As much as the GOP tried to promote the idea of a divided Democratic party, it increasingly sounds like they are projecting. Despite adding a PTA star from Wasilla, Alaska, the right still distrusts and dislikes McCain. The right loves the anti-choice, pro-gun positions of Palin and her lack of international experience (save that one visit overseas, to Ireland) is probably another bonus since the GOP almost bragged of the lack of international exposure Bush offered when coming into office.
But look who's divided now: the Republicans. As John McCain heads for St Paul this weekend - with his photogenic but almost comically inexperienced running mate, Sarah Palin, in tow - it is the GOP that struggles to find real unity. John McCain now leads a party saddled with fierce internecine disputes about everything from civil liberties to budget policy to America's role in the world. While these Republicans may lack a soap opera akin to the Clinton-Obama psychodrama, their ideological stitching has come dangerously loose. It is McCain's challenge to ensure that the seams don't burst open before election day.
How times have changed. During the first half of the Bush era, the Republican party brooked about as much dissent as the North Korean Communist party. But nothing breeds division like failure and the collapse of Bush Republicanism has a long list of party factions pointing the finger at one another.
