I would LOVE to talk about fur, but I believe the only fur in Jane’s original column was flying between conservatives and… uh, conservatives. So I’ll try to steer things back, if that’s okay.

The problem I see in the Republican party is that for the better part of three decades, the GOP has hitched its wagon to the lumbering butt of the conservative movement. As long as that the two were moving in the same direction, no problems. However, the road is changing up ahead.

The vital block of 18-35 year-old voters are increasingly rejecting extreme conservatism, according to several studies (see the latest Pew Research Center and Rasmussen polls for examples.) The 2006 election was a disaster for the conservative movement and the Republican party for that simple reason, and the nation’s attitudes don’t seem to be swinging back. The Republican party, seeing itself becoming more and more irrelevant, has essentially engineered the primary election of John McCain, a relative moderate and the only GOP candidate with a chance of beating any Democrat at all, as the GOP’s candidate (for example, Guliani’s rewriting of the rules in large states to make winner-take-all contests, and the to-say-the-least over-enthusiastic calling of McCain as the winner of the Washington state primary.) For the first time in three decades, the conservative movement isn’t calling the shots.

This reversal of tradition has caused the conservative movement to essentially threaten to take its ball and bat and go home. I find it ironic that the Clinton-Obama spit-fight has been compared to the McGovern-Johnson debacle, when in fact McCain’s nomination threatens to split the GOP in exactly that way.

BTW, my refernce to McCain as a relative moderate was quite deliberate. It is a sensational symptom of the extremity of the conservative movement in general and the GOP in particular that someone like McCain could be, in any possible world, be considered a liberal.

More on that later, if anyone asks for examples. Please ask.

To Anna,

Let me get this straight. In your view, some animals are worth more than others. Anything with fur, should be protected. Any animal without it is fair game. In your economy it’s a beauty contest. Interesting, most of the animals we use for food: cows, pigs, chickens, etc. are harmless creatures, while that fox that was used to make my jacket, eats other animals — in fact, it viciously tears them apart, while the poor creatures are still alive.

Why wear fur to keep warm? Unlike all the fake stuff, it last for years and then biodegrades. In other words, it helps the planet!

Conversions of convenience have no weight, voting records do.

2) “abstinence only” sexual education has been shown time and time again to increase rates of unplanned pregnancy and transmission of STDs

3) Republicans are hardly the moral authority, if that itself could ever exist. Without going into detail regarding the philosophical debate of an absolute morality, They cherry-pick doctrine from ancient mythical texts like the Christian bible that happen to fit their rigid, discriminatory world view. They then use this framework to focus church-goers on dividing society along ideological division, instead of attempting to create a harmonious whole.
For being followers of Jesus, I sure don’t see many conservatives spending their time helping our nations poor and disenfranchised, supporting social programs, raising money for the sick and starving, supporting action to save God’s earth, etc.
All i see is saber rattling about lowering taxes to maintain wealth, upholding wars of aggression, spreading scientific misinformation, and supporting state discrimination of homosexuals.

I think it’s time for the conservative base to take a good look in the mirror and really ask themselves, “WHAT WOULD JESUS DO”.. because he sure wouldn’t be supporting the republican party.

Obviously, columnists, bloggers and all who diligently read the same are better informed than the average dummy on the street. Since the well informed have trouble keeping current, how will voters who catch an occassional sound bite be expected to vote for the right candidate?

As one of our founders said, (I paraphrase) the republican form of government is only good when honorable men are elected. S

So much for the experiment in a republican form of government.

Now listen to all the complaining from the same people who created this problem. We now will have the choice of two democats this fall…thanks to the likes of Farah and janet folger. They have finished what bush started…the destruction of the conservative base.