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It's a pity that the Bush administration NEEDLESSLY throws away conservative support through BAD POLICY positions.

Supporting an illegal immigration proposal while not adequately and forthrightly supporting the CLEAR Act or document verification is one example of political blundering.

Not as bad as his tax-hiking father, but close.
The stage was set with various needless panders - the farm bill, the drug bill (a pinata), increased spending... all with no explanation nor excuse from the White House.

Quite frankly, since they lost Ari Fleischer, the White House has had a tin ear and a tin horn.

The Bush administration should be *actively* promoting Conservative positions and values, not throwing a few bones and then expecting full scale loyalty no questions asked. A good example is the tax cut. They should be selling that idea more forthrightly. They should be *actively* defending the administration from the lies of the Democrats - on Iraq, on war on terror, on NCLB act, etc.

It's scary how the Bush 2004 playbook is looking like 1992 - "move to the middle and pretend all is well" ... DOHH! That disappoints your supporters and makes you seem 'out of touch'.

I actually posed this recently to a similar thread. I believe it applies here as well..

Regarding the current Bush/Repub policy...

The problem isn't so much cutting taxes as it is the spending issues. The theory is that cutting taxes will spur growth and actually result in more tax revenues due to the greater economic output. This may work in the short term. However, the increased spending burdens will eventually fall upon we, the people. He is buying his immediate future on our backs.

What is so disturbing about the Bush administration is that rather than acting in a principled fashion (according to Republican [conservative] principles of limited government)is that he has eschewed those principles in a quest to buy (yes, buy) votes from the seniors and those 'on the fence' in order to gain some kind of majority (see election 2000 debacle). Prescription drug coverage, higher educational spending, over a billion to promote marriage(!), campaign finaice, immigration disaster...all of these done while regarding those more conservative with the thought of "Yeah, but who else are you going to vote for?" - taking his base support for granted.

Some suggestions - take the billion + dollars to promote marriage and move the marine base at 29 Palms closer to Yuma, AZ & have it conduct operations along the border. Cancel the educational spending, as it is the states' job.

For those voters who are truly appalled by this, the endgame is simple - the congress is the default place to exercise your individual power. Let me explain. Vote for Bush & maybe he will be reelected, or vote for someone else more aligned with your principles. If Bush loses, the Congress will likely (at this point) be Republican, and be in the same position it was in in the 90's with Groper-in-Chief, that of opposing Dem policies. Unfortunately, it is in opposing Dem policies that Reps are better, as Reps act more principled when lacking the executive branch. They have fallen into the Dem theory of buying votes by pandering. It is sad, for it indicates a lack of faith in the appeal and viability of their own espoused principles.

So how do we exercise influence on congress? Vote locally. Become more involved. Watch the voting record on spending measures. Act to inform (via freerepublic, email, etc.) others of the bad acts. Donate $ acordingly. Support candidates that actually do not want to spend your tax dollars. Most congressional members know 90+% of them are reelected and their districts are heavily gerrymandered, so we need options (alternate candidates) locally. Not an easy path, to be sure, but the only one that has any hope of saving us and our futures. It is time to stop these politicians from spending our $. I fear for the consequences of failure to do so.