Principalities & Powersrnby Samuel FrancisrnRout of the RepublicansrnThe first tiling to be said about the presidentialrnelection of 2000 is that GeorgernW. Bush and the Stupid Part’ lost miserabh.rnThis is true despite their actual victor-rnin the great post-election Floridarnchicken-scratch because, without RalphrnNader on the ballot, Al Ciorc would liavcrnwon the election easih’. Nader’s votes inrnFlorida alone would niostK’ have gone tornGore and put the Democrat ocr the toprnalmost as earh- as the TX’ networks originall-rnpredicted. The same is even morerntrue in a number of other states, includingrnWashington and Oregon. Exit polls estimaternthat some 47 percent of voters forrnNader woidd hae otcd for Gore hadrnNader not been on the ballot. If it’s conspirac-rntheories about the election yournwant, forget the Mossad manufacturingrnfake absentee ballots in Israel and the variousrnfrauds each part} is supposed to haernperpetrated in the Sunshine State. Thernreal question is how much the Republicansrnpaid Mr. Nader to sta’ in the election.rnThe meaning of the Gore-Nader voternis that all the pandering, all the big-tentrncompassionate conscratism, all the mutingrnof traditional conservative themesrnand issues, all die hiding of the conser’atirnes in die basement at Hie GOP con-rncntion, all the careful waffling in thernparh platform, all the outreach to blacks,rnHispaiiies, women, homosexuals, Mar-rnHans, and fliree-toed Lesbian Pacific I,slandersrnin which George W. Bush andrnhis Rainbow Republican allies envelopedrnfliemselves didn’t help one little bit.rnIn a word, flic soft-right strateg)- of dullingrnthe sharp edge of radical conservatism isrna failure and an embarrassment. Let thernfacts be submitted to a candid world.rnBlack voters went for Al Gore b- arnwhopping 90 percent—the largest proportionrnsince 1984 and, before that, sincernat least 1960. The carefully deployedrnblacks at the Republican convention, flicrncareful prance and prattle about affirma-rnHc acflon and Colin Powell’s insulHiigrncomention speech in support of it —rnnone of it worked. 4’he Democrats, aidedrnby flic NACP, irtuall- implicatedrnBush in the “hate-crime” murder ofrnJames Brd in 1998 and nakedlv reliedrnon file ex|5loitation ot racial fear and hatredrnto mobilize black ‘oters against thernRepublicans. In the closing days of therncampaign. Gore told black audiencesrnthat Bush’s “strict constructionism”rnmeant a return to Jim Crow, the end ofrnaffiriiiati’e action, and the appointmentrnof segregationist judges. What does thernthin mewding of “compassion” have tornsav against the scream of racial paranoiarnthat the Democrats unleashed?rnNor was Bush much more successfulrnamong women. He won only 43 percentrnof the female vote to Gore’s 54 percent.rnThe former number is a slight increasernover Bob Dole’s 38 percent, but Clintonrnalso won 54 percent in 1996. Bush didrngain a few points among white females,rnbut a mammoth 94 percent of the blackrnfemale vote went to Gore.rnThe Republican plan to cut into thernDemocrats’ whopping 1996 majorityrnamong Hispanics was also a dismal flop.rnDole carried only 21 percent of the Hispanicrnvote nationalK-; Bush raised fliat torn31 percent (against Gore’s landslide 67rnpercent), but even that increase is deceptive.rnAs Steve Sailer reported in a UPIrnstor’. Bush won a mere 18 percent of Hispanicsrnin New York (where 85 percentrnvoted for Hillary Clinton), 23 percent inrnCalifornia, 42 percent in his own state ofrnTexas, and barely 50 percent in Florida.rnThese are flie four main states where Hispanicsrnlie and vote, and in none of themrndid Bush win anything approaching arnclear majority. Fven in Florida, thernmainly Cuban Hispanic voting blocrnwent to Bush in large part out of angerrnover the Clinton administration’s supportrnfor sending F.lian Gonzalez back to Cuba.rnFor all the soft-right rhetorical chicken-rndoodle about Bush’s winning a majorit}’rnof Hispanics in his own state, his 42rnpercent showing there was only slighflyrnbetter than the 39 percent he won in hisrn1998 reelection campaign. Flis 23 percentrnHispanic vote in California is not arnsignificant improvement over Dole’s 21rnpercent national figure in 1996, andrnsome 23 percent of Hispanics in Californiarnalso voted for Proposition 187 inrn1994. In otiier words, about a quarter ofrnCalifornia’s Hispanic population noriiiall}-rnvotes Republican, and Bush’s 23rnpercent added nofliing substantial to fliatrnfigure. All flie pandering to Hispanics,rnall flic jabbering in Spanish, all the abandonmentrnof the powerful immigration issuernavaileth the Stupid Party naught.rnHispanics vote for left-wing candidatesrnnot because Republican support forrnProp. 187 and immigration control alienatedrnthem but because Hispanic votersrntend to be leftish in their political sympathies.rnIf the presidential election proves anything,rnit is that race drives American politics.rnAs the Washington Times’ Ralph Z.rnHallow reported the day after the vote,rn”race was the most potent fiictor in Tuesday’srnelections.” With 90 percent ofrnblacks and 67 percent of Hispanics (andrn54 percent of Asians) all voting for thernDemocratic candidate, and with 59 percentrnof white males voting Republican,rnthere can be no further doubt of that.rnThe natural strateg}’ for the RepublicanrnPart}’ therefore is to abandon its foolishrnand fruitless efforts to win “inroads”rnamong racial minorities and to concentraternon increasing its share of thernwhite vote. As Peter Brimelow has argued,rnwhite Southerners face far morernformidable racial opposition in their partrnof the conntrv’ than the white Californiansrnwho have just become a minority inrnflieir own state. But even with black votersrnaccounting for 40 percent of the electoraternin flic South and the Democratsrnwinning 92 percent of their vote, whiternSouthern Republicans still manage tornearr}’ most Southern states easily. That’srnbecause Southern whites vote as a blocrnfar more than whites outside the Southrn(66 percent of whites in flie Soufli votedrnfor Bush, compared to only 49 percent ofrnwhites in oflier regions). If Republicansrncould increase their national share of thernwhite vote to a comparable level (65 percentrnor more), they w-ould not have tornW’orrv’ so much about flic opposing black,rnHispanic, and Asian racial blocs.rnBut the Republicans will not beat therndrums necessar}’ to win fliose votes. Theyrnhave abandoned immigration controlrnand now boast of their support for openrnborders and making Puerto Rico a state.rnThey have all but abandoned oppositionrnto affirmative action, and their positionsrnon such issues as hate-crime legislationrnand racial profiling are softening. Lastrnyear, GOP strategists boasted of havingrnabandoned the “Sonfliern strategy” fliatrnpulled white Southerners into their ranksrnFEBRUARY 2001/33rnrnrn