Lubbock
07-11-2006, 05:35 AM
BEFORE YOU START THIS, KEEP TWO THINGS UPPERMOST IN YOUR MIND: 1.) You need a barf bag; 2.) E. J. Dionne is a charter member of the Clinton Knee Pad Society.
The GOP's Looming Battle
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; A17
As it looks beyond the elections of 2006, a Republican Party known for ideological solidarity is on the cusp of a far more searching philosophical battle than are the Democrats, historically accustomed to bruising fights over the finer points of political theory.
The coming Republican brawl reflects the fact that President Bush will leave office with no obvious heir, and Bushism as a political philosophy has yet to establish itself in the way that Reaganism did.
Moreover, the four top candidates in most polls for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination -- Sen. John McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former House speaker Newt Gingrich -- all promise very different styles of leadership.
The Democrats, in the meantime, are engaged in an argument over a question rooted more in social psychology than policy: Can Hillary win?
True, there is some debate over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's stance on Iraq, and a few on the party's left criticize her as too centrist. But much of the Democratic discussion has to do with whether the New York senator will be helped or hurt by her public image and her close ties to a certain former president. The Hillary talk is more about persona than ideology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071001104_pf.html
The GOP's Looming Battle
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, July 11, 2006; A17
As it looks beyond the elections of 2006, a Republican Party known for ideological solidarity is on the cusp of a far more searching philosophical battle than are the Democrats, historically accustomed to bruising fights over the finer points of political theory.
The coming Republican brawl reflects the fact that President Bush will leave office with no obvious heir, and Bushism as a political philosophy has yet to establish itself in the way that Reaganism did.
Moreover, the four top candidates in most polls for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination -- Sen. John McCain, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts and former House speaker Newt Gingrich -- all promise very different styles of leadership.
The Democrats, in the meantime, are engaged in an argument over a question rooted more in social psychology than policy: Can Hillary win?
True, there is some debate over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's stance on Iraq, and a few on the party's left criticize her as too centrist. But much of the Democratic discussion has to do with whether the New York senator will be helped or hurt by her public image and her close ties to a certain former president. The Hillary talk is more about persona than ideology.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/10/AR2006071001104_pf.html