The Republican Party Should Just Split Already: Part Two

Back in my July 8 post, The Republican Party Should Just Split Already, I suggested that the Republican Party should split in two because it was fairly obvious that "the conservatism that is supposed to define the current Republican Party has different meanings to different people. Fiscal conservatives may have nothing in common with religious conservatives other than the term conservative" and it has become increasingly clear that the two groups have differing agendas. I concluded that "The Republicans should get on it with it but first they would have to decide who keeps the Republican Party name and who becomes the newly chartered Conservative Party, a fine name I believe."

Well, it looks like the Conservative Party is taking shape as witnessed by the battle in NY's 23rd district between the "Conservative" (Republican) candidate, Doug Hoffman and the "Republican" candidate, Dede Scozzafava. Sarah Palin and Dick Armey have jumped in on the side of Hoffman, soundly criticizing Scozzafava, the GOP sanctioned candidate, as not being conservative enough, and have expedited an armload of outlander cash Hoffman's way. In this fairly unremarkable district that has been solidly Republican since the 1800s, the schism within the Republican party took center stage. Scozzafava decided to drop out before tomorrow's vote due to a big slide in her poll numbers but she did something remarkable and endorsed the Democratic candidate, Bill Owens, clearly demonstrating that the schism is widening.

Since Reagan, when I first became cognitively aware of the party politics, it never seemed right to me that religious conservatives from the heartland and corporate Republicans shared the same party. Somehow they managed to keep this all cobbled together until last year when the base of the base whipped up by Palin, Joe the Plumber and the like could no longer go unnoticed by the big money folks on K Street and Wall Street. I don't know how much longer they indeed to sit on the fence and watch the gutting of the Party.

I'm sure there is plenty more to come whatever the outcome tomorrow. But the Peter Principle lurks and one of these narrow-minded hypocrites could make a serious run for President. This is, after all, America.