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Hard Core Republicans Are Fleeing President
The Washington Post ^ | May 11, 2006 | JIm VandeHei and Peter Baker

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 ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: adolescents; borderlist; bush; bushbots; conservatives; gopcheerleader; sickofrinos; wetoleratenodissent
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Comment #181 Removed by Moderator

To: MJY1288

I can't take another night of these friggin people who think our immigration problems were born on January 20th, 2001



Boy, if that ain't the truth.....all those Mexicans crossed the border at 12:01pm Jan 20, 2001.....


182 posted on 05/10/2006 8:02:16 PM PDT by mystery-ak (Army Wife and Army Mother.....toughest job in the military)
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To: mystery-ak

your=their


183 posted on 05/10/2006 8:02:20 PM PDT by del4hope (Do not covet thy neighbors' country)
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To: RasterMaster

"There is a leadership void in the house (after Delay stepped down) and in the Senate (Limp Frist) which is part of the reason the "gang" was able to soak up some media attention for awhile."

Disagree. The media attention is straight agenda-driven media nothing to do with what conservative GOP leaders do - and DeLay was stll in when it happened.

Frist actually showed spine last year on this and was ready to pull the nuclear trigger ... it was that show of spine that sent our jellytfish RINOs into a dither to create this 'gang of 14' cabal that saved the Democrat face on the issue and stopped the showdown. WE did get a number of nominees through but it is looking more and more like a bad deal, as the Dems continue to undermine nominees through various tactics.


184 posted on 05/10/2006 8:02:48 PM PDT by WOSG (Do your duty, be a patriot, support our Troops - VOTE!)
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To: Dems_R_Losers
to put an end to the Iraq war

Really? I don't see many conservatives wearing "I Heart Murtha" buttons. But keeping trying to peddle the damn lie we want to cut and run. It ain't selling. Nor is the idea of the "culture of Corruption" a source of consternation by the roots..only the elites in the Beltway think we give a damn about a media manufactured event.

And drop the Liberals posing as conservatives in quotation marks. We can tell the difference.

Karl Rove, Bush's top political adviser, and GOP leaders are well aware of the problem and planning a summer offensive to win back conservatives with a mix of policy fights and warnings of how a Democratic Congress would govern. The plan includes votes on tax cuts, a constitutional amendment outlawing gay marriage, new abortion restrictions and measures to restrain government spending.

They extended tax cuts. It would be more impressive if they made them permanent. But I'll grudgingly concede a couple points for doing it at all. They aren't going to have the votes to ban gay marriage so it's nothing more than pandering. What new abortion restrictions? Spending CUTS, not cuts in growth, would be a welcome change. IF it happens. Still doesn't address energy (ANWR) and the blocked judges. Not one, not two, ALL OF THEM. The "gang of Fourteen" should be whipped by leadership. Nor does it address the elephant. Securing the border.

BTW, conservatives are not fleeing. They are taking ground and demanding the GOP do what it said it would do on spending on other issues. If not, then the consequences they invite at their own risk. Rush called it a crackdown a few months ago. A crackdown is only effective if someone has leverage and is willing to use it. In this instance votes are our leverage and willingness to withdraw them is the only thing they'll listen to. Read these typing digits....I am willing to make good on my intention not to vote GOP and I full well understand the consequences of Dems in power. I don't want it to happen, that's why Reps are getting a loud warning signal. Otherwise I'd shut up and let them fall without warning.

Straighten up. Quit screwing the base and assuming we'll take the beating indefinitely. As for the borders? Seal them. Now. And I do mean both coastal regions and the regions next to Canada and Mexico.

185 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:03 PM PDT by Soul Seeker (<a href = "http://www.send-a-brick.com/brick.htm" >Be Heard: Send a Brick</a>)
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To: Peach

Looks like myopic vision to me, the people who want to pull out of Iraq. How many times does the President have to explain the Iraq is part of the GWOT. That it has become a natural bullseye place for terrorists to flock to and get picked off like a shooting gallery.


186 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:06 PM PDT by bushsupporter30
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To: Conservative Goddess
The fearmongering doesn't work with me anymore. I demand RESULTS,

You take your name too seriously.

187 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:11 PM PDT by Texasforever (I have neither been there nor done that.)
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To: Peach; All

These Donner Party folks or probably should say, DU trolls,
have hijacked a real problem, one I see and live through everyday being at ground zero.
I don't and won't bash Bush and it make me angy that these trolls have taken the illegals & border issue and have turned others away from the seriousness of it.
San Diego taxpayers are paying out tens of millions of dollars a year on illegals with their health care, food, etc.
The corruption, kidnappings, murders by the drug cartells and street gangs are out of control.
Since Clinton let it go on in the 90s it has been more difficult to deal with now.
What we see and live here will be coming to flyover country very soon. We have here over half a million Mexicans and thouuands of illegals. They say to your face, go back to Europe gringo this is ours, while wearing their Che t shirts.
Some of us are dealing with a war on terror on two fronts.


188 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:15 PM PDT by SoCalPol (Hey Congress - We need the BORDER FENCE NOW)
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To: Randy Larsen
Oh Please, the only peril I face is when pouting pithforkers like you elect Hillary Clinton,

Vote for an unelectable 3rd Party certain loser at your own peril pal

189 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:31 PM PDT by MJY1288 (THE DEMOCRATS OFFER NOTHING FOR THE FUTURE AND THEY LIE ABOUT THE PAST)
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To: Conservative Goddess

**measureable progress on conservative agenda items**

Like two Supreme Court justices, partial birth abortion ban, tax cuts, 4.7 unemployment rate....or did you just mean select conservative items so that way you can still be angry and bitter?


190 posted on 05/10/2006 8:03:36 PM PDT by ilovew (Democrat enablers are not conservatives.)
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To: AmeriBrit
Don't worry, I have an above average memory and I'll be certain to remind you that you were one of the ones that shot your own foot off and because of the likes of you we all have to suffer.

What the hell is this romper room....lol

191 posted on 05/10/2006 8:04:31 PM PDT by SouthernFreebird
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To: Dems_R_Losers
This hard core Republican stands shoulder-to-shoulder with President Dubya, and does to with pride.

My two "kids" currently wear the uniform; and, abandoning the President weakens his authority and undermines those serving and their mission.

.

192 posted on 05/10/2006 8:04:39 PM PDT by Seaplaner (Never give in. Never give in. Never...except to convictions of honour and good sense. W. Churchill)
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Comment #193 Removed by Moderator

To: MJY1288
Sleeper DUer's who don't have the guts to admit it and think they have us fooled.

I read their previous posts and it becomes pretty evident which side of the fence they belong on.
194 posted on 05/10/2006 8:04:46 PM PDT by AmeriBrit (ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION, IT INCLUDES TERRORIST SLEEPER CELLS!!)
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To: Peach

Bill Clinton ran on being "tough on trade".

Then traded everything we had to China.

Need more examples of huge turnarounds?

Like maybe "read my lips..."?

Why is it, that post-election turnarounds must always be *harmful* to America's interests?

Where is it written, a leader must act like a legally sanctioned termite, the moment they get to DC?

How about GWB looks around, and notices we're literally very near losing control of the fastest growing portion of our own country?

HELLO???

Someone tell him.

He obviously is in a political bubble, and doesn't get it.

DO SOMETHING.


195 posted on 05/10/2006 8:04:48 PM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network
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To: Texasforever

LOL.. Funny comment..:)


196 posted on 05/10/2006 8:05:18 PM PDT by bushsupporter30
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To: burzum

Yea, really!

The Administration Is Ending The Practice Of "Catch And Release." The President has set a goal to end "catch and release" over the next year. Most illegal immigrants from Mexico can be returned to Mexico within 24 hours.

Non-Mexican illegal immigrants present a different challenge. For decades, government detention facilities did not have enough beds for the non-Mexican illegal immigrants caught at the border - so most were released back into society. They were each assigned a court date, but virtually no one showed up.

The Administration is ending the practice of "catch and release" by increasing the number of beds in detention facilities by 12 percent this year; the President's FY07 budget proposes increasing that number by another 32 percent. The Administration is expanding the use of "expedited removal," which allows us to send non-Mexican illegal immigrants home more quickly.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060327-1.html


197 posted on 05/10/2006 8:05:19 PM PDT by RasterMaster (NO MORE "BIG TENTS" - ALL YOU GET ARE CLOWNS AND CIRCUS FREAKS!)
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To: AmeriBrit
The White House press release only makes me madder. So-called earned citizenship is an insulting euphemism for amnesty. That "they have to go to the back of the line" is simply a lie. They are already here - that's the head of the line - while those who are trying to follow the legal immigration procedures cool their heels abroad for years. The future of the country as a nation of laws is at stake, and the Republican party is at risk of going the way of the Whigs.
198 posted on 05/10/2006 8:06:09 PM PDT by Malesherbes
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To: Dems_R_Losers
I don't know, this is the Washington Compost. Yawn. I really don't put any stock whatsoever in anything they print. The WP has ZERO credibility in my book.

At the same time, the WP is salivating like a mad wolf at the prospect of the Pubbies being in confusion and disarray. They are circling the campsite in anticipation.
199 posted on 05/10/2006 8:06:15 PM PDT by khnyny
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To: mystery-ak

Exactly, I can remember back in 1999, several local people were trying to find out who owned an apartment complex that was filling up with foreign nationals and changing the entire neighborhood.

And guess what? No owner has been located to this date and the neighboring complexes have now been filled with citizens from our neighboring country.


200 posted on 05/10/2006 8:06:19 PM PDT by del4hope (Do not covet thy neighbors' country)
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