If you went back to earlier periods you'd hear similar messages about how the party would never have success again:
1924: "The party of Cleveland and Bryan has, in the past few years, been reduced to a party that has no appeal to anyone who isn't a Southerner or an Irishman. Expect a Republican majority in Congress and Republicans in the White House for many more years - or as long as the economy remains at this unprecedented level."
1936: "The Republicans may soon go the way of the Whigs, or at least be reduced to just being the party of Maine and Vermont. It seems the only thing the party stands for, to most Americans, is attacking Roosevelt and not doing anything about the Depression. The stench of Hoover still lingers for many, and given Roosevelt's extraordinary popularity, that isn't likely to change anytime soon."
1948: "The GOP is perceived by many as the anti-labor and anti-Catholic party. Unless they modify their positions on unions - and don't bet on it - they will continue to be a minority party for the next generation, with little support beyond their core Protestant, small-town, upper-income and suburban base in the Northeast and Midwest."
1964: "With Goldwater, the Republican Party appears to have done something that even FDR did not achieve: alienate its core base. In the next few years, rather than farmers from Kansas, fishermen from Cape Cod and bankers from Long Island as the loyal party base, expect to see John Birch Society members from Orange County, wealthy Southerners and military-industrial complex supporters from Arizona become the new party base."
1972: "If the Democratic Party continues to nominate hard-left candidates like McGovern, it could mean the beginning of the emerging Republican majority. The party base of Catholics, blue-collar whites and Southerners will soon be replaced by a base of racial minorities, socially liberal activists and college-educated professionals. While this will keep the party in power in Harlem and Cambridge,
it won't help much in Flint and Birmingham."
2004: same as 1972, but with the Democrats being reduced to being "the party of the Northeast and the Left Coast."
2008: replace 'Maine and Vermont' with 'Utah and Mississippi', 'Hoover' and 'Depression' with 'Bush' and 'Iraq War', and 'Roosevelt' with 'Obama'.
This.
