Of theocrats and moderates: A deadly virus is brewing in the GOP. Could this be the next political pandemic?
Across the country, federal, state, and local officials like are trying to figure out how the United States would cope with a political virus, one that would be very different from the usual scandals that strike each year. A nationwide pandemic would be caused by a new, lethal political virus, one to which Republicans would have no immunity. The new virus would spread around the country within weeks and could infect one third of all Republicans. That's what happened in 1992, when Bush Fatigue Syndrome turned off over
44 million voters in eight months; some historians place the total turned off at
64 million.
As noted in the first update, BFS is already affecting up to 49% of the American electorate. But as it approaches pandemic levels, it is spreading quickly among three different GOP communities: moderates, rabid theocrats, and small-government conservatives. Let's again examine developments in these communities one-by-one:
Moderates:
NYTimes:
DeLay Quietly Steps Out of the Schiavo Spotlight
..."The public is beginning to sense a whiff of extremism in the Republican leadership in the House and the Senate," said Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. "If it continues, it could prove very detrimental to them and good for us."
It is not just Democrats who share that view. In a regular e-mail commentary he distributes, former Senator Dave Durenberger, Republican of Minnesota, wrote, "If I were a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota in 2006, I would make DeLay the issue in the campaign right now."
WaPo:
House Leaders Agree to Vote on Relaxing Stem Cell Limits
The House leadership has agreed to allow a floor vote on a bill that would loosen the restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research imposed by President Bush in 2001, according to members of Congress and others privy to the arrangement.
The vote, expected to take place within the next two to three months, would be the first of its kind on the politically charged topic since Bush declared much of the research off-limits to federal funding....
Support for the research appears to be growing. Last year 206 members of the House, including 31 Republicans and many opposed to abortion, signed letters asking Bush to reconsider, as did 58 senators. A survey of 1,054 adults, conducted for the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and due to be released today, finds that more than two-thirds of Americans support the research.
But with opposition still vocal -- and the White House repeatedly shooting down rumors that it might expand federal support -- Congressional leaders have opted until now to avoid an up-or-down vote.
Rabid Theocrats:
Orlando Sentinel:
Schiavo protesters aim ire at Gov. Bush
...As the time slipped away, the hopes, pleas and anger of Schiavo's parents and their supporters were directed at Gov. Jeb Bush -- the man once viewed as their champion in the case.
But the governor, who stayed in his office most of the day, said that although he wants to help, there doesn't appear to be anything more he can do.
Outside the Governor's Mansion, about two dozen demonstrators endured heavy rain and focused on what they called their last hope.
One carried a sign reading, "Jeb, You Shall Not Murder." Other placards likened the governor to Pontius Pilate, suggesting Bush was unwilling to intervene to help the 41-year-old severely brain-damaged woman.
Palm Beach Post
Case proves a quagmire for governor
He has been criticized before, even excoriated, but Gov. Jeb Bush now finds himself in a no-win situation as supporters condemn him for not doing enough -- or doing too much -- for a brain-damaged woman near death in a hospice bed half a state away....
The Rev. Pat Mahoney, director of the Christian Defense Coalition, said, "He clearly believed that the civil rights of Terri Schiavo were being violated and that she would be suffering a barbaric death through starvation and dehydration if this were allowed to go on."
But, Mahoney added, the governor "is showing the lack of political will to challenge this court order" stopping Bush and state officials from intervening on Schiavo's behalf....
TV evangelist Pat Robertson said: "The governor can do it, if he wants to. I don't know why in the world they didn't take custody away" from Michael Schiavo.
Sun-Sentinel:
Schiavo efforts may be sign of future battles in Congress
...But the president and his brother may find that their religious conservative base may not be satisfied. Religious Web sites and bloggers have called for the president or his brother to continue to fight for Schiavo, with some going so far as to suggest they send in troops and take Schiavo under state protective custody.
"The whole Christian community is speaking out for Terri Schiavo ... I have never seen anything like it," said Pastor Ed Martin, an Ocala anti-abortion activist who has been among the protesters outside the hospice where Schiavo lives.
Martin believes that energy will translate to other culture of life issues in the coming months. He also thinks politicians will feel repercussions at the polls....
Bob Poe, the former chairman of the Florida Democratic Party, thinks Republicans may have set off a chain of events they cannot control.
WaPo:
Conservatives Split in Debate on Curbing Illegal Immigration
Republican lawmakers are headed for a showdown over illegal immigration, an issue that exposes a deep and bitter rift within the GOP.
The drama will unfold when Congress returns early next month and turns to finish an emergency spending bill to fund the Iraq war. The House version, approved before the Easter break, carries tough immigration restrictions, reigniting a long-simmering battle with the Senate over how to deal with the growing illegal population....
Rancor over illegal immigration has become a staple on conservative blogs and talk radio, with much of the wrath directed at Bush. Stein, of the immigration reform group, said the president has dragged his heels on security improvements and "is not leading the American people on this issue."
The outcry may be resonating. House Rules Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) got a jolt during his 2004 reelection campaign, when radio hosts in his outer Los Angeles district decided to make him a "political human sacrifice" for his immigration views, Dreier said, accusing him, among other things, of advocating Social Security benefits for illegal immigrants.
Small-Government Conservatives:
WaPo:
Schiavo case tests GOP alliances, priorities
...Republican lawmakers and others engaged in the debate say an internal party dispute over the Schiavo case has ruptured, at least temporarily, the uneasy alliance between economic and social conservatives that twice helped President Bush get elected.
"Advocates of using federal power to keep this woman alive need to seriously study the polling data that's come out on this," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, who has been talking to both social and economic conservatives about the fallout. "I think that a lot of conservative leaders assumed there was broader support for saying that they wanted to have the federal government save this woman's life."
ThinkProgress:
Schiavo and Congress: The Rocky Reaction
In Casper, Wyoming (the home state of Vice President Dick Cheney), the local newspaper's editorial board wrote "Congress doesn't belong at Schiavo's bedside any more than Schiavo belongs in an appearance before a Senate panel...The same fate that eventually awaits Terri Schiavo awaits us all, and there's little Congress can - or should - do about it."
In Boise, Idaho, it was the same. The Idaho Statesman chastised its congressional delegation for supporting Congress's action in the case. "Our politicians should not try to head off human tragedy case by case," wrote the editorial board. "When they do, they injure the political process. This sets a disquieting precedent, in which right-to-life decisions are subject to political whim."
The Great Falls Tribune in my home state of Montana wrote "This heartbreaker is made even more wretched by the infusion of politics...We doubt most families make end-of-life decisions based on their political parties. Politicians should butt out of this case."
Even the Salt Lake Tribune, from archconservative Utah, said House Majority Leader Tom Delay shouldn't use the Schiavo case to "hide behind God" and distract attention from the ethics charges surrounding him.