The hard core anti-choice forces are a determined lot. They seem to think they have complete control over Republican Senators (and that’s probably true in some cases). But the GOP Senators are letting down these single issue zealots by not blocking the nomination of Kathleen Sebelius for Secretary of Health and Human Services:

Conservative groups that oppose Sebelius’s confirmation are displeased with their erstwhile allies in the Senate – and say they will make their voices heard while lawmakers are in their home states for the current two-week recess. “I think it’s appalling,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, the president of the Susan B. Anthony List, a fundraising operation for candidates who oppose abortion. “I think this is why Republicans are in the minority.” “They know we care and still there was nothing said,” Dannenfesler said. “Mum was the word.” Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, described the GOP’s silence on Sebelius’s pro-abortion-rights record as “baffling” and said senators have shown they have a “tin ear” to concerns of the anti-abortion movement. “We’ve not gotten a good answer about why they’re being negligent,” Wright said. “What I hate more than anything is pretending an issue doesn’t exist,” said Dannenfelser.

Interestingly, another GOP puppet master, Grover Norquist disses the anti-choice activists by throwing a little reality on the situation:

Republican senators may be keeping their powder dry because Democrats have enough votes in the Senate to confirm Sebelius regardless of their opposition, Norquist said. Moreover, Norquist said, the GOP knows that the Department of Health and Human services commands vast sums of money senators want spent in their states. “If you’re a Republican, why throw a punch at her when she has all the funding to throw around?”

That sounds like the anti-tax Republicans aren’t too keen on the social issue conservatives. Grover’s quotes make the anti-choicers sound like naive nitwits who really don’t get it. A battle between those two factions in the Republican party would be a battle worth watching.