Get ready for hot Republican on Republican street fighting as the wingnuts led by DeLay and Santorum go up against the moderates led by Shays and McCain for the very soul of the GOP.

Shays called DeLay an "embarassment" and "I don't think Tom DeLay is going to survive." When Senators make passive pronoucements like that they are active calls for other members to pile on. It's odd that though the central figure of the fight is a Congressman, the central fight itself will take place in the Senate over the "nuclear option". DeLay and his supporters in the Senate must get Bush himself to actively enforce party discipline if they bring a vote on the filibuster. If they cannot, if Bush just says, "Well that's a Senate thing." They will not get the votes to change Senate rules.

Shays and McCain have all ready said they wouldn't vote for it. All the moderates really need is four more GOP senators. Obviously the 44+1 Dems (independent how quaint) will walk in step. Santorum "garaunteed" a right-to-life conference last week that the Senate would bring the nuclear option to a vote. DeLay, rather than sit quietly in the corner and ignore scandals (officially known as The Condit Gambit), has increased his attacks on the judiciary. Thursday he unleashed this

The judiciary branch of our government has overstepped its authority on countless occasions, overturning and in some cases just ignoring the legitimate will of the people. But I also believe the executive and legislative branches have neglected the proper checks and balances on this behavior ... Our next step, whatever it is, must be more than rhetoric.

Meanwhile in a development that has to leave DeLay pissing in shorts. Jack Abramoff, DeLay's moneyman who's under investigation by the Justice Department for just about everything he's ever done, ]is starting to talk, and he's not happy about facing indictment.

My sudden interest in the internal fighting of the GOP is more than just gleeful schadenfreuden. If the GOP manages to go nuclear it will be on more than just the filibuster. The wingnuts want to bring the judiciary under their control. DeLay and Santorum's latest tactic is to call for the impeachment of judges that make decisions that they don't agree with. They want to subjugate the judicial branch of the United States government to the legislative branch. There's a reason appointments to the judiciary are permanent, and it specifically to stop that subjugation. No if the GOP manages to go nuclear it won't just be on the filibuster it will be on the Constitution, the founding fathers, and the democracy of the United States of America which must have an independent judicial branch to survive.

The moderates understand this and are willing to put their country before their party. I got a lot of respect for that.