Along with so many others, I've watched with bated breath as the conservative movement has started to come apart at the seams over the Miers nomination. And today's NYTimes
article on Sam Brownback got me thinking about the spring of 2008. The article describes Brownback's presidential ambitions thusly:
The premise of his ambitions is that the country has "re-engaged with its faith" in a historic revival. He hopes that his combination of a humble, earnest style and broader focus on human rights, prison reform and other humanitarian issues will enable him to capitalize on that revival more effectively than predecessors like Pat Robertson or John Ashcroft.
Brownback has been one of the main critics of Harriet Miers so far; he is clearly trying to position himself as a strongly conservative social voice. The article also features the now-famous Pat Robertson quote:
"They're going to turn against a Christian who is a conservative picked by a conservative president, and they're going to vote against her for confirmation?" Mr. Robertson said Wednesday on his television program. "Not on your sweet life, if they want to stay in office."
The gauntlet's thrown! Could we be seeing the start of a messy 2008 Republican primary? Bush/Rove built their power on being able to hold together the strange coalition of religious and business conservatives. Miers has ripped that to shreds.
Imagine a bruising McCain/Brownback or McCain/Jeb Bush fight in the primary. I suspect McCain would come out ahead at this point in either of those battles. But the fight could further disintegrate the party, and with the Miers nomination such a disappointment, will social conservatives be content to go into November 2008 supporting a McCain?
Tito's dead. Welcome to Republican-slovia.