Has Bush finally succeeded in "dividing" the Republican Party?

[kentuck]

Since he has divided the rest of the world already? Has it now blown up in his hand like an "early" firecracker? And is it only a temporary estrangement? Will he be able to bring them back into the fold without much difficulty? Or will this turn into a permanent split - especially if there are other failures in Iraq and with the economic situations in this country? How serious is this for the Repubs?

[sarcasmo]

1. Divide and Conquer, Thanks King Chimp for helping us in 08.

Unless of course the King declares Martial Law thanks to Peak Oil in 08.

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Koss thinks so

and Buchannan hinted at an internal civil war no matter the result in november...

I think both of them are right

By the way, GO JEB GO, show to the people how crazy and radical you republicans are...

[ewagner]

3. Dubya has started back-tracking

already.......

he's trying to hide from his own monster...one that he created...

JEB,on the other hand, is caught between the proverbial rock and hard place...he's cultivated the hate and now he must harvest it....or be exposed as the fraud he really is....

[Sandpiper]

4. I think George's actions have enlarged a rift that was already there

Between the small-government, states rights conservatives, and the far right religious nuts.

Bush pandered to the nut jobs in this case, only to discover that they made up a lot less of the party than he thought.

[TwilightZone]

5. Actually, for the first time in his presidency, he's become a uniter.

Nearly everyone is united in their belief that he and Congress should have stayed out of this case.

[deadparrot]

6. Let's give it time

to sink in. I think there's a good chance. However, the American people are have notoriously short memories.

[HereSince1628]

7. No but he has revealled a libertine trait in the republican base...

Conservatism is generally tolerant of authoritarianism. The radical right with its reliance on religious authority is one manifestation of that. The discipline of elected lawmakers to toe the ideological line has been another.

But, what we've seen in the Shiavo case is evidence that the Republican base actually has very strong anti-authoritarian sentiments on the issue of government involvement in personal and family decisions.

If Dems can frame their issues as enabling personal and family level decisions free of big government, Dems may be able to exploit that libertine sentiment.