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.
The Jacobians live in a world of lies and 1/720 th truth , so this is a good example of that.
Thanks for the ping,gatorbait and yes,Deb delivered the goods and then some. :-)
I'm not against Bush for the war. Though I do not like the way he's running this war, that would not stop me for voting for him if he was a real conservative.
What IS going to stop me from voting for him is the Patriot Act, the prescription drug benefit, other unconstitutional expenditures, amnesty for illegals, FTAA, and most important of all, the fact that he is on record as saying he would sign an extension of the assault weapons ban.
I don't give a hoot if it never gets to his desk (I think it will however) the fact that he would sign it if it did is reason enough to vote for Michael A. Peroutka of the Constitution Party.
No more lesser of two evils. Evil is evil. I'm voting for good. My conscience will not allow me to do otherwise.
If Kerry wins, so be it. Maybe America will go down the toilet quicker so we can fix it quicker. This slow death thing is really annoying me.
If I thought Bush would reverse the slow death thing even a little I'd reconsider, but he had 4 years to change my mind about him, and he didn't. He has not done one single "conservative" thing in 4 years.
For once (well maybe twice, I forget) I agree with Willie! :)
It's not looking good for a bigger GOP majority in the Senate come November and if it's paper thin again Lincoln Chaffey said something about joining Jeffords. Losing the majority will cripple the president...assuming GW wins...so he couldn't risk losing Spector's seat. The fact that some conservatives don't understand how these strategies have to be played makes me nuts.
Tom Delay said that when he was elected to the House the Democrats had an 80 seat majority. The GOP has, like, 10. If a few east coast liberal Republicans shift, it changes everything. Majorities are better than minorities, but a working majority would let us role back the damage the Democrats did with their 40 years of control.
Battle of Midway? Has he asked you why we were willing to fight real war then and not now?
Bye!
Yeah, and if Kerry gets in, the list will get a lot longer and the cleanup will take a lot longer. We still haven't recovered from LBJ and Jimmy Carter's screwups (Iran, Panama Canal, Great Society, Korean nuclear program, total mishandling of Viet Nam). Only about a tenth of Clinton's have come home to roost, so far.
read later
COLLEGE PROFESSOR says it all. I don't know one college professor who: 1) is not a liberal and 2) supports the liberation of Iraq.
"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."
But this is not the SAME THING! What a misguided overgeneralization.
You are correct that was part of the reason for the post. But in these latter days of election nonsense (I say that reverently) the best party is the most informed RNC member.
I don't talk with folks on a daily basis who agree with me. I read articles to know what they are listening to. I am very strong in my beliefs as to my loyalty to the Republican Party (my first vote was Reagan).
But, to ignore such articles doesn't make it go away. So I read it, and, then base my arguments on what is incorrect.
Perhaps I would have tried more, but, if you screen name is in question, that I am trolling, etc., frankly I lost my focus.
Great point.
I thought I was the only one to notice. If her signup date had been today, the VK's would haved been out in full force. But she fooled them by being a three-week old poster.
While I am sure there is some clever meaning to your post, I did decide to do the right thing. I gave my time to find a way to access my original account. Thank goodness for the excellent screen name data base.
Dane: FR member since Aug 6, 1998
I noticed how you didn't mention that, un-military DU Chick, signed up on FR 6-22-04.
Well, isn't that calling the kettle black. Actually it was a good move to point out another FR member as not what he/she purports to be. I did make it clear that I married and thus changed my FR name. I did post under but felt that using my actual name would not be in my best interest.
Not everyone who is new is out "trolling' or causing mischievous. Personally you have the right to say this but let me be VERY CLEAR I have been a member since early 1998 as you can see from my profile. Jim, was kind enough to assist me, evidently I did not need the original email, so here I am. The former Military Chick.
Perhaps I should be welcoming both of you?
Perhaps others will see that not all things are as they appear.
My prayers go out to our men and women serving in the US Military and their families.
Exactly what do you mean with a nic like mine? Newbie, who is a newbie? I posted this article for discussion. That this will be the type of folks we will do battle with from now until election day. To ignore it is to just stay home and allow Kerry to win.
From the article what surfaces if the fact that the press is succeeding in hiding the successes and holding under a microscope all the flaws:
"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 those in the news media were not reporting the positive developments out of Iraq."
Notice that the meeting was "closed to journalist." This tells me that the press would have got in to bash anything positive they would have to say.
Notice also the revealing statement that says, "the news media were not reporting the positive developments out of Iraq." We have to wake up to the fact that the left has sent an army of their antiwar reporters over to Iraq. Their mission is to derail any information of success about our effort in Iraq. The effort of stifling information has the scary resemblance to the Iron Curtain of the old Soviet Union. These information goons have as much respect for the institution of the press as an instrument for the truth as the mafia has for a family member talking to the F.B.I.
We are in a war for the truth folks. If we lose that war, soon they will take even the information highway away as our means to the truth.
Dear Joe,
No. He (like the other eight soldiers/Marines I've adopted) are wonderful. According to them they feel like they are making a difference in the Iraqis' immediate and longterm future. They understand what our country's longterm goals are. I have soldiers/Marines from all over Iraq. It is an honor to know them. I wish you had as good an understanding of terror, dictatorship, carpet bombing etc. as my family has. And if you don't know what I'm talking about....READ MY POSTS! :-)
I can't EVER remember reading a bigger lie on this forum. This should set off whistles and bells in every REAL conservative on this forum!
Some Key Conservatives Uneasy About Bush
Key to who, John Kerry? I didn't read a single name in here who has ANY responsibility for anything!
Perhaps you're the one who needs to do a little more reading.
That Savage report was totally trashed right here on this forum within minutes of him making that statement.
It's a LIE. You're not bothering to check out the facts just proves where you're coming from.
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