September 25, 2007 – 8:42 am
Last week, I criticized my friend Robert Bluey’s reading of Michael Gerson’s position on immigration. My criticism was, on a broader level, that the conservative movement has very little capacity to understand conservatives who disagree with it on principal. More specifically, when deeply held beliefs begin to come into conflict with the increasingly interest group driven conservative movement agenda, the conservative movement struggles. This is, of course, where constituencies are gained and lost.
So what will happen with the environment? The Catholic Church is taking a strong position on global warming, H/T Andrew Sullivan:
The Pope is expected to use his first address to the United Nations to deliver a powerful warning over climate change in a move to adopt protection of the environment as a "moral" cause for the Catholic Church and its billion-strong following.
Will this have any impact on the conservative movement? Will this have any impact on Catholic voters in the US? (In Rob’s case, almost certainly not. But he didn’t care what his church said about immigration either) Is this growing disconnect going to matter?
Tags: Conservative Movement, Environment, Religion, Republican
September 5, 2007 – 4:45 am
Jon Fleischman has some polling data on John Doolittle re-election. They are bad:
- In a one-on-one match up, if the election were held today, Democrat Charlie Brown gets 51% of the vote to Congressman Doolittle’s 31%.
- Those surveyed were also asked if they had a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Doolittle. Respondents came back with 28% favorable and 56% unfavorable.
- In the survey, GOP primary voters were asked whether Congressman Doolittle should run for another term. 33% of those asked said he should. A staggering 50% said that the Congressman should either resign or should not run again.
Of course, the Congressman’s staff are getting subpoenaed to testify to a grand jury on Abramoff:
Two of GOP Rep. John Doolittle’s top aides have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury investigating ties between Doolittle, his wife and jailed lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
The grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia were issued to Chief of Staff Ron Rogers and Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Blankenburg. They were announced on the House floor as Congress returned from its August recess Tuesday after the aides informed the House speaker about the subpoenas, as required under House rules.
Tom Cole at the NRCC has already thrown Doolittle under the bus. Perhaps it is time for him to get out?
I think that it is additionally significant that Jon is writing this and pitching a candidate, Assemblyman Ted Gaines. Jon is a leader in the conservative wing of the party. The fact that he is moving this suggests that conservatives are ready and willing to attack Doolittle
Tags: CA 04, California, Congress, Corruption, Polling, Republican
