TROUBLE ON THE RIGHT – AT 8:18 A.M. ET:  As readers know, one of my fears is that the Republican Party will mess up the path to victory this November.  It's so expert at that, after all.  Now, based on what I'm reading in e-mails to Urgent Agenda and in statements on the web, we're seeing some danger signs.  From the Washington Times:

A skirmish is breaking out on the right just when key components of the Republican coalition - the fiscal, social and national-defense conservatives - appeared to have a tacit agreement to focus on economic issues going into the 2010 midterm elections.

The dispute erupted Thursday when prominent social conservative Tony Perkins challenged Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to retreat from his stance that abortion should be put on the political back burner until the nation overcomes its fiscal woes.

In his newsletter, the president of the Family Research Council complained that Mr. Daniels, widely considered an A-list contender in the 2012 Republican presidential contest, has become "noncommittal about his role as a pro-life leader."

What sparked Mr. Perkins' ire, he said, was a report in the neoconservative Weekly Standard that quoted Mr. Daniels as saying the next president "would have to call a truce on the so-called social issues. ... We're going to just have to agree to get along for a little while."

Mr. Perkins said Mr. Daniels "wouldn't even agree to a modest step like banning taxpayer-funded promotion of abortion overseas - which President Bush did on his first day in office, with 65 percent of the country's support."

COMMENT:  This could get serious, and so it's time for some phone calls and maybe face-to-face meetings.  I think Reagan got it about right.  He maintained the GOP's concerns with social issues, while understanding that social change cannot be handed down from the mountaintop and go into effect instantly.

One of the things that attracted many of us to modern conservatism is its commitment to social morality.  At the same time, we cannot become a one-trick pony and start driving people away over one question.  I think Mitch Daniels may have overstated his position.  I didn't get the feeling, in hearing him speak recently, that he was ditching his social concerns.  I did get the feeling that he plans to stress his leadership skills and economic competence.

As I said, some phone calls are in order.  If Reagan could get it right, we can get it right again.  The key: A party can be a big tent, but not an infinite tent.  Truman understood that in 1948 when he wouldn't bow down to either the hard-core segregationists or the crackpot left.  Both walked.  Truman won.  We're a practical people, and an idealistic people at the same time.

June 12, 2010