It will die not for reasons of “branding” or marketing or electoral cosmetics but because the party is at odds with the inevitable American trajectory in the direction of liberty, and with its own nature; paradoxically the party of Abraham Lincoln, which once saved the Union and which gives such passionate lip service to constitutionality, has come to embody the values of the Confederacy in its hostility to constitutional federalism and the civil bonds that the founding document codifies.
The following are links to the article, which has been picked up by www.salon.com.
http://prospect.org/article/grand-old-jurassic-party
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/15/the_grand_old_jurassic_party_partner/
American Prospect is a Democratic party magazine, so its running an article portraying the Republican party as the party of the Confederacy is significant.
What is interesting is that the Democrats, Liberals, and Left continue to want to characterize the Republicans as being Confederates. It will be interesting if the Republicans respond by embracing the Confederacy. It seems though the Republicans are carefully avoiding the Confederacy.