[h/t New Civil Rights Movement]

Yes, they've settled on a theme for why they lost so magnificently last week. Mitt Romney led it off with his declaration to donors and his campaign team that Obama only won because he gave 'big gifts' to minorities and students.

Via Think Progress, this report from the LA Times:

Mitt Romney told his top donors Wednesday that his loss to President Obama was a disappointing result that neither he or his top aides had expected, but said he believed his team ran a “superb” campaign with “no drama,” and attributed his rival’s victory to “the gifts” the administration had given to blacks, Hispanics and young voters during Obama’s first term.

Obama, Romney argued, had been “very generous” to blacks, Hispanics and young voters. He cited as motivating factors to young voters the administration’s plan for partial forgiveness of college loan interest and the extension of health coverage for students on their parents’ insurance plans well into their 20s. Free contraception coverage under Obama’s healthcare plan, he added, gave an extra incentive to college-aged women to back the president. [...]

“The President’s campaign,” he said, “focused on giving targeted groups a big gift—so he made a big effort on small things. Those small things, by the way, add up to trillions of dollars.”

Well, then. I suppose Republicans aren't particularly interested in ever being in the White House or the majority again, because if they continue to cement their reputation of the party that serves rich old white men at everyone else's expense I see no pathway to power, do you?

Bryan Fischer, American Family Association wingnut, went on the air yesterday to declare that President Obama got a large portion of the Latino vote because socialism is baked into their genetic code. Or something. Via Right Wing Watch, this lunacy:

On Friday's program, Fischer said that America never had a problem with immigration when the bulk of the immigrants came from Europe because they shared our heritage, values, and worldview. But recently, most immigration has been coming from non-European third-world countries where people do not possess the Protestant Work Ethic and expect the government to take care of them.

In fact, said Fischer, Hispanics do not vote Democratic because of the issue of immigration but rather because "they are socialists by nature" who want open borders simply so that they can bring in their families to "benefit from the plunder of the wealth of the United States."

There really isn't any way to spin that into anything other than pure, unadulterated race-based hate in all its ugly glory.

These statements come despite the gestures toward creating pathways to citizenship (or legal resident status, at least) on the part of some, including Sean Hannity. It would appear that there's a real civil war raging in the Republican party right now for control of policy and direction.

What everyone should note carefully, however, is that Mitt Romney very clearly falls on the extreme right side of the party. It's undeniable. He was never, ever moderate or pragmatic. His remarks track straight down the same lines as Fischer's.

All I can say is that it bodes well for Democrats. If Republicans want to marginalize themselves for all time, they should keep catering to far-right bigots and haters while the rest of us open up the big tent and let all the people in who care to come.