know your history on Snowe and Gingrich
Ages ago, in another political era entirely, 1989, newly elected President George H W Bush (now with the nickname “Poppa”) plucked the House Minority Whip out of the Congress — some guy from Wyoming named Dick Cheney — for installation in his administration. This spurred a major Republican Leadership fight between one Edward Madigan of Illinois and one Newt Gingrich of Georgia. You know who won. On the purely “moderate” to “conservative” voting pattern, the lines in this intercessine battle did not make too much sense. Tom Delay out of Texas, for instance, backed Madigan. And Representative Olympia Snowe from Maine, considered then as now a Republican “Moderate”, backed the combative Newt Gingrich. The winning appeal was against a complacent and comfortable Republican minority, viewing the leadership as protective of its entity without fighting for new partisan battles. The choice worked out for the Republicans, so far as it went, though that list of insults to fight the sudden appearance of a Democratic President at that point where a Republican Congress appeared went a bit overkill “enemy of normal Americans” — leading to Clinton’s re-election.
Newt Gingrich was last seen on the losing side of an intercessine battle, backing Scozzafava against the Movement Conservative’s Cause Celebre, Mr. Hoffman. It is tempting to say Gingrich had found his role reveresed visa vie the Republicans — now the establishment being Insurrected — to ape your Paul Krugman cries that this surely is a sign of the Republican Party’s insanity where Gingrich is now the “Moderate”. But, as always, it’s not that simple.
Polls show Olympia Snowe’s ratings amongst Maine Republicans have fallen, such that she would now be vulnerable to a primary challenge in, I guess, 2012. I would not know what effect this polling has on her, if it rattles her at all, but I do have one suggestion: Do not switch parties, please. If things go topsy turvy, look over to Rhode Island where Lincoln Chaffe is the favorite for governor, running now as an Independent. I see this inching from various Democratic partisan bloggers suggesting that she do so — she’d be better than Lieberman in getting to 60 votes, after all. Actually, I saw that as far back as after the 2004 election as “Path for Democratic Party Recovery”, with one good Liberal blogger rejoinder asking “What? Are you crazy? What the Democrats need is to become the Republican Party of 1990?”
It is that “Big Tent, All Comers” logic which produced that paradox of the most completely Democratic Party controlled Washington passing a House bill with the most anti-abortion measure on a federal level in a generation, one probably slated for hasty demise but leave that as it may. It is a logic that produces this strangest of logjams in the Senate — how does one keep this coalition, with various Senators beholden to various interests, in tact? The problem with a Democratic Party swallowing in Snowe is a continued loss of its populist bearings, seding that to a disturbing degree to your outraged Tea Party contingent, attidunal wise and marketing purposes if nothing else. The Democrats need no more Specters.
The political equilibrium is a bit insane right now between the two parties. The good news is, on the Democratic side, a few Heath Shulers and Walt Minnicks are about to be shedded in 2010. The only thing I can think for the Republican Party is — well, some of the governors have the responsibilty of actually governing, which usually chastines a party that on the national level is more tactically allied to this. A stab at an answer to this question of why the noxious throws at Charlie Crist when he’s no different than Jeb Bush — Crist had the unfortunate desire to try to be productive when Obama was just elected, the new partisan object of disgust quickly and naturally consolidated against — and also… he’s a bit gay.