A Concerned Bloc of Republicans Wonders Whether Bush Is Conservative Enough

NY Times ^ | January 25, 2004 | DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK

[neverdem]

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 24 — To many people, President Bush — tax-cutter, born-again Christian, invader of Iraq — is the face of American conservatism. But here at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, many of the assembled are questioning whether he is conservative enough.

Conservatives complain about the administration's spending on Medicare and education and its proposed spending on space exploration, its expansion of law enforcement powers to fight terrorism and its proposed guest-worker program for immigrants.

To underscore the discontent, the American Conservative Union, which organizes the conference, held a dinner in honor of Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted against the president's Medicare bill. The conference called them fiscal heroes. The topic of one panel discussion was "G.O.P. Success: Is It Destroying the Conservative Movement?" and another debated whether the administration's antiterrorism efforts were endangering people's rights to privacy and freedom. The keynote address was delivered by a conservative Democrat, Senator Zell Miller of Georgia, in part to make sure the administration did not take conservatives for granted, said David A. Keene, chairman of the union.

"There are troubling signs that the ship of conservative governance is off-course," Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, said in the opening address.

Too many "big-government Republicans" have come to see government as a solution instead of the problem itself, Mr. Pence said.

"One more compromise of who we are as limited-government conservatives and our majority could be gone as well," he said, adding, "It is time for conservatives to right the ship."

No one here is likely to pull a Democratic lever in a presidential election any time soon, and red, white and blue "W" pins, as in George W. Bush, remain the fashion accessory of choice. But conservative activists argue that the polarization of politics means the president needs their enthusiastic support more than ever: with fewer voters left up for grabs in the middle, turning out as much of the party's base as possible is becoming especially crucial.

"For an ideologically driven political activist, these are the best of times," Mr. Keene said.

Many conservatives attribute the 1992 electoral defeat of the first President Bush to disillusionment at the conservative grass roots over his failure to understand the movement and his willingness to raise taxes.

"Bush Sr. jumped over the line and we had to whack him," said Grover G. Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a strategist of the conservative movement.

But the Conservative Political Action Conference has also been a significant component of the party's ascent in national politics. For 31 years, the conference has been where the Republican big tent is assembled, convening disparate groups like evangelical advocates, gun enthusiasts, antitax groups, antilabor groups, pro-business groups and libertarians.

It has also been an opportunity to enlist young recruits. More than two-thirds of the roughly 4,000 attendees are college students, who pay $20 each to attend.

"Good times," one young advocate said, eyeing a late afternoon schedule that included a panel on Islamic radicalism and a speech by Oliver L. North.

But with both houses of Congress and the White House in Republican hands, and with the Democrats still trying to select an opponent to face President Bush in November, many conservatives are left with nowhere to direct their criticism but at less-conservative Republicans, known here as "Rinos," for Republican in Name Only.

For the Bush administration, which has maintained close ties to the movement, the conference is an opportunity to send a customized message to die-hard conservatives without alienating moderates in the party. The White House sent officials like Elaine L. Chao, the labor secretary; Ken Mehlman, manager of the president's re-election campaign; and Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee.

(Page 2 of 2)

In a speech on Thursday, Vice President Dick Cheney delivered what amounted to a State of the Union message refracted to the right. Thanking the audience for "its commitment to the cause we all share," he trumpeted "the Bush doctrine" of holding accountable foreign nations that harbor terrorists. He emphasized the administration's stance against abortion, calling the president's signature on the bill banning so-called partial-birth abortions a "milestone."

He upbraided Democratic senators for blocking the president's judicial nominees, and he praised the president's appointment of a conservative judge, Charles W. Pickering Sr., while the Senate was in recess.

None of those sentiments, which drew sustained applause here, made it into the president's State of the Union message on Tuesday.

Mr. Cheney drew a less enthusiastic response when he called on Congress to extend the antiterrorism law, the USA Patriot Act, which is due to expire next year. Many conservatives fear that the act and other administration moves give the federal government too much power. In recognition of a new alliance on the issue, the American Civil Liberties Union set up a booth at the conference for the first time this year, Mr. Keene of the conservative union said.

Mr. Cheney took the podium shortly after Representative F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., the Wisconsin Republican who heads the House Judiciary Committee, vowed that extending the act before reviewing its results by 2005 would happen "over my dead body."

A few hours later, Bob Barr, the former congressman from Georgia, denounced the administration's expanded powers as a dangerous threat to liberty. "We don't want a surveillance society," he said.

Mr. Cheney remained silent on the growth in domestic spending, the most repeated conservative criticism of the president here. John Berthoud, president of the National Taxpayers Union, called the administration's record "abysmal."

Representative Tom Feeney, Republican of Florida, accused the administration of "baby-sitting the nanny state, the welfare state."

Asked about some of the criticisms of the administration at the conference, Mr. Gillespie, the Republican National Committee chairman, said there were inevitably differences within the party, and that "we are a majority party now." But he expressed confidence that the president's agenda would energize conservatives and moderates alike.

For now, Mr. Keene of the American Conservative Union said, the president appeared to be trying to shore up his conservative support.

"At least he recognizes that his ship might be a little off-course," Mr. Keene said, "and even if he liked the new course, the crew doesn't, and he needs them to get to the next port."

[MJY1288]

What history will record, is that you and the small number of people like you, will assume your rightful place in history, right next to the fringe on the left. that's because, much like the fringe on the left, you're irrelevant

[e_engineer]

Look for many more just like this one, every leftist rag in the country will be writing about the great split among Conservatives.

That would be great. Maybe President Bush would finally get the message.

[risk]

Has FR been flooded with this kind of story lately, or is it just me?

No, I think this is the current DNC strategy. I'm hearing complaints about excessive spending from known tax and spend democrats. Go figure. In other words, "Get out of the Whitehouse so we can spend the tax payers' money for our own agenda." They all know that, FDR used spending as a tool to alleviate unemployment and consumer lack of confidence. They would be spending like mad now if they were in the Whitehouse and in charge of congress. The spending would be a multiple of what it is now.

Democrats: defense, space, and anti-communist/anti-jihad foreign aid are going to "break the taxpayers' backs" now. Strategy: Their strategy: divide and conquer the base.

Keynesian economics seems to be Bush's basic approach, and Reagan used it as well. It's so... bipartisan. Too bad the democrats can't suggest something constructive.

Of course hardened conservatives will not be happy, but are they going to vote for Lyndon LaRouche or Howard Dean instead? I think not. Furthermore, with programs like space exploration and missile defense finally getting the attention they deserve (anyone wonder how the Internet was created?) some long-neglected priorities are being replenished. That sort of change is going to cost us in the short term. Think of it as an investment in America's future. The planet will thank us later.

Note to California Governor Schwarzenegger: nobody has the illusion that spending at the state government level works the same way. Other than, er, well, um by BOND LEVIES that nobody wants, left right or center. Ahem. I wish Arnold would listen to Tom McClintock on that issue, but I digress.

[pabianice]

Idiot articles like this won't stop. Fine. Don't think Bush is conservative enough? Vote for the Democrat.

[MJY1288]

OH sure, he should abandon the people who actually paid attention to his campaign and voted for him and listen to the 2 to 5% fringe of the party who probably voted for Pat Buchanan or some other unelectable pessimist anyway.

What should happen is for folks like you to quit taking the bait from these Liberal rags who all of a sudden are concerned about a deficit or discretionary spending that Congress does and they blame on the White House

[Condor51]

"wasn't Norquist involved in a pro Arabist organization"

Hmm, yeah you might say so (The Islamic Institute). Here's a link to a letter (.pdf) that I find a good read about, and addressed to Mr. Norquist. It's dated 2-7-03 after last year's CPAC. Center For Security Policy

NOTE: I have broadband so the loading time was ok, but over a phone line it might take a while.

[lewislynn]

much like the fringe on the left, you're irrelevant

So being conservative in the GOP is equivalent to "the fringe on the left" in their/your mind?.

Be careful what you wish for. I'm the irrelevant fringe on the right is just the attitude the GOP has for me, that's why I'll be staying home this November. Bush isn't the center of the universe there's going to be some critical seats open this coming election and frankly as someone once said there's not a dimes worth of difference between any of them, so why bother.

[lewislynn]

No one here is likely to pull a Democratic lever in a presidential election any time soon

Some of us may not pull the lever at all.

[Dane]

I'm the irrelevant fringe on the right is just the attitude the GOP has for me, that's why I'll be staying home this November

And you probably stayed home in November 2000 also. You have always been a Bush basher.

Hey go right ahead but please stop the drama queen antics of how betrayed you have been. Bush put out who he was in 2000 and hasn't strayed.

You on the other hand want to scream false advertising, when there has been no false advertisng.

[roses of sharon]

I call them the "Basic Instinct" constituency.

"I will not be ignored"!!!

The desire to punish, and catch a few weeks of news stories, about their "principles", during the swearing in of a UN/Dem, is high drama for them.

Or maybe they have mistaken this for a 2008 primary.

[Dane]

Some of us may not pull the lever at all

No one is stopping you, go right ahead.

JMO, but you seem to really like acting like a two year old.

IOW, if Bush isn't 110% to Lewislynn's satisfaction, Lewislynn will hold his/her breath until he/she turns blue.

[tgslTakoma]

OH sure, he should abandon the people who actually paid attention to his campaign and voted for him and listen to the 2 to 5% fringe of the party who probably voted for Pat Buchanan or some other unelectable pessimist anyway.

Respectfully, it will be a very big mistake for those in the GWB reelection inner circle to fall for the line that it's "just a bunch of loud-mouthed fringers who are doing their usual whining" about GWB's performance on domestic issues.

His Republican party campaign staffers will continue to whisper sweet nothings in his ear about the "dissatisfied fringers," and the party-before-country folks in the RNC home office will continue to do the same. But they will do so at their peril.

It is a big mistake here on FR too, for the party line voters to dismiss, demean, denigrate, insult, attack, and otherwise try to silence the voices of sincere and rational dissent on our core conservative issues. If party hacks (here on FR and in RL) keep pushing conservatives overboard, pretty soon they'll have the ship all to themselves; but that's all they'll have. And then they can start slitting each others' throats over "what went wrong."

I hope GWB and his advisors start paying attention to the grumbling within the ranks of those who brung him to the White House. Soon.

[Dane]

It is a big mistake here on FR too, for the party line voters to dismiss, demean, denigrate, insult, attack, and otherwise try to silence the voices of sincere and rational dissent on our core conservative issues

Stop playing victim patty cake would you. A lot of people on FR see the constant whining and then bring up the demos policies and then you guys knee jerk into victim mode.

If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen but stop the whining.

[Luis Gonzalez]

Nothing that brings more glee to the editorial staff of the Old Grey Lady, than reporting on seeming ideological divisions within the Grand Old Party, breathlessly opining on fabricated hairline cracks on the cabinets of the Titanic's kitchens, while completely ignoring the fact that a million ton iceberg of irrelevance, and lack of resonance within America's voters, has crushed the hull of the DNC's cruiser; and bail water fast as the Seven Dwarves (plus Reverend Al) of American politics may, the band is playing "Nearer my God, to Defeat" even as we speak.

[e_engineer]

OH sure, he should abandon the people who actually paid attention to his campaign and voted for him and listen to the 2 to 5% fringe of the party who probably voted for Pat Buchanan or some other unelectable pessimist anyway.

Every conservative that I know is angry with Bush right now. I don't think ANY of them voted for Buchanan. If this was really limited to a 5% fringe, we would not see these threads run as long as they do.

What should happen is for folks like you to quit taking the bait from these Liberal rags who all of a sudden are concerned about a deficit or discretionary spending that Congress does and they blame on the White House

When I read stories like that in liberal rags (NYT), I understand that they are ONLY raising the issue to bash Bush. My problem with Bush's liberalism is not a result of reading liberal rags. Most conservatives have been concerned about government spending for at least 20 years. (long before any of these rags jumped on the issue)

Bush is running full tilt toward a cliff. Conservatives are yelling "you're running the wrong way", and republican partisans are blaming the cliff on the conservatives.

It is a fact of political life that conservatives are uppity. Rove and Bush should know this, yet they have chosen to play with fire, and you are screaming at the fire "don't burn GWB!".

[deport]

Some of us may not pull the lever at all.

---

Not surprising as about 50% or so don't vote. Best that way as then it only takes 50% or so of the remaining 25% to win

[Neets]

Every conservative that I know is angry with Bush right now.

Who is putting out this "talking point"?

[ex-snook]

Conservatives are for American citizens first.

Don't vote for candidates of either party who support the outsourcing of America to China, India or elsewhere. There is no 'lesser of two evils' in making this decision. If you have to, vote a third party to make your position known. Being in the 'silent majority' has shown you don't exist.

[tgslTakoma]

Stop playing victim patty cake would you. A lot of people on FR see the constant whining and then bring up the demos policies and then you guys knee jerk into victim mode.

If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen but stop the whining.

Funny that you should be one who talks about knee-jerking, Mr. "Well you just go ahead and stay home then."

Continue to namecall the folks who have concerns that the party and the administration are straying from its core values, rather than pay attention to their concerns, if you wish. It will further prove my point.

I'll keep trying to get folks to realize that the "whiners" as you call them, are not whiners at all - but that they are trying to stop what could be a disastrous election day for conservatives of every stripe.

[pointsal]

For pity's sake....look at the alternative...nine dwarfs and one NY-witch.

Life is a series of choices, the author wants to go down the WRONG path.