South Carolina marks the angry line between just a fight in the Republican Party and a nasty split down to the roots.
So the question is going to be whether George Bush’s big Dixiecrat win over John McCain – driven by Bob Jones fundamentalism and phone-bank whispers – is actually going to weaken the Republican drive back toward the White House.
Tomorrow, Michigan is the last of the open primaries for a while: does John McCain hang himself with his own GOP by asking Democrats and Independents to rebuild his Republican insurgency?
McCain didn’t go to his room and sulk after South Carolina – the way Bush did after New Hampshire. He spat back Bush’s reform mantra, right at him.
“If he’s a reformer, I’m an astronaut,” McCain said. They’re dissing each other now as fakes and frauds, party hacks facing party wreckers.
The Republican contest is looking especially good for Democrats.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Bill Kristol, editor of The Weekly Standard, about the GOP race