It's still a conservative site. The nutball Buchananites who have been lurking silently in the shadows for so long just waiting to leap on a "we told you so" opportunity have just been temporarily emboldened by the immigration debate. Alas their absolutist voices will again fall silent one day soon, but I fear not before doing grievous harm to the party and the president. But as extremists always do, they'll remain in the shadowlands forever marginalized without power or voice and will ultimately not impact a thing. They will remain on the political periphery until the next opportunity to raise their shrill and intolerant voices presents itself again. And then once their tide again receeds which will come largely through having delegitimized themselves because of the harshness of their rhetoric and chauvenism, the adults can once again get back to the hard work of governance and carrying on a thinking debate as opposed to a purely visceral one.
A great thread today about the base abandoning Bush put it just right, I think. I wasn't too thrilled with the Miers pick at all, but I was alarmed at how the base FREAKED over it on such flimsy reasoning, and the MSM leaped on that. As the article pointed out, the main opposition seemed to be based on the idea that she "wasn't OURS", i.e. someoen Ann Coulter went to Republican fundraisers with, all the supposed justifications to the contrary. (Alito and Roberts had more substantive strikes against them, and it amused me how all those who want term limits and "regular folks" in power positions in government descended on Miers's lack of judicial track record).
You've hit the target with the Buchanan wing comment, though. Like the DUmmies they will never be satisfied until the Republican party is 100% THEIR version of Conservative and in turn the President is, as well. That ain't gonna happen in a nation so closely divided politically as this one. I know it's heresy to those folks to consider that even Pat or Savage! couldn't run the country as they claim they would, but, sorry, they couldn't, and neither could any Republican president, not with this Congress, at least. Absolute fidelity to an imaginary Conservative Ideal will never be reached; a President can only strive for it within the constrictions he's got in a politically-divided nation. He should be judged on that reality, not in his inability to create a Conservative fantasyworld.
I have to agree with this - there are too many people here who spew hate at illegal immigrants and consider that their only issue.
Most of the problems they cite would still exist if we threw all the illegals out of the country and stationed people five inches apart at the border to throw people out who tried to come in.
President Bush's fate was to have the war as his big issue. Everything else is secondary. Now, while things are somewhat calm, he's starting to try and rein in spending. It's not going to be easy but at least he's aware of it.
He's definitely shown an impressive grit and determination which I think will serve his place in history very well. Contrast him with Jimmy Carter and you'll get the idea.
D
Man, oh man! Where have you been?
Your posts remind me very much of another brilliant FR poster (i.e., me).
Well said, MikeA.
This morning, the guy filling in for Rush presented himself as a comparative "moderate" on illegal immigration. He's not for punishing employers who hire illegals, for example. But he wants a wall across our entire southern border. He used the Berlin Wall as a positive example of such a barrier. I cringed.
It's this sort of stupid, extreme rhetoric that pushes me away from identifying myself as a conservative. I want no part of any movement that holds up as something positive the vicious Communist symbol which is the Berlin Wall.