Posted on 01/31/2006 11:05:56 AM PST by robowombat
Bush is kicking away his base By Phyllis Schlafly
Jan 30, 2006
The conservative movement that elected Ronald Reagan twice, George H.W. Bush once, and George W. Bush II twice, is essentially a movement of grass-rooters who don't like to take orders from the top and who revolt when they believe they are betrayed or bossed by those they elected. That's why the grass roots abandoned the first George Bush when he reneged on his "no new taxes, read my lips" promise.
The tough political tactics used by union bosses and Democratic machine bosses simply don't sit well with conservative Republicans.
Resentment against the current Bush administration is still festering about the combination of threats and bribes that pushed through close votes in Congress to pass the costly Medicare prescription drug bill in 2003 and Central American Trade Agreement in 2004.
Maybe the intra-party divisions between fiscal vs. Big Government conservatives that lay behind the former battle, and between pro vs. anti free-traders in the latter battle, were evenly balanced enough that the Bush administration alienated only a handful of Republicans. But in demanding a guest-worker plan that smacks of amnesty, the Bush administration is taking the unpopular side of a party division that is at least 80-20.
In December, the House passed a border-security bill authored by House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.. The bill rejected support for Bush's guest worker/amnesty plan. Since 88 percent of Republican House members voted for this bill, that should have been a wake-up call to the president.
Shortly thereafter, Arizona Republican National Committee member Randy Pullen gathered enough signatures to present a resolution to the Republican National Committee at its Jan. 19-20 meeting in Washington, D.C., which endorsed border security measures and opposed any guest worker plan.
A competing resolution endorsing border security plus a guest worker plan was floated by the RNC's Bill Crocker of Texas. After he realized the strong tide against guest workers, he began negotiating a compromise with Pullen, and one version of the compromise eliminated guest workers.
When the RNC resolutions committee met Jan. 19, the chairman, Idaho's Blake Hall, brought up the original Crocker resolution that included guest worker language. An attempt by one committeeman to substitute the Crocker-Pullen compromise was ruled out of order, and then a motion to remove the guest worker language was voted down 5 to 3.
That evening, the Bush administration sent in its big guns, Vice President Dick Cheney and Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., to insist that RNC members support the guest worker plan or else they would be labeled disloyal and disrespectful of President Bush. Republican Party chairman Ken Mehlman made the rounds to regional caucuses to demand approval of Bush's guest worker plan and defeat of the Pullen resolution.
At the RNC meeting on Jan. 20, the Hall-approved resolution was incorporated and passed as part of a package of nine resolutions in order to preclude a specific vote on the border security-guest worker issue. The Pullen resolution did not come up.
This donnybrook happened on the same day that the New York Times reported that 18,207 illegal immigrants from nations other than Mexico have been the beneficiaries of the Bush administration's scandalous "catch and release" procedure in the three months since Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff promised to "return every single illegal entrant - no exceptions." Catch and release means that the illegal immigrants from nations other than Mexico are not deported. But after they are apprehended, they are released on their own recognizance with instructions to reappear a few weeks later, with everybody understanding that they will disappear into the U.S. population.
Also on the same day, Lou Dobbs reported on CNN-TV that Mexican troops are crossing our southern border twice a month in uniform, in military vehicles and carrying military weapons. The Bush administration's response to this invasion is don't ask, don't tell.
It's bad enough that President Bush is pursuing a vastly unpopular guest worker-amnesty plan, but the administration's bullying to prevent debate and a vote by the full Republican National Committee was intolerable. It forecasts the sort of intimidation we can anticipate in the upcoming Senate debate about Bush's guest worker plan.
Why are President Bush and Karl Rove so tone deaf on this issue? Some speculate that the Bush administration is in the pocket of big business lobbying interests that want the cheap labor made available by the government's failure to enforce our immigration laws.
Others speculate that Bush and Rove are hallucinating that Hispanics will vote Republican. That won't happen; Hispanics vote 55 to 75 percent Democratic because, since they are mostly in the low-income sector of our economy, they vote for the party that promises the social benefits of the welfare state, not for the party that pretends to support fiscal integrity and small government.
The administration-imposed RNC defeat of the majority view of Republicans is bad news for the 2006 congressional elections. Bush is alienating his political base and creating what one RNC member calls an "enthusiasm deficit." In the words of the old adage, elephants (i.e., conservative Republicans) never forget.
Phyllis Schlafly is the President and Founder of the Eagle Forum
1. To those for whom less than perfect is not enough. I'm sorry. You have chosen a difficult, often lonely, way to live your life. I can give a laundry list of things I wish the President would or could work on. It would be different than yours, but it would still be a "I haven't gotten mine" list. But I refuse to let that color my perceptions to the point that progress, movement in the right direction can not be appreciate, celebrated and enjoyed. All that does is set a person up to be perpetually living for something that will most likely never happen, and certainly not in your lifetime.
2. To those who think carping today will change hearts and minds. Give it up. It's bad strategy to try to diminish a win. It only hardens positions and gets you no where fast. It's stupid. If you don't like the President's policies, you need to win on facts. You need to win by convincing others based on principle. Kicking people when they are up just makes them mad, and causes them to distrust you. Kicking them when they are down makes them fight harder. In fact, kicking is usually a stupid idea. Keep to the policy and it's importance and why...and you just might make progress. Or don't. Depends on how badly you want it to happen.
3. To those who think it makes them look smart to dislike the "stupid" President.Smarter people than you have been severely burned by that attitude. It does not make you look smart, or principled, or brilliant. It makes you look doltish. You can choose.
4. To those who wish the third party or libertarian conservatives would just "go away." We actually need them. They keep us honest. They hold our feet to the fire, remind us of our principles, help keep us from becoming more interested in the team winning than the ideas. They shouldn't run off common sense, but they are a good measure of our principles. I appreciate that.
5. To those who think the border control is the only issue and we just need to build a fence. It is a very old, complicated issue that has spanned over 100 years. Building a fence is not the answer. I have been doing a lot of research on the topic, and despite claims there is NOT an easy answer. Not then, less now. We are not going to go back to the fifties. The world is changing. It is smaller. We need to deal with this with a market based solution. If this is your only issue, and all is lost without the President locking the doors and unceremoniously kicking everyone out int he middle of the night, I respectfully suggest that you pull back a bit and look at the bigger picture. It just isn't EVER going to happen period. If you can not grasp that, you will be frustrated and disappointed for the rest of your lives EVEN IF TOM TANCREDO became President. Good luck with that.
6. To those who think the President can do no wrong. He can. He is human. Support him 100%, but be honest enough to disagree with him where you do. It will help him, it will help you. It will help America. It's hard sometimes when we are backed into a corner, but honesty is best for all of us.
7. To those who think Pollyanna's have unrealistic expectations and are sugary sweet people who don't see the world as it actually is.You're wrong. Pollyanna was not perfect, nor did she expect perfection. She saw the world as it was, hard, cold and ugly. Her strength was that she wanted people to use what they had, to find the advantages for themselves DESPITE their situations; to always look for ways to further a goal, no matter what hindrances one faces; to be grateful for the blessing you do have, rather than concentrate on the things you do not. Some find that grating and unrealistic. I call it learning to win.
.....And, if you don't like it—Tough. Ignore us. You are the kind of people that will never accomplish much, or really change the world for the better. Oh, you might make a big splash for awhile. People will start to grouse, and you will feel pretty good about yourself. But then, a Ronald Reagan, or a GW Bush (Pollyannas both) will come along and offer your minions a more positive, happier, hopeful world view. And suddenly, you will find yourself loosing over and over again. And your name will be Democrat. I prefer the quintessential American quality of optimism. Of pollyannism. I chose this world view. It made my life better. Deal with it.
/rant
OK, now who is looking forward to a really positive, tough SOTU tonight attended (I hope) with the newly sworn in Judge Alito?
When it comes to immigration you are not going to like "Alito". The anchor baby issue is coming up soon. I suspect the ruling will not be to your liking.
Great minds.......
And........
Where?
If everyone here turns around and looks at this place in his memory he will see the true image of a Republican. Damn sure hard to go to your photo album and find the perfect Republican. I do think that if you average this place you will come close. Beats the living hell out of DU
Frankly, it doesn't matter if she wrote it two weeks ago. I thought that Schlafly was a pro-life champion, so I find this article being written on the eve of the nomination of Samuel Alito by President George W. Bush to be disastrous.
Again I say, I think that Phyllis is pushing more people away, than those she accuses. I, for one, won't pay her a bit of attention anymore.
And try not to deflate yours. 1% is ridiculous. That 30% number for conservatives has been around for awhile--if you have a more accurate number, please pass it along.
"...donations and money on hand are WAY over the top."
Not according to what I am hearing. But then I lack your Big Tent access to the RNC Big Tent database.
That's so easy that it's almost embarrassing. I vastly prefer the muscle- building arguments we have within our party. They make us better...not stupider.
Sometimes, if you can't say anything nice...you might as well be honest. ; )
That would be Holliday Greeting Card.
But you cannot speak for ALL that 30 percent, can you? In fact, most of US consider ourselves conservatives, too, although you look down your nose at us.
And you need to face the fact that you need US more than we need you.
great post.
But whatever. You'll believe whatever fits your philosophy, facts be damned.
I was out driving mental health patients today. I'm retired from my first career and it's my job. They have a lobby, SSI benefits, paid for apartments, on and on...
The guy I was driving was boasting about the backpay one of his "disability" buddies had recently gotten from the treasury, 65,000 dollars. My response was "That's two to three years salary for WORKING people."
Ended the discussion.
Sometimes justice gets very old
Well, well. Another genius insinuating that the horrible border vigilantes want to shoot Mexicans. At least 5 of my close coworkers were born in Mexico, and they will admit that their arrival in el Norte is a bit questionable. You might advocate shooting them, since you brought up the idea- or perhaps it's just the usual racebaiting and slander so dear to the heart of the open borders lobby in their attempt to make themselves look good.
Whichever it is, I'll venture that in your perch in Arksansas you know precious few Mexicans, and certainly have none as friends. I know this isn't the case with many of the infamous border vigilantes, some of who are indeed Mexican themselves.
But you'll step on all the sidewalk cracks and break her back...won't you!?
Howlin...Phyllis Schlafly, thank God in Heaven, is the polar opposite of you. :^)
Numerous threads have been filled with people telling me they don't need mine or any other Conservative's vote. We'll see how that holds up over the next few elections - they seem to forget how close the last two Presidential elections were.
I have said what you just said about a thousand times here. The West and the Southwest have just about had it. The South is on our heels. This immigration thing will be the doom of the GOP if they don't get a grip. A year ago in here you had people openly saying that these people had a right to take a stroll across our border. Now people are talking about shooting them home. As I am. There is indeed a fetching up in the process. Trouble is all Mr. Bush has to do is say "guest worker" and our border patrol people are overwhelmed. Guess they still remember Reagans amnesty. I love Reagan for most of his actions and hate him for one. AMNESTY.
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