Quote of note:
Richard A. Viguerie, an architect of the conservative movement, said activists held their tongues for nearly five years as Bush expanded the federal role in education, imposed tariffs on imported steel, secured a prescription drug benefit for Medicare, and oversaw the rapid expansion of federal spending.
"But we did that because it was all about the courts, all about the courts, all about the courts," Viguerie said. "Then when he betrayed us on a Supreme Court nominee, that just woke us all up."
Reality of note:
People have spoken of the fragmented interests that make up the Democratic Party's base for years. Still do. But the fact is the Republican Party's base is just as fragmented, if not more...and always has been.
Republican interest groups were united by a single fact: fear that a progressive policy would force them to move into a world they don't control. The greatest enemy of any Conservative movement is the passage of time.
Yes, change can be blocked temporarily but only temporarily. And each faction in the Republican Party has been led to believe they are the driving force behind party "philosophy."
The fragmentation of the Republican Party was inevitable. There has never been a monocultural society on either of the American continents, so the only governing philosophy that stands a chance of surviving is a Progressive one.
The Rift's Repercussions Could Last Rest of Term
By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, October 28, 2005; A08
The withdrawal of Harriet Miers's nomination to the Supreme Court yesterday was a triumph for conservative activists, but some of the drama's lead players said the bruising battle between erstwhile allies may have left scars for the remainder of President Bush's term.
Those who opposed Miers as insufficiently qualified and unreliably conservative said yesterday they would use their new zeal and organization to drive Bush not only to pick an outwardly conservative nominee but also to press a more conservative agenda through his last three years in office. Some accused those who stuck with Miers as showing themselves more loyal to the White House than their stated conservative principles.
Those who stuck with Miers warned that the White House will long remember the activists who turned on the president's nominee and are not likely to be receptive to their demands.
"This is an enormously significant event for conservatives, no doubt about that," said Manuel A. Miranda, a former top aide to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), who led the conservative drive to scuttle Miers's confirmation. "It will be stamped across our foreheads for years: Which side were you on in the Miers fight?"
