Too Bad - President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder.

opinionjournal.com ^ | Peggy Noonan

[Sub-Driver]

PEGGY NOONAN

Too Bad President Bush has torn the conservative coalition asunder.

Friday, June 1, 2007 12:00 a.m. EDT

What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker--"At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.

The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. 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.

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."

[Eastbound]

" . . . January 2005, when the president declared that it is now the policy of the United States to eradicate tyranny in the world, and that the survival of American liberty is dependent on the liberty of every other nation."

First things first, George. Let's perfect our own liberty and make sure it's working properly before we start exporting an un-tried product. Looks to me like it's eroding more than it is being perfected. Besides, liberty is something that people claim for themselves when they decide they are ready for it -- not something you can hand to them on a silver platter and expect them to revere and treasure it.

Remember, we couldn't serve our own wine before its time either.

[VictoryGal]

> President Bush every day does what he believes is the “right thing to do” not what the popular thing is to do. He is guided by his own princple, and by a Higher power. If President Bush believes this is the right thing for America, then I am with him.

If that’s the only reason you are supporting him, that he says he’s doing the right thing (that’s good enough for you?) and not looking at the dangers of what he is pushing (shamnesty), I have to wonder about your priorities.

Plenty of people claim to be led by a higher power, and many of them are mistaken or con men. Don’t be an easy mark.

[Pelayo]

Bush is a Beaner lover with no respect for Anglo-Saxon culture or achievements. What we need is a strong leader who can speak to the people of America and galvanize them into a new conservative movement so that we can throw off these Rockefeller Republican elitists wannabes. Bush, on top of his fair whether conservatism, is a poor speaker and always has been. We don't need some one who can ape speaking our (conservative) language of pro-nationalism, pro-isolationist (remember his stance before 9-11?), pro-middle class. In short, what we need is a real leader of the people, not some elitist liberal aristocrat. It's the only way we will be able to win elections in the long run.

[Boxsford]

Really? A neo-liberal? Liberals embrace terrorists. I haven’t seen Bush do the likes of that.

[Philo1962]

That used to be true. However, excepting judges, an opposition president would likely have been better for the country these past six + years. The Repubs would have defended conservative turf on all fronts so there would have been no deals with Teddy Kennedy. Hussein would probably still be alive. So would thousands of youing boys and girls.

I have a few observations to make.

1. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito ... or Supreme Court Justice Charles Rangel.

2. CHIEF JUSTICE John Roberts ... or CHIEF JUSTICE Catharine MacKinnon. (Yes Virginia, both Rangel and MacKinnon are licensed attorneys. That's all it takes to be eligible to serve on the Supreme Court.)

3. Terrorist groups, sponsored by Saddam Hussein, go on killing Israeli and American civilians. Perhaps not as many as Al Qaida ... perhaps more.

4. Al Qaida operatives, rather than attacking American soldiers in Baghdad neighborhoods, are attacking American civilians in American neighborhoods.

[RJL]

President Bush every day does what he believes is the "right thing to do" not what the popular thing is to do.

That's the problem exactly! Bush "believes" the "right thing to do" is to shirk his duties as required by the US Constitution when he refuses to enforce the laws and the borders of the United States.

He's lost me as a supporter.

[television is just wrong]

my husband was a staunch suppporter of bush til this immigration reform thing started. Now he is down. He cannot stand by and support the loss of the sovereignty of this nation.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“DeusExMachina05”

What we need : )

[bmwcyle]

Keep your eyes closed on his now Bill with Kennedy. You make a good Sheeple.

[Zack Nguyen]

bump.

[Zack Nguyen]

bump to a very interesting column

[Zack Nguyen]

It simply isn’t logical to expect a political party to last forever.

True, but is it asking too much for it to last more than 18 months? The coalition Bush won in November 2004 was largely gone by mid-2006.

[Boxsford]

Name calling is all you got.

[BigFinn]

Thanks for posting that one. The EU of North America...hmmmm... 'a shared everything except the expense of it." There was another interesting FR posting that talked about his mulit-nationalist agenda... here. Explains a lot.

[Afronaut]

Thanks BigFinn,

No one cares to look into this connection. It is right there out in the open. Just google "Council on Foreign Relations" check the membership and what they are up to. The Bushes have been the waterboys for this ORG.

[ModelBreaker]

Peggy "Thinks" she knows what the White House is "Thinking"? This is pure BS.

The WH's statements of late and during the Miers fiasco certainly support her conclusion about the thought processes in the WH about the folks who walked precincts for him. I don't think she jumped to an impermissible conclusion.

[ModelBreaker]

Bush is a Beaner lover with no respect for Anglo-Saxon culture or achievements.

Go wash your mouth out with soap.

[Pelayo]

You don't actually think I meant any of that, do you? I thought it was pretty obvious -- given my handle, as well as the precision idiocy of my post -- that absolutely none of what I wrote was legitimate sentiment.

[ModelBreaker]

My apology. I misunderstood it. In my defense, I’ve seen sillier posts on FR that were intended seriously.

[curiosity]

If President Bush believes this is the right thing for America,then I am with him. I would rather be on President Bush's side, the higher power side.

Wow. So you think Bush is a prophet or something? Do you think he's infallible?

Sounds like you're founding a new religion.