What do you know; the whining worked.
After protests from the party’s conservative wing, the Republican National Committee has invited several conservative Republicans to speak during the presidential nominating convention, which begins next month in New York.
Additions include Sens. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Sam Brownback of Kansas and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois, three of the most prominent conservatives in Congress.
My initial thought was that the party (and the Bush White House) might want to be more careful; if the GOP jumps every time the far-right starts whining, it’ll set a bad precedent. But then I realized how foolish my reaction was — the far-right already knows it can get anything it wants from the Republicans just by whining so the precedent has already been firmly established.
The next fight, of course, is exactly when we’ll be hearing from fringe lawmakers like Santorum. It seems like the prime-time slots have already been taken up by the moderates the party’s rank-and-file hate — Giuliani, Pataki, Schwarzenegger — so what slot will the real conservatives get?
The GOP base may not be entirely satisfied with Santorum giving a five-minute address on a Wednesday morning. The point wasn’t just to get some token right-wingers on the speakers’ list; they want people like Santorum to play a significant role at the convention.
Yesterday’s announcement seems like short-term appeasement. The party may have bought itself some time, but it won’t be long until Paul Weyrich is on the phone with Karl Rove demanding more.