Dems are poised for one of their most unified national conventions in recent memory. Our friends on the other side of the aisle? Not so much.
More than half the Republicans in the House have signed a formal complaint to President Bush about the failure to give prominent conservative, pro-life party members even one prime-time speaking role at the Republican National Convention.
A letter signed by 127 of the 227 House Republicans, including the chairmen of several powerful committees, urges Mr. Bush to add Rep. Henry J. Hyde, Illinois Republican and longtime abortion foe, to what is a mostly pro-choice cast of speakers at the Aug. 30-Sept. 2 convention in New York.
Oddly enough, even if these House members are successful and Hyde is added to the guest list, the number of abortion rights advocates (Giuliani, Pataki, Bloomberg, and Schwarzenegger) will still outnumber opponents (McCain, Miller, and possibly Hyde) among the convention’s prime-time speakers. This from the party that has been committed to outlawing the procedure, through constitutional amendment if necessary, for over a generation.
But the more important point, at least with regards to the election, is that the GOP is still very much a divided house.
The pre-convention rebellion by so many conservative House members is driven by re-election concerns and frustration over policy differences with the White House in the past 31/2 years, Capitol Hill Republicans said privately.
United, optimistic political parties usually don’t have more than half of its House caucus revolting over the speakers’ list at their convention. For this reason alone, I can only hope this argument continues to distract Karl Rove and other party leaders.
Ultimately, however, I can’t figure out the end-game here. The far-right is feeling cheated. Fine. What are they prepared to do about it?