Shadenfreude makes me hum and sing. The weather is gorgeous here in DC. The cherry blossoms are out. I want to spin and wave my arms around like Julie Andrews in the opening scene of The Sound of Music.
Here's the music, courtesy of those wacky tunesmiths at the Wall Street Journal:
Republicans Splinter
On Bush Agenda
Poll Finds Rifts Opening Over Social Security,
Judicial Filibusters, Schiavo Case
By JOHN HARWOOD
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
April 7, 2005; Page A4
Almost three months into President Bush's second term, a raft of economic and social issues -- Social Security, immigration, gay marriage and the recent national debate over Terri Schiavo -- is splintering the Republican base.
More on the flip. . .
A little more, without breaking copyright rules:
After winning re-election on the strength of support from nine in 10 Republican voters, the president is seeing significant chunks of that base balk at major initiatives, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows.
One-third of Republicans say Democrats in Congress should prevent Mr. Bush and party leaders from "going too far in pushing their agenda," and 41% oppose eliminating filibusters against Mr. Bush's judicial nominees -- the "nuclear option" that Senate Republican leaders are considering.
The Schiavo case has opened another rift. Though Mr. Bush and Republican congressional leaders acted to maximize the opportunity for reinserting Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, 39% of Republicans said removing the tube was "the right thing to do," while 48% said it was wrong. About 18% of Republicans say they lost respect for Mr. Bush on the issue and 41% lost respect for Congress. The survey of 1,002 adults, conducted March 31-April 3, has a margin for error of 3.1 percentage points in either direction; the error margin for Republicans alone is 5.2 percentage points.
"It's a story that splits our party," says Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducts the Journal/NBC survey with his Democratic counterpart Peter Hart. A similar split on Social Security, he adds, will make it "hard, but not impossible" for Mr. Bush to accomplish the centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
Divergent Republican opinions hardly preclude passage of Mr. Bush's initiatives, since he remains closely allied with his party's House and Senate leaders, who control the congressional agenda. Still, they help explain why the president has been unable to generate a groundswell of public pressure for issues such as Social Security overhaul, and why Republican lawmakers have struggled for consensus on taxes, spending and deficits in their budget debates.
Don't you just get goose bumps? Okay, I'll give you a little more, but only because you asked so sweetly and didn't make fun of my Austrian frock:
Different elements of the party, however, are balking at specific items on the president's agenda. On his centerpiece initiative of Social Security, for instance,
32% of Republicans call it "a bad idea" to let workers invest payroll taxes in the stock markets.
Despite Mr. Bush's cross-country tour to sell his plan, that proportion has held steady since January, while resistance among Democrats and senior citizens has driven overall opposition to 55% from the 50% recorded on the eve of his second inauguration. On Social Security, "opinions are hardening in a way that makes Bush's job more difficult," Mr. McInturff says.
On judicial nominations -- a cause of contention between the White House and Democratic leaders -- resistance among rank-and-file Republicans is even higher. Four in 10 say the option of filibusters should be preserved.
On Mr. Bush's proposal to grant legal status to some illegal immigrants already in the U.S., Republicans are opposed by 50%-48% -- almost matching the 54%-42% opposition among Democrats. About 55% of independents oppose Mr. Bush's plan, while 38% favor it.
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans say Congress shouldn't pass legislation affecting families in cases such as Ms. Schiavo's, though some Republicans on Capitol Hill aim to do just that. By 50%-37%, Republicans say the federal government should be "less active" on social and moral issues; on gay marriage Republicans split evenly, with 48% saying Congress should pass legislation and 47% saying it shouldn't.
And, lest the Bug Man feel left out:
To be sure, Mr. Bush's agenda isn't the only development giving some Republicans heartburn lately. So are controversies surrounding House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. After a closed-door meeting yesterday in which Republicans generally rallied around their leader, former House Ethics Committee Joel Hefley said, "I hear a lot of negative stuff" about Mr. DeLay from constituents. In the poll, Mr. DeLay's negative rating among Americans overall inched up to 24% from 20% in January; his positive rating was unchanged at 17%, while 50% said they were neutral or had no opinion about him.
Conclusion:
Remember, these poll numbers are about Republicans, not the general population.
Go back and reread those numbers, even the ones I did not highlight in bold.
Can you hear Karl Rove Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda, whisper "Oh, shit!" over his morning coffee and gebäckstück?