WP: For GOP, Deeper Fissures and a Looming Power Struggle

[Pirate Smile]

For GOP, Deeper Fissures and a Looming Power Struggle

By Dan Balz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 25, 2005; Page A11

The fallout from the Senate compromise that averted a showdown over judicial filibusters fell most heavily on the Republican Party yesterday, signaling intraparty warfare that is likely to shape the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination and further strain the unity the GOP has enjoyed under President Bush.

Monday's surprise deal left two of the party's most prominent potential 2008 candidates, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Tenn.) and Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), on opposite sides of an ideological and strategic divide that is likely to widen as the party begins in earnest to hunt for a successor to Bush. Perhaps mindful of the power of social and religious conservatives, other GOP senators with presidential aspirations, including George Allen (Va.) and Chuck Hagel (Neb.), condemned the deal.

The compromise forged by 14 Democratic and Republican senators represented a rare, if temporary, rebuff to religious and social conservatives. Their condemnations, whether from James Dobson's Focus on the Family, radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh or conservative bloggers, were quick and strong. Dobson labeled it a "complete bailout and betrayal," and Jan LaRue, chief counsel of Concerned Women for America, branded the GOP negotiators "seven dwarves" who had given Democrats the right to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee.

-snip-
But leading voices among social conservatives sharply disagreed. "It's a rebuff of both the president, Senator Frist and the socially conservative base of the party by a handful of senators," said Gary L. Bauer, a former presidential candidate and president of American Values. "The heart of the Republican Party is as unhappy as I can recall."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/24/AR2005052401475.html

[Gloria]

1. You bet the agreement will look better in a month or two, when

that "power struggle" evaporates....

What a load of crapola....it's all a big setup.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I edited my original post to include Bauer's unhappy heart of the

Republican family quote so I deleted the paragraph you are referring to - this was it:

"Outside analysts took a more measured view of the terms of the agreement that blocked for now the use of the "nuclear option" to bar judicial filibusters; they contended that social and religious conservatives may have done better than they are willing to acknowledge, including the likely approval of three of Bush's most controversial appellate court nominees. The agreement, they said, may look much better to the right in a month or two."

[Erika]

2. The Republican House of Cards

The rich and the social conservatives had a great run under W. That cannot be denied but it won't be repeated.

[FlemingsGhost]

3. The Democratic Party is not too far behind.

With luck, the death of our miserably corrupt two-party system is beginning.

[Erika]

5. What are you referring to?

[The Sushi Bandit]

6. So maybe now they can go FUCK Themselfs!