There is a battle going on within the Republican Party over the importance of social issues. The problem is that the GOP’s power base has almost always been more of the social conservatives rather than the fiscal conservatives.
Senator Orrin Hatch was asked by Metro Weekly about the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and the suggestion by former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty that funding be rescinded for implementation of repeal.They reported:
At the same time, however, he said, “It’s the law now … Personally, I still have real questions about it. On the other hand, I don’t want to be discriminating against anybody. I intend to be fair.
“It has passed. It is the law, and our side lost. And that’s the way it is.”
Asked if he would support rescinding Pentagon funding for implementing the repeal of DADT, he said, “No, I don’t think so.
“I think we oughta see how it works, and if it doesn’t work, then we would have to take action.”
Truthfully, it would be rather hard to rescind the money being used for repeal since repeal will, by and large, be done by the time the budget for this year is even created. The split between the social issues and the fiscal issues has been on strong display this year with CPAC having several anti-gay politicians and organizations boycotting the event. In gearing up for the 2012 election, the GOP is pushing hard to recapture the whole social issues meme and try to bring those back. This is seen in their obsession with a pro-death anti-woman push in recent legislation to make abortion all but impossible to get, their opposition to the repeal of DADT, and their attacks on Hispanics and Muslims. This kind of politics is likely to cause them more problems down the road than it will help them.
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