The Revolt Of the Moderates

WP - Harold Meyerson:

With incomes stagnating, energy costs soaring and the war in Iraq taking an ever greater toll with an ever less discernible strategic objective, the Republicans this year have concentrated on the Terri Schiavo case; on their continual campaign to cut taxes chiefly on the rich; and now on their efforts to cut back on Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and the like to offset the costs of Katrina. Not surprisingly, a recent survey by Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg found that just 38 percent of respondents called the Republicans "in touch" -- a decline of 12 points since he asked that question in March.

But of course the Republicans are in touch. They're in touch with Grover Norquist's weekly conclave of right-wing groups, where all manner of ideological campaigns get hatched. They're in touch with their think tanks, which spent two decades developing an unworkable plan to privatize Social Security -- never mind that they finally rolled it out at the very moment that private-sector retirement plans were in collapse. They're so in touch with their base, Harriet Miers notwithstanding, that nearly everyone outside their base is abandoning them.

Tags: GOP, base, moderates