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[Bluenorthwest]

64. Your theory that Republicans are in some new mode and that they used to adapt

to the real world is something I can not even begin to agree with. I've never, in a life more lived than yet to live, seen a Republican of any sort for whom I would vote. I have seen the Democratic Party lurch and drag it's feet, but it is always coming over my way, slowly, far too slowly, but coming over here, bit by bit. Republicans are and have always been going the opposite direction, away from me, away from progress, away from the new and the bold.
When I started voting, 'gay liberation' was an issue only gay people spoke of, neither Party was in support. But Bill Clinton changed that and was the first national candidate to mention gay people as part of the Democratic family. Over the years Democratic support for equal rights has grown larger and bolder while Republican opposition has only grown more adament, uglier, and louder.
And all of the progress that came came by criticizing our side, which causes some to have tsoris, but which the Party and principles deal with fairly well. So as a lifelong Democrat and constant critic of my own Party, I can not agree that criticism causes any significant 'panic'. Sure a few posters will get all frothy, but they are part of the show, part of what makes the moment that makes the change.
Meanwhile Republicans are refusing the Medicaid expansion and trying to keep minorities from voting, just like they were when I was a small child. They have never adapted to reality. Their ignorance is not a recent event.