WP, Broder: Simmering Rage in Taft-Goldwater-Reagan Wing of GOP

[DeepModem Mom]

Simmering Rage Within the GOP
By David S. Broder
Thursday, July 27, 2006; Page A25

....I first became aware of the spreading discontent on the right in visiting with people in the church social hall after the funeral this spring for Lyn Nofziger, Ronald Reagan's longtime press spokesman and adviser. The comments about the Bush White House people -- who were notable by their absence at the service -- startled me.

But since then I have heard the refrain over and over: They never reached out to us. They never thought they needed our help. Now they're in trouble. To hell with them.

Whether or not the complaints are justified, they are epidemic. They are often accompanied, as they were in the case of my weekend visitor, by the comment that everything the White House does seems to be aimed at pleasing only one section of the Republican coalition -- the religious right.

That is why there was so much high-fiving on e-mails and phone calls among other Republicans over the defeat last week of Ralph Reed, the one-time driving force of Pat Robertson's religious-political movement who lost the nomination for lieutenant governor of Georgia because of his links to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff....

***

But the dissent threatens Republican chances of avoiding a major defeat in the midterm elections. Andrew Kohut's survey for the respected Pew Research Center last month found Democrats far more motivated to vote this year than Republicans. The Democrats held a 16-point advantage over the GOP on the question Kohut uses to gauge the level of interest in voting, exactly the reverse of the situation in 1994, the year the Republicans took over Congress....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/26/AR2006072601495.html

[MnFats]

1. "Republicans eating their own."......

...apologies to Stephanie Miller...

[rodeodance]

2. makes my day!! (or night).

[Rowdyboy]

3. Nice thread, puts me in a frame of mind to go to sleep with sweet dreams

Thanks...

[fishnfla]

4. The "Taft-Goldwater-Reagan wing of the GOP?" ? corpses vote?

and soon to be corpses dont like nancy pelosi

too bad

[grasswire]

5. no thanks to David Broder

A tool of the tyrants, too many times.

[Hekate]

6. Such lovely, lovely news.

I can go to bed with a smile on my lips.

Hekate

[babylonsister]

7. The image of repugs high-fiving each other over the demise of

Ralph Reed indeed put a smile on my face. The repugs in the wh seem to be reaping what they've sown. About damn time, too!

[JNelson6563]

8. No doubt more of this to come.

Looking forward to it! :toast: :popcorn:

[Cha]

9. Boofrickin'Hoo!

:nopity: "..Now they're in trouble. To hell with them."

They sure lapped up the glow from ronnie's funeral on tv for a week.

How sweet..advice from david broder for the repukes on how not to fail in the elections.

"The last thing they need is the disaffection now being displayed in their own ranks. This looms as the supreme test of their political skills."

[blm]

10. The OldTime Republicans USED the EndTimes Republicans to get into power

and now they created a monster they can't control.

[Totally Committed]

11. "But since then I have heard the refrain over and over:

They never reached out to us. They never thought they needed our help. Now they're in trouble. To hell with them."

Pretty much, that's how the Liberals are feeling about the elected Democratic leadership, too. Only Howard Dean as head of the DNC has been able to prevent a mass exodus. I think the Democratic Party -- ALL of the Democratic Party -- needs to see this as a lesson to be learned... especially before dubbing ANY of us the "nutroots".

TC

[meldroc]

12. Most of the Goldwater/fiscal conservatives have already abandoned the GOP.

I know, because my dad is one, and so was I, to a lesser extent. We used to vote Republican because they were the party for a smaller, fiscally sound, less intrusive government.

That wing of the GOP is dead. My dad held his nose and voted for Kerry in 2004. I didn't think it possible, but yeah, a large portion of the Republican party, the ones that aren't bible-thumpers or neo-fascists, are in open mutiny.

As for me, yeah, I pretty much describe myself as progressive now. I believe in most of the Democratic ideology, being pro-choice, pro-gay, pro-civil-rights, etc., though I still like some of the more reasonable "conservative" ideas, such as pushing for a fiscally responsible, less intrusive government. Oh, and I'm very pro-gun, though I was surprised to see a lot of pro-gun sentiment here on DU.

[Efilroft Sul]

13. A lot of DUers support the Second Amendment as much as the First.

That's because the Bush administration is the government we were warned about by the Founding Fathers.

[gratuitous]

14. What? The Republicans are in disarray?

Well, of course, Dean Broder would never say such a thing, because the accepted narrative is that it's Democrats who don't have a unified plan. And while rank-and-file Republicans may be upset with their leaders, they aren't out-of-control-angry like the whackos in that other party are. No, Republican anger is wholly proportionate to the provocation, righteous and justified.

And does it mean that Republicanism has failed as a doctrine? It does not. It's someone else's fault, because "true" conservatism can never fail. Damn you, Goldstein!