Econocracy

Weekly, it seems that there is a new conflict arising in the Republican Party. Steele and Limbaugh, Cheney and Bush, Cheney and Powell, Cornyn and Gringrich.

The latest is between Newt Gringrich and Rush Limbaugh against John Cornyn, a Junior Senator from Texas, who serves as the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cornyn released a statement denouncing the comments of Gringrich and Limbaugh, in which they called Sonia Sotomayor, Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, a racist.

Gringrich and Limbaugh made the comments on the basis of her comments in a speech in 2001, in which she said that “I would hope that a wise Latina woman, with the richness of her experiences, would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.”

Cornyn retaliated, defending Sotomayor across party lines saying their comments were “terrible”, and that “This is not the kind of tone any of us want to set when it comes to performing our constitutional responsibilities of advise and consent.”

The last blow he dealt was reminding the media present that “Neither one of these men are elected Republican officials.”

It seems this divide is widening in the party, with 2 camps arising. On one side, Cheney, Gringrich, and Limbaugh, on the other, Steele, Powell, and Jindal.

The progressive republicans, taking the face of the Democratic party, while still embracing the ideals of the Republican platform, are by and large, more widely supported by Americans. In a recent poll, only 30 percent of Americans held a favorable opinion of Rush Limbaugh, and only 37 percent held a favorable opinion of Dick Cheney, while 70 percent held a favorable opinion of Colin Powell. Granted, within the Republican party, all three sit within 60-70 percent, but America is losing faith in the party, the last election seemed to show.

Is it getting to the point that association with the Republican Party name is becoming a curse? Is a new face of the Republican party simply not going to cut it?

Moreover, as the divide worsens, the unity of the Republican Party will be compromised, resulting in a divide of candidate support, party direction, and bloc voting.

Call me a radical, but maybe it is time for a new political party to form, bridging the mindset gap between the two factions? I worry that potential candidates, such as Bobby Jindal, are simply incapable of winning a national election simply due to association.