Posted on 06/04/2007 6:14:33 AM PDT by theothercheek
In an interview aboard Air Force One last week with Ron Hutcheson of McClatchy Newspapers, President Bush said:
"I'm deeply concerned about America losing its soul. Immigration has been the lifeblood of a lot of our country's history. And I am worried that a backlash to newcomers would cause our country to lose its great capacity to assimilate newcomers. And I believe that a newly arrived adds to the vigor and the entrepreneurial spirit, and enhances the American Dream."
These sentiments, coupled with Bush’s suggestion that opponents of his compromised immigration compromise "don't want to do what's right for America," are driving conservatives to apoplexy. The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan contends that Bush broke faith with conservatives, not the other way around:
Leading Democrats often think their base is slightly mad but at least their heart is in the right place. This White House thinks its base is stupid and that its heart is in the wrong place. …
You don't like endless gushing spending … Too bad! You don't like expanding governmental authority and power? Too bad. You think the war was wrong or is wrong? Too bad.
But on immigration it has changed from "Too bad" to "You're bad."
Noonan makes the case that it’s déjà vu all over again:
[T]he Bushes, father and son … are great wasters of political inheritance. They throw it away as if they'd earned it and could do with it what they liked. Bush senior inherited a vibrant country and a party at peace with itself. … Mr. Bush won in 1988 by saying he would govern as Reagan had. … [H]e raised taxes, sundered a hard-won coalition, and found himself shocked to lose his party the presidency, and for eight long and consequential years. ….
Bush the younger came forward, presented himself as a conservative, garnered all the frustrated hopes of his party, turned them into victory, and not nine months later was handed a historical trauma that left his country rallied around him, lifting him, and his party bonded to him. He was disciplined and often daring, but in time he sundered the party that rallied to him, and broke his coalition into pieces. …
There’s only one thing conservatives and Republicans can do now, says Noonan: “[W]in back their party.” She adds that “breaking from those who have already broken from [you]” and “letting go … will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time.”
The question is, how?
Deep down – maybe not so deep down – conservatives always knew Bush was a pretender, mouthing the right words and making the right gestures. But conservatives voted for him anyway, the first time to pre-empt a third Clinton term and the second time because the thought of Kerry as a post-9/11 Commander in Chief was nightmare-inducing.
This was a shot-gun wedding and after eight years of Bush, conservatives are understandably gun-shy. But holding out for an imaginary ideal of ideological purity is not the answer. And allowing Hillary Clinton to capture the White House by staying home on Election Day is not an option.
There may be a third way: A new conservative coalition that crosses party lines to include anyone who considers himself center-right. Such a coalition could as easily support a conservative Republican as a “Blue Dog” Democrat. Since neither party would be able to count on the bipartisan bloc’s vote, both will court these voters and neither will take them for granted. As an added benefit, the sheer size of this bipartisan bloc may be an equal and opposing force against the inexorable leftward pull the moonbats are exerting on the Dem party platform.
Of the 19 declared presidential candidates as of this writing, Rudy Giuliani is the most logical choice to forge this new coalition of conservatives. He is enough of a social liberal to attract Reagan Democrats, and tough enough on crime and terrorism – with the added bonus of being fiscally conservative – to attract conservatives who are putting social issue on the back burner this time around.
Over the next 18 months, several home-grown Muslim terror plots are likely to come to light - such as the thwarted plan to blow up aviation fuel tanks and feeder lines running underground from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport through surrounding residential neighborhoods in Queens. Each time, more social conservatives will conclude that preventing the aborting of the lives of those already born in acts of terrorism is at least as important as preventing the aborting of unborn babies.
Tell it to me in Spanish ...
“And I believe that a newly arrived adds to the vigor and the entrepreneurial spirit, and enhances the American Dream.”
What about the American Dream for... Americans? Not all Americans have yet been able to have been born to a wealthy, politically connected family. He has a disconnect as to the wealth availability of the average American. Most Americans are still chasing the American Dream. Why should these citizens of other countries be shoved in line in front of them?
Oh really, nominate Rudy and she will be. Rudy is a chicken-shit no account. I don’t respect him at all. Rudy makes everything confusing, and that’s what the Clinton’s bank on. If Rudy is nominated, HIllary will win, because Rudy is the type without a moral compus. We can’t have someone without moral balls taking on someone like Hillary. We need a honest to goodness fighter, someone who would take her on. Rudy can’t, he doesn’t know whether he is coming or going.
Your choices are voting for a Republican who will lie to you and then pull a Bush when he doesn’t need you anymore, or to stay home and hand the election to Hillary. This is a third alternative - yes, a think outside the box thing. It doesn’t have to be Rudy - though anyone who thinks it should be is entitled to his or her opinion - and it is quite possible that it will take a RINO to get the ball rolling. As the new bipartisan conservative coaltion gels, the candidates will get progressively more conservative. Don’t think of the 2008 election as a one-shot. Think longer term. And IMHO, Peggy Noonan is thinking small when she says we have to take back the Republican party. No, we have to take back our Country! It will be a long, protracted war. Think Sun Tzu.
And Hillary has a moral compass? Where? I fear her more than anyone else running on either side (though, in truth not more than Kerry).
Another map that could be added:
Abortion Mapping
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/mapstatesabrate.html
Let’s have legal immigration and continue to welcome new folks to our country. Let’s end illegal immigrtion.
Why indeed?
THat will never happen. THe RINO's are the ones trying to pull the party to the left and move social conservatives out of the coalition altogether. As for Rudy, he has been running against social conservites since day one.
Every senator and representative should see this before casting his or her vote for the immigration bill - starting with Lindsay Graham.
OH, so you are saying you are willing to give up what you belive in just so you can feel safe? Would you be willing to let me tatoo your hand and put a computer chip in while I’m at it? Do tell, this is very intersting!
A mere symptom. America was always an unlimited land with a wild frontier, even before Columbus--long before Columbus. The frontier was officially closed in 1890. It has been over ever since and the Club of Rome and their new Saint Algore is still insisting on it being over.
However, O'Neill's High Frontier is still valid. Repeal the Treaty and open the Land Office for mining and entry claims.
That's the difference between Princeton and Yale.
I never said Hillary has a moral compass, she doesn’t need one, she is getting her orders from the evil one. Anyone dealing with her needs to have one though.
Not all conservatives are members of the religious right, and not all conservatives agree that social issues are more important than national security issues (especially this election). FR attracts the most conservative conservatives, but there’s a much wide range of opinion out there than just us talking amongst ourselves. Don’t you think by now EVERYONE knows about Rudy and abortion, Rudy and guns, Rudy and gays, etc? He’s still in the top tier - even when Fred Thompson is factored in.
“Your choices are voting for a Republican who will lie to you”
I take it that means you think Rudy will win the nomination?
LOL. But I am still not going to learn Spanish.
The article uses Noonan’s article to rebut Bush’s losing our souls comment, and then the author suggests a different solution to the problem than Noonan’s, which is that to regain clout and not be taken for granted by the Republcan party is to form a party-less coaltion of conservatives.
Bush’s quotes and Noonan’s quotes are indented. The author’s thoughts are not. This is standard formatting for citations.
Bush the younger came forward, presented himself as a conservative, garnered all the frustrated hopes of his party, turned them into victory, and not nine months later was handed a historical trauma that left his country rallied around him, lifting him, and his party bonded to him. He was disciplined and often daring, but in time he sundered the party that rallied to him, and broke his coalition into pieces. …
This is the really sad thing. Under Bush's leadership, leftist ideology could have been marginalized for fifty years.
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