Posted on 05/12/2006 2:05:38 PM PDT by Impeach98
.....
E-Mail the Author
The GOP is blowing it
Posted: May 12, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern
There's a lot of talk going around about how bad the November elections are going to be for the Republican Party.
I ought to know – I'm doing a lot of that talking with grassroots conservatives every day on our four-hour radio show. The GOP has only itself to blame for its problems, and I say this as a proud conservative Republican who twice voted for George Bush and wants very badly to see him regain his political footing.
The Republican Party, which for 25 years had proudly embraced its role as the home of the conservative movement, now seems proudly defiant on an array of issues. Pick a week and you can name a different betrayal of conservative principles.
Betrayal on immigration policies
This week it's news from the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin that the Bush administration instructed the U.S. Border Patrol to share information with the Mexican government on where the Minutemen's anti-illegal immigration patrols are operating.
When I read this shocking story, I literally felt sick. Is this administration so intent on it's policy of ignoring the borders that it would turn against its own people? Would they actually put in jeopardy the lives of heroic men and women who are only doing the job that their government is refusing to do?
Instead of tattling on the Minutemen to the Mexican government, the Bush administration should take some advice that will help stop their plummeting poll numbers.
New Communications Director Tony Snow should arrange for President Bush to travel to a border town in Arizona or California and give Minutemen co-founders Chris Simcox and Jim Gilchrist a pat on the back for a job well done. In the background should be backhoes moving large piles of dirt as a concrete wall begins to rise.
While they're at it, they should have our military men and women present with guns at their side and at the ready. And as long as I'm dreaming, I'd love to see House Speaker Denny Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and other Republican leaders down there at the border thanking the Minutemen for their efforts.
This might be a fantasy on my part, but I can guarantee a nightmare scenario for the GOP if things don't change. Can you say House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Judiciary Chairman Carl Levin? Can you say "impeachment"?
I just don't understand how the Republican leadership can be so dumb on the politics of this issue on top of their betrayal of principle.
But I should have known better.
After the Sept. 11 attacks I naively thought that Bush and the Republican leadership would get serious on the immigration issue. I suspected that the "squishy" stand Bush and his counterparts espoused was purely based on political calculations – they wanted to hold their own among Latino voters.
But when 9-11 occurred, it seemed like a no-brainer to me that every politician should demand immediate action to secure the border at once. Wasn't that the politically smart thing to do?
We were making 85-year-old airline passengers take off their shoes and belts and wedding rings at airports in the interests of national security. Surely we wouldn't allow Islamic terrorists the opportunity to have hundreds of miles of an unprotected border for them to smuggle terrorist operatives and weapons of mass destruction through, right?
Wrong!
Blowing the War on Terrorism
Now that I mention it, the Bush administration and the GOP seem increasingly out of touch on the war against terrorism as well.
As the chairman of Move America Forward – the nation's largest grassroots pro-troop organization – I've been an unwavering supporter of President Bush's policies to combat Islamic terrorism.
Yet, despite my willingness to be a cheerleader for the GOP on the issue of the War on Terror, I have become increasingly appalled at the incompetence displayed by Bush and the GOP when it comes to communicating with the public.
In recent congressional testimony, new information emerged about Saddam's "Blessed July" program, which was described by Foreign Affairs magazine as "a regime-directed wave of 'martyrdom' operations against targets in the West."
Apparently the Pentagon has been well aware of this evidence of Saddam Hussein's history of planning terrorist attacks against the United States and our allies.
So why has the GOP and the Bush administration been silent on this?
It's similar to an incident that happened in October 2004. CNS News reporter Scott Wheeler broke a world exclusive story on newly discovered Iraqi Intelligence Service documents that documented Iraq's possession of WMD's such as anthrax and mustard gas, as well as Iraq's collaboration with Islamic terrorist organizations including al-Qaida.
What did the Bush administration do with this information? Nothing.
They made the political calculation that they could end the questioning of their motives for going to war in Iraq if they just agreed with the anti-war Left that Saddam Hussein didn't have any WMD programs or ties to terrorist groups after all.
Instead Bush and his GOP colleagues said they were victims of "bad intelligence."
That strategy only furthered the cries of "Bush lied" – despite the fact that he didn't. Bush was right about the threat posed by Iraq as a nation-state that would provide financing, training and WMDs to Islamic terrorist groups to use against American citizens.
Yet Bush and other Republican leaders chose to embrace a strategy of "surrender" to their political enemies in the hopes it would silence them.
That insanely stupid strategy has backfired. Big time.
How can the administration expect to rally support for the War on Terror if it cannot defend its own actions, especially when the facts to support it are right in front of their face?
Here come the Democrats
As poll numbers for Bush and congressional Republicans continue to plunge, it's clear that the GOP has alienated many conservatives who once supported Bush's policies in the war on terror.
Combine that with the GOP's betrayal of conservatives on the illegal immigration issue and you have the elements in place that could cause millions of conservatives to stay at home on Election Day this November.
The tragedy is that the Republican Party's failures on two of the most important issues of our time could mean a return to power for the Democrat Party. And that's ironic since the Democrats are even more out of touch with the American people on these two issues than Republican leaders are.
Hopefully, someone in the Bush administration or at the Republican National Committee who is reading this column will understand that conservatives would like nothing more than to see the Republican Party come home, and once more embrace the policies of the conservative base.
Some advice to our party elders: Most of us are conservatives first, Republicans second.
---------------------------------------
Melanie Morgan is chairman of the conservative, pro-troop non-profit organization Move America Forward and is co-host of the "Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Show" on KSFO 560 AM in San Francisco.
BS.
Exactly. It's not a question of attacking Bush. It's a question of pointing out that if he doesn't get his act together, and twist a few arms in the Senate to get their act together, then there are millions of voters out there who will turn their backs on the party in disgust.
It's not doing Bush any favors to pretend that this isn't the case.
As for informing the Mexicans about where the Minutemen are, there are several sides to the business. But it's a minor issue in comparison to this administration's complete failure of will when it comes to enforcing the immigration laws and the laws of our country.
It's not all Bush's fault, because the states have responsibilities too. But he has set a terrible example, as have many other Republicans. And its totally stupid, because it is bad politics as well as failure to do their duty to their country, which they swore to defend, and whose laws they swore to uphold.
The GOP better start acting like Republicans should act (i.e. Conservative) and not "Democrat-lite" or they're going to get trounced in Nov. because conservative voters will have no reason to vote.
sw
I'm sorry but it is not just "conservatives" who own the republican party. I'm a staunch pro-life, tax cutting, conservative also but I refuse to attack and then blame this president on issues that he truly has very little control over. He may have all the greatest ideas in the world, but guess what, congress first has to pass them, and second local authorities then have to enforce them!!!
A lot of the so-called lack of support comes from fear of people just like you (buchannanites)trying to hijack the party. YUCK!!
I am so sick of the blame Bush crowd I can't say it enough. Most of these issues were going on long before today but suddenly because the liberals know just what buttons to push the reactionary republicans start destroying their own right on cue.
Way to go folks, bring down the party this way and you'll really have something to bitch about which seems like all you're really good at and want to do anyway!!!
That's pathetic. If you can't provide a substantive answer, why bother to answer at all?
You've got to know I think your reply is what an adult temper tantrum looks like, don't you?
Melanie's column is exactly right on. This has nothing to do with Buchananites or taking over a party. It has to do with addressing important issues facing the American people.
On Iraq, the President is totally correct. The beef is that this has to be one of the worst commmunications efforts in world history. The facts, truth, justice are all on the President's side, but he is losing the PR war. This is ridiculous that they do such a poor job of selling our foreign policy at home AND abroad.
On immigration, this problem is out of control. Forget the Minutemen issue, how about addressing the issue of our porous borders?
It is time that Congress and the President make some progress on the immigration issue in some way. Instead, they come up with stupid, Democrat-sounding ideas like giving everyone $100 to pay their gasoline bill. How stupid and short sighted.
If the Republicans don't stop their antics, center-right voters are going to stay home on election day, which will be a disaster. It is incumbent on the Republicans to get their act together before it is too late!
Ok it is substantive BS.
Bush was pushing this back in 2004 after agreeing to terms of his proposal with Mexico's Vincente Fox.
If he were just sitting back and being silent that would be one thing. He'd be criticized here and on talk radio for inaction, but it wouldn't be anything like it is now where his poll numbers AMONG CONSERVATIVES are now taking a big hit.
For some reason Bush is defiant on this issue. While I mention it, Bush and the GOPers in Congress have also been awful on spending.
At some point there has to be accountability. Instead I was just talking with Melanie about the fact the U.S. government caved in and will provide aid to the Palestinians who now have Hamas running their government.
Why must we keep giving in to those who do not represent America's best interests (the illegal alien lobby, Hamas, and to a lesser extent trying to placate the anti-war crowd here at home?)
And that was just fine...until Uno de Mayo!
Once we all saw the audacity our current policy had engendered in illegal aliens, everything changed.
The report is from a generally conservative Southern California newspaper.
http://www.dailybulletin.com/news/ci_3799653
I think you are missing the crux of this argument: the problem here is not with people who have been rabidly anti-Bush. It's from Bush supporters who just don't understand how Bush and Senate GOPers are moving AWAY from the base on this issue as the illegal alien crowd grows more defiant in their demands for amnesty and taxpayer benefits.
Sadly, about 25% of Freepers believe this one..
Guess again.
I read the document. There was nothing that said the Border patrol was giving locations of Minutemen. They don't need to, the Minutmen announce their every move. You have that nutcase Simcox using this as a way to appear important. However, given Simcox's declaration of war on Mexico I can understand why that government is keeping a close eye on him.
Already left the GOP back in 2003.
We can blame the Bush administration ... but where are WE on this? Where is the mainstream media? Where is Rush and othe r conservative media voices? Communication doesn't just happen from the White House, there are A LOT of information channels for this, if WE conservatives activated them.
Frankly, on this I cant blame the WH too much because the media is so hostile to them any attempt to showcase things like this is spun into "Bush admin., desperate to justify their failed Iraq war, made new outrageous allegations ... " etc. It's a no-win for them.
But if we carry the story forward independently, the word can get out there.
"He may have all the greatest ideas in the world, but guess what, congress first has to pass them,...
The House did pass HR4437 and I didn't see Bush congratulating them on it. Instead, he's pushing the Senate to vote for his long-espoused guest-worker/amnesty program. I don't call that a great idea."
Right ... Bush would get a 10% poll boost overnight if he simply came out and said "I support a bill to enforce immigration law and secure the border FIRST, and we can deal with guest workers, etc. later"
HR 4437 is a GOOD bill and all Republicans should get behind it.
Joel Mowbray wrote about this in National Review and was on Fox and he was very frustrated and flabbergasted that the WH wasn't out there telling this story.
It's the same feeling Marc Morano of CNS News had when he broke the first story of Iraqi Intelligence documents showing the premise for the war was true.
I remember Melanie Morgan told me that as disappointed as she was, she thought the Bush WH was just waiting for the election to then say "yes, there are these documents and it's true." But instead, they did the opposite and Bush, Rumsfeld and Cheney all came out and said there were NO WMDs. We at MAF were all dumbstruck! They were right. There was evidence to back it up, and instead they hung all their supporters out to dry by saying 'No, the anti-war left was right, there was no WMD threat.'
Uggh. It makes it hard to get the MSM to even acknowledge the point when the Bush Administration says you're wrong and Saddam didn't have any meaningful WMD stockpiles.
I'm a conservative before I'm a Republican, too.
The ONLY choice for conservatives is the Republican party, and there are many reasons for conservatives to support the President and Republican party.
"I don't disagree with you that we have a responsibility to get these stories out. But the problem here is that the mission in Iraq is a Bush policy. I support it. You support it. Melanie supports it. Shouldn't they advocate for their own policies? Shouldn't their representatives go on talk radio, Fox News, do interviews with conservative news websites on this?
Joel Mowbray wrote about this in National Review and was on Fox and he was very frustrated and flabbergasted that the WH wasn't out there telling this story. "
I understand, I am flummoxed by it too. I think it has something to do with how the anti-Bush crowd and the media has treated previous attempts at making the case for Iraq, where their statements have simply been ignored. There have been several cases where Bush gave major speeches on Iraq and the media gave it almost zero coverage.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.