How Bush can save Bush (Peggy Noonan)

wsj ^ | OCtober 20, 2005 | PEggy Noonan

[freedomdefender]

In 1986, George W. Bush reached a crisis point in his life and changed what wasn't working. He dug deep and got serious. He got humble. He questioned himself. He can do it again, and should.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

So, the GOP can adopt the label "conservatives," and I'll be content with being a far right, cynical, elitist, sexist religious bigot.

Maybe we should call ourselves Regressives in order to distinguish us from the watered down pablum that passes for GOP or Bush "conservatism". ;-)

[nopardons]

Yes, that was a precipitous fall she took then. But, her treacle columns, written in the tone of a very young Catholic school girl, began to really get on my nerves, even prior to that blatant disgrace of a column.

I called her a hack writer, back then and was attacked vociferously for doing so. But the fact is, she IS a hack.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Either he was sincere and bailed out on the fight or he was merely manipulating conservative voters.

Bush hasn't bailed on anyone. If anyone bailed, it's the anti-Miers crowd.

[Cboldt]

Maybe we should call ourselves Regressives ...

You need to keep reading. We've been given a first class pass to looter and extortionist!

[BigSkyFreeper]

Regressive works. It denotes a backwards trend.

[Kryptonite]

That's one reason why I can't trash Bush on this, yet. O'Connor is still deciding cases. If she's replaced by Miers, and Miers turns out to be better than O'Connor, that's a win. Not a big win in itself, but a win nonetheless.

I can only imagine how O'Connor would be voting if Bush selected a controversial nominee that drew a filibuster which put her retirement off indefinitely.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Of course at the time, the articles of hers on JPII weren't all that bad actually. When placed next to her critique of the 2nd Inaugural Address by President Bush, it makes her look like a hypocrite. I think in both instances, they all "came from the heart" if you know what I mean.

[Kryptonite]

I remember that to this day as well.

[nopardons]

Ummmmmm..."heart" isn't exactly where I would have place where the columns came from, LOL

[BigSkyFreeper]

LOL! I got your drift!

[BigSkyFreeper]

I remember that to this day as well.

In fact, near the time of the Pope's passing, opinionjournal.com ran her editoral of her trip to Rome and the Mass she attended with other Catholic faithful a few years before, when he was suffering the ravages of Parkinsons.

[nopardons]

:-)

[ALWAYSWELDING]

...I don't think Miers will be nearly the mistake for Bush that O'Connor was for Reagan.

I would have to disagree. Not because Miers is going to be left of O'Connor, but because conservatives have been burned so many times now. Anything less than a strict constructionist is going to be a complete failure in the eyes of conservatives. Or at least many of them.

Look, this will all be rehashed every single time she takes an activist position on a case. It will rip that scab off over and over and over. Even conservatives that are standing by her nomination now may very well get upset when decisions are not going their way and she's the 5 vote.

I love the President. Feel like he's family type thing, but I can't stand with him on this one. I think the chance of her handing down some bad decisions will hurt him bad, real bad, if she makes it to the court.

[trubluolyguy]

now some in his own party.

---

Well to be honest, he chose this fight. Not just over Meiers either. Borders, amnesty, spending...the list goes on. Best President ever? Have you seen the borders?

[america-rules]

"He can recover if Miers goes and a proven conservative jurist is appointed"

I'd bet a years pay a proven conservative jurist wouldn't make it past 45 votes !

[LibertarianInExile]

"Look at the acrimony and insults on this board. Those are the voices of the GOP lashing out against conservatives."

What you said BUMP.

[Rightwing Conspiratr1]

Regressive works. It denotes a backwards trend.

Correct. Just for example, I support the repeal of the 16th and 17th amendments. It's time to acknowledge that the income tax is a failure and b) the Senate as the People's house rather than the State's is a collosal failure.

Proud to be a Regressive.

[LibertarianInExile]

"I'm watching and talking about what I consider "the base". And it NEVER included Peggy Noonan, Bill Kristol, David Frum, John Fund, or whoever else tries to insert themselves into importance. Which is all this column of PEG Noonan is attempting to do."

Ah, so if someone is in opposition to Dubya, especially a conservative commentator (Kristol excepted) he can't possibly represent the base, because that would be 'inserting himself into importance,' whereas the President and those supporting him are truly representative of 'the base,' even though some 40% of the folks here seem in opposition to her nomination and FR generally represents ITSELF as composed of the base GOP population.

Good to know the standards have been set. /sarc

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Forget the humble crap!......CUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING!

[ncphinsfan]

"Once again, his "base" isn't split."

After a couple of weeks of research and intense debate, have any minds been changed? Do you approve of the president's nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court?
No
40.0%

Yes
35.9%

Need more info
19.4%

Pass
2.4%

I'm voting Hillary!
2.4%

Looks pretty split to me.