The Party’s Over; Turn Out The Lights
HE LIKED IKE, BUT THIS IS A STRETCH
When Being Republican Was Not Embarrassing
Last updated Saturday June 27th, 2009By GEORGE HANNA
Among the many sins for which I have sought forgiveness is that of voting for Richard Nixon instead of John F. Kennedy in 1960.
In my defense, I was young and a registered Republican at the time. (As Larry the Cable Guy puts it after a particularly atrocious joke, "Lord, I ’pologize") In the interest of full disclosure, I did penance some years later by working for the Democratic Party of Florida.
Being a registered Republican wasn’t embarrassing when I was young, as it must be today. Republicans displayed "I Like Ike" 
stickers on the bumpers of their Chevrolets and went to my big downtown Methodist church in West Virginia. They were bankers, lawyers, business people
and college professors. Some were my teachers in high school.
Today, the bumper stickers read "God, Guns, Guts" and they’re on pickup trucks beside the Confederate flag decal and the sticker reading "Sarah 2012."
Republicans like Sarah Palin and Todd, the "First Dude."
And Republicans are in non-stop discussions about what has happened to their party. Media pundits ask whether it has become a Southern regional party, as if there were any real question about that. They question whether it can ever by a viable national party again. No.
A Quinnipiac College pollster, Peter Brown, said a recent poll showing Democrat Alex Sink leading Republican Bill McCollum in the Florida governor’s race reflects the national dissatisfaction with the GOP. He was quoted in one news report as saying, "The Republican brand is in the toilet." (My own feeling is that the poll may also reflect that a lot of people dislike McCollum.)
In another recent poll, Rush Limbaugh led everyone as the person considered the spokesman for the GOP.
You can believe this or not but there once were actually some rational people in the Republican Party.
I’m thinking, for instance, of President Eisenhower, for whom I voted. Nixon was his vice-president, and I suppose I thought that if Nixon was good enough for Ike he was good enough for me. I liked Ike.
I’m thinking, too, of Senator Everett Dirksen, who was a key player in passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. He was able to persuade fellow Republicans to support the measure and helped Democratic President Lyndon Johnson immeasurably in getting the legislation approved. In fact, 82 per cent of Senate Republicans voted for it compared to 62 per cent of Senate Democrats. Southern Democrats were outspoken in opposition to the legislation that ended racial segregation in restaurants, theaters and hotels.
Republicans in those times were not hard-edged like Newt Gingrich, or shrill like Mary Matalin and Liz Cheney. Colin Powell would have been more comfortable in the Republican Party of yesterday, as would Charlie Crist.
Today, though, hard-right Republicans are questioning whether Powell and Crist are conservative enough, and the party that once boasted of being the "big tent" party seems to have little room in the tent for either one.
My part of Florida, where "Impeach Earl Warren" signs were as numerous in the 1950s as "For Sale" signs today, is still heavily Republican. Sen. John McCain carried my county (Lake) 56 per cent to 42 per cent last year. But next door, in Orange County, Barack Obama beat McCain 59 per cent to 40 per cent.
There is still a hand-painted sign along Rt. 27 near Leesburg that reads "McCain-Palin 2008." I predict that it will remain until the next presidential election.
Still, one senses that change is coming. It’s in the air, like the fragrance of orange blossoms that once sweetened the spring air before landowners started growing houses instead of oranges.
The Citrus Tower in Clermont that once provided a grand view of orange groves in every direction now provides a grand view of subdivisions in every direction. The population is growing and changing.
There is nothing you can put your finger on, but there is a sense that for Republicans, the party’s over. Turn out the lights.
(George Hanna is retired and now observes the political scene from his home in Leesburg.) -30-