Potential Republican Crack-Up

[KMB]

For the past 20 years, there's been a discussion in political circles and the media about the "fault lines" in the Republican party over the hot-button social issues such as the death penalty, abortion, affirmative action and gay rights.

The presumption has always been that these issues would ultimately cause a rift between conservatives and moderates that would split the Republican coalition. The pundits and the MSM have been expecting and predicting this split for as long as I've been watching politics and they've been puzzled by the fact that it has never occurred.

I believe that the reason that it hasn't occurred is that the underlying assumptions are wrong. There are no "moderate" Republicans. I think Republicans are almost all conservative. Today, there are no Republicans left who are philosophically in line with Nelson Rockefeller, John Anderson, Lowell Weicker or Mark Hatfield. I know that this line of reasoning may be challenged by the Maine & Rhode Island Republican senators but the Republicans in those states (who vote Republican in presidential elections) are conservatives. The New England Republican Senators get elected by appealing to Democrats in overwhelmingly Democratic states.

There were approximately 62 million people who voted for GW Bush in 2004. I believe that probably 61.5 million of those people (1) support the death penalty (2) oppose affirmative action and (3) oppose gay marriage. I also believe that an equally high percentage of Bush voters (even those who are pro-choice) believe that the Roe v. Wade case was a hideous decision.

Pro-choice Republicans also are aware of the dirty little secret of the abortion debate -- which is that even if Roe v. Wade were overturned tomorrow, there would probably be no effect... There are probably no more than 7 - 9 states where abortion would actually be outlawed and there are currently few (or no) abortion doctors practicing in those states today anyway. Overall, the number of abortions occurring in the next ten years would only be affected by 1% or less if Roe v. Wade were reversed.

So this is, I believe, why the Republican coalition never cracked or splintered. It has confounded and infuriated the opposition but the Republican coalition really never had the fault lines that so many people thought it had.

However, I now think that one may be developing. The impending divisions in the Republican party won't be "moderate" vs. "conservative". It will be "evangelical conservative" vs. "non evangelical conservative". The issues that cause the breach won't be abortion, the death penalty, gay marriage or affirmative action. Instead the divisions will be caused over: (1) stem cell research, (2) evolution and (3) the Terri Schiavo case.

I think that 25 years from now, we'll all look back on the Terri Schiavo case as a cataclysmic event in American politics. There were tens of millions of people who looked at the pictures of Terri Schiavo and thought just one thing: "My god, if that ever happens to me, pull the plug, stop the feeding or do whatever it takes to finish me off."

At the time many Republican leaders spoke of the fact that this was a unique case but the tone of the debate both in and out of the media was that this was essentially a first step.

I remember that pro-Brady Bill and pro-Assault weapons ban politicians repeatedly assured the public that this wouldn't mean banning guns while activists and media pundits indicated that this was a first step towards doing so.

With the Terri Schiavo case, activists -- evangelicals --similarly didn't view this as a unique case but as a first step towards preventing feeding tube or life support removal in any case regardless of living wills or not.

This had an effect on non-evangelical Republicans or "secular Republicans" . . . By itself, I don't think that it would be enough to cause a breach but this isn't just one issue. The other issues that are occurring at the same time are an inexplicable renewed debate over evolution and the stem cell research debate.

With regard to the former, there's no polite or nice way to put it so I'll just be direct. People who believe in evolution think that people who don't believe in evolution are idiots -- pure and simple. The perception that an evolution believer has of a non-evolution believer is of a person saying, "Duh, my grandfather wasn't no ape."

Secular Republicans look at people who publicly discuss their doubts about evolution and who don't want it taught in public schools with utter disgust.

With regard to stem cell research, secular Republicans are excited at the prospects and supportive of practically any scientific research and they simmer at the thought of obstruction of research on religious grounds.

These three issues: evolution, Terri Schiavo and stem cell research are close to causing (or may have already caused) an irrepairable breach in the Republican coalition.

I'm a conservative. I believed in a 2nd war against in Iraq to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein as early as 1998. I also believe in making the '01 & '03 tax cuts permanent; drilling in anwar; that members of al Qaeda who are captured are illegal soldiers and not entitled to due process. I believe in progressive indexing of SS benefits, support the confirmation of John Roberts, think Antonin Scalia is the ideal justice and favor ballistic missile defense.

I also support the death penalty, oppose affirmative action, oppose gay marriage and think that the Roe v. Wade decision was a farce. I could go on but the point is made -- I'm a conservative....

But, I also accept the truth that the human species has a pre-history and I support stem cell research and I think that keeping Terri Schiavo's existance without life going was cruel and sadistic. That feeding tube should've never been inserted 14 years ago.

As a result of all of this, I now find myself in a position that I would have never dreamed of 5 or 10 years ago which is that I object to Hillary Clinton far, far less than I object to Tom Delay. Or Rick Santorum. Or Sam Brownback. Or Tom Tancredi.

Hopefully, Rudy Guiliani will be the nominee in '08 and make this all a moot point but if he isn't then I'm confronted with the possibility that I'll probably vote for Hillary Clinton despite the fact that she stands against so much that I believe in.

If there are others like me out there, and I think there are, then get ready for a 2nd Clinton Administration.

[NicknamedBob]

You might want to double check Outlandish! things here.

Origins:   Many

of the entries above are just simple household tips involving Coca-Cola, as provided by Joey Green in his 1995 book Polish Your Furniture with Panty Hose and on his web site. That you can cook and clean with Coke is relatively meaningless from a safety standpoint — you can use a wide array of common household substances (including water) for the same purposes; that fact alone doesn't necessarily make them dangerous to ingest. Nearly all carbonated soft drinks contain carbonic acid, which is moderately useful for tasks such as removing stains and dissolving rust deposits (although plain soda water is much better for some of these purposes than Coca-Cola or other soft drinks, as it doesn't leave a sticky sugar residue behind). Carbonic acid is relatively weak, however, and people have been drinking carbonated water for many years with no detrimental effects.

The rest of the claims offered here are specious. Coca-Cola does contain small amounts of citric acid and phosphoric acid; however, all the insinuations about the dangers these acids might pose to people who drink Coca-Cola ignore a simple concept familiar to any first-year chemistry student: concentration. Coca-Cola contains less citric acid than orange juice does, and the concentration of phosphoric acid in Coke is far too small (a mere 11 to 13 grams per gallon of syrup, or about 0.20 to 0.30 per cent of the total formula) to dissolve a steak, a tooth, or a nail overnight. (Much of the item will dissolve eventually, but after a day or two you'll still have most of the tooth, a whole nail, and one very soggy t-bone.)

Besides, the gastric acid in your stomach is much stronger than any of the acids in Coca-Cola, so the Coca-Cola is harmless.

The next time you're stopped by a highway patrolman, try asking him if he's ever scrubbed blood stains off a highway with Coca-Cola (or anything else). If you're lucky, by the time he stops laughing he'll have forgotten about the citation he was going to give you.

Last updated:   29 March 2004 http://www.snopes.com/cokelore/acid.asp

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Hairspray takes out ink stains.

I don't know why.

But I do know that to clean up oil spills off the road you use Dawn dish washing liquid. To clean an oil spill off of water human hair sewn into mesh bags works best.

We report. You wonder why.

[NicknamedBob]

If you have the kind of hair-spray that makes me choke, and my dog sneeze, then it probably contains some kind of petroleum distillate.

Such will dissolve the ink, but it evaporates quickly. You have to blot up the ink as quickly as you spray the spot.

[Monkey Face]

I also have a list of "cures" and "obscure uses" for household items. I'll find it and post it, as well.

I prefer not to drink coke because of what I saw it do to hamburger, lo, these many years ago when I was but a Child Bride.

[Monkey Face]

"...Such will dissolve the ink, but it evaporates quickly. You have to blot up the ink as quickly as you spray the spot."

You are SUCH a killjoy! ;o]

[NicknamedBob]

"Why did kamikaze pilots wear helmets?"

More importantly, and much more mysterious ... Did kamikaze pilots wear clean underwear?

[Monkey Face]

The underwear may have been clean when they began their flights, but the condition of said underwear a split second before impact may be an entirely different matter...

[queenkathy]

I just can't stand the taste of water...It's boring...Even with a lemon in it. I know I should drink it. The new flavored water is too sweet...

But those are some great reasons to force myself.

[Monkey Face]

I learned how to drink water when I was diagnosed with CFIDS. Now, I drink about a gallon a day. But it has to be ICE water. I don't like the flavorings in water, except for lime, which I often add myself. But I drink a lot of it. Up to then, I only drank water in coffee or scotch. ;o]

How are you doing? And how is your son?

[NicknamedBob]

" ...blot up the ink as quickly as you spray the spot."

Well, you can do that!

Just put several layers of paper towels under the stained fabric, and spray away. The ink should be "carried" by the liquid into the paper towels without harming the fabric.

It's a form of "dry-cleaning" without the carbon tetrachloride.

[sionnsar]

I start off my mornings with several glasses of water. And once in a while a cup of coffee if I think of it.

[Monkey Face]

Hey! My mother used to use carbon tet when I was a little kid! (Oooops! Did I reveal too much?)

[sionnsar]

I just can't stand the taste of water...It's boring...Even with a lemon in it.

Sparkling water. ("Mit gas" as they say in Germany.)

[Monkey Face]

I don't drink much coffe any more, but I GOTTA have that water! The colder the better!

How was your week? And will you be trying to relax this weekend?

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

Only saw one bear.

Then you need to move to New Jersey!

:0)

[NicknamedBob]

"the taste of water...It's boring...

I understand there is a product you can add to water now to take away the boredom factor.

It's supposed to be in the grocery stores. I haven't seen it myself. Some people take it into restaurants, and ask for ice-water with their meals!

('Face, any non-killjoy points for this tip?)

[Monkey Face]

The water in Germany was so bad, they HAD to make bier out of it!

"Ein bier, bitte!"

I liked it when it was delivered to my door...

[queenkathy]

Sparkling Water? Hmmm. I never tried it...

Is it carbonated?

[Monkey Face]

"('Face, any non-killjoy points for this tip?)"

Da-de-da...do-de-do...hum-te-hum...

Oh. Were you talking to ME?

Well, er...what have you got to offer besides your groveling trick?

[Monkey Face]

Utah has a lot of bears as well...the high Uintahs are full of them, but they are found all over the state.