Revenge of the 'bed-wetters'?

Posted at 10:18 AM on September 14, 2007 by Bob Collins (1 Comments)

A few months ago my mother-in-the law (perhaps the most decent person you'd ever want to meet other than, perhaps, my father-in law), announced to her daughter (whose birthday is today, by the way) that she was no longer a Republican. She'd had it with the party that -- in Massachusetts and elsewhere -- has gone to great lengths to purge the party of "Saltonstall Republicans," or -- as the far-right that controls the party would say "RINOs" -- Republicans in name only. Or, if you want to take a step further down Crass Street -- "bedwetters" as a right-wing Republican talk-show host refers to the non-far-right-wing Republicans (in this case he was referring to Rep. Jim Ramstad).

As my mother-in-law, who attends a typical New England mill-town's typical oversized Methodist Church each Sunday (that is to say, it's mostly empty and those who attend tend to be in the, shall we say, "upper demographic"), is not an evangelical, far-rightist, her lack of allegiance to the party that really didn't want her anymore anyway might come as good news, even if her pedigree -- including as the spouse of a former Republican candidate for Congress in the Massachusetts 1st District -- makes her the political version of a canary in a coal mine.

Political parties are often portrayed, of course, as everyone on one side (Republicans) against everyone on the other side (Democrats). But over a length of time they are, themselves, made up feuding parties. This is hardly news to anyone who's ever watched Democrats self-destruct with party infighting, but it's less noticeable in the Republican Party, which has been more effective at simply telling the dissenters to "get lost."

I'm thinking of this because of the sense of angst one gets these days when the subject of Rudy Giuliani comes up in Republican circles.

When he was in town a few weeks ago, he talked about "electability." He wasn't, of course, talking about a general election; he was talking about electability within the Republican Party.

The far right doesn't much care for Giuliani because of his stand on abortion and a few other issues that are litmus test issues for those who control the Republican Party.

My guess is the Republican power brokers would rather see a Republican in the White House than a Democrat. But my guess is also that the angst surrounding the possibility of Giuliani walking out of the Xcel Center next September with an endorsement, might also mean the "bedwetters" are back, and ready to assert some control over the party that worked so hard to kick them to the side back in the '90s.

Within the context of a battle for the soul of the Republican Party, the importance of the Fred Thompson candidacy becomes more apparent. As unlikely as it is that either of our two major political parties would allow a convention to begin without an outcome assured, if Thompson and Giuliani were to come to St. Paul next year without the outcome assured, we could stop focusing on the protests outside, and start considering the free-for-all between the loyalists inside the X.

It could determine the nature of American politics for a generation.

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Comments (1)

Dan Balz of the Wash Post has a post on their 'The Trail' blog relevant to this subject. He's covering Newt Gingrich, who talks about the blown opportunity the party had in 1994.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/09/14/post_72.html

I think the Newt is mostly correct - neither Fred, Rudy nor Mitt have much of a chance of winning next year. I hope he's wrong about the Dem nominee.

Posted by bsimfon | September 14, 2007 1:02 PM

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