Have you noticed that republicans are coming apart at the seams?

[bigtree]

GOP Lawmakers Edge Away From Optimism on Iraq
Some in GOP shift stances on Iraq

By Jonathan Weisman
The Washington Post
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-06/07-20-06/04w...

Rank-and file Republicans who once adamantly backed the administration on the war are moving to a two-stage new message, according to some lawmakers. First, Republicans are making it clear to constituents they do not agree with every decision the president has made on Iraq. Then they boil the argument down to two choices: staying and fighting or conceding defeat to a vicious enemy.

The shift is subtle, but Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media is ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war.

complete cast of clipped-wing chickenhawks: http://www.southcoasttoday.com/daily/07-06/07-20-06/04world-nation.htm
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Republican poster boy: I wouldn't follow Bush

WASHINGTON Jul 19, 2006 (AP)— Freshman Sen. John Thune, the Republican hero two years ago for ousting the Senate Democratic leader, said Wednesday that if he were running this year, he'd distance himself from President Bush and his agenda.

In 2004, the White House political operation recruited Thune to challenge Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle. He dealt the Democratic Party a major blow, edging Daschle in South Dakota as Bush captured a second term.

Thune, a conservative who rarely breaks with the GOP or Bush, said Wednesday that if he were up for re-election this year, he'd adopt a different strategy.

"If I were running in the state this year, you obviously don't embrace the president and his agenda," Thune told reporters at the National Press Club. He said the Iraq war is Bush's biggest problem.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-8/115337624567360.xml&coll=1
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Kristol (and others):

In a Weekly Standard column titled "Our war", editor William Kristol called Iran "the prime mover behind the terrorist groups who have started this war", which, he argued, should be considered part of "the global struggle against radical Islamism".

He complained that Washington recently had done a "poor job of standing up and weakening Syria and Iran" . . .

http://mathaba.net/0_index.shtml?x=540715
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George Will hits Neo-Conservative logic:

"Neoconservatives have much to learn"

"The administration, justly criticized for its Iraq premises and their execution, is suddenly receiving some criticism so untethered from reality as to defy caricature.

The national, ethnic and religious dynamics of the Middle East are opaque to most people, but to The Weekly Standard -- voice of a spectacularly misnamed radicalism, "neoconservativism" -- everything is crystal clear: Iran is the key to everything."

http://www.yorkdispatch.com/oped/ci_4074270
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Gallup: 4 in 10 Republicans Find McCain 'Unacceptable'

Published: July 19, 2006

NEW YORK A new Gallup poll asking Americans theirs views of 25 leading candidates for president in 2008 found that one of the Republican frontrunners, Sen. John McCain, is judged "unacceptable" by 41% of those in his own party.

A bare majority, 55%, find him "acceptable." In contrast, 73% of Republicans give their okay to rival Rudy Giuliani. Condoleezza Rice got the thumb's up from 68%.

Most of the opposition to McCain comes from conservatives, possibly explaining his moves in that direction lately.

Interestingly, the Republicans with the highest "unacceptable" ratings are Vice President Cheney (61%) and Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (52%).

http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002875570&imw=Y
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On the environment, Schwarzenegger tries to shake Republican label

Schwarzenegger has been working feverishly to persuade Californians that when it comes to environmental issues, hes a different kind of Republican.

The problem for Schwarzenegger is that his Republican brand name is squarely on the other side of the issue. Of the 20 California Republicans in the House, 18 voted for the bill. Of the 33Democrats, 32 voted against.

The Bush administration looks favorably upon the bill, which was shepherded through the House by Pombo, a Tracy Republican.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides asks how Schwarzenegger can claim to be a true friend of the coast when the partisans he supports are taking actions that the governor himself calls alarming.

The California coast is endangered, and President Bush and congressional Republicans whom Gov. Schwarzenegger helped elect are taking us in the wrong direction, Angelides said after the vote.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/oped/ci_4073482
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Stem cell debate a complication for GOP

Associated Press Wed Jul 19

WASHINGTON - Stem cell research packs the emotional punch of abortion and assisted suicide for people engaged on both sides but with this difference: So far, most people are on one side of the debate.

That's a complication for Republicans, who like to say their "big tent" makes room for differing views.
President Bush's veto of legislation Wednesday that sought to ease his restrictions on federal financing of stem cell research shakes that tent in ways other ethical issues have not.

The issue splits the field of presidential prospects, divides even those Republicans who share anti-abortion views and comes on top of a roiling debate testing party unity over immigration.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060719/ap_on_go_co/stem_cell_politics_2
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Republicans Hope to Motivate Loyal Voters

By driving a new social agenda, Republicans are also seeking to appease conservative activists who complained last year that the party was not living up to conservative pledges made in the 2004 presidential election.

Not all Republicans are pleased with the social priorities. Several Northeast Republicans are facing strong Democratic challenges in moderate to Democratic-leaning districts where topics such as gay marriage find little resonance.

"This type of social agenda or social policy-making at the congressional level is of no interest to me," said Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., who is in a tough re-election fight. "They may be successful in certain districts, but they certainly aren't successful in my district. My constituents are well-informed and well-educated and prepared to make a lot of these decisions themselves and they don't want the government to be involved."

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2210120&page=2
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The republican, conservative facade is crumbling in the face of reality and a public that lives in the real world. Wonder how much their split will be highlighted in the media as the Democrats' divisions have so famously been?

[ananda]

1. How can the Reeps do otherwise?

They've always been only a thread or two from unravelling anyway.

It's the corporations and the media that have been spinning new cloth
for them... over and over. Even that gets old and frayed.

Sue

[grytpype]

2. Nice wrap-up of the whole debacle.

[LiviaOlivia]

3. And this

Thursday, July 20, 2006
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2006/07/republican-election-message-iraq-is.html
Republican election message: Iraq is Bush's fault, not ours
by Joe in DC - 7/20/2006 08:43:00 AM

The GOP Congress has marched in lock-step with Bush on the Iraq war. They've enabled the disaster, never questioning the Iraq policy. Now, that Iraq is a political disaster, they're all acting like they had nothing to do with the mess:

Rank-and file Republicans who once adamantly backed the administration on the war are moving to a two-stage new message, according to some lawmakers. First, Republicans are making it clear to constituents they do not agree with every decision the president has made on Iraq. Then they boil the argument down to two choices: staying and fighting or conceding defeat to a vicious enemy.

The shift is subtle, but Republican lawmakers acknowledge that it is no longer tenable to say the news media are ignoring the good news in Iraq and painting an unfair picture of the war. In the first half of this year, 4,338 Iraqi civilians died violent deaths, according to a new report by the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq. Last month alone, 3,149 civilians were killed -- an average of more than 100 a day.

"It's like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren't really stranded when we were all watching it on TV," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). "I still hear about that. We can't look like we won't face reality."

You won't face reality, Rep. McHenry. But, linking the disasters of Iraq and Katrina is a good talking point -- for the Democrats.

[bigtree]

7. He's got them pegged good

It just looks like chaos among the republican ranks.

What IS their message? Where is their focus? Republican Party in Disarray!

[SledDriver]

4. Midterms coming up

Afterwards, they'll get back in lockstep.

[redqueen]

5. I hope the stem cell veto shoots them all in the foot.

What a shame they don't have the votes to overturn it... despicable.

[PaDem]

6. we'll see what happens...........

I am pleased to see at least a handful of Republicans come around on the Iraq issue. The Rep. from Minnesota who has lock and step with the administration a month ago only to visit Iraq and see that things were not as they were portrayed to him is now calling for a withdrawl. I respect that.

However, he and others like him deserved to be punished. When a child does something wrong we punish them (or give them consequences). In this case, the 2006 election must serve as punishment or the negative consequence for these folks blind support for this stuff over the past three years.