Saw an interesting article over on MSNBC by Howard Fineman. The Conservative Crack Up

He outlines what is becoming apparent, the GOP is going through some sort of splintering and is turning on the Administration at the moment. Whether or not you agree with his statements or conclusions, he does a good job of breaking this down by the different factions and examining each. About the only group left that he identifies as not being disillusioned is the "supply siders."

The interesting part for me is the alleged shift of the neo-cons to a "Blame the Administration" approach for Iraq. I think this might be premature, but I do expect it to happen (I came to that conclusion months ago.) Unless something substantial changes in Iraq for the better, various factions are going to seek to distance themselves from the President.

Fineman certainly has hit the nail on the head with respect to the religious conservatives' recent unrest. The disillusion that has resulted from the Harriet Miers nomination has been surprising to me--but quite apparent both on the news, and here in the Backroom. Used to be that a wink from Bush, and mentioning she is an "evangelical christian" would have done the trick.

The isolationist section brings up another common thread here in the Backroom. The immigration policy is a sore spot.

The corporate CEO type is an interesting twist. Can't say that I'm sure about that one way or the other.

Smaller govt/deficit types are of course very concerned and have been becoming increasingly vocal over the past year. They had no voice when it really mattered and Greenspan virtually endorsed Dubya's wreckless policies until recently...so here we sit, in the very mess that many of us with mathematical skills predicted back in 2000.

To some degree the current party debate has a "Tower of Babble" aspect to it since it is coming from so many directions (yes, the spelling was intentional.) Despite the poke of fun, I think this is good for the GOP and the nation, to actually have some dissension rather than behaving as a Borg-like entity. The question is: what will coalesce out of the dissension? Who knows, a group could emerge that I actually agree with.