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Bush promises to restore party potency in two years
The Washington Times ^ | 16 Mar 2007 | Joseph Curl

Posted on 03/16/2007 6:21:30 AM PDT by seanmerc

President Bush, standing in front of a banner that read "Rebuilding Our Republican Majority" and flanked by two giant puzzle pieces, last night pledged to House Republicans that the GOP will retake both congressional chambers and "hold the White House in 2008." Attending the first National Republican Congressional Committee dinner in Washington since the party lost control of the House and the Senate in November, the president fed hundreds of Republican lawmakers red meat, lambasted Democrats for trying to "micromanage" the war in Iraq and vowed to continue to appoint conservative judges. "We've got a strong record to run on," Mr. Bush said as members of Congress dined on beef tenderloin and jumbo shrimp. "The key is to learn from every election and to come back stronger. And with your help, that's exactly what we're going to do in 2008." Looking fresh after a five-country trip south of the border, the president reviewed Republican accomplishments during his administration: the largest tax cuts since Ronald Reagan, a booming economy that has created 7.5 million jobs in less than four years, and a newly revamped education system in which "minority students are beginning to close the achievement gap." "Ours is an optimistic agenda and ours is a realistic agenda. And by pushing good ideas and standing strong for what's right, I believe that we can retake the Senate and the House and hold the White House in 2008," Mr. Bush said to cheers from the party faithful. More than 1,200 people attended the annual Washington Hilton dinner, which raised more $6.2 million for congressional candidates. The president was greeted by a lengthy and hearty applause, a far cry from what he got in South America and Mexico.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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To: Savage Beast

I beg to differ a little. Tom DeLay has written a book supposedly exposing the GOP lack of leadership and infighting--Rush is having him on today. Have only heard some of the things he professes, but I have to tell you I agree with a lot of it.

For instance, Newt Gingrich--great ideals; great writer, teacher, speaker when talking conservatism. In reality, he ran off in all directions as speaker. There were many times when I was disappointed in his deeds and words--i.e. when Newt said Bill Clinton could change his(Newt's) mind and make him see Clinton's way of thinking-complimenting Clinton's persuasion. He did this in an admiring way and more or less said Clinton could make him cave on issues.Also, having the baggage he came to Wash. with in his personal life, Newt then had an affair with a staffer when he should have been tending to business.

Denny Hastert was a disappointment from the getgo--weak kneed and a compromiser too quickly. Cannot think of any instance of strong leadership.

DeLay also mentions Armey's infighting to be speaker, and all of them not standing up to the Dems--and we have all seen that. We're seeing it now.

Tom DeLay is the only Republican besides McConnell I can think of since Haley Barber ran the RNC that could consistently name the problem and call the Dems on it. The leaders stood by and let him be pilloried--it was mostly a case of Ronnie Earl aided by Dems pushing accusations about paying his family, etc. that most of both sides were doing. They let Gingrich be hanged, too, until he resigned.

That said, I agree with those on here faulting Bush for caving on almost everything. He should have vetoed the Campaign Finance Bill. I'm virtually sure that his advisers told him not to do it because of media reaction. Like Mitch McConnell, who fought it tooth and nail, they thought it would surely be knocked down by the SC, but the SC said, yeah, it impinged on free speech, but given the evils of too much campaign money, they thought curtailing free speech was better. Right now, McConnell is the only Repub I can think of with a strong backbone and pretty clear vision. The only Repub I can think of wanting to vote for in 08 is Fred Thompson--I pray he runs.

vaudine


41 posted on 03/16/2007 7:09:12 AM PDT by vaudine
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To: seanmerc
Not with foolishness like this...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1800471/posts

42 posted on 03/16/2007 7:10:26 AM PDT by Virginia Ridgerunner ("Si vis pacem para bellum")
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To: MinorityRepublican
Reagan made a mistake. Bush wants to merge the US and Mexico. Its the only reason I can come up with as to why he allows their Presidents to wield so much power with him and make him appear small and weak. He would never allow any other leader to do such a thing.

He doesn't want to stop illegal immigration, he calls the Minutemen "vigilantes", he doesn't care that 500,000 illegals march in the streets of the US waiving Mexican flags.

If Bush would at least demand American citizens be given the right to buy property in Mexico and be assured safety while in Mexico, American would turn that freakin place around in a decade. He demands nothing of their leaders to benefit us but bends over backward for them and tells us to like it of lump it.

Bush is a good guy and aside from his Mexican worship would rank as one of the best. Unfortunately his policy and general attitude on illegal immigration is terrible and loses him lots of respect within his party. The reason is because it goes to the core of American sovereignty.

43 posted on 03/16/2007 7:12:11 AM PDT by nativist
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To: DevSix

Bush has not mobilized the country for war, this has become a war that the people can watch on CNN but not really be involved in. American's are not tired of the bloodshed. Just the opposite. We're bored with nothing happening. American love a winner and will not tollorate a looser. Bush has allowed this war to be precieved as a looser. How disappointed are you when your team looses the game. What do the owners do, they fire the coach or the manager. Get some new players. Come up with a new stratige for the next game. We are watching a sports contest, or a made for TV movie.

Bush needs to get the people involved and on a war footing, but the time may have passed for that, at least untill the next homefront attack.

I think the Islamofachist have learnd a lesson, and the undercurrents suggest that the new front for the enemy is europe, because we really don't care if europe falls to the enemy, because we really don't like them very much.


44 posted on 03/16/2007 7:12:34 AM PDT by qman
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To: Vaquero
Like DeLay said...he has too much compassion and not enough conservatism.

It's been amazing for 6 years how many people on this forum defended the typical Bush family weakness by calling it "class" or "character". I had some idiot yell at me for criticizing Papa Bush for giving Ted Kennedy a Bush public service award in Houston FOUR DAYS after The Swimmer called the President a "liar" on the Senate floor. I was told Papa had "more class" than Kennedy. Ridiculous. But Bush's worst "decency" move was by far the wrist slap of serial traitor Sandy Berger, who got 100 hrs of community service while Duke Cunningham got 8 years in the slammer and lost all his assets. If Berger had done what he did with the Pearl Harbor Commission in 1946, he would have been hung by the neck.

45 posted on 03/16/2007 7:15:38 AM PDT by montag813
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To: seanmerc

"Looking fresh after a five-country trip south of the border, the president reviewed Republican accomplishments during his administration:"

Where he promised them that he would do everything in his power to give amnesty to as many hispanics as he possibly could.


46 posted on 03/16/2007 7:16:10 AM PDT by antisocial (Texas SCV - Deo Vindice)
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To: seanmerc

Bush has shown nothing but weakness and the Demonrats are feeding on it. He and the 'leaders' of the GOP show no ability against the liberal scumbags. Time to change this disaster and put a man like Duncan Hunter in the position to straighten this mess out. The GOP is is dire straights looking for direction and, hopefully, it realizes it's going to need a fighter.


47 posted on 03/16/2007 7:16:23 AM PDT by bushfamfan (DUNCAN HUNTER FOR PRES. IN 2008)
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To: DevSix

I'm with you, DevSix.

There are certianly a number of things he has done that I disagree with, but he has been so good on so many fronts. The only area that they have been an absolute failure on is PR since 2005. It started with accepting blame for Katrina and has been a disastrous downhill slide ever since. I just don't get it. I do blame the congress and the party for deserting him, but the WH has done literally nothing to tell the rest of us view other than the one we hear in the media. Apologizing for everything under the sun is not leadership.


48 posted on 03/16/2007 7:16:38 AM PDT by ilgipper
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To: DevSix
GWB is not fit to shine Reagan shoes. Lebanon was a side show, we were in a battle till the death with USSR. Reagan choice to win the cold war by not getting dragged into the middle east quagmire. The 86 amnesty was much smaller ONE TIME ONLY amnesty, the Bush's 2006 amnesty is huge and a continuation of a FAILED policy. Bush's rule of engagement and management of the WOT are losing this war. Bush is as failed a president as LBJ and Jimmy Charter.Bush is an anti-American, anti-Constitutionalist, globalist empty suit.
49 posted on 03/16/2007 7:19:24 AM PDT by jpsb
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To: seanmerc
Good morning.

Didn't W call Bob Dole? He doesn't need two years to get it done.

Michael Frazier
50 posted on 03/16/2007 7:23:42 AM PDT by brazzaville (no surrender no retreat, well, maybe retreat's ok)
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To: seanmerc

Two years? March 2009 is a little too late.


51 posted on 03/16/2007 7:24:55 AM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: seanmerc

The only way Republicans will win back the House, Senate and White House in 2008 would be for both Bush and Cheney to resign and let the country live with President Pelosi for two years.

That is, of course, if there still is a country after those two years.


52 posted on 03/16/2007 7:25:40 AM PDT by Random Access
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To: DevSix

"No, the RNC not standing up behind this CINC is what cost them in 2006. That and allowing a few differences on domestic issues to give an edge to DEMs."

Sorry, but the president is the leader of the RNC, he chooses the person to represent his interests. Obviously he chose the wrong person. Now he has made it worse by choosing Mel Martinez to head the RNC, hoping that will help him get his amnesty through. Bsh has destroyed the GOP.


53 posted on 03/16/2007 7:25:57 AM PDT by antisocial (Texas SCV - Deo Vindice)
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To: ilgipper
The only area that they have been an absolute failure on is PR since 2005. It started with accepting blame for Katrina and has been a disastrous downhill slide ever since. I just don't get it. I do blame the congress and the party for deserting him, but the WH has done literally nothing to tell the rest of us view other than the one we hear in the media.

Agreed.

And we agree as well that on the whole GWB has been one fine POTUS...and I know without any question he has been one hell of a CINC, with the vast majority of soldiers fully supporting this man and thankful to have him leading as CINC.

The vocal and ridiculous fringe right on here that keeps showing their as$.....are simply a type of mindset that one wouldn't want to be in a foxhole with (for starters) and a group that is so warped in their own personal political narcissism it is pathetic.

54 posted on 03/16/2007 7:27:27 AM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: Ikemeister
GWB is destroying the party.

He has taken the party so far left that even guys like McCain and Giuliani look like possibilities.

55 posted on 03/16/2007 7:32:29 AM PDT by showme_the_Glory (No more rhyming, and I mean it! ..Anybody want a peanut.....)
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To: seanmerc

On the whole, Bush has been an unmitigated disaster.

Two more years of this will not result in any discernible improvement.

To my way of thinking, Bush's biggest problem is that he continues to channel his inner LBJ. And I thought LBJ sucked pond scum.


56 posted on 03/16/2007 7:33:49 AM PDT by surely_you_jest
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To: antisocial
No. Each of the GOP members of the Senate and House have a duty and responsibility to stand up on their own. To stand firm behind their CINC. They cannot sit back and expect the WH to fight every battle.

Which is exactly what they have done for the past 5 years. Never standing up and touting the success of the WOT. Never standing up firm with resolve on the issue of Iraq (instead allowing the DEMs/MSM to lie and spin the issue)...They never stood up and touted the success of the economy. Never taking on the DEMs within their own respected chambers (always expecting the WH to do this for them).

Then to boot, they ran away from GWB in 06 and lost (and now being obviously so self-absorbed...still blame their losses on the WH).

57 posted on 03/16/2007 7:34:43 AM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: DevSix

"GWB destroying the GOP? Not by a long shot. If only any others in the GOP had the backbone and resolve of this man it would be a much better party."

Oh, do you mean his resolve to open the floodgates to millions more illegals? Or maybe his resolve to put more Border Patrol Agents in jail for doing their jobs, then refusing to pardon them. Or maybe his resolve to spend money like a drunken sailor on huge social programs? Or maybe his resolve to sell out to Mexico and the big businesses who demand an inexhaustible supply of cheap labor?

No, the man is a loser and is totally out of touch with conservatives. I wouldn't complain if the Dems impeached him, even if it were for the wrong reasons. Good riddance!


58 posted on 03/16/2007 7:41:36 AM PDT by Ikemeister
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To: Ikemeister
No, the man is a loser and is totally out of touch with conservatives. I wouldn't complain if the Dems impeached him, even if it were for the wrong reasons. Good riddance!

This says it all about the type of individual you are and your ability to be intellectually honest. Nuff said.

And for those Border Agents they were convicted in a court of law. They lied and covered up information regarding the discharging of their weapons. We do not live in a police state (thank God), they deserved to be punished. Is the sentence to harsh?? Now there, there is reason for discussion. But they are not innocent and they were not simply doing their jobs. They lied about discharging their weapons against an individual whom they had no idea who he was (him being illegal after the fact is a mute point).

59 posted on 03/16/2007 7:47:02 AM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: Ikemeister

Thanks for your clarity here.

Over on this thread, there is some serious smoking of locoweed going on"

"Beltway buzz: Bush daughter getting engaged"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1801113/posts


60 posted on 03/16/2007 7:51:54 AM PDT by fishtank
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