Editorial
Fratricide
One of the more fascinating Republican presidential nominating contests is about to conclude, with the two bandaged candidates ending their contest in only slightly better condition than the party’s wounded membership.
Once again, the Republican Party has demonstrated its propensity to eat its own. The economic supply-side conservatives, the religious conservatives, and the just-plain-conservative conservatives have gained the upper hand in the party, forsaking the hope of winning a general election by staying true to their ideology. George Bush, conservative, has almost certainly vanquished John McCain, the moderately positioned conservative. All seem to agree that McCain would have stood a better chance against Al Gore than Bush. And Bush has almost certainly had to careen further to the right than he wished in order to win his party’s blessing.
One of the more misunderstood notions about conservatives is that they are a practical people. In fact, they are among the more romantic, theoretical, pie-in-the-sky crowds around. Limited government, massive tax cuts for individuals, and a government infused with religious values are all fine and wonderful things to theorize about. The real-life applications, however, are more problematic.
Early on in the nomination process, Bush appeared to understand this. His notion of ”compassionate conservatism“ appeared to assert that, on the one hand, certain morays of conservative political thought apply. On the other hand, Bush seemed to say, government still has a role to play in helping the least among us and that conservative actions can have negative consequences. When the Republican Congress wanted to ditch certain tax breaks to low-income earners, for instance, Bush said that was the wrong thing to do. Poor folks need help; we conservatives ought to supply some.
It seemed for a long time that, so positioned, Bush wouldn’t be outflanked on his left wing; after all, he was the moderate. But then McCain suddenly arrived, bringing with him the resumé of a warrior and the message of a Perotista. Suddenly, with moderates and Democrats flocking to McCain, Bush had to dart right. The ease with which he personally transformed himself was both astounding and unsettling.
He hugged Bob Jones. He quit describing himself as a compassionate conservative. And, firmly allied with the conservative wing of the party, he started taking McCain’s head off in some of the toughest negative campaigning ever witnessed.
The old split of the Republican Party used to be Main Street vs. Wall Street. The contemporary schism in the party is Religious/Economic/Racial Zealot vs. The Normal Sane Ones.
George Bush has almost certainly won the battle, by cobbling together a coalition of the zealots with a bunch of his father’s friends and associates. But he has done nothing in the process to win the war in November.
If you thought George Bush ran a nasty race against John McCain, wait until you see what he does to Al Gore. For that matter, wait until you see what Gore does to him. Things will get more brutal still.
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