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The War Party
By
Ross takes a look at what really matters to the GOP base:
As a result, Republicans have no choice but to actually compete with one another to adhere ever-more-tightly to GOP orthodoxy on the party's single weakest issue. It seems to me that a lot of folks in Democratic circles are thinking of this dynamic primarily as an opportunity to run a campaign focused on domestic issues -- seizing advantage of Republican weakness to shift the conversation to friendlier terrain -- but I see it as more of an opportunity (if the party chooses to seize it) to directly challenge the Republicans on security.
When asked to name the issue they care most about, 31 percent of Republican voters picked the War in Iraq, another 17 percent picked terrorism, and another 8 percent picked "foreign policy." More potential GOP primary voters picked Iraq, in particular, than picked the economy, health care, education, abortion, and immigration combined.
As a result, Republicans have no choice but to actually compete with one another to adhere ever-more-tightly to GOP orthodoxy on the party's single weakest issue. It seems to me that a lot of folks in Democratic circles are thinking of this dynamic primarily as an opportunity to run a campaign focused on domestic issues -- seizing advantage of Republican weakness to shift the conversation to friendlier terrain -- but I see it as more of an opportunity (if the party chooses to seize it) to directly challenge the Republicans on security.
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