With Arnold Schwarzenegger's endorsement today of John McCain, are we seeing a shift in the Republican party?
Let's think this through. Did you see the photo-op out in California: McCain, Giuliani and Arnold. All three of them together. It makes you wonder and seriously think about what direction the Republican party is heading.
Look, John McCain is called a maverick because he bucks his party at times and sometimes on important issues (Bush tax cuts, campaign finance reform, immigration).
Giuliani and Scwarzenegger are moderate on many issues including abortion and embryonic stem cell research. Schwarzenegger said today he likes John McCain because he "reaches across the aisle." That's the exact reason why many in the conservatibe base DON'T like him.
Just listen to Rush Limbaugh and you'll get a taste. I mean there was so much talk about climate change today I thought the snowman from the Youtube debate was going to make an appearance.
Here's the point: it seems that the Republican party is really trying to find itself. This is a fractured party.
You have differing factions that all want different things. If you're looking for when this started to form, you can go back to September 11, 2001. When that happened, national security became the overriding issue. It has caused a fracture between Bush and some Republicans.
But as for McCain, think about it. It helped him. He very well may be the nominee of the party because of what happened on 9/11 and what followed in Iraq. He's appealing to Americans patriotism because we live in a post 9/11 world.
If 9/11 never happened, McCain may have continued to be branded as the renegade moderate Republican. But now, in a dangerous world, you have certain conservative Republicans (especially some social conservatives) who are willing to get behind the guy because they think he'll be effective in fighting radical terrorists.
Throw in his passion for cutting wasteful spending and that may be enough to placate enough conservatives.
The real question though is, if McCain is the Republican nominee, how much of the conservative base will come out and support him? He may attract Independents and moderates, but he needs an energized conservative base to win.
What say you? Leave your comments here.