THERE IS NO "NEW GOP DIVIDE"

This Politico article is just silly:

The new GOP divide

2016 Republicans disagree on surveillance, gay marriage and Common Core.

Two years ago, Bobby Jindal was pushing a state law to adapt national curriculum standards to local schools; today, not only is the Louisiana governor suing the federal government to stop Common Core -- or "ObamaCore," as many Republicans have taken to calling it -- but most prospective Republican presidential candidates, except Jeb Bush, have reversed themselves.

Likewise, two years ago, almost all GOP leaders were unified against gay marriage, supportive of most surveillance tactics designed to prevent terrorism attacks, opposed to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and unwilling to accept any aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

But changing times, shifting coalitions and actions by President Barack Obama have conspired to reopen debate among GOP leaders on these and many other seemingly settled issues....

Let's start with an easy one: Common Core. Debate on Common Core in the GOP has not been "reopened"; it's a settled issue. Common Core is "insidious" and "evil." It's "communist core." No one in the potential 2016 Republican presidential field is willing to defend it except Jeb Bush, who seems determined to be the Jon Huntsman of the upcoming contest if he runs, the guy who won't conform and will feel a wave of self-righteousness when he's laughed out of the race.

Surveillance? Here, we're told, is the huge GOP divide:

Perhaps no potential 2016er has capitalized more on the Snowden affair than Paul, whose libertarian leanings have energized that wing of the GOP.

Stop right there. There is no such "wing" of the GOP. There's Paul and there are a tiny handful of others. Ted Cruz recently voted for the USA Freedom Act, which would have curbed NSA surveillance -- but Rand Paul wimped out, claiming that the bill wasn't pure enough for him (no wonder emoprogs like him), and the bill couldn't clear a 60-vote procedural hurdle. Four Republicans voted for it, 42 voted against. Cruz gets away with this because he's effectively a neocon otherwise; it's Paul the rest of the party doesn't trust, and they're going to be ganging up to defeat him in 2016, though they may run so many saber-rattlers against him that the saber-rattler vote will be split too many ways, and Paul will win the nomination. In any case, this isn't really a GOP divide; it's the tiny Paul contingent versus everyone else.

Obamacare? Every Republican agrees it's satanic, except that a few governors who might run for president think they should take Satan's Medicaid money (and will pay for that in the 2016 primaries). Immigration? Evil -- Jeb will pay for supporting reform, as will Marco Rubio even though he's recanted (his numbers began to plunge as soon as he became identified with the GOP's now-abandoned reform efforts). Gay marriage? The GOP is divided into a handful of Christianists who still want to ban it and the rest, who think it's evil but just want state control. Rob Portman expressed support for legalization and now, whoops!, he's announced that he's not going to run for president. He never would have had a chance, and in 2016, when idiot pundits put him on the VP short list, please find anyone willing to put a cash wager on Portman and bet as much as you can against him, because it'll be the easiest money you ever made.

The 2016 campaign isn't going to be a battle for the soul of the party, or whatever we're supposed to think. The party is set in its ways. On nearly every issue it will remain the party of Limbaugh and Ailes . Please, Politico, stop thinking otherwise.