The Republicans are brawling and things are only getting worse. The Post reports today that the Republicans on Capitol Hill are taking potshots at each other as they continue to slide in the polls and tank in time for the election. So, break out the popcorn and follow along for the blow by blow account.
House Republicans denounce McCain-Kennedy bill:
As the Senate returns to the immigration issue this week, House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said House Republicans will not agree to any plan granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship that does not require them first to return to their home countries.
Boehner blasts $100 gas rebate:
House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) dismissed Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's proposed $100 rebate for gasoline as "insulting" and "stupid."
Hastert on the must-pass Iraq/Katrina bill:
And House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) declared a Senate-passed, $109 billion bill to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hurricane relief and a bevy of home-state pet projects "dead on arrival."
Hastert, Frist clash over Hayden:
Hastert even parted company with Frist (R-Tenn.) last week on President Bush's nomination of Gen. Michael V. Hayden to head the CIA. Hastert asserted, "I don't think a military guy should be head of CIA, frankly," even as Frist called him "the ideal man for the job."
Angry constituents say GOP has repudiated Conservative goals:
"People are frustrated. They really are," said Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.), who noted he is constantly hearing from conservative constituents who question why a Republican Party that controls the White House, House and Senate so often repudiates conservative goals.
Senator Trent Lott -- "It's not my fault!"
"I understand sometimes how [voters] get frustrated with the Senate and the way we do the things we do, but I don't think it's constructive," said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), whose home-state projects in the emergency spending bill have drawn conservative ire. "And I have pleaded with the House, 'Let's not be shooting shots back and forth at each other, within our own party.' Whatever hurts us hurts them in the end."
Tom DeLay's redistricting scheme backfires:
But recent redistricting has exacerbated those natural tensions, said a member of the House leadership, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to not heighten the strain. House districts have grown increasingly partisan, more liberal in Democratic districts and more conservative in Republican districts. So when Senate Republicans tack to the center to placate their broader spectrum of voters, conservatives concentrated in Republican House districts are quick to anger.
Rank and file Conservatives hysterical over pork barrel projects:
To stop the hemorrhaging of conservative support, House leaders have taken a hard line against Senate compromise. Appealing to small-government conservatives, they have vowed not to accept any final emergency appropriations plan that spends a penny more than Bush requested for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, hurricane relief and prevention of avian flu. That would mean blocking the construction of a new railroad and a veterans retirement home in Mississippi, erosion control in California, flood relief in Hawaii and billions for drought-stricken farmers.
Norquist's Army on tax increases:
House Republicans are also listening to conservatives who were infuriated when GOP leaders reacted to rising gasoline prices by proposing tax increases to pay for gasoline rebates and by suggesting the problem lay with price-gouging by the oil companies.
The Republican Party is divided as it has ever been since the formation of the modern conservative coalition. They have no clue what they stand for anymore.