The most amazing thing in my mind is how many of the newly elected Democrats look an awful lot like the Republicans before that party was taken over by the religious right. I have a feeling there will be a major disconnect between Pelosi and this class of congressional freshman.

Vicki

Hi Vicki,

I suspect there'll be a disconnect between Pelosi and this crowd, especially if she starts working on impeachment etc over Bush-lied, people died type stuff. Lieberman, I think, demonstrated the popularity of radical anti-warness (as opposed to regular anti-warness, I guess). I'm not sure if I'd characterize the new Dems as "religious right", unless you think this is inherently synonomous with "conservative".

David

Nope. It's a question of wandering pronouns, I think. I remember the real Republican party, before it was taken over by the RR. Many of the newly elected dems are just plain old fiscal conservatives, with a sizable helping of compassion and no particular interest in regulating people's personal lives. That combination would have made them very at home in my father's Republican party.

v

What policies that the Republicans have implemented in Regan/post-Regan era would you consider both religious right-based (i.e. designed to appeal to the RR) and had a delertious affect on American civic life?

Fetal stem-cell research is the the only one that comes to mind, though I'll admit freely I haven't put too much thought into the subject.