In recent years, Republicans have let right-wing talk-show hosts whip the GOP base into frenzies – over immigration, brain-damage victim Terri Schiavo and same-sex marriage – that have branded the party as troglodyte.
The result is that the demographic groups representing the future of American politics shifted decisively to the Democratic Party in 2008 – Latinos, young people, the well-educated, moderates, working women, first-time voters, suburbanites and “seculars.”
Immigration scarcely was an issue during the fall campaign. But the damage was done over the past two years as the radio screamers roused the rabble, who then beat on GOP members of Congress, presidential candidates and even the Bush administration not just to control the border but treat undocumented residents as felons.
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