(The cartoon above is by Daryl Cagle at caglecartoons.com.)There was a time when the Republican Party was united, and their biggest worry was stopping or modifying Democratic proposals. But today, many Republicans seem to think their biggest enemies are within their own party. This was recently highlighted by a disagreement within the party over immigration reform -- with some wanting that reform so they could reach out to Hispanic voters, and others wanting to kill the reform because they think the new citizens would be Democratic voters (and still others just wanting to maintain the ethnic purity of their party).
Now the problem is showing up again. One wing of the party wants to threaten a shutdown of the government unless Obamacare is either repealed or defunded, while others in the GOP think that is unlikely and would just hurt them in the next election. The teabaggers in Congress are still threatening a shutdown, but so far, they don't have enough votes in their own party to make it happen.
And it's not just in Congress where this party infighting is taking place. An interesting thing just happened in Maine -- where 13 prominent Republicans (one of them a member of the Republican National Committee and six others member of the state party committee) have published a letter saying they no longer consider themselves to be Republicans. They believe the party, with it's right-wing governor, is not far enough to the right to suit them.
The same type of thing is happening in other states. At least three right-wing Republican senators (McConnell of Kentucky, Graham of South Carolina, Alexander of Tennessee) are going to be challenged in their state primaries -- by teabagger candidates who don't think they are right-wing enough. And the teabaggers in Texas are currently looking for a candidate to challenge John Cornyn.
This is not a fight between moderates and right-wingers. The party's moderates have been either marginalized or driven out of the party. This is a fight between right-wingers, and ultra-right-wingers who want to take the party farther to the right than it already is (a scary thought). None of those named senators (or Maine's governor) could be called anything but a right-winger. They just aren't on the ultra-right fringe, where the teabaggers that control the GOP in many states currently are.
It's actually a pretty crazy scenario, and I can't believe those in the GOP think this is something that will help the party. If the teabaggers win this fight, it will drive many Independents toward the Democrats -- and if the right-wingers win, it could drive some teabaggers out of the party (or have them sit out the next election. Either of those possible outcomes could tip the 2014 (and 2016) elections to the Democrats.
Democrats might as well put on the popcorn and get a cold drink -- because it looks like this GOP infighting will be a good show, and will continue for quite a while.
