GOP rifts exposed in South Carolina
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The challenges facing the Republican Party as it heads into the elections of 2014 and 2016 were on stark display here this weekend as South Carolina Republicans gathered for their annual convention, an event that revealed a party in the throes of some internal strife.
The source of the argument seems to boil down to what it means to be a true conservative in the modern Republican Party, and whether the party needs to change in order to broaden its appeal, particularly to Latino voters.
Disagreement boiled over most publicly when a few hundred delegates attempted to seat a convention chairman who would help them remove Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) from the party. Graham, who has earned a place in Washington as one of the key players in the party establishment and a frequent critic of the Obama administration’s foreign policy, faced resistance from conservatives upset with his work to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws and his support for President Obama’s Supreme Court nominees.
Graham is up for reelection next year, but many of his critics hope a more genuinely conservative candidate will emerge to challenge him in a primary.
The self inflicted wounds / fratricide / suicide / attempts continue.