MickityMike

Via Sullivan via NPR's Fresh Air:

More evidence, IMHO, that the Republicans (and Democrats) are actually coalitions of large swaths of Rightist and Leftist thinking and policy. Rather than the conventional wisdom of US politics being a 2-party system, I think this spells out very nicely how the two major parties are actually consortiums of wide ranges of political thought: aka, the Big Tent.

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I'd be delighted to live in a country where happily married gay couples had closets full of assault weapons. - Glenn Reynolds

DonkeyPunch

Good stuff! Now, what is Lynne's elected office?

Seriously, I get your point, but a quote on gay marriage by someone with a gay daughter doesn't exactly make a strong point, IMO. Maybe one of the 6 Republican Senators who voted against the Amendment last year and who doesn't have a gay kid would have been better... Especially since it is quite clear that a Constitutional Amendment on this issue will not happen anytime soon. "Consortiums of wide ranges of political thought?" Methinks you overstate your case... Especially when the elected officials are overwhelmingly on the same page on almost all of the issues. You found an exception, not a rule.

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Niteshift

Ever heard of the Log Cabin Republicans? http://www.logcabin.org/ Included in their membership are a number of elected officials.

Or It's My Party Too (IMP-PAC)? http://www.mypartytoo.com Chaired by former NJgov and Bush EPA head Christie Todd Whitman, their stated mission is "a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally conservative, socially progressive moderate Republican candidates at all levels of government. Additionally, we will work to advance the issues that help define moderate members of the Republican Party."

Or the Republican Unity Coalition? http://www.republicanunity.com/news.htm Among their board members are former President Ford, Congressman Jim Kolbe (Az.) and former congresswoman Susan Molinari (who gave the keynote address at the 96 Republican convention). Membrs include: George E. Pataki, Governor of New York, Rudolph W. Giuliani,Mary Matalin, Bush staffer Scott Evertz (White House AIDS Policy Coordinator), California State Representative Jim Brulte
D.C. Citycouncilman David Catania, Congressman Steve Horn (Ca.).

The chair of the DC Republican Committee, Bob Kabel, is openly gay.

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DonkeyPunch

Yes, I have heard of these groups. And yes, they are a minority in the party that was ignored almost completely when the Republican platform was written, and have had little effect on national policy. I'm not saying these people don't exist, just that they have little pull in their own party. After all, its happened more than once that I've heard people like Giuliani, Schwarzeneggar, Whitman, et al called RINOs, showing how the Republican majority feels about them. And Whitman isn't even popular in her old state anymore.

Niteshift

The point is that while they are minorities, they are still active, dedicated Republicans.

And holding or not holding elected office is a bogus standard. I'd submit to you that Lynne Cheney (who did head a govt. agency at one time), although unelected, has more influence on republican positions than some freshman congressman from some district in North Dakota.

Dick Cheney, who IS elected (twice), has spoken in favor of gay marriage as well.

DonkeyPunch

Of course she does. She sleeps with the VP! And elected office being a bogus standard? Not in my opinion. I also hold that if she was not Mrs. Cheney, she never would have been the head of the NEH, even with her impeccable education background.

Back to the main point. Using Mrs. C. as an example of the wide range of political thought that Mike talks about was a bad example to start his argument. She has a clearly personal interest in that issue, which probably leads to her above statement. I don't think she made that quote out of rugged, conservative principal, I believe she made it because of her family situation. My point was that the argument would have been better served by someone like a Log Cabin republican, not Lynne Cheney.

Calling the 2 party system as it stands "a wide consortium of political thought" is great, but in practice, those in disagreement with the mainstream force of the parties have little effect on national policy, save issues that need supermajorities, like Constitutional Amendments.