The GOP Spin Wars

By Jay Newton-Small

If the battle over immigration reform in Congress is any indication, the final 18 months of George W. Bush's presidency may be marked by pitched--and very public--skirmishes between Republicans on the Hill and the Republican White House.

On immigration, Republican Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina accused the President of trying to "ram [reform] down America's throat," but the White House was quick to fire back. It held a conference call to emphasize support (albeit mostly Democratic) for the bill, which then cleared a major hurdle on June 25 in the Senate. "The status quo is unacceptable," a White House aide told reporters.

That same day, one of the top foreign policy Republicans on the Hill, Senator Richard Lugar, said in a surprising 50-min. speech on the Senate floor that Bush's new "surge" plan in Iraq is failing. "In my judgment, the costs and risks of continuing down the current path outweigh the potential benefits that might be achieved" in changing gears now, Lugar said. Other Republicans, from George Voinovich to John Warner, expressed similar impatience with the progress in Iraq, indicating more defections are not far behind.

In what is becoming a full-time job, White House spokesman Tony Snow was quick to spin the Republican restlessness: "What [Lugar is] really talking about is the over-the-horizon strategy--and the President has used that term before."

With each schism averted comes more opportunity for discord, though. The Republican spinmeisters on both sides of Pennsylvania Avenue will have a busy summer: Iraq and immigration are slated to be before Congress through the next month. After that comes another issue that divides Republicans: global warming.