The Chinese have an adage about riding the tiger. I don't recall the
exact phrasing but it's something like "Riding the tiger is exciting
until you dismount" -- at which point you have a ****ed-off tiger in
your face.

This is exactly the situation the Republicons find themselves relative
to the "religious right." Beginning with Nixon's "Southern strategy,"
the Republicons have courted the wackadoodles on the "religious right"
to the point where, according to Scott McClellan, bat****-crazy John
Hagee had a hotline to George Bush.

Now the Republicons want to distance themselves from these nutcases --
but they find that dismounting from the tiger is not as easy as
mounting up.

Normally, I'd rather eat Friskies than quote William Kristol and Bob
Novak in the same post. But for once the pair provide a good way to
start the week.

William Kristol writes:

" In any case, with the battle against Hillary Clinton behind him,
everything seems to be going swimmingly for Obama. Meanwhile, the
McCain campaign dog-paddles along. And almost every Republican I’ve
talked to is alarmed that the McCain campaign doesn’t seem up to the
task of electing John McCain. "


Robert Novak writes:

" Shortcomings by John McCain's campaign in the art of politics are
alienating two organizations of Christian conservatives. James
Dobson's Focus on the Family is estranged following the failure of
Dobson and McCain to talk out their differences. Evangelicals who
follow the Rev. John Hagee resent McCain's disavowal of him. "

" The evangelicals are not an isolated problem for the Arizona
senator. Enthusiasm for McCain inside the Republican coalition is in
short supply. During the four months since McCain clinched the
nomination, he has not satisfied conservatives opposed to his
positions on global warming, campaign finance reform, immigration,
domestic oil drilling and how to ban same-sex marriages. "



It's not all doom and gloom for McCain from these two, but you don't
have to peer between the lines to perceive their wrinkled brows.


And then there's staff writer Peter Wallsten's piece in the Los
Angeles Times, John McCain's Ohio disconnect:

-- quote
CINCINNATI -- As the architect of Ohio's ballot measure against gay
marriage, Phil Burress helped draw thousands of conservative voters to
the polls in 2004, most of whom also cast ballots to reelect President
Bush. So Burress was not surprised when two high-level staffers from
John McCain's campaign dropped by his office, asking for his help this
fall.

What surprised Burress was how badly the meeting went. He says he
tried but failed to make the McCain team understand how much work
remained to overcome the skepticism of social conservatives. Burress
ended up cutting off the campaign officials as they spoke. "He doesn't
want to associate with us," Burress now says of McCain, "and we don't
want to associate with him."
-- end quote