Now that political cover is more important and party unity less unified for the GOP, cracks are showing between two factions, the far-right and the misguided near-right. Politics and necessity to back the sitting president, not to mention the
corrupt GOP leadership, may keep them all in line. But what is currently breaking them apart are budget concerns.
Just listen to Scarborough, a certified shill with the campaign pictures to prove it, rail once in a while against deficits and you know how divisive this issue is for them. Maybe it stems from the recent sea change in GOP policy, from actual principles (smaller more efficient government, balanced budgets, tax cuts coupled with spending cuts) to simply backing Bush with whatever he wants to do. Maybe it is conscience or guilt for what they had to endure to support Bush in the election. Maybe they realize they have no skills and no prospects for non-governmental jobs (in the words of
Weird Al,
I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed / but remember if you kill him then you'll be unemployed). Or maybe, just maybe, budgetary issues are the one policy that sensible Republicans won't compromise on.
There are presently two factions within the GOP - starve the obese beasters (SOB's) and fiscal responsibility / entitlement trustees. (FRETters) These used to be at odds, but it seems like the SOB's have won. Note that:
1. The SOB philosophy fits well into an apocalyptic worldview (no government needed upon the 2nd coming, all governments will fall prior to the rapture).
2. It is very appealing for the rural poor / lower middle class to give the finger to an entity that they think is responsible only for taking 1/3 of their paycheck and using it to promote dung Madonnas.
3. The SOB philosophy is a prime tool for all those who seek to subvert the government for profit (ie regulated industries like pharmaceuticals), for influence (ie churches, cults of various stripe), as a means to wealth (lobbyists, news outlets, talk shows, lots of other corporations and powerful individuals), and of course as a general principle (militiamen and anarchists, white supremacists).
4. With high rewards for party loyalty, many previous GOP fiscal conservatives may have changed their tune. Or, perhaps they see we are beyond the point of no return and have simply shrugged.
5. On the other hand, how many SOB's reconsider and start to think, maybe we should prevent the government from collapsing? Once they've convinced themselves that they're better off with no government, it's hard to see how to convince them otherwise.
Another point: it looks like Bush was wrong to bring out these huge budgetary reforms first. He simply cannot win this battle with his own party, as is becoming clear. A snow job (which this clearly is, being that he is demanding support for a plan whose details he refuses to make public; déjà vu all over again) might work on the tax code, or tort reform, or even going to war, but apparently the FRETters will actually balk at the prospect of bankrupting the government.
We hope.
