Still Waiting

David Kirpatrick's report on the recent meeting of the Council for National Policy (basically, a kind of conservative meta-organization dominated by Christian gorups) is interesting. Basically, as you'd expect, few are enthusiastic about John "Agents of Intolerance" McCain, Rudy Giuliani, or Multiple Choice Mitt. At the same time, they're reluctant to throw their support behind a Mike Huckabee only to have their choice lose. People forget, but that kind of thing is always a huge factor in interest groups politics. When making a primary endorsement, it's critical to try your best to pick a winner, lest your power wound up exposed as fairly illusory.

Comments

What's most striking to me from this article is the way that the hard right seems to be turning into a clusterfuck of interest groups almost perfectly analogical to the Democratic party of the 80s.

But foes of illegal immigration objected to [Brownback's] support for a temporary guest worker program, and some faulted him for touching only briefly on the threat of Islamic terrorists, an increasingly central focus of the council and many social conservative groups since the Sept. 11 attacks.

Brownback: doesn't hate Mexicans enough, doesn't hate Muslims enough.

But several people at the council meeting said [Hunter's] stance on trade alienated the business wing of the Republican Party, compounding his substantial fund-raising challenges.

Hunter: not deeply enough in the pocket of K Street.

But many conservatives, including several participants in the Amelia Island meeting, said Mr. Huckabee faced resistance from the limited-government, antitax wing of their movement. Some antitax activists fault Mr. Huckabee for presiding over tax and spending increases. (He says the only tax increase resulted from a public referendum.)

In the interview, though, Mr. Huckabee said he was now leaning toward signing a pledge not to raise income taxes that is presented to all the candidates by Mr. Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform.

Huckabee: hasn't kissed up to Grover Norquist and the ultra-wealthy enough. But he's gonna try!

What's great here is that there seems to be no way out for hte Republicans. Either they'll nominate a moderate who might have trouble turning out the base, or they'll nominate their own Dukakis, an interest-group panderer.

There's so much time for things to change, but the dynamics of '08 look incredibly good right now.

Posted by DivGuy | February 25, 2007 12:42 PM

" it's critical to try your best to pick a winner, lest your power wound up exposed as fairly illusory."

Aha! Now we see the real reason why Matthew wants to back Obama or Edwards over his real love, Bill Richardson. :)

Posted by Frank Bruno | February 25, 2007 3:36 PM

"it's critical to try your best to pick a winner, lest your power wound up exposed as fairly illusory."

Guess that explains the support Lieberman got last time, from people who should have known better.

Posted by SJ | February 26, 2007 4:31 AM

D'oh. Ya got me, Matt.

Posted by SJ | February 26, 2007 5:07 AM