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.
For the millionth time - George, they came here ILLEGALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We are not talking about immigration here, we are talking about a bunch of illegals!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm having a nightmare and I can't wake up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I pledge allegiance to the North American Trade Zone and to the Rudy who took my guns...
ILLEGAL immigrants, President Bush. ILLEGAL.
“Bush is lying through his teeth on this issue,”
Can one be a good Christian and lie to the people about this issue?
So, Bush isn’t a conservative, so we should vote for Rudy because he’s also not a conservative? This is like two unrelated columns tacked together.
AMEN! And Bush is largely responsible for the lack of enforcement. It sickens me when he tries to spin this deceptive propaganda to the American public.
No, you dolt. LEGAL immigration has been “the lifeblood of a lot of our country’s history.” Your perfidious amnesty bill simply validates a huge wave of ILLEGAL immigration, which does irreparable harm to LEGAL immigration.
/former GW supporter
This is the difference between a conservative and a ‘compassionate conservative.’ Nobody should be surprised; he tried to warn us that being conservative isn’t good enough.
Wanting to believe Bush was a conservative & voting for him because he could beat Gore was what got us in the mess we’re in now. If Gore had won, there’s a chance he would not have been re-elected and we might have gotten a better conservative candidate in there now, I said ‘a chance’.
We better think real hard before we make that kind of stupid mistake again & let someone like Guiliani or McCain even get close to being our candidate. We are giving our party away to a bunch of Globalist/Elite/Country Club Republicans.
Time to stop the train wreck NOW!!!!!!!
>>”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.<<
Maybe I’m missing something here. Since when was this about immigration? Who ever said anything about being against immigration?
This issue has nothing to do with immigration — rather, it is solely about law enforcement. I suspect the president knows that but would rather change the subject because he knows how poor his record is in that regard.
As for my soul, Mr. President, that’s a matter between my God and me. So butt-out.
Well stated!
“Of the 19 declared presidential candidates as of this writing, Rudy Giuliani is the most logical choice to forge this new coalition of conservatives.”
Yeah, right. Is the author smokng crack? Giuliani is just another Bush — a faux conservative at best.
Fool me once (Bush 41), shame on you. Fool me twice (Bush 43), shame on me. YOU ARE NOT GOING TO FOOL ME AGAIN!
Talk about going from bad to worse. No thanks.
Me too. I removed my Bush bumper sticker last fall. I also took the Support Bush banner out of my storefront window then too. In the past, I have given out hundreds of Bush bumper stickers & actually lost a few customers because of my support for this man that I am ashamed of now.
I feel totally betrayed by this whole administration.
Bush certainly doesn’t need to worry about the soul of the people. He needs to look out for his own. He needs to quit spinning a seriously detrimental issue that will affect every aspect of our country as a virtue for him, and flaw in the American citizen.
The flaw lies with you and your Global World, Mr. Bush.
Is she serious? Sanctuary City Guiliani is the one to forge this new coalition of conservatives? I don't think ANY of those words mean what she thinks they mean.
I think you are wrong. This immigration issue could pull the Reagan Democrat types to vote for the right candidate. Pelosi may control the pols in the House with her mob machine methods, but she does not control the voters. There are lots of workers, blacks, and Hispanics who are directly impacted by this problem and might well vote for the right Republican who was tough on immigration. I do not think Giulani is that man, however.
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