Irresistible Force Meets Immobile Object

Or How The Republican Party Lost Its Spine

The subtitle should be sufficient to make it clear that the actual title is not a mistake and that "immovable" was not erroneously replaced, for it is designed to draw the distinction between the determination of the democrats and the sedentary ways of the republicans.

Just as the mighty sea, comprised of soft water, in its relentless assault on the shore will eventually erode the largest and the hardest of rocks, so have the democrats worn down the republicans, making them as sand which is easily shifted by the tide. They do not have to be moved, the sea merely grinds them down slowly, steadily and deliberately.

Over the past few decades republicans have learned from their counterparts that standing on principles does not win elections and therefore does not retain positions of power. This is important because integrity is sacrificed two-fold in the process. First, republicans abandon righteousness in favor of the retention of power by any means possible. Second, they eventually wind up adopting the positions of those who were once political and ideological foes, rendering them indistinguishable to the electorate save for the letter designation after their names. (I offer John McCain as exhibit A).

The Sonia Sotomayor saga unfolding before us is an example of this. While the democrats are fervently warning republicans of a possible backlash from the "latino community" should they dare challenge her in the vetting process, many republicans are already heeding the warning before the hearings have even begun. The race card has proven to be as reliable for the democrats as the sea lashing the shore.

It is incredibly ironic that the democrats never had to consider losing their black voting base when they savaged Clarence Thomas during his confirmation process. Perhaps it had something to do with their playing to their female voting base by bringing in Anita Hill, not only female but black, as well. (You must hand it to them, they are brilliant chess masters).

(*Side note* - Adding to that particular irony, the very people wailing about the misogyny of Clarence Thomas over some "off color" remarks were the same who rabidly defended Bill Clinton for a far worse transgression.)

Democrats also resisted the appointment of Alberto Gonzales to Attorney General, never worrying over alienating Latinos, and the media did not swoon over his ascension the way they have over Sotomayor's merely being nominated.

Democrats have a solid voting block in the black community and they are crafty in recruiting hispanics, albeit by drumming home the message that republicans don't care about them, despite the numerous positions offered them by the Bush 43 administration. Democrats can bash anyone they please regardless of ethnicity so long as the "bashee" is republican.

What republicans have managed to do is alienate the one true base they have had, and that is that of the conservatives, who now wander aimlessly in search of a candidate in whom they can believe.

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