The Great Divide

This past week Rush Limbaugh resigned as the "titular head" of the GOP,yet he is still preferred by prominent Republicans like Dick Cheney and Karl Rove. Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Rove was asked who he sided with,Chris Wallace asked "[Cheney] sided with Limbaugh. Do you?" Rove responded, "Yes, if I had to pick between the two, But, you know what? Neither one of those are candidates, Neither one of those are going to be people who are offering themselves for office." This is not surprising as the Republican Party splinters. Right leaning pundits, bloggers, and politicians have made it clear they are not the least bit interested in moderates within the party. I can assume that others will soon be banished. Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins have long been criticized for occasionally voting with the Democratic Party, Arlen Specter was scolded for his defection last month. Tom Ridge is likely going to find himself on the GOP hit list. Ridge, the former Secretary of Homeland Security appeared on CNN, and stated that Cheney's claim is wrong that we are less under President Obama and called Limbaugh "shrill".

While the GOP struggles with it's identity crisis, they are focused on attacking Speaker Pelosi and President Obama over marginal issues, they are shifting further to the right. The country strongly rejected the far right in the last two elections. For many people I know, they are best represented as independents by the Republicans new standard. My own mother, who voted for Bush twice and then turned to Dennis Kucinich in the primary. A close friend of mine who's son is likely to be deployed to Afghanistan votes Republican , but is unabashedly liberal on social issues. Learning from their losing streak from 1994 to 2006, the Democratic Party found room for moderates in the party, and it attacted votes in our favor. I personally would prefer a more liberal party, but I am certainly not willing to force out the likes of Senators Bayh or Begich. While the Republicans twist in the wind, and get media attention for controversial statements, the liberals, the moderates, and the left of center Democrats focus on repairing the country.