Bp, it is you that is not seeing clearly.
There are two sides to the Republican party these days, and they are deeply divided. The side that has a moderate social voice and focuses on economic issues, such as a balanced budget, lower taxes, reform of failing big government programs such as welfare, has a lot of support from independents, and sometimes even some democrats. That's the side of the Republicans that Michelle and I often like. (And truth be told, Gingrich is actually the creative wellspring of this side, though he isn't thought to be such by the public at large, because of his often strident partisan voice.)
The Christian Coalition, Religious Right, "pro family" side of the Republican party is what the country was turning away from yesterday. It's the inheritor of those social forces which were previously (and still are to some considerable extent) natavist, intolerant, racist, etc. That side feels passionately that their religiously derived views on abortion should be forced on everyone, including those with different beliefs. Same thing on school prayer. Same thing on the impeachment issues -- which is really a (heavily hypocritical) judgment that sexual misbehavior in our national leader is utterly intolerable, and a matter of the highest importance.
That is a very real side of the Republican party as well, and it is those intolerant and extremist views which the public is turning away from. If the Republicans are smart, they will turn away from that side of their party as well.
Doug |
