From the sideshow back to the main act...
There certainly are pro-life Democrats, and the laws of probability say there's at least a couple creationist Dems - haven't met one myself, but the
plural of "anecdote" is not "data." Thing is, both those stances are major planks of the Republican Party. And the way the base is set up -
has been set up for thirty years, really - you can only go so far in the Party at a national level before you *have* to toe the line and say "Yes,
abortion is wrong," or "Yes, evolution is just a theory and shouldn't be taught in our schools." You do this, because otherwise you
can't get elected. To win you need the base, and for better or worse the snake-handler vote has become the largest single bloc in the Republican base.
Look at John McCain. He's a solid, doctrinaire Republican of the Reagan school. But because he cultivated an image as an aisle-crosser and a relative
moderate he had troubles with his base right up through to the convention. McCain's self-advertisement as a "maverick" was media-friendly, swayed
independent voters and gave him enough of a personality to win the primary, but the GOP base was at best lukewarm to him. Selecting Palin, an aggressive,
right-wing Western governor, reconnected McCain to his base & gave the campaign the shot in the arm it needs to stay in the fight.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
There certainly are pro-life Democrats, and the laws of probability say there's at least a couple creationist Dems - haven't met one myself, but the
plural of "anecdote" is not "data." Thing is, both those stances are major planks of the Republican Party. And the way the base is set up -
has been set up for thirty years, really - you can only go so far in the Party at a national level before you *have* to toe the line and say "Yes,
abortion is wrong," or "Yes, evolution is just a theory and shouldn't be taught in our schools." You do this, because otherwise you
can't get elected. To win you need the base, and for better or worse the snake-handler vote has become the largest single bloc in the Republican base.
Look at John McCain. He's a solid, doctrinaire Republican of the Reagan school. But because he cultivated an image as an aisle-crosser and a relative
moderate he had troubles with his base right up through to the convention. McCain's self-advertisement as a "maverick" was media-friendly, swayed
independent voters and gave him enough of a personality to win the primary, but the GOP base was at best lukewarm to him. Selecting Palin, an aggressive,
right-wing Western governor, reconnected McCain to his base & gave the campaign the shot in the arm it needs to stay in the fight.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"