Posted on 12/04/2007 9:18:11 AM PST by seanmerc
President Bush, down and all but counted out by friend and foe alike just three months ago, is rising like a bloodied but unbowed prizefighter, and Karl Rove predicts peril for Republicans and their presidential nominee if they shun the lame-duck president on the campaign trail.
The president had been pummeled ever since Democrats retook control of Congress in January, but he has pushed ahead with his second-term agenda on issues ranging from opposing federal funding of embryonic stem-cell research, pushing for peace in the Middle East and establishing security in Iraq. Some in his own party broke with him on the war, but as the "surge" takes hold and the president regains his footing — and with rising poll numbers, to boot — Mr. Bush looms large for Republican contenders next November.
"Nobody can risk looking disrespectful to the president without paying a price, and they need to understand that," said Mr. Rove, Mr. Bush's former top political adviser.
Republican strategist Scott Reed says that what the "White House critics fondly referred to as Bush's stubbornness" is beginning to pay dividends on a host of issues that voters care about, from the war in Iraq to a scientific breakthrough that shows embryos don't need to be destroyed for stem-cell research.
Still, some Democratic presidential candidates, most notably Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, have continued to run against Mr. Bush. But that strategy will likely miss the mark, Mr. Rove told The Washington Times yesterday.
"If the Democrats make this about, as they seem to be inclined to do, 'I'm not Bush, and I'll do everything different than Bush did,' the American people understand that Bush is not on the ballot," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
too bad about the immigration insanity, it's the only real mark.
There are several serious weaknesses in Bush’s adminstration. Immigration was his worst mistake, and the LOST treaty, which still threatens us. But there was also the big, misdirected spending in the first six years, including medicare prescription drugs and no child left behind, and now ethanol.
If Bush can be faulted on the war, it was that he didn’t fight it hard enough, but that has now been at least partly corrected with Petraeus. (I say partly, because he surely should have dealt with Syria years ago.)
And he has lost nothing by being firmly against abortion. That is not a winning issue for the Democrats except among their most rabid leftist base, which is less than a third of the electorate. That’s why they have to constantly invent new language to obfuscate what they are actually doing.
People were not upset with Bush for fighting the war on terror. At most, they were upset that he seemed to be losing it, but that has now been turned around.
Agreed. Bush will be remembered well. Hopefully not TOO well though... that would mean someone ill-fitted got the seat after him.
It must suck being KarLaRazaRove....trying to regain a degree of credibility.
It's called integrity - governing with conviction, not polls.
My grandchildren will be able to read History's praise of this man and his governance
I agree. I don’t regret my votes.
-if anything Rove has fallen further than W has.
My main beef with the man concerns the social spending and immigration. I certainly don’t regret voting for him, otherwise.
I absolutely love Bush! He’s made the worthless critics of the war look stupid. I do wish he would have CLOSED the southern border but his treatment of the WOT has been about as good as we can hope for.
No, just the biggest and most visible.
Could anyone else have done a better job? Maybe.
Could anyone else have done a worse job? You bet.
I don't regret my support for President Bush.
Then there was harriet myers fiasco that thankfully was corrected with the help of conservatives.
Yes, he's done some things well but overall his liberalism has hurt America and the conservative movement.
As someone in Ohio who saw the same damage from the last pubbie governor and last 2 pubbie senators, we (and America) need a strong conservative to rescue us from the abyss.
Couldn’t agree more! That’s one of the reasons I think Hunter would make a great Pres.
I agree with you 100%. God Bless President Bush.
did you see where Senator Webb admitted on Sunday that we were winning before the surge?
"The first element is al-Anbar. And this is a—this is a piece—the awakening, the Sunni awakening, which has been used by the administration as evidence of the fact that the surge is working. This was happening before the surge began, well before the surge began, and it would have been happening even if there wasn’t a surge." Jim Webb , MTP Transcript 12/2/07
God bless W. May he be remebered as one of America’s greatest presidents.
I didn’t mean to say that Bush did a bad job. Much of the trouble and delay was caused by deficiencies in the State Department and the CIA and some of the people who managed the contracts. But that retired general who just appeared in the MSM to criticize Bush was, basically, fired for incompetence. Tommy Franks was a terrific choice, and the decision to bypass the top people in the Pentagon back then, who were promoted by clinton.
These things happen. I support Bush on the war effort, and as I said, only wish he had followed up a little more strongly. And there were times, like pulling punches in Fallujah just when victory was in sight, where someone made bad choices. I don’t honestly think it was Rumsfeld; I was very sorry to see him go.
Mistakes are inevitable in any war. And of course it’s harder when congress and the press are actively working for the other side.
sorry if I seemed to be accusatory, it’s just I found Webb’s admission one more straw in the wind as to how the weather vane is spinning for the ‘08 election.
Webb is an opportunist scum. I think we can agree on that!
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