Thursday, 10 August 2006
Civil War in the Kentucky Republican Party
There has been a rift in the Republican Party between Fletcher and a number of the party leadership. For most of the intra party squabbling, Sen McConnell has stood on the sidelines and watched the skirmishes.
With McConnell's decision to attend Friday's fund raiser for Grayson, Mitch has decided to take sides against Fletcher. With Fletcher and McConnell, the top two power brokers in the Republican party on opposite sides, a full civil war has broken out within the party. And much like the United State's civil war, this one will be bloody.
Why? Because the Courier-Journal and Lexington Herald will gleefully report every blow in the war. The dirty laundry will be aired for all to see.
I suspect the Republicans will lose the next general election regardless of the outcome of the civil war. The party will be too fractured to rally around nominee whoever he is. And the nominee will be too wounded to battle the Democrats.
The sad part of it all is that the war could have been avoided. If Fletcher hadn't let the power get to him and if the party hadn't stabbed him in the back at the first sign of distress this whole incident would have been avoided. From my stand point, both sides are equally to blame for this mess.
I guess the Republicans aren't ready to govern in Kentucky yet. That is a shame because the alternative is not good for Kentucky.
