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Room Left to Govern? (Interesting comment on GOP future)
Washington Post ^ | 07/02/2004 | E.J. Dionne

Posted on 07/02/2004 8:58:39 AM PDT by cogitator

This was the paragraph that caught my eye:

One effect of a Kerry victory might be to bring out into the open Republican divisions that are already beginning to surface. Former representative Steve Gunderson, a Wisconsin Republican, speaks of "a coming civil war in the party" spurred by the efforts of conservatives to purge moderates from its ranks. This civil war over social issues is compounded by new divisions over deficits and the use of tax cuts not only to "promote growth" -- there is, says Gunderson, "nothing wrong with that" -- but also to "shut down the legitimate role of government."

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; US: Wisconsin
KEYWORDS: democrat; ejdionne; gop; gunderson; moderates; partisan; republican
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How to insure Bush being able to govern: a veto-proof majority in the Senate. Dionne doesn't mention that, does he?

Watch our dust if that happens.

1 posted on 07/02/2004 8:58:40 AM PDT by cogitator
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To: cogitator

E.O Dionne is already writing as if Kerry has won. I don't see the knives coming out for the moderates - er the liberals inside the GOP.


2 posted on 07/02/2004 9:00:57 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: cogitator

Oh, yeah, E.J., friend of the GOP - NOT!


3 posted on 07/02/2004 9:06:34 AM PDT by NavySEAL F-16 ("proud to be a Reagan Republican")
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To: cogitator

Steve Gunderson, a Wisconsin Republican, speaks of "a coming civil war in the party" spurred by the efforts of conservatives to purge moderates from its ranks.

Heck, I only want to purge the socialists from the party.


4 posted on 07/02/2004 9:08:35 AM PDT by TheDon (The Democratic Party is the party of TREASON)
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To: cogitator
Democrats always engage in Projection.

What Dionne is saying is that Kerry will lose in a landslide. There will be Civil War among the Democrats. The Party will splinter. One faction will be extreme Marxists and will be called the Moderate Party. The remainder will be a tiny group that admire Zell Miller and will be called the Marginal Party.

5 posted on 07/02/2004 9:09:14 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (The Fourth Estate is a Fifth Column)
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To: ClearCase_guy

Yes that's my prediction as well. Whatever the divisions in the GOP, it is not in imminent danger of splintering. The Democrats on the other hand have a coalition with mutually contradictory goals.


6 posted on 07/02/2004 9:13:06 AM PDT by thoughtomator (End the imperialist moo slime colonization of the West!)
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To: cogitator; goldstategop

I smell fear. The Democrats hope that by endlessly saying how divided Republicans are, they can make it so. That's their only hope, since they themselves have caved completely to their radical wing.

I think that until the Democrats ditch their radical wing completely and move back to the center, the Republicans will be secure, mainly because moderate and liberal Republicans have nowhere else to go. But looking ahead a few years, if the Dems do move right, I would expect to see some Republican defections. Which is ok, because then the entire spectrum will have shifted to the right. It would be nice not to have to be quite so worried about the inevitable eventual Democratic president.


7 posted on 07/02/2004 9:13:30 AM PDT by walden
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To: ClearCase_guy

Actually, I think they will be known as the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.


8 posted on 07/02/2004 9:15:52 AM PDT by Poohbah ("Mister Gorbachev, TEAR DOWN THIS WALL!" -- President Ronald Reagan, Berlin, 1987)
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To: walden

These type of division tactics were used here in KALIFORNIA during the recall....Many were touting if you were a true conservative you would be a hypocrite to elect a RHINO like Arnold.......

But when it came time to pick between the Terminator and his Royal grayness...It was a LANDSLIDE!

John Kerry is so far left that he can in no way attract the moderate republican...especially if that divisive Shrillary is on the ticket!


9 posted on 07/02/2004 9:18:14 AM PDT by Republic Rocker
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To: cogitator
EJ Dionne is an enemy of the GOP. Gunderson is a Log Cabin Republican if I remember correctly who was always a social moderate.

The GOP will be much better when we start to truly understand we cannot, will not and should not attempt to please everybody all the time. We're doing pretty damn well BTW.

We hold the White House, the Senate, the House as well as a majority of Governorships in the country.

A Kerry win, which won't happen, won't change the other majorities we continue to hold.

Asked on issues, the majority of America agrees strongly with the GOP. They just don't want to associate the issues with the GOP. That battle will be waged.

The major issue which will define the difference in the parties and, IMO, coalesce the GOP will be Gay Marriage. That's what Gunderson is probably trying to fight off.

10 posted on 07/02/2004 9:22:09 AM PDT by Solson ("Ugly knows ugly though." - WorkingClassFilth)
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To: cogitator
Funny, he speaks of GOP divisions that are beginning to surface. The entire Democrat party is a coalition of divided special interests united in only one ideal: defeat their opponents. They have no sweeping ideology (except maybe that of intrusive government); they are, in no particular order: the race hustlers, the communists, the eco-Nazis, the gender-benders, the union thugs, the atheists, the social engineers, the mainstream media, and the professional bureaucrats.

The deal is that each supports the others' pet causes to the extent they do not infringe on their own. Hence, you'll find Jesse Jackson bending over (excuse the image) for the homosexual lobby, but only so far. Same with the unions and the enviro-nuts.

They are small minded, vitriolic mental cases who stand for nothing except the debasement of America and her values. They are a cancer on the body politic.

11 posted on 07/02/2004 9:28:32 AM PDT by Mr. Bird (Ain't the beer cold!)
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To: cogitator
I thought he would focus instead on the coming civil war within the Rat party once they lose it all again. Why?, some will timidly ask.

WHY?!!! WHY?!!!WHY?!!!

And then the purges will start.

12 posted on 07/02/2004 9:42:37 AM PDT by kcar (www.TheUNsucks.com)
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To: cogitator
Log Cabin Gunderson (thanks for refreshing my memory, Solson) sees only the result of the "moderates" abandoning the base of the Republican Party over the last 25 years (conservatives) to find common cause with the Democrats and the "relative safety" of once again being a perpetual minority party.

Specifically, here in Wisconsin, the Senate Republicans have abandoned any attempt to freeze property taxes "for this year", especially through a state consitutional amendment, even though Pubbies hold a majority in both houses of the legislature and even though a property tax freeze has been a popular issue, because they "want to keep it as an issue at the ballot box." Only problem with that line of Barbara Streissand is, given the way that amendments work in Wisconsin, it won't be before the voters for approval in 2006, when Gov. Jim "Craps" Doyle is up for re-election.

13 posted on 07/02/2004 9:51:26 AM PDT by steveegg (The FReepathon is on the air again - donate early and often (monthly is best))
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To: cogitator
Ah, the old divide-and-conquer strategy by the Left, used to anger conservatives so they'll stay home and the Rat will win.

Sorry E.J., it's not going to work this time.

14 posted on 07/02/2004 9:54:07 AM PDT by ServesURight
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To: cogitator

EJ is just projecting his wishful thinking. The real war in the democrat party, but Dionne will never admit that because the liberal media is to always portray the GOP as split and divided and the democrat party as united - both of which the opposite is true.


15 posted on 07/02/2004 9:56:38 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator (This space outsourced to India)
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To: thoughtomator
The Democrats on the other hand have a coalition with mutually contradictory goals.

Exactly. Example: How the hell does labor vote for environmentalists who kill union jobs?

16 posted on 07/02/2004 9:58:02 AM PDT by KC_Conspirator (This space outsourced to India)
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To: ClearCase_guy
The remainder will be a tiny group that admire Zell Miller and will be called the Marginal Party.

And THAT person will be called the "Blue Dog Democrat!"

17 posted on 07/02/2004 10:03:58 AM PDT by Lou L (optional, printed after your name on post)
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To: Republic Rocker
Republic Rocker said: "But when it came time to pick between the Terminator and his Royal grayness...It was a LANDSLIDE! "

Let's not get too carried away.

Arnold received just less than half of the votes cast. McClintock received almost 14 percent.

This means that Arnold made up roughly 14 percent of the vote which went to McClintock by attracting voters who would normally vote Democrat and who no doubt voted for Gray Davis.

These 14 percent of voters perhaps expected that Arnold would support some kind of driver's licenses for illegals, that Arnold would support a $15 billion bond to cover deficits last year and during the coming year, that Arnold would propose a $103 billion dollar budget, that Arnold would arrange new taxes on Indian casinos, and that the foot-dragging by special interests at budget-passing time would continue. Why not vote for Arnold?

18 posted on 07/02/2004 10:25:59 AM PDT by William Tell
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To: KC_Conspirator

Also, How do Christian blacks vote for homosexual marriage, adoption, etc.? How do Jews vote for an annihilationist policy towards Israel? How does the free-speech crowd vote for hate crimes? How does a Yellow-Dog Democrat vote for appeasement? And on and on... the Dems have gotten away with this stuff for a long time, but the reality of the post-Clinton, post-9/11 world has almost completely stripped the pretty facade that the Democrats had put up to distract from these contradictions. The louder the activists shout, the more the aforementioned voting blocs have to wonder about a party so passionate about positions they abhor.


19 posted on 07/02/2004 10:26:43 AM PDT by thoughtomator (End the imperialist moo slime colonization of the West!)
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To: Solson

Gunderson is a sodomite; you are correct.


20 posted on 07/02/2004 5:33:17 PM PDT by Meldrim
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