them.”
The party's right wing says the election was lost because Romney wasn't conservative enough. Conservative talk radio host Steve Deace predicted there would be a civil war within the party.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, the evangelicals’ favorite Catholic, will probably toss his hat into the ring again in 2016, along with conservative Rep. Michele Bachman. But other Republican voices are saying their party needs to embrace Latinos and other minorities.
That's the recommendation of Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City. He got 43 percent of the Latino vote when he ran for mayor, increasing that to 48 percent when he ran for re-election four years later. He feels the rest of his party has a major problem with immigration.
Nationwide, George W. Bush got 44 percent of the Latino vote when he ran for re-election in 2004. John McCain, in contrast, managed to get only 34 percent of the Latino vote in 2008. Mitt Romney only managed a catastrophic 27 percent. Obama got a major part of his support from African-Americans as well as Latinos and Asian voters.
The 66-year-old Giuliani has already ruled out another run in 2016; his support for same-sex marriage and abortion make him unacceptable to right-wing Republicans.
But there are other young prospects waiting in the wings, such as Marco Rubio, the Florida senator with Cuban roots; or Bobby Jindal, the charismatic governor of Louisiana who is of Indian extraction; as well as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. And there's also Paul Ryan, who gained national recognition as the Republican candidate for Vice-President this year.
And Romney? Not much indicates he'll have any future influence. For some Republicans he's far too moderate and for others, he's not moderate enough.
Mitt Romney's Republican critics are complaining. Jenny Beth Martin, Tea Party Patriots National Coordinator, said, "We wanted someone who would fight for us. What we got was a weak, moderate candidate, hand-picked by the Beltway elites and country club establishment wing of the Republican Party," adding, “The presidential loss is unequivocally on them.”
The party's right wing says the election was lost because Romney wasn't conservative enough. Conservative talk radio host Steve Deace predicted there would be a civil war within the party.
Former Sen. Rick Santorum, the evangelicals’ favorite Catholic, will probably toss his hat into the ring again in 2016, along with conservative Rep. Michele Bachman. But other Republican voices are saying their party needs to embrace Latinos and other minorities.
That's the recommendation of Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City. He got 43 percent of the Latino vote when he ran for mayor, increasing that to 48 percent when he ran for re-election four years later. He feels the rest of his party has a major problem with immigration.
Nationwide, George W. Bush got 44 percent of the Latino vote when he ran for re-election in 2004. John McCain, in contrast, managed to get only 34 percent of the Latino vote in 2008. Mitt Romney only managed a catastrophic 27 percent. Obama got a major part of his support from African-Americans as well as Latinos and Asian voters.
The 66-year-old Giuliani has already ruled out another run in 2016; his support for same-sex marriage and abortion make him unacceptable to right-wing Republicans.
But there are other young prospects waiting in the wings, such as Marco Rubio, the Florida senator with Cuban roots; or Bobby Jindal, the charismatic governor of Louisiana who is of Indian extraction; as well as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. And there's also Paul Ryan, who gained national recognition as the Republican candidate for Vice-President this year.
And Romney? Not much indicates he'll have any future influence. For some Republicans he's far too moderate and for others, he's not moderate enough.