Imagine that your party used every means possible to win an election, including telegraphing intolerance and hate through a network of evangelical churches. OK. Now pretend that the media picks up the story and runs with it. The conventional wisdom becomes "values provided the margin of victory." Friend and foe alike now believe this to be true.
I know, I know. Suspend disbelief long enough to imagine that it must be all about the "values."
This CW provides all the ingredients for a successful Republican civil war. My evidence? Today's New York Times carries conflicting news and Op-Ed pieces that beautifully frame the battle.
In order to get re-elected, Rove and the evangelicals bit off more than the party can handle and are now trying to distance themselves from the "values" explanation. The problem is, I worry that the country won't survive the right-wing onslaught, either.
More below the fold.
According to the
NY Times, Arlen Spector is currently being attacked by conservatives who feel that an anti-abortion judiciary is exacly what they are owed. Here's some insight from the article:
The initial comments by Mr. Specter on Wednesday, at a news conference, that it would be unlikely for staunch opponents of abortion to be confirmed for the Supreme Court, came after Mr. Bush campaigned hard for Mr. Specter, a backer of abortion rights, to win a primary challenge against a conservative lawmaker and opponent of abortion.
But in subsequent interviews, he said that his remark at the news conference merely stated an obvious political fact: that just as Democrats had filibustered judicial nominees before, they could expected to do so again, and that Mr. Bush was aware of this.
The Family Research Council, conservative talk radio, and other groups have demanded payback for voting Bush into office in numbers that are, basically, impossible. The idea that Bush got the "most votes for President in history" has settled in as the conventional wisdom with the ground troops. Indeed, it is "values."
More fromt the Times:
Senate offices said the response was intense. "We are getting slammed,'' said Mike Brumas, a spokesman for Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama and a panel member.
"Some of them are saying things like they voted for values on Tuesday and this is a slap in the face.''
An aide to Senator John Cornyn of Texas, another Republican on the Judiciary Committee, said the office was getting several calls a minute, a volume equal to the calls during consideration of the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage.
That's all fine and good. The Right is energized and positioned to suddenly get all that it wants before the rapture takes them all to heaven.
Enter David Brooks.
This "values" message is waaaaay too hot for Brooks to handle because he, just like Arlen Spector, realizes that the right has the power to destroy things. After all, this was why they incited the right in the first place, but now it's coming home to roost. Now Brooks is bending the rules of logic and physics to make his illogical case that it's the LIBERALS who want this "values" message out there. From today's Times:
But the same insularity that caused many
liberals to lose touch with the rest of the country now causes them to simplify, misunderstand and condescend to the people who voted for Bush. If you want to understand why Democrats keep losing elections, just listen to some coastal and university town liberals talk about how conformist and intolerant people in Red America are. It makes you wonder: why is it that people who are completely closed-minded talk endlessly about how open-minded they are?
What we are seeing is a diverse but stable Republican coalition gradually eclipsing a diverse and stable Democratic coalition. Social issues are important, but they don't come close to telling the whole story. Some of the liberal reaction reminds me of a phrase I came across recently: The rage of the drowning man.
Brooks wants us to believe that this "values" discussion is just some LIBERAL claptrap and that the Republican party is just a friendly, open-minded big tent. It doesn't take a decoder ring to figure out how very wrong that is.
What this public schizophrenia tells me is that the Wall Street arm of the Republican party has precious little defense from the religious right and they're running scared. Left unchecked, the religious right will destroy the Republican party from the inside by using all the tools they have built up over the last 20 years to destroy the Democratic party. Republican moderates and the Wall St. arm of the party are out of power.
I welcome this sort of "diverse but stable Republican coalition" because I think there is no penalty too large for moderate repblicans. They deserve every fax from Fred Phelps that they get.
Here's my problem for today: How can we help the Republicans self-destruct without destroying our country in the process?
Is pushing the "values" a good tactic against the right wing or is it a scorched-earth policy that's too hot for us to control?
Your thoughts?