Posted on 01/09/2006 12:57:50 PM PST by Kaslin
In public, the relationship between President Bush and former GOP House majority leader Tom DeLay has been friendly, but in private it’s been downright distant.
According to this week’s Time magazine, while on the surface they have been cordial to each other, there has been a "longtime chill” between the two men.
Time describes their relationship as strictly professional. "DeLay admires Bush's leadership but still thinks of himself as the strongest conservative on the block," a DeLay friend told Time. "They perceive DeLay as a bull in a china shop. They appreciate him as their protector and retriever."
For his part, Bush was publicly supportive of DeLay during his re-election bid in 2004, but the inside story is quite different.
"Privately ... he questioned his fellow Texan's mojo. Bush had scored 10 points higher than DeLay in the Representative's district in 2004, and that was only after Bush had recorded a telephone message to help rally local Republicans. 'I can't believe I had to do robocalls for him, the President said bitingly to an Oval Office visitor," writes the magazine.
A point of contention between the two is top White House political guru Karl Rove. DeLay had no help from Rove in rising to power in Texas, something which not many Texas politicos can claim. DeLay is said to be "less than enthusiastic about Rove’s much vaunted political savvy."
"Karl thinks of (DeLay) as someone a little bit too opinionated for his own good," an official close to both men told Time. "And DeLay thinks of Karl as a former mail vendor, not some great guru."
White House advisers allege that the men around Bush have treated DeLay as a necessary burden, noting that while he may have had an unmatched grip on the House and Washington lobbyists, DeLay is not the kind of guy — in background and temperament — the President feels comfortable with.
Time quotes a an unnamed Republican allegedly close to the President's inner circle as saying of the man Time sneeringly calls "the former exterminator” that "They have always seen him as beneath them, more blue collar. He's seen as a useful servant, not someone you would want to vacation with," the source sniffed.
Oh, yeah...gotta listen to this stellar source! /sarcasm
Newsmax...why are you infatuated with "Time" magazine?
Actually, I do believe the article, mainly because it just rings true.
If someone can convince me that Bush likes and respects DeLay, I'm all ears. But I'm not holding my breath.
I don't
Neither do I. Hence my first post in #1
Amazing how all the Anti-Goverment types all all excited about the Abramoff scandal seem so desperate to give Delay a free ride for his ties to Abramoff. At the same time they are VERY careful to make sure the Bush Justice Department gets NO credit for breaking this open by going after Abramoff. Why is that?
You do realize that Tom Delay got everything you 100%ers scream at Bush for thur the House? Amazing how the Whine all the Time Choir is always VERY careful to make sure NONE of their constant complaining is actually directed at the Congress who PASSED ALL THE BILLS they constantly blame Bush for. Sorry but your contention is screamingly absurd. To blame Bush and NOT Delay is nonsense. Delay bears even MORE of the blame since virtually every budget that goes up to the Congress comes out at LEAST 1/3 higher that what Bush asks for. Amazing how gutless the 100%ers are about holding CONGRESS accountable.
You do realize that Tom Delay got everything you 100%ers scream at Bush for thur the House? Amazing how the Whine all the Time Choir is always VERY careful to make sure NONE of their constant complaining is actually directed at the Congress who PASSED ALL THE BILLS they constantly blame Bush for. Sorry but your contention is screamingly absurd. To blame Bush and NOT Delay is nonsense. Delay bears even MORE of the blame since virtually every budget that goes up to the Congress comes out at LEAST 1/3 higher that what Bush asks for. Amazing how gutless the 100%ers are about holding CONGRESS accountable.
Between the two, I'm with Delay.
Bush has never had much "conservatism" to lose.
I have no doubt that the broad assertion of this article - that DeLay and Bush do not care for each other - is true. They are both driven men, real alpha males. Neither got where he is through knuckling under to others.
Furthermore, the uncomfortable truth is that DeLay is much more of an ideological conservative than Bush, and Bush (like most center/right moderate politicians) is probably a little baffled by the idelogically-driven passion on issues that DeLay and his constituency bring to politics.
President and DeLay.....sorry about that
You don't buy into the Time unnamed sources gossip, do you? There's not one word in that article which can be substantiated.
**According to this week’s Time magazine, while on the surface they have been cordial to each other, there has been a "longtime chill” between the two men.**
I am sure Bush's mammoth eldery drug program warmed Delay's heart. ; )
And you are right. We have unnamed sources on this from the NYT. Do you think maybe the Times might be trying to sow desention in the party by blame-shifting to Bush for Delay's stepping down from the speaker's job? Nah, they would never do that being the fine upstanding journalistic institution they are.
2. The President has had DeLay with him at numerous appearances, both during the campaign and after.
3. Newsmax likes stirring up trouble among conservatives. They often exagerrate or misquote stories in order to get everyone all up in arms. I usually ignore their stories. This one caught my eye because I figured there would be a lot of people who took the bait, and you are one of them.
I don't believe this for a second...
Time is operating on the CBS template...just making things up.
The members of the Donner Party don't seem to realize that compromise (spelled pork spending) is the only way the President is going to get the votes he needs for tax cuts, capital gains cuts, Patriot Act, education reform which has led to an across the board increase in scores for minority students, etc.
This president would not be denigrating anyone for any reason.
Many here have complained tht the president doesn't attack his enemies.
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