Posted on 06/08/2006 5:12:02 AM PDT by FerdieMurphy
As Carole King sang thirty years ago, “It’s too late, Baby.” She was referring to romance, but in this context it is too late for Team Bush to recapture the loyalty of the conservative GOP base.
Immigration/amnesty, Dubai Ports, Harriet Meyers, Katrina, deficits and Iraq have destroyed Mr. Bush’s credibility as president. The new federal effort on gay marriage is as transparent as the dispatching of “less than 5,000 unarmed national guardsmen” to our southern border: a cosmetic ploy in a vain effort to keep the conservatives in line.
This White House just doesn’t get it. Period.
Before - when Bush was in the 50's in all national polls - he could keep the GOP in line; and the GOP was happy to follow because they were winning.
But when your leader plummets to 29% - and is voted in the latest Quinnipiac poll as the worst president since WW II - there is no hope of enforcing party discipline. Thus you see the open defiance in the House on the Bush/Senate/McCain/Kennedy amnesty for illegal immigrants. And you see Speaker Hastert basically tell off the president over the FBI raid of Representative Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office.
The internal state of the Republican Party is one of total turmoil. They are floundering - and do not know what to do to right the ship of state.
So they are - again - trying to federalize a state issue: marriage.
Since when did we conservatives believe the federal government should usurp state’s rights? This is yet another example of the Bush Big Government philosophy changing the basic tenets of the Republican Party. The Bushes - believers in a Big Federal Government - have become the un-conservatives: a huge Department of Education, a bloated and ridiculous Department of Homeland Security, massive deficits, a new ‘entitlement’ - prescription drugs, a never-ending war that has morphed into the dreaded ‘nation-building’ and on and on and on.
After all of that, why would conservatives happily re-join Team Bush just because he mouths a few platitudes about an issue a close friend of his tells Newsweek, “He doesn’t give a s*** about”?
Both George Bushes - father and son - tried to portray themselves as conservatives; both were cynical manipulators who cleverly used symbols - pork rinds, country music, a phony ‘ranch’ with no animals - to hide their Rockefellerism belief in massive federal power, especially when they control that power.
But it is indeed “too late.” GW Bush’s credibility is shot; his power eroded; his ability to influence events virtually gone.
His own arrogance and ignorance caused his downfall. He was too arrogant to listen when warned about the impending fiasco in Iraq; and he was too ignorant - and lazy - to study history to see what lay ahead in a war such as this.
The result?
A presidency deteriorating right before our eyes. Never - even under the inept Carter or the corrupt Nixon - have we seen a self-immolation quite like this. And we still have 2 ½ years to go!
The Republican Party is a mess; the Democrats are horrible and should never be trusted again.
No wonder more and more people are calling for a Third Party. Or, as has been written in this space for more than a year, an Independent Third Candidate who runs against both parties.
That may indeed happen in ‘08. But that is a long, long way away.
First comes a major battle: where is the heart of the Republican Party? Is it for someone like McCain - a Teddy Kennedy in GOP clothing?
Or is there another Ronald Reagan true-blue conservative out there somewhere who wants to re-take our party and put it back on conservative principles?
That is the key question today.
You couldn't order a Pizza without help
Okay, nutjob, where did I blame Bush for Katrina?
really??? like to see you try that one....:-)
Which works out pretty well for me. I don't like pizza here in CT.
Iraq and Katrina neither one are high on my personal list of bad moves. In fact Iraq is just about where it should be (other than this recent spate of BS involving ALLEGED murders).
Katrina never was "his" to fail or succeed at. That was all on the state of Louisiana. Mississippi got hit one hell of alot harder than NOLA did, you didn't hear them whining and crying. They bucked up and got the job done and helped one another, as NOLA should have.
Immigration tho, that's a stinker. I don't agree with the President on this issue, but I have to admire him in that he has not changed his stance. He made a decision on what he wanted and then went after it. He hasn't wavered.
I prefer that quality in a leader rather than a vacilating pig like Clintoon was.
But he's still wrong on Immigration.
So you're ready to impeach him and his cabinet every time something goes badly in the war but when things go right "he wasn't there"?
Get a grip, loser.
Good news always brings the turds to the surface around here
It's immigration that has ruined Bush with conservatives. He is choosing to give away our country and it's sovereignty to whoever can get here by whatever means.
Hey young brother, long time no see. A good day for us oldtimers in the easy chairs. :-} Task Force 145 got his sorry ass RD. A good day indeed, not to be spoiled by the pantload set be the load in the right of left side of the pants.
Amazing that the one issuers are now promoting a guy, leboutillier, who promoted mccain to the hilt in 2000.
the only 'domestic' policy i have issue with bush is with the illegalies coming over the border....
Another poster who can't stick with the truth. Where did I ever advocate impeachment of Bush?
A very wise statement indeed. Well said.
You have no problem with his not vetoing Campaign Finance Reform? Advocating the biggest increase in Medicare/Medicaid via the Seniors drug bill? Growing the DOE from 35 billion to 75 billion in five years? Never once vetoing a spending bill to show that he was even thinking conservatively? Giving up on his SS reform?
None of these things which will cost us in the future bother you?
Yeah sure, if you or I were the President of the United States, but we are not.
for all your whiny little jabs you'll never have what it takes to lead this Nation, and Bush does.
How does that make you feel?
Bitter?
ah...i see you're moving up to individual name calling and pardon me for not knowing you have never heard of katrina.....:-)
Correct if you are speaking about the President. Incorrect if speaking about the author though his take on Iraq is off target.
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