THE NATIVISTS ARE RESTLESS-- AND THEY'RE STARTING TO SCALP EACH OTHER; FIRST UP: MEL MARTINEZ

Maybe the Moonies forgot to leave you your Washington Times today. Normally it isn't good for much else than to read the official Regime line-- a kind of modern day Völkischer Beobachter-- in a less obstreperous way than having to actually hear the grating, oozing voices of the Limbaughs and O'Reillys and Hannitys. But sometimes-- and today is one of those times-- the Moonies share some insight into the incessant civil wars that are often boiling just below the surface of Republican Party peace and love.

Today the far, far right-- the violently xenophobic Tancredo/KKK end of the party-- is bitching that the far right is trying to impose Mel Martinez on them. "Rebellion is brewing among conservatives on the Republican National Committee over President's Bush's attempt to 'impose' Sen. Mel Martinez of Florida as 'general chairman' of the party, who favors 'amnesty' for illegal aliens. 'I will be voting against Senator Martinez if he is nominated for any chairmanship of the RNC,' Tina Benkiser, Texas Republican Party chairman, told The Washington Times yesterday. Bill Crocker, the elected national committeeman from Texas, says that when the RNC convenes here tomorrow, 'Absolutely, I will vote against Martinez.' The conservatives-- one of whom accused the Bush White House of 'outsourcing' party leadership-- say the general-chairman post does not exist under RNC rules, which can be changed only at the party's presidential nominating convention."

The real problem isn't that Martinez isn't a member of the RNC-- which he isn't-- but that members have lost faith in the Bush White House and don't feel like rubber stamping their orders any longer. Even worse for many of the extremists is that Martinez supports McCain's approach to immigration policy. The extremists hate McCain and they hate immigration (unless it's from Scandinavia). The McCain immigration policy-- backed by Bush-- is geared to meet the demands of Big Corporations seeking cheap labor and weak unions.


In fact Bush is getting nearly as toxic among Republicans as he is among normal Americans. It has become very difficult for the RNC to find anyone to pony up the massive contributions they need to keep the party afloat. "National committeemen willing to buck the White House on the RNC chairmanship also cite as fundraising obstacles the president's unpopularity, the conduct of the Iraq war, as well as disillusionment caused by the scandals, big spending and ineptitude of Republican leadership in Washington. The rebels say that electing Mr. Martinez as head of the RNC would make raising money even more difficult because of resentment by the party's rank-and-file small donors over Mr. Martinez's co-sponsorship of legislation to allow millions of illegal aliens to become citizens."

On top of supporting the Big Business approach to immigration that is being pushed by McCain and Bush, Martinez' name makes him suspect among the racist extremists in the party. One member, from Arizona, told the Moonies that he sees what the small donors write on the back of the solicitations the RNC sends out-- the ones they send back with no checks: "When you close the border to illegal aliens, we'll open our checkbooks."