Republican woes

Because I feel that the Republican party has pushed too far into social issues that should not be the concern of government, abandoning any genuine conservatism while enshrining feudal loyalty over competency and honesty , I believe that it must suffer a complete defeat in the fall to come to its senses to refit and regroup. It can do this but it will not be easy. Hard choices and hard battles lay ahead. Fortunately, they can almost count on the Demos giving them an assist by acting like complete idiots once they are in power, but that is for another day.

All of which is just an intro to why I take a certain vicious delight in stories like this one about how the Repubs are trying to keep the red meat social issues out of sight.

In an effort to appeal to moderates in their uphill push to retake the House, Republicans have pushed divisive social issues off center stage and replaced them with a host of pocketbook items they hope will appeal to working women, moderates and even some Democrats.

Fine, but what do they do when the moderates figure out it is the same old Party? Or, if the change really means something and the social conservative "base" figures out that the Party really means it?

De-emphasizing issues that were Republican signatures for many years is tricky. It risks alienating the party’s base in a challenging election year when it needs loyalists to turn out. And it does so when conservative Republicans are already uneasy about their party’s presumed presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

But GOP leaders see little choice. Democrats this year won three special elections in House districts long held by Republicans. The party’s campaign unit is struggling to raise funds. And polls show a strong generic preference for Democrats this year.

Me? I'm just surprised that social conservatives, the so-called Religious Right, did not figure out long ago that the elites who run the Party don't give two flips in Hades about their concerns. They are simply used for electoral clout, then forgotten. And for good reason.