Posted on 05/10/2006 7:15:13 PM PDT by Dems_R_Losers
Disaffection over spending and immigration have caused conservatives to take flight from President Bush and the Republican Congress at a rapid pace in recent weeks, sending Bush's approval ratings to record lows and presenting a new threat to the GOP's 12-year reign on Capitol Hill, according to White House officials, lawmakers and new polling data.
Bush and Congress have suffered a decline in support from almost every part of the conservative coalition over the past year, a trend that has accelerated with alarming implications for Bush's governing strategy.
The Gallup polling organization recorded a 13-percentage-point drop in Republican support for Bush in the past couple weeks. These usually reliable voters are telling pollsters and lawmakers they are fed up with what they see as out-of-control spending by Washington and an abandonment of core conservative principles more generally.
There are also significant pockets of conservatives turning on Bush and Congress over the their failure to tighten immigration laws, restrict gay marriage and to put an end to the Iraq war and the rash of political scandals, according to lawmakers and pollsters.
Bush won two presidential elections by pursuing a political and governing model that was predicated on winning and sustaining the loyal backing of social, economic and foreign policy conservatives. The strategy was based on the belief that conservatives, who are often more politically active than the general public, could be inspired to vote in larger numbers and would serve as a reliable foundation for his presidency. The theory, as explained by Bush strategists, is that the president would enjoy a floor below which his support would never fall.
It is now apparent that this floor has weakened dramatically and collapsed in places.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Oh, count me in.
Forty years of DUmmycratic House rule....socialism, higher taxes, social engineering, degradation of public schools....how quickly people forget....how quickly some would have us return to those misbegotten days....
I've used Southack's Points to crush Libs. Thanks for posting 'em here.
I know of so many people that are disgusted with the RNC and Bush on this issue, and this issue alone, and many of these people were straight ticket GOP. They still hate the democrats but I can see many of them staying home. Too bad for the GOP elite. They never could get it through their thick skulls.
No one is saying it's not a problem. But the border hysterics on these threads isn't helping the cause. Things like "impeach Bush" don't make the rest of us terribly sympathetic to the cause.
For the first time in my lifetime we have a president who, while fighting a war in two countries, still made the effort to address the illegal immigration problem.
It's just not being addressed in the exact same manner that the hysterics want it addressed.
Good post. And regarding that wall -- yes, it would help, I guess, but people would still find a way to climb it, tunnel under it or get air dropped into the country.
And so, after the Hard-Core Republican's sat on their hands and let DUmmies get elected, things have improved there so much under the DUmmies, right?
The border there is all nice and quiet under the careful watch of the DUmmies, right?
So why not have the HCR's sit on their hands and do the same thing nationally, right?
The people with thick skulls are those who will be refrain from voting then bitch about the election outcome. A pox on them.
The top of what? The DNC thank you card list? Are you that delusional to believe what you wrote?
"You guys"??? What planet are you on (if you're not a DUmmie and not a Pubbie, you must be a BUCHANNAN voter!)? ROFL!
Keep swallowing the lie that the country is evenly split, it's not. What other polls are out there besides lame-stream media liars? Oh yea, the one in November where Republicans have been kicking DUmocrats asses for more than a decade....the only one that matters.
We Republicans are so puzzled at the the fact that black voters keep coming back to the Dems. I refuse to be taken for granted and blackmailed with the threat of Hillary.
Can't think of a better reasons to get out and support the GOP!
Delusional? Maybe, but you seem to have given up without a fight.
You have such a delicate way to describe getting hosed. The White House needs such communication skills if they are ever to woo back hysterics, er, conservatives.
Right, we're in the middle of a war on terrorism and our borders are still wide open after 9-11 and inviting to anyone who wishes our Country harm and you think it's hysterics to want to protect and close our borders? I'm pretty damn sick of our soldiers protecting every frikkin border in the world but our own. Shut it down already!
First off, no, one can still show their disapproval without actively supporting the notion of allowing DEMs to be elected in this time of war with our soldiers off fighting.....thus helping stick a knife in the back of each of our fighting men and women.
Secondly, regarding spending - For all the "sky if falling" talk about federal spending (and let me note, it most certainly pisses me off from time to time the amounts they are spending)...but the reality is as a % of the economy spending today is lower then the average federal gov't spending for the past 30 years -
And I'm not simply talking about the deficit as a % of GDP (which again, is rather low).....but of actual federal spending. I read through a CATO institute report last week while traveling and it showed the actual federal spending today as a % of the economy is lower then what our average spending has been for the past 30 years -
With that said, it doesn't mean spending isn't too high. It most certainly is...and even more so on a State and local levels (gov't wise).
But again, this is not the time to stick a knife in the backs of our soldiers over this issue - Our GOP base must come together and not help to put into power the ilk of the anti-military, anti-America, anti-success in the WOT Democrats into a majority in Congress.
The borders are hardly wide open.
Since President Bush took office, agents have apprehended and sent home more than 6 million people entering the country illegally - including more than 400,000 with criminal records. Federal, State, local, and tribal law enforcement are working together. More than 600,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended through the Arizona Border Control Initiative last year - an increase of more than 50 percent over the previous year. The men and women of our Border Patrol have made good progress - but we have much more work ahead, and we will not be satisfied until our agents have full control of our border.
At least be honest, this president is trying, more than any other president, to actually DO something.
Wow, with all the devastating fallout of us not voting you'd think someone would care enough to start enforcing our laws...
I would say I was not going to vote Republican, but since I live in Massachusetts it won't matter anyway. I am thinking of changing my residence to my summer home in Maine so I can vote against the RINO's
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