Majority of the Majority

The loudly and frequently proclaimed Bill Frist position about Court nominees deserving “a fair up or down vote” is not being applied in the current debate about immigration. Republican principles change with no imperative to see if they correspond with previous positions. Speaker Dennis Hastert's intends to insist that a "majority of the majority" is needed before immigration legislation is allowed to reach the House floor for a vote. Although a combination of Democratic and Republican support would produce a majority in the bill’s favor, this GOP policy will effectively kill any chance for passage.

This has been a mainstay of the Republican strategy since they gained majorities. They’ve used it to stop debate in the House (releasing bills immediately prior to votes so that Democrats have no chance to even read before they must vote; and keeping Democrats off House/Senate committees reconciling differing legislation)

They’ve used it in the way they manage Presidential elections. Their aim is to gain an election majority consisting of 50% of the votes plus one. To get a mandate, to get a solid majority of voters in favor of your positions, you need to broaden your appeal and reach middle ground. But then you cannot give the extreme portion of your base what they want. With their way they don’t need to compromise with anyone but their conservative base.

I’ve always respected the Office of the President of the United States. Even in the worst of the Nixon and Reagan years the underlying assumption was that they represented the entire country. This Bush administration though comes across as being an administration that disdains and ignores the 49% of this country that did not vote for Bush. He acts as if he is the president of the GOP right wing, not of the country, and even they are beginning to question his decisions and incompetence.