Are Republicans too divided to have a civil war?

[Valin]

Washington Examiner:

BYRON YORK

JULY 29, 2013

 

A nasty fight is brewing among Republicans over a proposal to defund Obamacare. Another intra-party fight is flaring over national security and the war on terror. And yet another is well under way over immigration reform. In each, some Republicans seem more fired up to go after each other than to take on President Obama and the Democrats. The conflicts could be signs that the party is headed toward all-out civil war. Or they could be part of an unhappy but temporary stretch for a party that still hasnt gotten over its rejection by the voters in 2012.

 

Its more likely that this is just a rocky time for a rejected and confused party. The conflicts inside the GOP today just dont line up in the configuration of a classic civil war. There are multiple issues involved, and the lawmakers on various sides of various issues dont lean the same way on each issue. Republicans who are opponents on one issue are allies on another. Looking at the Senate, for example, its unlikely that there will be a total civil war between Senate Faction A and Senate Faction B when some members of the opposing factions are united in Faction C, or Faction D, or so on. In other words, it may be that the Republican Party is too divided to have a real civil war. Perhaps chaos would be a better description. Well know more later.

 

What we know now is that GOP lawmakers are remarkably tense over the issue of defunding Obamacare. When I asked Sen. Tom Coburn about it Friday, he went off on the issue, calling the proposal dishonest and hype, not to mention impossible. It cant be done, given the Republicans 46-vote minority in the Senate, Coburn argued, and the government shutdown that could result from such a maneuver would be disastrous for the GOP.

 

(snip)

 

 

I don't know. There appears to be a lot of really pissed of people out here.

Part of the problem I have is IMO waaaay too many people don't know the difference between Politics & Ideology.