The GOP in decline

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Gallup: "The decline in Republican Party affiliation among Americans in recent years is well documented, but a Gallup analysis now shows that this movement away from the GOP has occurred among nearly every major demographic subgroup. Since the first year of George W. Bush's presidency in 2001, the Republican Party has maintained its support only among frequent churchgoers, with conservatives and senior citizens showing minimal decline.

What was that Karl Rove once said about a "permanent Republican majority"? That dream has been dead for a long time.

It was dead when Rove left the White House, and it died much earlier than that, not that there was ever much to it beyond the wilds of Rove's imagination.

And now, with the Republican Party in sharp decline -- across the board, it seems, demographically -- the prospects of a Republican resurgence, let alone of seemingly "permanent" majority status, are growing ever dimmer.

Not that those of us on the other side ought to back down in apparent victory. On the contrary, Democrats must continue to work hard to support, and accelerate, the GOP's decline. (And, of course, Democrats have many of their own problems, not the least of which, right now, is Pelosi and the torture briefings.)

Still, it's hard not to look upon the GOP's decline without a certain glee.

As long as we keep all this in perspective, surely we can be excused our fully justifiable Schadenfreude.