Eugene Robinson: The GOP’s Growing Divide

[babylonsister]

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_gops_growing_divide_20131226

The GOP’s Growing Divide
Posted on Dec 26, 2013
By Eugene Robinson

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If only the GOP had a message.

There is one proposition on which the party’s warring factions agree: “We don’t like Obama’s Affordable Care Act.” But there is a lack of consensus, to put it mildly, on how this visceral dislike of a president and his signature policy initiative should translate into concrete political action.

For Republicans—to invert a classic George W. Bush bon mot—Obamacare has somehow become a divider, not a uniter. In a year when the GOP may have a legitimate chance of capturing the Senate, several primary contests appear likely to devolve into bloody battles over Obama’s health care reforms—not whether to oppose them, but how.

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The no-compromises GOP base is fertile fundraising territory for potential future presidential candidates, such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and for pressure groups such as Heritage Action and the Club for Growth. So these provocateurs can be counted on to keep far-right anger and resentment at a rolling boil—and resist the establishment’s attempt to lower the temperature.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is expected to spend up to $50 million to ensure that the Republican Party chooses no extremist “loser candidates” for Senate races. As Scott Reed, the chamber’s chief political strategist, told The Wall Street Journal: “That will be our mantra: No fools on our ticket.”

Wanna bet?