"An acceptable loss for the culture warriors"

[phantom power]

Again, if you put yourself in the culture warriors’ shoes, it’s not just about The Enemies or necessarily specific policy concerns. It’s about pushing and maintaining social and political dominance. Legal abortion is a threat to their notion that they are the true culture of America, that theirs are the values of a majority under siege from a cabal of powerful feminists and pointy-headed, anti-racist intellectuals, but they rationalize that away with their story about how abortion was imposed on them by a vagabond court. But if a woman wins the Presidency in a popular election, their notion that their values are the popular ones across the country—that the relationship of right wing Christians to evil leftists is the same as that between blacks and a white minority in South Africa under apartheid—will take a direct hit. They can’t let that happen; if Clinton gets the nomination, you can expect the religious right to fall in line to stop a woman from becoming President.

That said, if John Edwards wins the nomination, we could see a real splintering of Republican solidarity, especially if he’s up against Giuliani. Not that Dobson and company will vote for Edwards, but another Christian white guy in office doesn’t present near the threat to their worldview as would happen with a Clinton win or an Obama win. An Edwards run could very well create a prime opportunity for the religious right to try to discipline the Republicans with this 3rd party split. In fact, I’d say that the Democratic candidate has a lot more to do with the feasibility of a 3rd party split for Republicans than is currently being suggested right now—look at the difference between 1992, 1996, and 2000. Clinton was an acceptable loss for culture warriors, not that they love him by any stretch, but because he’s not a member of any officially hated group: gays, non-white people, women, or pointy-headed intellectuals. Gore, however, is a pointy-headed intellectual, much more hated by culture warriors than Clinton, and created enough solidarity in the ranks for the election to be close enough for Bush to steal it.

http://pandagon.blogsome.com/2007/10/18/6198/

[OHdem10]

1. There are some serious points to consider here.

[Mr. Sifter]

2. Don't think it matters much

I dunno, I think the Republicans will demonize who ever the democratic candidate will be. It wont matter matter if it is Edwards or someone else.