Posted on 07/11/2004 10:48:58 AM PDT by Military Chick
Some Key Conservatives Uneasy About Bush
SCOTT LINDLAW Associated Press
WASHINGTON - When an influential group of conservatives gathers in downtown Washington each week, they often get a political pep talk from a senior Bush administration official or campaign aide. They don't expect a fellow Republican to deliver a blistering critique of President Bush's handling of the Iraq war.
But nearly 150 conservatives listened in silence recently as a veteran of the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations ticked off a litany of missteps in Iraq by the Bush White House.
"This war is not going well," said Stefan Halper, a deputy assistant secretary of state under President Reagan.
"It's costing us a lot of money, isolating us from our allies and friends," said Halper, who gave $1,000 to George W. Bush's campaign and more than $83,000 to other GOP causes in 2000. "This is not the cakewalk the neoconservatives predicted. We were not greeted with flowers in the streets."
Conservatives, the backbone of Bush's political base, are increasingly uneasy about the Iraq conflict and the steady drumbeat of violence in postwar Iraq, Halper and some of his fellow Republicans say. The conservatives' anxiety was fueled by the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse scandal and has not abated with the transfer of political power to the interim Iraqi government.
Some Republicans fear angry conservatives will stay home in November, undercutting Bush's re-election bid.
"I don't think there's any question that there is growing restiveness in the Republican base about this war," said Halper, the co-author of a new book, "America Alone: The Neoconservatives and the Global Order."
Some Republicans dismiss the rift as little more than an inside-the-Beltway spat among rival factions of the GOP intelligentsia. Indeed, conservatives nationwide are still firmly behind Bush. A Pew Research Center poll last month found that 97 percent of conservative Republicans favored Bush over Kerry.
But anger is simmering among some conservatives.
"I am bitterly disappointed in his actions with this war. It is a total travesty," said Tom Hutchinson, 69, a self-described conservative from Sturgeon, Mo., who posted yard signs and staffed campaign phone banks for the Republican in 2000. Hutchinson said he did not believe the administration's stated rationales for the war, in particular the argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Hutchinson, a retired businessman and former college professor, said his unease with Iraq may lead him to do something he has not done since 1956: avoid the voting booth in a presidential election.
Jack Walters, 59, a self-described "classical conservative" from Columbia, Mo., said he hadn't decided which candidate to vote for.
"Having been through Vietnam, I thought no, never again," Walters said. "But here comes the same thing again, and I'm old enough to recognize the lame reasons given for going into Iraq, and they made me ill."
The tension has been building in official Washington, where conservative members of the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees have pressed the administration for answers on combat operations; disagreed with the Pentagon on troop levels; and expressed frustration with an administration they feel has shown them disdain by withholding information.
Chief political adviser Karl Rove's formula for re-election is primarily to push Bush's conservative base to the polls.
Another administration official involved in Bush's re-election effort has voiced concern that angry conservatives will sit out the election.
But Matthew Dowd, the Bush-Cheney campaign's chief strategist, described the fear of losing conservative support as "just ludicrous."
Bush is "as strong among conservative Republicans as any Republican president has been" - higher than President Reagan's approval among conservatives during his re-election campaign of 1984, Dowd said.
Yet, Halper said his critical review on the administration's performance on Iraq last week was met with expressions of support in the conservatives' weekly meeting, which is closed to journalists.
The marquee speaker sent by the administration was Eric Ciliberti, who spent several weeks in Iraq this year and told the audience of broad progress being made there.
Ciliberti complained to the group that the news media was not reporting the positive developments out of Iraq. Ciliberti did not return several calls late in the past week from a reporter seeking his account.
Your shopping list of Important things, in a perfect world yeah we are concerned about it, but right now WE'RE busy with other stuff - like Keeping the Airplane from Crashing. Your list will take several more elections and Presidents to clean up.
1. Illegal immigration
2. The continuation of Abortion without end in site
3. A runaway court that he does nothing about
4. Foot dragging on gay marriage
5. The world court
1, 3, and 5 are all arguably important to keeping the bird aloft. 5 just barely, but 1 and 3 are pretty solid.
The missiles were pretty important to our hosts. Not to mention the troops they were aimed at (luckily I got there after the last one was fired, just barely). Luckily they weren't aimed at Kuwait City (for the most part). That all happened before they stopped caring about hurting fellow arabs.
As for your comments about sand in the bag, the same can be said of the sand in your bathing suit when you leave the beach. And those few grains in the bottom can still do damage.
I stand by my comments.
I wish my Kansas friend good luck......
When was the last time you saw an article that said "Democrats Upset With Kerry Over Gay Marriage Issue" or anything like that? The answer is... NEVER; you won't see it. Why?
The answer is simple... two words: "Push Stories." Like a "Push-Poll," a push story is written to affect what it purports to measure. With push-polls, the people who use them know that people generally like to go with a winner, so they release a poll that is jiggered to show the result that they want, in the hopes the poll itself will help achieve that result. Witness the now-discredited LA Times Poll released to make positive news for Kerry during the Reagan funeral.
Well, push stories are intended to create a result. Note: every time a positive poll comes out for the Bush team, you see a story "Conservatives Unhappy with Bush over [FILL IN THE BLANK]." The reason is that these stories are INTENDED to *create* discontent amongst Conservatives. You will also notice that Scott Lindlaw of the AP writes most of these stories. The solution -- DON'T fall for this trick of the liberal media.
You will notice that when there is a *liberal* wedge issue -- like gay marriage -- the story the liberal media writes is always about how Democrats accuse Republicans of trying to drive a wedge through the base; the obvious reason is that the media wants the Democrat base to stay together.
So, to review:
Bush does well, the media tries to drive a wedge through the conservative base using "push-stories," usually with titles that read "Conservatives Angry With Bush" over SOMETHING... ANYTHING.
If there is a liberal wedge issue, the media will do its best to blame the GOP.
Any questions? Pass this little nugget of wisdom on to your Conservative friends.
Don't let the liberal media get away with their deceitful trick!
Keep our base intact!
Keep Our Base and EXPAND IT! The Democratic Party must be reduced to permanent minority status. Its a Dream I have, LOL.
What strategy might that be?
A dream that will soon come true...
Going into Iraq!
We are True Warriors for the cause, I'm in total obnoxious agreement with you.
By the Way, has World Net Daily gone nuts? Lots of negative to Republican News being passed on there lately.
Look at my history. Then decide......
Timing is everything and these KEY CONSERVATIVES are a group of myopic self absorbed politicos who seek purity and truth at the expense reason and reality. Vote for Nadar, or Kerry make your displeasure known! Such disregard for sanity is hard to understand.
Please, Mr. Halper, quote me the history of the war which was totally planned out, went as planned, even postwar, was economically fought, etc.
And while you are at it, Mr. Halper, make me believe that conservatives are so stupid that in a snit over Bush, will allow Kerry/Edwards to run this country.
Oh, I forgot. You, too, are selling a book.
vaudine
P.S. Am I the only one who never heard of this guy?
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, an avowed Marxist, was confirmed by the US Senate in a 97 to 3 vote. The Republican Party sold out long ago. I think it's beyond hope.
"Best Man Running"
Mark, you have not read then much from the true and principled clowder,They use any critique of the President to bash him. I like to call them Jim Wright Conservatives, you know ,"we jes wanna hep th' Prezidint" crowd, whilst stabbing him and then giving morale boosts to the bad guys.
You have freep mail ,BTW.
Don't mince words,Deb.. let it out.. flow... You hit the jackpot and the article's author is a Conservative hating scum sucker. He does know which buttons to push to get the Jim Wright conservatives yowling, though , doesn't he?
With a nic like your's,newbie,how can youn possibly say that an isolationist,complaining how much the WoT (and yes,Iraq IS part and parcel of the WoT!),being snarky about "neocons" is a voice needed to be heard?
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