...Republicans have to pander to the religious right in order to win primaries and hold together enough votes to get elected to office. That's why they such up so easily to this claptrap. Its a failure of ethics and integrity. All they prove is that they can be bought.

For the record, I have a lot of close associates who are mainstream moderate Republicans - some of whom hold influential political positions of national prominence. These individuals are frequently demeaned by their more right wing party associates and they are quite unhappy about what has happened to the Republican party.

There is no better example of the ethical bankruptcy of the Republican Party than what the Republican led Congress did to Terri Schiavo. Their cheesey pandering to the religious right in that matter exposed the GOP as a Party without a cause and without due process. Their behavior exhibited a clear disregard for the Constitution and the separation of powers so essential to our individual freedoms. It was all about votes and little else.