Posted on 06/09/2007 7:10:23 AM PDT by gpapa
President Bush has cast a huge, dark cloud over the Republican party. But in that cloud's very size there may be a silver lining for the GOP. Most of those Americans who don't think President Bush made a mistake by going to war in Iraq are appalled by how clumsily the war has been conducted.
The president's strong backing for the "comprehensive" immigration reform bill now before the Senate, compounded by his attack on the character and motives of those who oppose it have split the GOP. Thousands of Republicans have changed their voter registration to "independent." The proportion of voters who identify themselves as Republicans has fallen to 30.8 percent from 37.3 percent during the 2004 election campaign, according to a recent Rasmussen poll.
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
The thing that bothers me the most about his irrational push on the shamnesty bill is I think it’s mostly personal - Jeb’s wife is Mexican.
It’s irrational because open borders just make no sense with his stand on security. And if it’s irrational, all that’s left is that it is based on emotion.
GWB is willing to destroy this country in order to spare the feelings of family members. That’s just not good enough for a POTUS.
THAT is how it should read. There aren't many of you Bush bots around any more. Hopefully, you'll get the hint before long.
I believe that the data point to Bush handing over the elections to the Dems. As Peggy Noonan wrote, it's not the conservatives abandoning Bush--it's Bush abandoning us (and the party).
For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? 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."
[...]
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. He threw away his inheritance. I do not understand such squandering.
But they know the important stuff, like where Paris Hilton is...
Every action has a reaction. As much as you want to blame the “base”...it was in fact GWB...and the GOP who walked away.
Most conservative columnists wrote about this very thing during the last week. Don’t put the cart before the horse.
So the 06 election was Bushs’ fault. Had nothing to do with the base complaining 24/7 about the RINOs’. Ok. I see.
Well, maybe us BushBots as you call us, look beyond our noses instead of just following the crowd and the latest trends. We all want to belong. We want approval from the folks. But us “Bushbots” don’t care about fitting in. I think someday Bush will be vindicated. Then the crowd will rush back to his side. Not because they ever actually thought about it, but because it will be fashionable.
It’s still a little early in the Presidential process but with luck maybe someone like Thompson can bring the calm to this menagerie of so called ‘conservatives’..... jmo.
Buzz. Wrong response.
We (most of us anyway) don't hate Bush. Why do you state this as either/or?
Bush has done some things agreeable. But by and large, history will not be too favorable to him, IMO. I criticize specific decisions he has made and specific policies he has undertaken. He cannot be a "scapegoat" for his own decisions. Not logically possible.
I will state categorically that his unrelenting push for amnesty and what amounts to open borders is beyond the pale and rivals some of Bill Clinton's actions in terms of potential damage to this country. I consider that fact & not simply opinion. The fact that he is doing this in direct opposition to the wishes of the majority of his party and the majority of the citizens of this country is further proof of [what I consider] dereliction of Constitutional duty.
In Tennessee, this last election, we worked really hard to get Bob Corker elected. We pointed out Harold Fords flaws nonstop, and we wouldn't let people call Corker a RINO. We got him elected and now so far he has voted our way every time. They called Lamar Alexander a RINO, too. He has served us well. But even if they weren't perfect, they would have been a heck sight better than dems. Its like Rush says. I don't understand how you win by losing. I know Bush isn't perfect, but hes our president and our own people are hurting our cause by constant insults and throwing slurs at him. They are doing as much damage as the media to bring down the Republicans. And they holler 3rd party. That is really throwing in the towel.
Yes, that's most likely one reason. George Bush is in many ways an admirable man, who is loyal to friends and family. What he seems not to understand is that such loyalty is admirable in a private person, but that a public leader cannot afford to indulge it at the expense of his public duties.
There is some evidence that he nominated Harriet Miers at the urging of his wife Laura. Miers had been a personal friend of theres for some time. They liked her and respected her. But that should not have been allowed to shortcircuit the regular vetting process. It seems obvious that nobody actually read any of Harriet Miers's public writings, or they would have found that she was strongly pro-affirmative action and favored a "woman's right to choose," even though she claims to be an Evangelical in good standing.
The same with Gonzalez. He is a personal friend of Bush, but he was and is completely unqualified to head the Justice Department. He is an incompetent. Not only that, but as a judge in Texas he declared a parental consent law to be unconstitutional, because minor children have an unlimited right to abortion. I don't think George Bush believes this, but he was perfectly willing to overlook it because of misplaced loyalty to a friend.
The same with his misguided efforts to be nicey-nice with Teddy Kennedy & Co. Politically, it has gotten him absolutely nothing. As a private person, you can be as polite as you want, but as a public leader you need to deal with corrupt enemies before they damage your country. Bush just doesn't understand that.
As a private person, you can turn the other cheek. As commander in chief, you must stand up to evil and confront it, whether abroad or at home. Public duty comes before private feelings.
I remember when you ridiculed me and others when we stated over a year ago that immigration policy would cause the Republican party trouble.
Dolt.
All of it was bile and Bush hatred - not a shred of reality to it eh? Just "bile"?
This is the only possible motivation I can conjure up for Bush's behavior on amnesty. If that were so, we could see how this honorable man is falling on his sword for party?
Naaaa.....
I think he sincerely thinks it is the right thing to do. He's wrong. But there's no strategery going on here.
Thanks for taking the time to expand on my thoughts. This goes a long way toward explaining how a good man - as I think most of us believe GWB to be - can end up doing a great deal of harm.
You’re pretty good at stringing together insults against conservatives. Reminds me of the manure that used to appear in the lefty rags back in the ‘60s.
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