NEW YORK – Staunch conservatives fumed about stem cell research, and some moderates fussed about abortion, but Republican Party platform writers squelched all serious dissent Thursday and approved a 100-page document that supports President Bush’s hard-fought re-election campaign in virtually every respect.
Just as their Democratic counterparts did in 1992 after 12 years of Republican presidencies, GOP activists on the party’s left and right bit their tongues and endured a few disappointments in the name of fending off Democrat John Kerry. The 110 platform delegates defeated conservatives’ efforts to go beyond Bush’s position on restricting immigration and stem cell research, and they rejected bids from the left to soften the party’s stands against abortion and gay marriage.
The result is a document that lauds Bush on nearly every page and – even if it is rather bland, as some delegates privately grumbled – gives no outward sign of party divisions. Republican delegates are scheduled to adopt the platform when they open their four-day nominating convention here Monday.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who chaired the platform committee, said Thursday, “One of my goals was for there not to be too much light between the president’s policy” and the platform. He succeeded so well that when asked to name a single line at variance with a Bush campaign position, he could not cite one.
The two-day platform session avoided the types of flare-ups that animated past meetings. Four years ago, Bush allies had to scramble overnight to beat back conservatives’ call to abolish the Education Department. In 1996, two moderate GOP governors – Pete Wilson of California and William Weld of Massachusetts – lost their prime-time convention speaking slots after pressing colleagues to soften the plank that since 1976 has called for a constitutional ban on abortion.
Haley Barbour chaired the Republican National Committee during the 1996 dustup. This week, as governor of Mississippi, he chaired the platform subcommittee that dealt with abortion and marriage issues, and dissent was so muted that his panel finished its work ahead of the four others. Delegates reaffirmed the anti-abortion plank with barely a word of debate, and they added two paragraphs to the marriage section that primarily amplified the original draft’s criticism of judges who would consider overturning state laws barring same-sex marriages.
After the platform was finished, Barbour said Republicans have largely ended their abortion battles because they realize GOP candidates on both sides of the issue have succeeded for years. “There’s no energy in having a fight over abortion in our party,” he said.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
