The Civil War between Republicans

Karl Rove is an major personality among American conservatives, but he’s about to set off a civil war in the heart of his party. George W. Bush’s former advisor is about to launch an initiative which is certainly going to upset the GOP’s populist base and set them in opposition against Rove’s establishment.

The GOP has been taken hostage by its own radical Tea Party group, which is a machine that helps lose elections. Look at the last presidential election where the Tea Party forced Mitt Romney to take radical positions to appeal to this populist group, making him completely ineligible in November. Above all, in the last four years, the Tea Party has chosen Congressional candidates which its members approve of, but which guarantee the Republicans defeat each time.

Karl Rove decided to put everything in order by creating an organization called the Conservative Victory Project.

Immediately the organization was nicknamed “The Conservative Defeat Project” by Matt Hoskins, leader of a conservative political action committee. Setting the mood? Another member of the RedState PAC issued a fatwa: ” I dare say any candidate who gets this group’s support should be targeted for destruction by the conservative movement.” It gets better and better.

This war between Republicans is also taking place in Congress. Thanks to the divisions within conservative ranks, two policy projects were able to be adopted recently: the financial package for helping reconstruct New York after Hurricane Sandy (179 Republicans voted against it) and, of course, the fiscal compromise which allowed for raising the tax level of the highest tax band. These two laws were adopted thanks to the Democrats, the Republicans being incapable, as a result of their divisions, to come out as a majority. One has to go back to 2009 to find another law adopted due to the minority’s vote. In the months to come, Congress will be confronted with two projects which risk further dividing the Republicans: the laws on immigration and gun control. The Democratic Party has not been this strong since 2005, even in the House of Representatives where it’s in the minority. This bodes well for Barack Obama’s second term.