Sunday, March 15, 2009

Schism? “If Republicans won’t take a stand now, when will they?”

Frank Rich tosses some dirt on the corpses (Technically, we should say zombified corpses, as Mr. Rich expects them to be back in 40 or so yrs.) of the Culture Warriors, & refers to the ARIS & GSS. Who else has done that lately?
[Republicans would] rather, like Cantor, just change the subject — much as they avoid talking about Bush and avoid reckoning with the doomed demographics of the G.O.P.’s old white male base. To recognize all these failings would be to confront why a once-national party can now be tucked into the Bible Belt. The religious right is even more in denial than the Republicans. When Obama nominated Kathleen Sebelius, the Roman Catholic Kansas governor who supports abortion rights, as his secretary of health and human services, Tony Perkins, the leader of the Family Research Council, became nearly as apoplectic as the other Tony Perkins playing Norman Bates. “If Republicans won’t take a stand now, when will they?” the godly Perkins thundered online. But Congressional Republicans ignored him, sending out (at most) tepid press releases of complaint, much as they did in response to Obama’s stem-cell order. The two antiabortion Kansas Republicans in the Senate, Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, both endorsed Sebelius.
Rich doesn't mention it, but the editorially applied headline, "The Culture Warriors Get Laid Off," is quite apt. 202 "warriors" were let go from Focus on the Family last fall. Link based info here, from another lefty source. 
At the moment, our fondest hope is that a Christian or Judeo-Christian Sharia Party will spin off from the Grand Old & Getting No Younger Party, while the country club, glibertarian, no-taxes-or-regulation wing of the Party laughs at them from the 19th hole. Wouldn't that be nice?

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