One of the strongest proponents of the nuclear option, Rick Santorum, is getting
weak in the knees thanks to the polls.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), a leading advocate of the "nuclear option" to end the Democrats' filibuster of judicial nominees, is privately arguing for a delay in the face of adverse internal party polls.
Details of the polling numbers remain under wraps, but Santorum and other Senate sources concede that, while a majority of Americans oppose the filibuster, the figures show that most also accept the Democratic message that Republicans are trying to destroy the tradition of debate in the Senate.
The Republicans are keeping the "nuclear" poll numbers secret, whereas they have often in the past been keen to release internal survey results that favor the party. David Winston, head of the Winston Group, which conducts Senate GOP polls, did return phone calls seeking comment.
Confirming public disquiet over the "nuclear" or "constitutional" option, Santorum said, "Our polling shows that." But, he added, public thinking had been muddied by what he called false Democratic arguments that checks and balances were being eroded.
Amazing what the Democrats can do when they remain united, huh? Turning numbers against the GOP on issues like the nuclear option and social security.
Santorum, who during the Clinton impeachment dismissed polls as irrelevent as he cast his "guilty" votes, doesn't just have those internal party polls to worry about. There's also his Senate race numbers, which show him losing early ground to Casey in moderate Pennsylvania, losing 49-35.
Those internal polls are actually quite revealing, and give added credibility to this column by the GOP's Mr. CW -- Dick Morris.
With the filibuster decision bookended by the Terry Schiavo case before and a Supreme Court confirmation battle likely following it, the issue has the potential to spell disaster for the Republican Party.
Now that Iraq seems to be more pacified and the war on terror is receding as the key national issue, Bush can no longer count on his success in protecting America to anchor his popularity. His inept handling of the Social Security reform issue further drains his approval ratings.
But an attempt to switch the rules in the middle of the game on judicial filibusters will really make his alliance with the Christian right the main issue in his second-term presidency, with disastrous results.
Americans are simply not on board with his Moral Majority agenda. They voted for Bush twice -- or once -- despite his advocacy of a pro-life position, and his Schiavo posturing alienated moderate voters even more. His attempt to bar a filibuster will be seen as an effort to steamroll America into accepting the radical-right agenda on moral issues and will cost Bush the ballast he needs to appeal to the center of American politics.
Morris bases much of his column on a Newsweek poll showing opposition to the filibuster, but I wouldn't be surprised if he hasn't seen his party's internal polling. He uses words like "disaster for the Republican Party" in a way that's simply not borne out by the Newsweek poll.
And I think Morris gets this one particularly right -- people probably won't react to the elimination of Senate tradition. Rather, it'll be the pattern of pandering to the Radical Right, the American Taliban, that is becoming increasingly apparent to even the casual observer.
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