RNC: Creepy

Per usual, Andrew Sullivan has a wry and biting perspective on last night's Republicans As Bleeding Heart Liberals Event. He wasn't fooled by the trompe l'oeil diversity parade.

But McCain, Giuliani, and Schwarzenegger all avoided any mention of domestic disagreements and merely vouched for Bush's character and qualifications to be a war-leader. That's not diversity. On the real issues that divide the party - the spending, the deficit, stem-cell research, the incompetence of the Iraq occupation, the FMA, immigration - there was and will be no dissent allowed. The platform is the most hardline religious right document ever put together by the GOP. In that way, the dutiful appearance by one dissident after another, all of whom merely express confidence in the blessed leader, comes off as actually quite creepy.

If things go amiss with Bush's campaign, I think it will come from this internal dissonance -- there is a gigantic lack of cohesion inside the Republican Party. Republicans, who are so proud of announcing how they stand tall for certain values, seem all over the map, but even worse put a face on their party that is completely at odds with the party's actual intentions. It's like a drag show.