Factionalization Watch

Erick at RedState launches into a full-scale rant against the Republican establishment over their treatment of Huckabee (even though he's not a Huckabee supporter himself). The basis for his rant is that he thinks the establishment is abandoning the social conservative (read: evangelical conservative) base.

I suspect that on matters of policy, I would agree with Erick on almost nothing. But that's kind of the point- there is no longer any reason why libertarians should be under the same umbrella political group as religious conservatives. Yet, the Republican establishment must find a way of keeping those two groups within that umbrella- a task that is impossible in the long run, and in the short run means doing and saying things that alternately piss off both groups.

If I were a religious conservative, I'd probably be just as outraged as Erick for the way the establishment is treating Huckabee. On the other hand, I'm a libertarian, so I'm equally outraged at the condescending way the establishment has treated Ron Paul.