Stop worshipping Republican unity

Another diary I posted on Kos:

Last week brought about a typical exchange on the progressive community. First, Durbin makes his apt but controversial comments about torture and liberals say he shouldn't apologize. Then he does, and we scream bloody murder, and basically that the Republicans never apologize. Next, Rove makes his sickening commments, and we scream bloody murder again. Liberals also point out knowingly that Rove will never apologize for something like this, and that the Republican caucus stuck together behind Rove.

To frustrated and out of power liberals like the Kos community, this demonstrates some strength in the Republican party. I don't think this is the case. Being unified and wrong has been an Administration trademark this term, and that extends to Rove's comments.

The basis of this strategy for the Republicans is the interpretation that the last election was extremely polarized, and that they won because of base turnout. While this is certainly true to an extent, the assumption that the 51% of voters who voted for Bush in November are homogenous and wingnutty in their views is patently absurd. Thus, the Bush administration has projected the views of the few wingnut Republicans who did help him win the election, and assumed them to be the entirety of his voters, and by extension the electorate.

This assumption allows the administration to feel justified in being extremely stubborn. It also encourages preaching to the choir. This has been demonstrated first and foremost in the Adminstration's top priority: Social Security reform. There was never enough Congressional or popular support for this program, but Bush has attempted to create the illusion of support through his well documented "town-hall" meetings. The result has been a colossal waste of the administration's precious time on an issue which is both bad policy and has little public support.

The next debacle to result from this unified stubborness was the Schiavo case. Obviously, the majority of Americans were apalled by the way this was handled by Frist and Bush, but of course they managed to maintain a unified front. Even after the autopsy proved them absolutely wrong, Frist attempted to defend himself. They stayed unified, but the public saw right through unity and knew that they were wrong.

This exact template applies to issues like Rove's comments. The Republicans stood behind Rove, despite the fact that he politicized September 11. Of course it is easy for the Administration to find enough wingnuts to agree with them. This does not preclude the possibility (fact) that many voters are not solidly in either camp. There are independents, it's just that the political environment has become so polarized and acrimonious these days, independents are forced to one extreme or another.

And increasingly, the unified and wrong Republicans are alienating those independents with their stifling of criticism and "if you're not with us, you're against us" rhetoric. According to this poll, independents are starting to look a lot like Democrats in their approval of how Bush is handling his job. So don't mistake unity of message for popularity or effectiveness. Powerline, the Wall Street Journal and the Weekly Standard will always agree with the Republicans, but this doesn't mean the message machine is working on the general public. It is frustrating when Democrats stab each other in the back, but people are finally getting sick of the way the Republicans stifle dissent and divide the electorate by moving far to the right.