Carville: GOP Can't Abandon Christian Right

GOP as useless as 7 vowels in Scrabble, needs new letters

(NEWSER) - Just like you get to throw in your tiles when Scrabble gives you seven useless vowels, so too do Republican voters keep picking again—and coming up with the same useless tiles, says Thomas Friedman in the New York Times . That's because the GOP is an out-of-date "captive of conflicting ideological bases," including anti-abortion forces, anti-taxes, anti-immigration, libertarians, and more. What America really needs is a second party in its two-party system—ie, "a coherent Republican opposition" that is able to respond realistically to the true problems facing the United States. "We need a 'Different Kind of Republican' the way Bill Clinton gave us a 'Different Kind of Democrat,'" writes Friedman. And maybe that means a crushing defeat in this election to force a hard reboot. More»

Rick Santorum supporters have attacked him lately over caucus results

(NEWSER) - Iowa GOP chairman Matt Strawn will step down this week, he announced in a YouTube video today, citing "competing priorities" in his personal, business, and political lives. What he didn't mention was the intense criticism he's been under from Rick Santorum supporters, who accuse him of intentionally refusing to acknowledge their candidate's victory in the Iowa caucuses, the Des Moines Register observes. More»

Allen West tells Obama, Democrats 'get the hell out of United States'

(NEWSER) - Strong conservative , Tea Party favorite, and rising star Allen West could find his congressional seat gerrymandered Democrat—by none other than the Republican Party. West's "sacrifice" at the hands of his own party smells like the latest example of the establishment fighting back against the Tea Party, according to Legal Insurrection . One Florida legislator, who happens to be working for the Mitt Romney campaign, "tried to hide behind a need to comply with [state and] federal law, but that’s obviously a dodge since there could have been many ways to comply yet not sacrifice West," writes William Jacobson. More»

Peggy Noonan says there's a 'wound' in the Republican party

(NEWSER) - Republicans are in the midst of "the most volatile and tumultuous presidential primary race of our lifetimes," and it's exposed an "age-old split between the grassroots and the perceived GOP establishment," writes Peggy Noonan of the Wall Street Journal . "Actually, it's more a wound." The only person to ever heal that wound was Ronald Reagan, and so naturally, Reagan has become an issue, with Newt Gingrich claiming to be the Gipper's successor. He's not, Noonan assures us. More»

Establishment, Tea Party, libertarians all negative in different ways

(NEWSER) - With the Republican Party so divided, it's no surprise that its response to President Obama's State of the Union address would also be divided, notes the Washington Post . In addition to an official response by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels and a Tea Party response by Herman Cain, Mitt Romney and the other GOP candidates also weighed in:

• Cain's rebuttal focused on familiar Tea Party complaints—"Obamacare," "class warfare," and the "liberal media." Cain also addressed old sexual harassment allegations against him, noting that the "false attacks" derailed his campaign, but that accusations against Newt Gingrich failed because "the American people are waking up to dirty, gutter politics,” he said. “The American voters are saying, ‘We ain’t stupid.’"