LAT: GOP's Unified Front Is Reduced to a Veneer

[DeepModem Mom]

GOP's Unified Front Is Reduced to a Veneer
Those in Congress are increasingly inclined to openly disagree with Bush -- and each other.
By Janet Hook, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — In the disciplined world of George W. Bush's presidency, Republicans for years have shunned open criticism of the White House, fearful of a call to the woodshed from an administration that prizes loyalty.

So it was a striking departure when Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania — a high-ranking party official and a stalwart Bush ally — recently lambasted the administration's handling of this year's Social Security debate. It was even more striking that his office e-mailed the news far and wide with a subject line boasting: "Santorum takes Bush to task over Social Security strategy."

That was an emblem of the wobbly state of what was a cornerstone of Bush's first-term accomplishments: the confident, nearly lock-step unity of his party in Congress.

Now, every day seems to bring a new brawl among Republicans as divisions between factions proliferate....


http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop2oct02,0,6168744.story?coll=la-tot-promo&track=morenews

[expatriot]

1. yippee!!! Get ready for a lot of this as 2006 approaches! nt

[Lindsay]

2. Sadly, they've still mostly been voting in lockstep.

I wonder what the cutoff date is for those who have to run for re-election next year will be - when they actually have to vote like their constituents would like them to vote or risk losing.

[msongs]

3. wish the Dems would quit voting to support the Bushco agenda

and vote in their own lock step as an oppostion party that opposes.


Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm