Conservatives in disarray
Noticing a growing fracture between the traditional funders of the conservative movement and the Republicans dancing to Tea Party polka in Congress. This latest manifestation went pretty much under the radar. Find it rather stunning that Richard Mellon Scaife came out in public defense of Planned Parenthood. From his editorial:
[Big thanks to Michael J.W. Stickings sitting in for Mike's Blog Roundup for the kind link. If you're not reading the stellar group at Michael's blog every day -- well -- you should be.]
Now the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives — urged on by conservatives opposed to abortion — has voted to defund Planned Parenthood.It appears Scaife can see the edge of the cliff. Of course the Tea Party Congresscreatures aren't going to listen. It's clear they intend to leap into the abyss.
On this issue, Republicans and conservatives are dead wrong. [...]
Abortions are a minor aspect of Planned Parenthood’s mission to provide reproductive health care, education and other services to Americans, regardless of income.
More than 90 percent of its work focuses on preventing unintended pregnancies that almost inevitably lead to unwanted, neglected and abused children.
[Big thanks to Michael J.W. Stickings sitting in for Mike's Blog Roundup for the kind link. If you're not reading the stellar group at Michael's blog every day -- well -- you should be.]
Labels: conservatism, Republicans
posted by Libby Spencer at 10:19 AM
4 Comments:
The difference between our fathers' GOP and today's is more than cosmetic. The goal of the Tea Partiers seems to be not only to reduce government but to destroy it.
They won't realize just what that means until their children suffer constant asthma attacks because the air has been fouled, their families are sickened by the tainted food they've purchased at the local market, and their homes burn down because the fire fighters can't get their in time because of badly maintained roads.
By then, of course, it will be too late for all of us.
Truly, the GOP has last its grip on reality entirely. For the leaders, it's about power and money. For the deluded followers, they're hellbent on pissing off liberals, even if it kills them. They don't care, as long as they think they won something.
Very stupid. And very sad.
Interesting, what Schaife said. But he doesn't have a history, so far as I'm aware, of donating to social conservatives. He famously interviewed Hillary Clinton during the primaries and declared her impressive, and his newspapers endorsed her glowingly. I doubt the fact that he disagrees with some on the right to some small degree on social issues makes him a more perceptive on the direction of the party than he has been before, so reflects any particular schism in the conservative movement that hasn't been there in the past.
Wonder of wonders. Richard Mellon Scaife and Gloria Steinhem are on the same page re Planned Parenthood.
It seems that the conservatives are not the monolithic bloc that we've seen regarding the GOP's voting record in Congress.
Do I dare feel optimistic again?
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