Bush reaches out to conservatives to quell revolt

Forbes ^ | Feb. 20, 2004 | Adam Entous

[FairOpinion]

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The White House has been reaching out to conservative groups to quell a rebellion over government spending and budget deficits, hoping to shore up President George W. Bush's political base in an election year.

Conservative leaders who have taken part in private White House meetings in recent weeks said on Friday officials have promised to all but freeze non-defense spending, and assured them Bush will follow through on his threat to veto major highway legislation if Congress refuses to scale it back.

The price tag on a six-year highway and transportation bill stalled in the House of Representatives is $375 billion while a Senate highway bill calls for spending $318 billion. The White House has proposed a $256 billion measure.

"Bush has been very attentive to the critique from the right," said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a politically powerful conservative group -- offering tentative praise where once he talked openly of a brewing rebellion.

But if the White House does not follow through, said Heritage Foundation vice president for government relations, Michael Franc, "all bets are off."

"This is not something you can address with a handshake, a pat on the back and an invitation to the White House. You address it by actions," he added.

The White House is used to being attacked by Democrats, but it came as something of a shock when fellow Republicans broke ranks over growth in government spending, hurting Bush at a time when his job approval numbers were already falling.

Conservatives from the Cato Institute criticized the president for overseeing a nearly 25 percent surge in spending over the last three years -- the fastest pace since the Johnson administration of the mid-1960s.

Others singled out his failure to lay out concrete plans to reduce the federal budget deficit, projected at a record $521 billion this year. Even some of Bush's Republican allies in the House warned of a backlash against his budget priorities.

In what one administration official called a "concerted effort," senior White House officials have been meeting with Republicans in Congress to smooth over their differences.

Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been meeting with conservative groups, an aide said. The effort may be paying off.

"Stung by a lot of the criticism from the right, Bush is going to be steadfast about sticking to his spending targets," said Moore, who warned in January that a rebellion among conservatives was brewing.

Now Moore says, "They clearly are trying to reach out. I think the complaints of conservatives have been heeded."

Heritage analyst Brian Riedl once described the mood of conservatives as "angry."

Now Riedl says, "I think the White House is definitely moving in the right direction," though he added, "There's a lot of work ahead of them."

William Niskanen, the chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute who advised former President Ronald Reagan, said he has personally not seen much of an outreach effort. "We'll have to see" what the White House does, he said.

[FairOpinion]

Sorry -- I made a mistake, the post was not meant for you, it was for Boo-Boo1000.

[GeronL]

The Senate has enough votes to over-ride, I'm not sure about the House. We should all be writing and calling our congresscritters on this one.

rinohunter.blogspot.com

[reformedliberal]

If you do what you have to do and your gun rights are even more severely restricted, will that prove anything?

If GWB loses, several seats in the Senate will go Dem instead of Pub. You will not have a divided government, the fabled gridlock. You will have Democrat control of the WH, Senate, House and Judiciary. A coup.

AWB??? EVERY nightmare the Dems have been unable to enact in the past 3 years will be enacted or made law by judiciary fiat. There will be a payoff to every special interest group on the Left w/in the 1st 6 months of Kerry's 1st term in the form of EOs. He has promised this. Some will take place in the 1st 4 months. He will *repair relations* w/Iran!!!!!!! Look at his campaign website.

Personally, I am working for the reelection of GWB.

[Cold Heat]

Dolts. Try jobs, the economy, and illegals. Spending is way down the list.

I will assume you adressed that post to me, as you did not adress it to anyone.

Jobs are are not high on the list and will likely not be a election issue(the un-employment rate allready down to 5.7)(the twenty year average being 6.0) except to those who have no clue.

The economy is humping and will likely not be a issue either.

Illegals are not a Democrat issue. They like them.

The issue will be anything to get rid of Bush and most of it lies.

Dolts are not generally present on this forum, but there are some exceptions.

[JohnnyZ]

Only if he doesn't make the group of dedicated voters that put him in the White House mad. By that I mean the gun owners. IF Bush pushes and signs an extension of the AWB

Ain't gonna happen. Even if RINO's wanted to pass it, there are enough Democrats in swing districts who are terrified of voting against guns.

Bush promised in 2000 to sign it if it passed, but it's pretty clear the House will save him from that one.

[Cold Heat]

they would kill this thing and spend $zero

They need to kill this one, but Highways must be built and maintained.

It is the pork that stinks.

[Cold Heat]

Back tomorrow......must get some shut eye and view the insides of my lids.

[JohnnyZ]

When I see numbers like this at FR, a conservative website, I think it's cause for concern:

LOL, I don't think it's cause for concern! Given the makeup of FR, the Constitution and Libertarian totals are amazingly low. And only 176 Kerry votes from the 1,000 trolls we've had recently is another minor miracle. No, while many are dissatisfied about certain things, I think pretty much anyone on here who would consider voting Republican will go with Bush in 2004.

[reformedliberal]

I spoke w/one of the campaign staffers at our regional traing session last week about just this. One of her comments was that she was a conservative herself and is fully aware of FR. In fact, she smiled when mentioning this site.

The sort of initiatives, bills and budget fights now occurring could not have been set up and put into operation within days or even weeks. The Congress is all about negotiation, as is the WH. This has been the agenda all along. It just takes time.

Those questionaires are precisely proof of the attention and concern conservatives have been asking for. So, when you get it and you are shown to have been premature in assuming betrayal, instead of backing off and feeling some relief that you were wrong, you up the ante and accuse the administration of faking their concern for your issues and planning on further imaginary betrayals.

It reminds me of the spoiled, over-indulged trophy wife in "First Wives Club: "Well, Harry, I just don't feel special."

Frankly I think this is the position of of a narcissistic drama queen.

[Tamzee]

Terrific post.

Glad you enjoyed it :-)

[Sabertooth]

Kerry, Edwards and Terry McAuliffe are very grateful! The Dems couldn't win in November without help from conservatives -- help, which is apparently is on its way. Conservatives seem more intent on defeating Bush, than the leftist Democrats.

Please.

You've been warned for years, and President Bush has been warned for years, that he was cutting too far to the Left on too many issues and alienating too many constituencies. You and he ignored the warnings, and were not particularly wise in doing so.

Now you're bitter and hissing that the warnings may come to pass.

The "where else are they gonna go" strategy was always a vote-loser, but you jumped on that bandwagon, and you now have no one but yourself to blame for your misjudgement.

[garandgal]

ANYBODY know where I can a rear window for a 1965 Falcon???

Does it matter on that car if it's 2-door or 4-door? I may know of one...not positive about the year of the car, though. It's either '64 or '65...will have to check.

[Tamzee]

But Reagan had no precedent of failed amnesty, Bush does.

Doesn't matter, Bush hasn't proposed amnesty. And Reagan's amnesty didn't work because he didn't finish the job and crack down on the employers still taking in illegals that were willing to work for pennies. Bush stated in his original speech about the guest worker program that his proposal can't work unless they force employers to cooperate and punish the ones who don't.

[FairOpinion]

"cut off your nose, to spite your face" -- great conservative strategy.

[GeronL]

wow. you don't have to spend too much time looking I hope. Besides Iowa is pretty far off =o)

[Sabertooth]

Let's just be blunt: The North Koreans would love to see John Kerry win the election. The mullahs of Iran would love it. The Syrian Ba'athists would sigh with relief. Every enemy of America would take great satisfaction if the electorate rejects the Bush doctrine and scuttles back to hide under the U.N. Security Council's table. It's a hard question, but the right one: Which candidate does our enemy want to lose? George W. Bush.

Then the enemies of America must love the Bush Amnesty, the Prescription Drug Swindle, and big, excessive spending bills.

[garandgal]

wow. you don't have to spend too much time looking I hope. Besides Iowa is pretty far off =o)

NO...my family just bought a farm...has a Falcon in the shed. All kinds of great parts! I didn't look to see where you are from before I posted...so I assume from your post that the distance would not be practical.

We have a '67 Coronet R/T 440...and I KNOW how hard original parts are to come by. Especially glass!

[Sabertooth]

"cut off your nose, to spite your face" -- great conservative strategy.

Why do you suppose Karl Rove suggested it to President Bush?

Bush ran away from his right flank, and many will not follow. You were warned, but you cheered the vote-squandering anyway.

Your strategy hasn't worked, for all of the reasons you were warned, and now you're blaming the folks you sneered at for not jumping off the cliff with you.

Is that a good strategy?

[CounterCounterCulture]

Bush reaches out to conservatives to quell revolt

President Bush should not have to do any kind of conservative outreach. All he has to do is do the job he was elected to do and uphold the oath of office he was sworn to uphold. He does that and we re-elect him. He doesn't do that, he gambles on his future and the freedoms of America's citizens.

If Bush loses, he has nobody to blame but himself. He should have learned the lessons of his father.

[Sabertooth]

Then back Bush's proposal to change immigration law so that we can control the inflow.

But that's not gonna happen either.

Sorry, you're just parroting The false dilemma behind the Bush Amnesty

You were warned he would try it, warned he would be opposed and beaten, and warned it would cost votes, yet you continue to applaud the foolhardy Bush Amnesty anyway.

Bravo.