Posted on 01/24/2004 8:22:34 PM PST by 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.
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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."
That would be several choices....Iran, Syria, Pakistan, Turkey...I suggest you go to Turkey because they are the most stable extreme Right country around. You would love it there I'm sure.
I will stay right here with the Republican Party where a continued conservative effort has and will make a difference in the long run.
The problem is, this country has had 50 years of Democrat control and "W" is the first conservative President with a conservative legislature. It takes time to swing momentum back to the right because since the time of FDR it has been very much stuck in the leftist ideology.
Don't bother to spew your "I hate Bush because" rant either. This President has done many conservative things that are not being posted here, or being given credit for. You are selectively focused on a few issues that you know little about other than what you hear from others of your kind. The biggest issue being the "Immigration" issue, of which, was just an idea that was moved into the open for discussion in the first place.
Other than a great deal of hyperventilation over nothing or jumping to conclusions, as well as dooms-day projection-ism you have no facts or evidence to base your hate upon.
Sorry FP, people who help elect demos are not conservatives.
And look what that got us! The problem with you First Principle people is that you expect this president to ignore the promises he made to get elected to begin with. He made a promise to the steel workers that he would put tariff's on imported steel, he promised to promote the "No Child Left Behind Act", But you First Principled people expect the President to abandon his own principles and adopt yours. I consider the demands or you'll stay home like you did in 91 & 96 as juvenile
I don't hate Bush. I think he is just like any other politician. I would love incrementalism. We haven't come here in one day, and we wouldn't be going back overnight. But, I don't think the path of incrementalism requires a hard detour to the left. That is what Bush has done. It may win him the Presidency, but not my support. And, I don't think I am the only conservative whose support he wont be getting.
WHAT CHOICE! ?.. I don't see a choice.. Anyone that fumbles for a choice is very very confused... and is fodder for the Green Party...<<-(i.e. not a complement)
< / snide >
When did he do that? Do you have any link to this? My God, if I knew this I would have never voted for him in 2000. I voted for him, partly because he said he was a free trader. If I knew he promised steel tariffs, I would have never voted for him. Not just this. I remember him saying explicitly that CFR would become the law over his dead body. I guess he squirmed from that statement pretty quickly. That is probably the most far-reaching law against the First Amendment ever. He also went back on his promise on stem-cell research funding.
Really? I guess you are a big fan of Kofi Anann and the UN being the US Commander in Chief. That's what you will get with a demo President.
Either way Apple is voting for Kofi Anann to be Commander in Chief.
You obviously did not follow his campaign because he did not say that, He said he would not sign CFR in it's current form, he said if it had "Severability" he would consider it.
I'm begining to thisnk you're a troll, you've been here at FR for 2 months and doing your very best to distort the facts and divide people here
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