POLITICAL CIVIL WAR, REPUBLICAN STYLE

Yesterday, My pal Scott warned me against putting too much time and energy into fratricidal attacks against Democrats like Rahm Emanuel. "Internal arguments of Democratic infighting will look like we are unorganized and ineffective and play into the Republican's campaign-- that they need to continue leading in this time of terror, blah blah blah..."

I don't discount what Scott said. And, in fact, today I want to leave off Rahm (for a few hours at least) and look at the Republican unity and solidarity Scott is worried about. Yesterday I wrote about how Rove's strategy about using the weak on terrorism meme against Democrats hit a roadblock when several prominent Republican solons lashed out against Rove's mouthpiece and joined the unified Senate Democrats in refusing to allow Bush to further shred the Constitution and the Geneva Conventions.

And that was hours after a story on how Richard Viguerie has called on movement conservatives to abstain from donating any money or support to establishment Republicans. (He claimed that all the party's 2008 Presidential hopefuls are unworthy of conservative support. That would be... let's see... Rudy Guiliani, John McCain, Sam Brownback, George Felix Macaca Allen, that fat guy from Arkansas who lost some weight and is the right's version of Oprah Winfrey, Jeb Bush, Condoleeza, Bloomberg, Frist, Tancredo... who am I leaving out here? Romney? Pataki???? Gingrich? Some loons even tout Santorum.)

And the Update to that Viguerie story was an actual call for GOP Civil War from ex-Republican congressman Joe Scarborough. Scarborough advises fellow Repugs to blame everything on Bush, who he says, deserves all the blame anyway.

Turns out Viguerie, Scarborough, Colin Powell, John McCain, John Warner, Lindsey Graham and Susan Collins aren't the only Republicans not closing ranks behind Dear Leader in the run-up to November. Unless I'm reading this stuff wrong, Andrew Sullivan thinks Republicans should lead the charge to impeach Bush and put him on trial as a war criminal. "This is why McCain, Warner, Graham, Powell and every decent, sane conservative with military experience refuse to give in. There is already clarity in the law, the Geneva Convention, and the McCain Amendment. What the Bush administration wants is to introduce vagueness to get away with exactly the same barbarism they have deploying illegally for the past five years. They must be stopped. And eventually, they must be prosecuted for war crimes."

In explaining how even the White House Office of Legal Counsel can no longer support Bush's and Cheney's gross criminality, Sullivan goes as far as pointing out that "even the hand-picked cronies cannot go along with the madness of King George. Thank God that the constitution is not without its allies in the Senate."

Even the most fanatic and irrational of far right shills, like Glenn Reynolds of the loony Instapundit blog or the Wall Street Journal neo-fascist editorial page, are lobbing shells at the clothesless emperor whom they have followed deeper and deeper into the depths of catastrophe. Reynolds actually admits, for the first time, that the Iraqis have stopped showering American occupation forces with flowers and sweets and that there is a "currently-deteriorating situation in Iraq and Afghanistan." One wonders who woke him up from a life-long snooze. And the kooks at the Wall Street Journal is creating a whirlwind by pointing so many fingers all over the Republican Party for screwing up the war on terror.

So, Scott, bud, if certain progressives can't quite stomach the corruption and conservatism of some Democrats and strike out now and then... well at least rest assured that it's going to be difficult for voters who are looking for solidarity as the trait worthy of voting for won't be able to find it on the other side of the aisle. Now... back to our regularly scheduled Rahm Emanuel attack. Oh, no, I already did that for today (admittedly buried deep in a piece about a Democratic kerfuffle in CA-41 that will allow arch-Republicrook Jerry Lewis to continue being a congressman-- and a crook-- until a judge and jury decide otherwise).