CIVIL WAR WATCH….From the LA Times:
The social conservatives and moderates who together boosted the Republican Party to dominance have begun a tense battle over the future of the GOP, with social conservatives already moving to seize control of the party’s machinery and some vowing to limit John McCain’s influence, even if he wins the presidency.
In skirmishes around the country in recent months, evangelicals and others who believe Republicans have been too timid in fighting abortion, gay marriage and illegal immigration have won election to the party’s national committee, in preparation for a fight over the direction and leadership of the party.
Obviously this sounds crazy to liberal ears, but I guess I can’t blame them. After all, the job of a true believer is to believe. And turning elections into culture war battlefields certainly seems to have worked in the past for them.
But times change. Among vast swathes of the young, the culture war has lost its salience. Worse, it’s become an albatross, a sign of intolerance and hatred that young voters despise. The results are crystal clear in party ID polling: twenty-somethings have fled the Republican Party in numbers not seen since the Great Depression, and if social conservatives manage to wrest control of the GOP and start shrieking 24/7 about banning abortion and hating gay people, they’ll be guaranteeing Democratic dominance among an entire cohort of voters for decades to come.
Which is fine with me, of course. But the adults in the Republican Party better plan on knocking heads very hard and very fast if they don’t share my attitude. Sarah Palin isn’t the future of their party, she’s the future of mine.
