Saturday, May 28, 2005
Over the Top
A few months ago some talking heads predicted that the Republican Party would start to fracture. This week I saw convincing evidence that such a fracture is occurring. Consider the following:
- Majority leader Bill Frist was not able to achieve the end of the filibuster in the Senate as a tool to block abominable nominations to the federal courts. A group of 14 Senators, seven Democrats and seven Republicans, joined to craft a "compromise" that denied Frist the majority he needed to end the filibuster rule.
- By a substantial majority, the House of Representatives voted to fund embryonic stem cell research in spite of Mr. Bush's threat to veto the measure.
- At least one Republican Senator, George Voinovich of Ohio, publicly expressed his dismay at the President's choice of John Bolton to represent our nation at the UN.
It seems to me that the influence of the "Bible Belt" on the Republican Party and on national policy has peaked. I hope it's all down hill from here.
