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.
the Bush/Senate/McCain/Kennedy amnesty for illegal immigrants.
The fact that Bush's name is among the others along with a GOP Senate largely complicit, says more than enough on that issue.
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?
While I agree with just about all of the article, it seems that they are trying to make this ammendment specifically for purposes of state's rights. Not making it would seem to entail that what's good in one state must be honored in the other 50, which then by default inhibits state's rights. Thoughts?
Of course the "slippery slope" part of that is using the Constitution for moral issues in a nation whereby moral relatavism reigns.
that's because up there in the noth they slap down a tortilla, throw on some fried hamburger, salsa and call it 'pizza'....
we have a winner!
RE the border....Those that live in border states have a right to demand that immigration be in the top-two....
Dang, apprehended once again.
I keep telling my 4 year old that when he's transcribing my thoughts on the keyboard to pay attention to his spelling. :-)
i agree, but as i'm sure you know, it's not just a border state issue....the migration is from sea to shining sea...
I definitely have the same problem from time to time.
Good description. Pizza up here is pretty pathetic.
For a good chuckle, check out the Democratic Underground Zaeqawi thread.
Basically, it's more lies.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2327738#2327740
True, but when one can see them crossing your property/lawn, sleeping in your deer blinds, and bathing in your cattle troughs, dropping dirty diapers, etc....then it gets personal...
The author of this hit piece is full of crap. Dubya is a student of history and is fully cognizant of how lessons learned from from a historical perspective can prevent the same mistakes, or missteps, from occurring again. This author doesn't grasp the concept that this nation is at war, granted not the intensity of a WWII, but every bit as dangerous.
well then, i have to defer to you guys...all my son did on the computer when he was four was pee on it...
Yes, but their not quite as anti-Bush as some folks are around here.
Well John, looks like good news is still bad news for some sleepers here, eh?
that's an apt categorization!
>>>Katrina and Iraq (up to this point) should have had nothing to do with the slide in the president's popularity. <<<
Somewhat true on Katrina. The media created the myth that the federal government screwed-up by not instantly coming to the rescue of everyone in the 91,000 square-mile area of devastation, and by not instantly cleaning up and rebuilding. The media also greatly exaggerated the problems at the shelters. Bush's popularity was hurt (IMO) because he did not stand his ground against the onslaught of the media, but instead gave them a scapegoat in Mike Brown. That was the poorest, wimpiest exhibition of leadership I had ever seen, and led me to question his leadership from that point on.
On Iraq he has also failed time and time again to stand his ground against the constant onslaught of lies and distortions by the media. There will be critics of his handling of the military operations by arm-chair generals and monday-morning quarterbacks, just as there were critics of Ike's D-Day planning and operations. The difference is Ike's critics were not in virtual 'real-time', and you could be hung or shot for treason in those days. These days treason will get you a Pulitzer. Why? Because Bush will not stand up to those treasonous sobs and throw them in jail. Instead, he acts like an ultra-left wing public school teacher toward misbehaving children who tries to 'understand them', who doesn't want to hurt their feelings.
Anyway, my wife and I have tried to understand Bush, believing at times that he was just too arrogant (too above us mere mortals) to bother to comment when he was criticized. At other times we thought he was too dumb to respond. In either case, he is no conservative and he has proven to be as poor a leader as his father.
I used to have a lot of respect for LeBoutillier. He's gone off the deep end now and so that respect is gone.
I bet you learned not to pee off your son when he was 4.
I recall an incident when Clinton was President when the military had a major terrorist target in their sights and only needed Clinton's OK to make the strike, but he was watching a golf game on TV and refused to be interrupted--in fact blew his stack at some aide who tried to get him to sign off on the strike.
just went over there and i got to go take a shower.....it actually Rains BS over there....
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