George W. Milhous Bush? - Is Dubya the new Nixon?

NRO ^ | May 03, 2006 | Jonah Goldberg

[neverdem]

That cackling you're hearing comes from the chorus of Bush critics (an all-inclusive term that accounts for spittle-flecked bloggers and moderate liberal finger-waggers alike) giddy over Bush's basement-level poll numbers. Several bloggers have gone to the trouble of showing side-by-side charts of Bush's approval rating following close behind former President Richard Nixon's. At the end of the trail is the X-marks-the-spot treasure trove "Nixon resigns."

[RHINO369]

The problem is Bush is neither, unless it comes down to passing a democratic bill, which then hes effective enough to get the job done.

[jammer]

I agree with your thrust, but am not sure that Nixon was a better VPOTUS. Remember Eisenhower saying that given a week, he could think of something constructive Nixon did (paraphrased)? Of course that may just be Ike's personal animus.

Your assessment of Bush43 is spot on, IMO. That's why I think it more descriptive to call him Franklin Delano Bush instead of George Milhous Bush.

[HitmanLV]

Dubya seemed to know what he was doing until last summer, and since then hasn't been able to chain two good moves together.

[x]

The modern conservative movement, from Goldwater to Reagan, was formed as a backlash against Nixonism. Today, Reaganite conservatives make up a majority of the Republican party.

Is that really true? Reagan and Reaganism are the ideal type, but Nixon and Bush are closer to the reality. To some extent that was even true during the Reagan administration. The administration and the party fell short of what the ideologists and Reagan himself wanted.

If ideology is all you do, it's not so hard to be ideologically pure and consistent. Bush comes out of 1) his father's government world, and 2) the business environment, so it's natural that he isn't as staunchly in favor of small government as Jonah is.

[Grampa Dave]

Goldberg is either a very poor student of history or he had a memory lapse of the problems President Reagan had during his second term when the MSM and Donner Party Division of the Republican Party went after President Reagan.

[ImpBill]

Bush's low poll numbers come from conservative disappointment in a number of his positions.

And that is as accurate an assessment as there is out there.

And the straw that has broken the back, IMHO, is his continued opposition to the stark measures, needed to be taken in order, to secure our border from the hordes to the south.

[wrathof59]

Conservatives understand exactly what is going on.

When will you?

[Howlin]

Bump and ping to Txsleuth!

Donner Party........LOL.

[marron]

want bold... You'll get Hillary

No, I don't think so.

When Bush goes bold, he wins. His base rallies, and the Dems melt. When he tries to split the difference, they just get more aggressive, it doesn't help.

The rest of the Repubs are worse. We should be attacking on energy issues, not trying to hide. We should be attacking on war issues, we should be attacking on border security. Those issues should be simple, clear, and clearly in our favor. No force on earth is more destructive of our energy infrastructure than the Democratic Party in all of its various mutations. No force on earth is more destructive and less competent on military security, no external enemy could do more damage to our intelligence capabilities than the DNC and its undercover operatives scattered throughout CIA.

But Repubs are hoping to slip back into office without a fight, hoping people will just intuit their positions without them having to actually declare and defend them.

I might be a little unfair here, or unrealistic, but I want these guys to stop hiding their light under a bushel. I want them to declare themselves, and declare war on the Dems.

[Howlin]

Conservatives understand exactly what is going on.

I know they do; conservatives on THIS site can read your posts and realize that you are a proud participant in the Jeffrey Dahmer Group of the conservative wing of the GOP.

[Grampa Dave]

Girly Boy Goldberg, also, fired Ann Coulter for her comments about his Islamic buddies after 9/11.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/537772/posts

Fired Conservative Columnist Anne Coulter Getting 'Great Publicity'
CNS News ^ | 10/2/01


Posted on 10/02/2001 9:14:04 AM PDT by truthandlife


Conservative columnist Ann Coulter, fired from her contributing editor perch at the National Review Online, blames it on free-speech hysteria in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. In a recent online column, Coulter opined that the United States should respond forcefully to the terrorist attacks: "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders, and convert them to Christianity," she said. The comment provoked an uproar, and the National Review Online subsequently refused to run another Coulter piece in which she referred to "swarthy males." When Coulter complained, she was fired. Tuesday's Washington Post quotes Coulter as saying she doesn't need friends like that. "Every once in awhile they'll throw one of their people to the wolves to get good press in left-wing publications," she told the newspaper. National Review Online Editor Jonah Goldberg told the Post, "We didn't feel we wanted to be associated with the comments expressed in those two columns." Coulter told the Washington Post she's getting great publicity as a result of the flap.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/537772/posts

[devane617]

Don't badmouth President Nixon by comparing him th gw.

[ThomasThomas]

George W. Bush has his views of what he believes is good for the country, polls are not going change them. I would like to change his view on immigration. I don't think he can be greatly persuaded to change alot by any group. He is not poll driven like some of our past presidents were. On the other hand Nixon was very concerned about what people though of him.

[devane617]

Howlin, Play nice.

[Grampa Dave]

The Donner Party is in full venom on this thread.

[marron]

I was a pretty regular reader of Goldberg's up until that time. Haven't read him much since, except when he's reposted here.

You have to admit, Coulter's line about converting them all to Christianity is more memorable than anything he's written. And (truth be told) more on the mark than almost anything written by anyone else, since.

[Democratshavenobrains]

I get the feeling that if Nixon were still alive, he wouldn't be the biggest supporter of the War on Terrorism.

[Grampa Dave]

Goldberg probably needs to come out of the closet and run with the Log Cabin guys.

[Vigilanteman]

George Kennan, the author of the containment doctrine, was a democrat.

Douglas MacArthur, author of the roll-back doctrine, however, was not even close to being a democrat.

[USFRIENDINVICTORIA]

"But simply because the left despises you doesn't mean you're particularly right-wing. If LBJ were alive, you could ask him about this."

How true! My impression of LBJ was that he was some sort of right-winger -- fascist even. (Not surprising, considering that most of what Canadians know about U.S. politics came from network TV news, the NY Times and their ilk, and the CBC.) Years later, I discovered his domestic policy record -- his Great Society programs would have put him on the far left; even in Canada. Signing the Civil Rights Act would have gotten him sainted in ordinary times (by both political wings).

When I tell people that the left eats its own; I use LBJ as an example. Most people simply refuse to believe it.

I hope the U.S. right wing isn't feeling cannibalistic these days.