You are so right. Thanks for having the guts to post this.
One of the most inspiring stories about Bush for me comes from the former White House aide and speech writer David Frum’s book “The Right Man”
On the day Bush visited the sight of the fallen twin towers where he stood atop the rubble with the bull horn. You remember it. Prior to his arrival at the tower rubble this scene played out……
Now quoting from the book:
Giuliani and Governor George Pataki met Bush at McGuire Air Force Base, south of Princeton, New Jersey. They helicoptered to the Wall Street heliport on the East River, then drove in a tightly guarded motorcade around the bottom of the island to ground zero. All along the short route, rescue workers, police, firefighters, and medics cheered wildly, waved flags, chanted “USA! USA!” Guilani pointed out the window of the Limousine at the shouting crowed. “You see those people cheering you?” he asked Bush. “Not one of them voted for you.”
Unquote (The Right Man, by David Frum, pg 139)
That is the Bush I miss and want back. The Bush who threw a perfect pitch right down the middle at Yankee Stadium in opening game 3 of the 2001 World Series. Who at a time when TV stand-up comics were depicting him as a party-hearty frat boy interested in only “huntin and executin”, Bush came out and proved to the World that he had so much charm, great skill, toughness, compassion and so much promise. This is the Bush we in this “New Conservative Majority” once rallied around. It is the Democrats strategy to take this one issue, illegal immigration, and use it to divide our party, and it is working in spades and they are smelling victory in November. If we don’t pull together and rally around Bush and our Party soon I can promise you Nancy Pelosi will be the next speaker of the House and impeachment proceedings against Bush will be in her agenda.
When I spent the last weeks of my Dad’s life by his side in the hospice I looked at him intently and noticed that this once strong, powerful, playful, compassionate man was reduced to a frail withering shell that barely new I was in the room. I wanted so much to shake him and say Dad it’s me get up, time to play ball. But I knew I couldn’t.
Well I kind of feel the same way about Bush, except he can be shaken awake. But that’s not going to happen with all the infighting going on over this one issue. Its time we start to recognize his accomplishments, tax cuts, judge appointments, Saddam out of power, Bin Laden on the run with most of his top lieutenants dead, a booming economy, fantastic employment numbers, and that he is finally listing to us and plans are in place to select a contractor to start building a wall on the most porous areas of the border.
Now it’s our turn. Time for us to send the message loud and clear to Pelosi that she will not be getting the Speaker of the House job, because the Republicans are coming to the polls in November united. We need to be saying in unison, “Bush get up, we are here and we want to play ball – will ya throw another one right down the middle for us?”
"Time for us to send the message loud and clear to Pelosi that she will not be getting the Speaker of the House job, because the Republicans are coming to the polls in November united."
Navy, we can't do that yet.
Maybe we'll be able to, but we can't pretend that we're united when we're not.
The President is calling for guest worker and only a partial fence.
Border Conservatives' bottom line is no guest worker until there is a full fence and enforcement of the existing law.
These positions are as incompatible as raising taxes and being for tax cuts. They're opposed, and until a compromise is worked out, there isn't unity, and Republicans are not all going to go to the polls. As it is, a lot of disgusted BorderBots are going to stay home. The pot needs to be made a lot sweeter for them, because the current plan gives them nothing but the back of the hand.
They CAN'T get behind that any more than tax hawks who voted on "Read my lips: No new taxes!" could get behind George Bush 41's tax hikes.
We could indeed get unity back, but the President/Senate guest worker side has got to give something much more concrete to the House/BorderBot side.
Otherwise it'll be Speaker Pelosi as you fear, or more likely, somebody more serious the Democrats put up as speaker when they realize they're actually going to have power.