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 ...
I think it is the Congress we have to worry about... George is never running for anything again.
This meme is getting pushed *WAY* too hard by the Old Media.
I call horse apples.
The 2006 electoral strategy is awesome: vote for a Republican Party that has stabbed you in the back or you'll end up getting shot by the Democrat Party you never voted for.
Awesome. They can all stuff it.
If your so worried about it then I suggest you make sure the GOP hears our warning. There is still time to show us they want our votes, if they choose to ignore it then it's on them if Kerry or Clinton walks away with it.
Bush & the Senate OK, but I doubt many Conservatives are blaming the House.
restrict gay marriage
Bush has nothing to do with this -- it's generally a state issue and there is no evidence conservatives are blaming him for this
put an end to the Iraq war
Who besides liberals is asking for this?
and the rash of political scandals
Again, a concern of liberals and the drive-by media, not conservatives and certainly not conservatives blaming Bush
according to lawmakers and pollsters
Most likely LIBERALS.
Typical of WaPo -- take one beef some conservatives have with the President and throw a bunch of liberal beefs as well but ascribe them to conservatives too. Dishonest in the extreme.
>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.
Conservatives are mad because of the "Shamnesty", and the solution is the gay marriage amendment and abortion restrictions??
Good thing I don't believe a word the Compost prints even if this article exhibits broken clock type accuracy. The DNC operatives at the Compost has a sense of much of the conservative frustration.
Do the President and Congress? We will see.
And here I thought it was just another immigration migraine. ;)
Ready for a Democrat Congress and/or President, eh?
Enjoy your higher taxes,
immediate amnesty for illegals (as opposed to earned citizenship proposed by Bush)that immediate amnesty alone will make 11 million new Democrat voters instead of giving them a chance to earn citizenship and be brought into the ownership society,
abortion-on-demand,
liberal legislating judges,
and a foreign policy dictated by the U.N. and France.
Oh yeah, and a nation led by Neville Chamberlains who want to "understand" the terrorists instead of kill 'em.
Gross.
What happens to some people once they achieve power and/or wealth? They can afford to be magnanimous (read liberal) because they are unaffected financially and geographically by the consequences they impose on our behalf.
In my heart of hearts, I still think GWB has a rope-a-dope up his sleeve, so I do not yet lump him in to my observation.
I have a message for the Washington Post.
It's true that the floor of the conservative base is creaking a little, but the alternative (Democrats) is the stinking offal at the bottom of the pit under the outhouse floor. Only the insane consider it wise to jump in and take a swim in that putrid pool. I will never sit out an election and cede it to the Democrats in such perilous times.
Vote for the open borders Republicans, because you might get an open borders perverted Democrat if you don't vote. No choices and intimidation got us into this fix, now here we go again. Now is a golden opportunity for an Independent to make it to the top.
The border trolls who go thread to thread are already visiting this one, I see.
Thank you for a reasonable response. I am not happy about the border situation, but to hammer Bush to the point of trying to run the GOP out of power over that one issue is counterintuitive. He has had/has perhaps the fullest plate of any president. Beyond that, the consequences of "teaching the GOP a lesson" are grave because we will wind up with rats. If you aren't happy with things now, just imagine all the complainin' then.
TOTAL BS and so obvious.
I'm just glad all this crap is happening on May 10th, not October 10th.
Although I am on board on the spending and immigration issues, as we all are. Karl, are you listening?
It's like watching someone lapse into a self-destructive lifestyle, and slowly slide into the void.
It's profoundly stupid, for the GOP.
BUILD A FENCE. STOP SELLING OUT. NOW.
We got the 1994 Republican revolution. But what has that gotten us? Newt quit, Dick Armey's gone. All of the Republicans that had any fire in their belly have left.
Republican politicians have a short term memory. I want to support the President, but I'm losing sight of where he is leading us.
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