Posted on 10/12/2005 3:44:33 AM PDT by Crackingham
Watching the Republicans floundering over the past week, I can't help thinking of a school of beached whales. The leviathans of the GOP have boldly swum themselves onto this patch of dry sand, and it won't be easy for them to get back to open ocean.
The Republicans come to their present troubles from different directions: President Bush thought he was making a safe, pragmatic choice in nominating Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, but this soulless maneuver enraged the party's right wing and set it on a fratricidal binge. Tom DeLay thought he was ramrodding a permanent Republican government, but he managed to get himself indicted and, well before that calamity, had angered House Republicans who concluded that "The Hammer's" leadership style was marching them off a cliff. Looming over all these little problems is the crucible of Iraq.
What's interesting is that most of these wounds are self-inflicted. They draw a picture of a party that, for all its seeming dominance, isn't prepared to be the nation's governing party. The hard right, which is the soul of the modern GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful. Governing requires making compromises and getting your hands dirty, but the conservative purists disdain those qualities. They swim for that beach with a fiercely misguided determination, and they demand that the other whales accompany them.
The bickering over the Miers nomination epitomizes the right's refusal to assume the role of a majoritarian governing party. The awkward fact for conservatives is that the American public doesn't agree with them on abortion rights. A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll in late August found 54 percent describing themselves as pro-choice and only 38 percent as pro-life, roughly the same percentages as a decade ago.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Gotta love how the MSM is so diligent in covering conservative infighting.
According to polls, the vast majority of Americans want abortion to be legal but regulated. You can't regulate abortion until Roe v. Wade is overturned.
Mark for rereading in late Nov 2006 ! ;-)
For sure.
"The bickering over the Miers nomination epitomizes the right's refusal to assume the role of a majoritarian governing party. "
If the public could only be a fly on the wall at any of the board meetings at the Washington Post, I would imagine they would see some "bickering".
I see they can't help repeating the same old montra mis-information propaganda on abortion "rights".
"Gotta love how the MSM is so diligent in covering conservative infighting."
...and the lack of coverage on the Democrat's "deer in the headlights", "wait and see what mistakes we can take advantage of" leadership style. Pitiful...
Exactly but the details are inconvenient. Most Americans believe in parental notification and most don't support partial birth abortion. Just because people identify themselves as "pro-choice" doesn't mean they are pro-abortion. Most narrowly define abortion to special cases and generally want to see it much more strongly regulated than it currently is. Republicans are fine, they and I are just upset that a winnable fight was avoided. We had a chance to bloody the left and the President punted. I don't understand why but it can't be because he is afraid of them. He has stood up the left repeatedly. I just think he didn't want a drawn out fight and he may have been afraid of some of the Senators taking flight. It illustrates that we need to reconsolidate our base and get some real conservative senators elected.
Mr. Ignatius:
Is it better to have an internal fight when you control the Presidency and Congress or better when you control neither?
"The hard right, which is the soul of the modern GOP, would rather be ideologically pure than successful."
Bears repeating.
I hope the leftists in the media enjoy it while it lasts.
Miers will be confirmed and there will be another big topic of the day, and Democrats will continue to put regular Americans off with their anti-American drivel.
>>Most Americans believe in parental notification and most don't support partial birth abortion. Just because people identify themselves as "pro-choice" doesn't mean they are pro-abortion. Most narrowly define abortion to special cases and generally want to see it much more strongly regulated than it currently is. Republicans are fine, they and I are just upset that a winnable fight was avoided. We had a chance to bloody the left and the President ...
nominated Miers, who would have been confirmed promptly, but instead was instantly, reflexively, and viciously attacked by "our side" possibly delaying the replacement for O'Conner for months.
Now, when O'Conner sits for both of these cases coming up this session, and provides the swing vote (as before) against PN and PBA, and this will no doubt be "Bush's fault."
While we eat our own, NARAL is having their best laugh since Trent Lott shared the Senate.
Overturning Roe vs Wade will grant no federal power to regulate, it will just leave states rights supreme. Maybe they can come up with a commerce clause arguement to support federal intervention.
Miers will be on the SC by Thanksgiving, Delay will be leading the House by the end of the year and little david will still be trying to figure out a way to defeat the pubbies in Nov 06.
The cheering section of the demonRATS, the msm, is trying everything to drive a wegde in the pubbie party. Sure we argue amongst ourselves, but when the rubber meets the road, we know the stakes that are involved.
What unadulterated crap the Washington Post is!
Yep. About 70% are against late term abortions. About 70% want parental notificiation. About 70% are against abortion on demand. Most people are against using abortion for birth control. What most people support are abortions in the case of incest, rape and life of mother. Once you get past those rare exceptions, most people fall in the pro-life category.
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