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Energize 'em! Pick a Fight. Any Fight.By Rick Horowitz "Right now our folks are feeling a little flat. They need a reason to get engaged, and fights over judges will do that." Sen.
John Thune (R-SD) Do they ever feel like lab monkeys? "Our folks," that is -- assuming, of course, that you're a Republican politician and so the "folks" you're talking about are the pride and joy of the GOP, the famous Republican base. Except for right now, when the Republican base isn't feeling all that proud. And joyful? Not even close. More like distressed/depressed/embarrassed/annoyed. Which has GOP Central feeling more than a little panicked. When the base feels low, the party's energy is low. The sign-wavers don't wave signs. The doorbell-ringers stop ringing doorbells. The phone-callers stop making their calls. When the base feels low, bad things can happen. If the base stays home in November, certain vulnerable Republicans could be packing their bags come January. And if enough of them have to pack their bags, the House and the Senate could find themselves under new management. (Can you say "Democrats"?) Which means it's that time again: time to play Twitch the Monkeys. Time, for instance, to pick a fight over federal judges. Does the base get stirred up whenever some darling of the right finds his first berobing or his next promotion being questioned or even -- how outrageous! -- delayed? You bet it does. So let's run a few more of those darlings in front of the Senate, the strategists say. Let's see if we can goad the Democrats into launching a filibuster. That'll get our side stirred up. And that's what it's all about: finding something that's guaranteed to send a jolt of voltage through the body politic -- or carefully selected parts of it, anyway. If fighting over judges isn't enough, there's always fighting over tax cuts. If fighting over judges and fighting over tax cuts isn't enough, there's fighting over illegal immigrants. If fighting over judges and tax cuts and immigrants still isn't enough, there's that extra-special, always-reliable twitch button: same-sex marriage. Federal spending may be out of control. The war in Iraq may be grinding on with the body count growing higher every week. Gasoline prices may be going through the roof while the president's poll numbers head toward the basement. Katrina victims may be no closer to getting their lives back than they were when the storm first hit all those months and months ago. And where there's not rank incompetence, there's corruption -- bribes and sweetheart contracts, back-room deals and even back-room hookers. So let's get it on over gays. Turn up the heat, and turn up the turnout. And the famous Republican base says, "Where do we sign up?" That's the theory, at any rate -- and why not? That's what's always happened before. And that's exactly what the strategists are counting on this time, too. After all, it's not that they've got all that many fresh ideas or bold new policies to offer. It's not that they can suddenly show progress on the things that really matter, or a positive vision for pulling together a country that's so deeply divided. What they've got is the bully pulpit, and plenty of cash, and Karl Rove in a wrinkled lab coat. Twitch the Monkeys, and watch them jump. Posted 5/10/06. See
behind things with award-winning commentary from syndicated columnist
Rick Horowitz!
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Rick Horowitz
