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The bungling Bush presidency is falling apart
Newsday ^ | March 3, 2006 | James Klurfeld

Posted on 03/03/2006 3:26:40 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4

An old acquaintance in Washington - a former member of Republican administrations whose foreign policy views are decidedly hard-line - recently had this to say to a friend about the Bush administration: This might be the most inept administration in American history.

But it should come as no surprise that President George W. Bush has fallen to an approval rating of 34 percent in a recent national poll. Just look at the events in this winter of his discontent:

Members of his own party have turned against him on the issues of whether a company owned by the United Arab Emirates should control six major ports in the United States.

As more and more information leaks out about the unauthorized and very likely illegal eavesdropping by the National Security Administration, there is more talk - only whispered at the moment - that there ought to be an impeachment inquiry into Bush's behavior.

But I fear we are now seeing the other side of the coin with Bush. His lack of historical perspective, his crusading religiousness, his Texas-style shoot-first-ask-questions-later approach to complex problems - that is, all the shortcomings that were obvious from the beginning of his presidency - seem to be catching up with him now. It's one thing to be a decisive leader. It is quite another to be consistently making the wrong decisions.

This is a presidency coming unraveled before our eyes. It is not a pretty sight, and it is not good for the country. What a difference a year makes. After his re-election, Bush said that he would use his political capital.

Soon he won't have any left. Then what?

(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: ports
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
What's the difference between "Bush-hatred" and "legitimate criticism" if either one weakens him to the point that a Republican President can't get elected in 2008?

Oh I see shut up and support the party... where have I heard that kind of rhetoric before?

121 posted on 03/03/2006 6:49:47 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
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To: N3WBI3

You support a party. But which one?


122 posted on 03/03/2006 6:51:34 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (Our enemies act on ecstatic revelations from their god. We act on the advice of lawyers.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

Yeah, but just because a guys poll numbers plummet doesn't mean his is the "most inept administration in American History". That award goes to Jimmah Cahtah.

There's one thing people seem to be forgetting. GW is not running for re-election. He can pretty well do what he doggone well pleases.


123 posted on 03/03/2006 6:55:02 AM PST by no dems ("A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking" Steven Wright)
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To: Fresh Wind
This guy has been bashing Bush since day one. This is nothing new.

As has every other MSM reporter.

I challenge anyone to find a single MSM puff piece (the kind we saw daily re the Clinton administration) on GWB dating back to the 2000 campaign.

Even when the good news is unavoidable, it gets a negative spin.

Last week ABC radio news ran a story on an unexpected surge in jobs. The "however" was quickly injected, advising us all that it may cause inflation to go up and force the Fed to raise interest rates.

That's the kind of reporting we've seen/heard every day and every hour for six years.

The MSM may be losing its influence, but this kind of constant bashing is bound to take a toll.

124 posted on 03/03/2006 6:55:20 AM PST by daler
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To: no dems
He can pretty well do what he doggone well pleases.

A lot of people are ready to abandon him for that. And that limits his courses of action.

125 posted on 03/03/2006 6:57:38 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (Our enemies act on ecstatic revelations from their god. We act on the advice of lawyers.)
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To: ConsentofGoverned
We have plenty of laws to control immigration - but the Executive should enforce our current laws-which if done with the spirit of those laws would lead to sealing the border.

Which law should Bush start with?

126 posted on 03/03/2006 6:57:52 AM PST by syriacus (Hillary says: Millions to China's state-run shippers; not one RED cent to the UAE shippers)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4

I dont support a party, I support conservatives. I would vote for a Zell Miller over an Olympia Snowe any day of the week and twice on sunday..


127 posted on 03/03/2006 6:58:05 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
All the Bush-hatred expressed on FR lately is giving our enemies cause to rejoice.

Anybody who isn't appropriately fearful of DPW operating terminals in our ports is wrong and anybody who isn't totally disgusted with Bush is a kool-aid drinking Bushbot. Two and a half years of that is going to put Hillary in the White House.

With regard to our enemies rejoicing about what they read here at Free Republic, I don't think you need worry too much about it. I don't think the people we have to worry about have time to lurk here reading us.

In addition, I think your fears about the DPW-terminal issue are overblown, but that is my personal opinion, and I'm willing to say that you may be right that we should be "appropriately fearful of DPW operating terminals in our ports." Obviously, I hope you are wrong, but you may be right.

And finally, I don't think Hillary has a snowball's chance in hell of ever being President. It's just not going to happen. It may be that some other Democrat will win in '08, but it won't be Hillary. The trends are all against her, and she's an idiot, and the New Media will destroy her (if you think the Swift Boat Veterans did a good job, wait 'till you see who comes out of the woodwork from Hillary's past).

Anyway, you can flame me if you want, I'm only expressing my own opinion here. Maybe I'm wrong.

(steely)

128 posted on 03/03/2006 7:00:41 AM PST by Steely Tom (Your taboos are not my taboos.)
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To: N3WBI3

How many seats does the Conservative Party have in Congress?


129 posted on 03/03/2006 7:03:41 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (Our enemies act on ecstatic revelations from their god. We act on the advice of lawyers.)
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To: wtc911
They are dishonest in every way.

Sad, but true.

By not buying the paper, I have more money I can contribute to my favorite charities or political causes. At first, I thought I would read some Newsday articles online, but I've found that do that rarely.

130 posted on 03/03/2006 7:04:02 AM PST by syriacus (Hillary says: Millions to China's state-run shippers; not one RED cent to the UAE shippers)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
The way the Republicans have been abusing them.... Fewer and fewer..... But If you find comfort from picking the person that drives us to hell in a hand basket more power to ya..
131 posted on 03/03/2006 7:07:37 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
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To: ConsentofGoverned
Namby Pamby stayed at home and the GOP fell off the wall and all the kings horsemen could not put GOP together again.

REPLY:

Yes thats all we need is a bunch of angry and divided voters staying home and helping get a Dimorat elected to office.

Staying home is actually endorsing the Rats.

Nambys don't stand up and fight for what they believe in, they go home and pout.

All of these stay at home voters will deserve the government they get and they will not like it.

Lets see, how does the Peoples Republic of America sound, or El Presidenta Hellary Klinton.

We could even have new cabinet posts such as Minister of Propaganda, Michael Moore, Minister of Thought Control, HowWeird Deaniac, Secretary of Defense, Cindy Sheehan and the numbers of anti-American office servers is endless.

How about Ramsey Clark for Attorney General.............

What gets my goat is how conservatives can be so easily manipulated by the MSM and a few radical Dimorats.

Dissent speak volumes for those claiming to love America.

Because if a voter really loved America they would never just give up and let the Dimorats finish destroying America.
132 posted on 03/03/2006 7:07:52 AM PST by OKIEDOC (There's nothing like hearing someone say thank you for your help.)
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To: Cincinatus
Very old fashioned -- a principled man acting on a course he believes to be right

I noticed that he seemed very relaxed the other day, during a news conference at the White House. Even the commentator mentioned that Bush seemed at ease.

133 posted on 03/03/2006 7:08:11 AM PST by syriacus (Hillary says: Millions to China's state-run shippers; not one RED cent to the UAE shippers)
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To: Steely Tom
I don't think the people we have to worry about have time to lurk here reading us.

Some of them ARE us.

I don't think Hillary has a snowball's chance in hell of ever being President.

Her husband got re-elected in '96. Hell could freeze over again, especially if the Republicans self-destruct.

134 posted on 03/03/2006 7:08:39 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (Our enemies act on ecstatic revelations from their god. We act on the advice of lawyers.)
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To: daler
Last week ABC radio news ran a story on an unexpected surge in jobs. The "however" was quickly injected, advising us all that it may cause inflation to go up and force the Fed to raise interest rates.

That's the kind of reporting we've seen/heard every day and every hour for six years.

Maybe you don't remember, or were too young to notice at the time, but the very same, exact formula was used by the MSM during the Reagan administration. Every single piece of good news was followed by a "however," it was just as predictable as Chevy Chase saying "I'm Here, and You're Not" at the end of Weekend Update. The tactic of offsetting every good unemployment report with fearmongering about the inflation rate and the Fed raising interest rates started during Reagan.

The MSM has lost an incredible amount of their former power, but not in their own minds. Like the Al Pacino character in Scarface, they've become their own best customers, snorting their own product by the bucketful and acting irrational.

(steely)

135 posted on 03/03/2006 7:09:54 AM PST by Steely Tom (Your taboos are not my taboos.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
What's the difference between "Bush-hatred" and "legitimate criticism" if either one weakens him to the point that a Republican President can't get elected in 2008?

I've got a hint for you - the GOP will not win elections in 2006 or 2008 if they continue to ignore legitimate concerns from the conservative base about spending and illegal immigration, among other things. Presidents ignore their base at their own peril. But some will try to act like it's the fault of the base for not going along with presidential agendas that are anethema to their core values.

There is a war on. Does anybody owe him any loyalty?

He's a president, not a king. Tens of millions of conservatives voted him into office twice. If the GOP wishes to have those people vote for a GOP presidential candidate again, they need to quit treating us as automatic votes by discregarding our key concerns.

I am not demanding that Bush give into my every concern. I have been more than willing to look at both sides of the port issue, and my position opposing such has softened since the story first broke to where I am neutral instead of opposed.

But regarding Bush's key transgressions, fiscal restraint is suppose to be a core GOP value. That should not be negotiable here - but instead it has been trampled into the ground.

And regarding illegal immigration, Reagan showed that amnesty does not work. And all the guest-worker programs I've seen are backdoor amnesty policies. If the GOP is not willing to address illegal immigration in a manner other than simply solving the problem by declaring what has been illegal to now be legal, then we need to create a party that will. It just comes down to that.

136 posted on 03/03/2006 7:10:49 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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To: no dems
GW is not running for re-election. He can pretty well do what he doggone well pleases.

Not really. All the GOP members of the house and many GOP Senators are up for re-election in 2006. They have to face the voters. And they will not go along with aspects of the Bush Admin agenda that would sandbag their re-election chances.

And if the Bush Admin wants a GOP successor come 2009, they had better start listening long and hard to the base over spending and illegal immigration.

137 posted on 03/03/2006 7:14:09 AM PST by dirtboy (I'm fat, I sleep most of the winter and I saw my shadow yesterday. Does that make me a groundhog?)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Her husband got re-elected in '96. Hell could freeze over again, especially if the Republicans self-destruct.

Yeah, well. There could be a massive H5N1 epidemic, and a nuclear exchange could happen between India and Pakistan or between Iran and Israel, and oil could hit $200/bbl, and the stock market could collapse again. Any of those things actually could happen, without Hell freezing over.

(steely)

138 posted on 03/03/2006 7:18:03 AM PST by Steely Tom (Your taboos are not my taboos.)
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To: Cannoneer No. 4
Hell could freeze over again, especially if the Republicans self-destruct. pick another Bob Dole to run

Fixed it for you..

139 posted on 03/03/2006 7:20:53 AM PST by N3WBI3 (If SCO wants to go fishing they should buy a permit and find a lake like the rest of us..)
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To: dirtboy

You can't really punish the President for not doing what you want. He is not running for anything. All you can do is weaken him. When you do that you strengthen his enemies. The result is domestic enemies in power, and foreign enemies emboldened. Is that your intention or just an unfortunate by-product?


140 posted on 03/03/2006 7:21:17 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4 (Our enemies act on ecstatic revelations from their god. We act on the advice of lawyers.)
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