GOP Shakeup: Tulsa Republicans Go So Far Right They Fall Off the Edge

The Tulsa County Republicans got together recently for their county convention, a festival of right-wing zaniness so extreme that it alienated some of the party's long-time supporters.

We are referring to a bold and insightful letter to the Tulsa World published a couple of weeks ago by Lonny Davis, who joined the GOP in 1962. In the letter, Davis announced his resignation as a precinct chairman and as a delegate to the state convention.

Davis was concerned—as he should be—by the party's rightward drift, one "far from the Republican principles" that originally drew him to the party. No more: "I do not want my name associated with the local group," Davis wrote.

Davis pointed out that representatives at the county convention were "mainly mature white people," a sign of the party's growing demographic problem. Blacks, Hispanics, the poor and young were notably absent, Davis wrote, unwelcome or wary of the Republican message.

Here's the problem in Davis' own words:

Unless the party reaches out and recruits the young from our diverse population, and embraces their input, the party will be marginalized. Look at the U.S. Census.

Good point. But given the track record of local Republicans, we aren't holding our breath. Based on his letter, neither is Lonny Davis.