republican party that s in a very peculiar position. they have gerrymandered the house so that they have a whole lot of people whose only worry is that they re going to get a primary from the right. and, therefore, they ve become the party of the alienated, the prejudiced, the delusional, and when you talk about issues like immigration, you talk about issues like civil rights, you talk about issues like gay rights, they alienate all of those constituencies, they alienate young people. they may be able to hold onto the house at least until reapportionment in 2020, but they will have a very, very hard time ever winning a presidential election. they have become a party in a demographic cul-de-sac. by the way, it s not just a matter of bad politics. a lot of what they re saying, as colin powell suggested yesterday and jonathan wrote this morning in the washington post, a unworthy, ugly, and for me un-american. you made the point if the republican party is to wake up, it needs to listen
and embrace some of those parts of reagan s legacy. steve, we heard colin powell saying this weekend that he doesn t understand why senior republicans continue to tolerate the kind of racial code words that actually proved self-injurious to their party. yet when they talk about the debt creating they re help to injure the nation so long as they get their own way. is this party destined for a reputation that has nothing to do with constructive help and more about damaging themselves and the country? i think there was something significant in what you played from blackburn there, at least potentially significant. there are a couple different deadlines we re talking about here. one would be the debt ceiling. the second is the expiration of the continuing resolution that funds an agreement. if you can t reach an agreement, then you d have a government shutdown. neither one of these outcomes is good. one though is immediately and totally catastrophic.
compassionate conservatives. i think ideas about rebranding a party and a party s direction rarely come out of the house. and you hear how the house gop that doesn t look very much like america, it s largely southern, very white, and very male. so it will be interesting to see what comes out of these meetings. let s speak to a white male. steve, pollsters aren t the only ones giving the republicans advice on how to improve their image. here is former secretary of state general colin powell. take a listen to him. i think the republican party right now is having an identity problem, and i m still a republican. i think what the republican party needs to do now is take a very hard look at itself and understand that the country has changed. the country is changing demographically and if the republican party does not change along with that demographic, they re going to be in trouble. steve, senator marco rubio has fired back immediately, and he points out that the gop has put to hispan
them. but as a party, pick somebody and move forward and there has been enough debate, have a common goal which is to defeat barack obama and remove him from the white house. get serious about that. who is the best person to could it. liz: one of the most serious issues in the last few weeks is the issue of religious phlegm. we watched the democrats try to turn this into a some allegation that there is a war on women, republicans trying to take away birth control. do you think what we ve seen the candidates do now will help shift the ground to that, make clear to the american people this is about religious freedom? i think the attacks are falling flat. this is an opportunity for people to come together and understand this just isn t about catholic church. this affects all faiths. in this isn t a party against
oxygen. was it a mistake for huntsman ton play in iowa sh. you know, a mistake for huntsman m and a mistake for tim pawlenty. pawlenty got out of the race in terms of perry get into the race. there are a lot of can dates as john king said ten hours ago, are maybe rethinking having got out. like mike huckabee you think? perhaps. it is a very divided party. this isn t a party that is co-elessing. you have santorum with moral issues. you have ron paul and libertarians. you have fed issues tril yn dollars out of budget. you have the businessman and i can create jobs and you know, this is not a party that is really co-lessing, they don t