Oct 03 2007
What Tanked The GOP?
It seems all the talk this week is of how bad the GOP looks in polls. From Tony Blankley’s desire to throw principle to the wind and act like Dems and do whatever it takes to win to Mark Melman’s idiotic belief it is all about Iraq, Dubai Ports and Katrina. Interestingly Melman is closer to the truth, even though reality totally escapes him. The problem with both these views is they are created around the myth that the media accurately portrays reality and controls the views of Americans. Both of these people start with the premise that the DC view of the world is correct and those in positions of power (pols and talking heads) have control over that view for the rest of the country. It is a quaint view that doesn’t hold up in this modern age of instant information and the electronic pamphleteers – the bloggers. The bloggers make spin and destroy spin. But controlling the phenomena is impossible.
Having access and the ability to move large segments of the population does not mean that the moves initiated will work out as planned. It simply means when those who put things in motion do so and when they make a mistake in judgments, those mistakes will blossoms and grow as they ripple out and create huge problems. It is this failure to remain humble and aware that allows us to never lose our ability to screw up, no matter how far we get in life. Typically the really successful ones realize to gather smart people around as a buffer to each and everyone’s inevitable mistakes. They allow for mistaken views to be proffered and challenged by others who still see things clearly.
But too many times power corrupts the ego by convincing someone the history of their successes is proof of their omnipotence. Tragically, statistics and Murphy’s Law show that a long run of good success deserves a brilliant balancing moment of utter failure. These failures are hard to find the source of if, as we have in politics, there is a layer of misinformation (known as PR, spin and biases) swirling around the event that led to failure. So let’s look at the misinformation layer so well described by two of DC’s talking heads. First Melman and his left-of-center fantasy world:
Once the dominant party on national security — boasting a 35-point lead over Democrats — the GOP squandered that advantage in the sands of Iraq, the ports of Dubai and the floodwaters of Katrina. Now Republicans struggle to eke out a tie with Democrats on protecting the country from terrorism.
Truly hysterical insight here. The fact is Iraq is a challenge, but the Democrats have consistently under polled Bush on the matter because they lied to America about their solution for getting out of Iraq. America wants Iraq concluded, but they would rather it be in success than in retreat. That is why the Dems are sometimes polling at levels half of those for Bush’s low numbers. Iraq is out of our hands to some degree, though The Surge has provided us a window to turn the whole thing around – which will happen. Katrina was never as big as the DC crowd thought it was. Everyone knows the Dems in LA did more to screw up the preparations for the aftermath than Bush. But it was a once in a millennium storm and mature adults know man cannot hold back nature. Given the scope of the storm the response and death toll were really small. America doesn’t expect our leaders to act as gods – even when those leaders and their media minions think they are gods.
Melman has made the mistake of connecting the loss of faith in the GOP with their position on media stories the Dems ran. The media is about as credible as a politician at a fundraiser in America’s mind. The media stories actually have not worked, they only remind America how dysfunctional the halls of power and their media darlings are. The constant insults to America’s intelligence has worn thin. The liberal media’s faux alarm stories are not what broke the back of the coalition. He is right, however, when he points to Dubai Ports – that was one of the events that did play a role in the collapse of the GOP.
Tony Blankley is one of many conservatives who finally, now, are seeing the writing on the wall. So many said the events that broke the GOP were not as serious as some of us said they were. Now more and more people see there is something seriously wrong on the GOP side, but many like Tony are not willing or able to accept the truth of the matter. Tony’s view is we need to ditch our principles to focus on winning:
The likely rout of the GOP in next year’s elections proceeds apace. Last week, the Republicans, improbably taking their lead from President Bush, put down their marker against health care for America’s kids.
…
But politics is a cruel business, and about 75 percent of the public, according to the most recent Washington Post poll, opposes the GOP position. Even allowing for possibly sneaky phrasing of the question, common sense tells one that the GOP will be badly on the losing side of the PR fight about kids’ health care
…
While I admire the GOP’s adherence to principle, I also admire a political party with a healthy instinct for survival. The congressional GOP has got it all backward: The time to be principled is when you are governing (as they failed to do for about eight years before they lost power). When in minority opposition, a party must think about winning — not whining about unpopular principles.
Actually, it was those on the GOP who were inflexible to rigid and unattainable (and unsupported in the coalition) principles. It has been the purity wars that killed the coalition as the far right got frustrated, called their one-time allies names and insinuated they were un-American traitors for having the nerve to not agree with them. They declared no more compromise. Compromise was ugly and dirty and the ugly dirty people they had to compromise with. The viciousness of the attack was as bad as it was treacherous. While good people can be in passionate disagreement they also treat their allies with respect. The far right imploded in a fit of anger and frustration that left them standing small and alone. It was not Iraq. It was not Katrina.
Dubai ports was one of those times when the far right went ballistic and spewed all over everyone who disagreed with them. The uncontrolled, highly emotional and low-blow personal response of the far right to Miers, Dubai Ports, Immigration and now Rudy Giuliani is what tanked the GOP. No one wants to go near the hot heads any more. Not only do they blow everything apart that could be a step forward, they make everyone look bad in the process with their tactics which mirror the fringe left and their emotional outbursts. The smears that came out about Harriet Miers were disgusting. They were unfounded. They were everything I would never ever think of doing. Even more so on Dubai Ports. Running around half cocked and freaked out is not a sign of leadership, by a long shot. The damage is done. The far right is on its own until it takes the steps to fix their mistake.
And they don’t think they made a mistake. Tony’s right, the GOP is lumbering on to a route. But it was not over issues. The case against SCHIP is still sound and sellable. Americans have had plenty of salesmen ringing their doors with too-good-too-be-true promises. We get at least three calls a night about the next best solution to mankind’s problems. We aren’t buying the Dems BS either. Being for insurance is not the same as being for the Dems socialist medicine. The people are giving the Dems (and the GOP if they would listen) a hint: deal with the insurance problem. They are not saying we want to lose control over our medical options.
The funny thing is Bush has the best solution that would restore the most faith in the GOP. His plan to bundle small and individual policy owners into group rates would mean the most to the GOP’s core base – small business owners. Blankely is right there too. If the GOP had enacted his bills on a myriad of matters they would still be in control. Because no one expects perfection from government. That is a fairy tale for kids and liberals. The best we can hope for is a reasonable pace of progress in the right direction. The far right could use that insight. Their impatience killed the party. There are no instant easy answers to immigration or health insurance, no one in the sane middle believes in those fairy tales. So those who run around making those kind of lame promises are given the credibility they deserve. Take the public seriously, don’t insult their intelligence and NEVER insult them personally. Whichever party does this first wins.
Sad truth: to fix the GOP the far right needs to admit they screwed up and make amends. No one is going to join them again until they demonstrate self control and respect and understanding about coalitions. Sadly it is this very same lack of understanding the got us here. As long as people pretend it is the issues the split will not only exist – but grow. The issue is out there. Ignoring it or denying it makes it even worse.
I think it is all about the war. Americans don’t have enough
patience and not enough understand the global conflict and
just want it to go away.
If nothing much is happening in the country, and no
home terrorism poops up, it’s pretty easy to say “I’m tired of
that war”.
The Iraqis don’t have the luxury and niether do the Israelis
but they’re not going to be voting.
SCHIP is a trojan horse, Hillary even drafted a policy idea
back in 1993 to use children as a wedge towards universal
health care, but this is a horse that should be brought inside
the city walls, and defused later.
What one could have done about a big hurricane I simply
don’t get.
And I am sure it’s not about immigration. Everybody can use
their common sense to shut that down. That only matters to
those who have a dog in the race.
And I wonder how many Americans could even tell you what
Dubai ports was about.
Well, you get this stuff. If the dems get in, and maybe they
will, then Americans will get attacked again, big time.
I guess the conclusion I’d draw up in that case would be not
to live in New York or DC.
Wow, this is quite a shotgun blast covering a number of important points. Actually, *critical, life & death* points (does the GOP even realize it went off the track, much less that it handed control of the steering wheel to a bunch of nuts who don’t mind driving into brick walls?)
About Katrina: thank you so much making the points you did. If I hear that all-purpose canard thrown down once more (lately it’s one of Newt Gingrich’s favorite stalking points) I think I will let loose a Category 5 scream.
Dubai Ports was my real wake up call. It was a frightfully fast moving phenomenon, quite amazing to watch unfold. To my mind, the “A List” or “elite” Right Wing bloggers wiped out every bit of their credibility and any built up trust they might have accumulated to that point. Present company excepted, of course.
As for the Far Right ever admitting it screwed up, I’m sure you’re not holding your breath and neither am I. The best thing we’ve got going for us is the Far Left staying slightly ahead of our fringies in mischief making… so far. Together, the fringies comprise the Far Side — think Gary Larsen’s hilarious cows mixing at crackpot cocktail parties… and only *they* fail to see their own absurdity.
As for President Bush, he’s the only person holding me in the Grand Old Party. Have you noticed how few on the Right act as if he’s even alive anymore, much less listen to him? Well, the rarified geniuses are going to get their heart’s desire — total control of a purified master race of Pubbies {{shudder}}. And certainly this sinful heathen won’t rate in that crowd. I think I’ll follow GWB out the door in January 09 and start from scratch as a tough new independent consumer of political goods.
I am an Independent. I did think about becoming a Republican, but watching what the GOP do to their own made me reconsider.
I saw a headline from some blog {Vent, I think} that said “Amnesty Mel Martinez steps down as RNC chairman” with some snarky little bye message, or something like that. I thought to myself, that man was getting death threats from people and they can not even let him step down without being asses about the whole thing. The man is an endangered species, an hispanic Republican.
I think that the reaction to Katrina was hysterical. People are so far removed from the world of physical labor anymore they think you can fix anything with a remote control device. Add to that the gross exaggerations and what you have is urban myth. I know a woman who still thinks there were people in the stadium without water for more than a week. I tell her that is bs, but she has her own narrative going there.
And Dubai was pure Democrats jacking with Republicans and Republicans helping them do it.
And the stuff we have seen with Giulliani just tells us that the right is willing to try and ruin the next GOP standard bearer before he even gets a job.
I used to think that the blogs and talk radio would help the right, but I think what they have done is make a lot of people dislike the right.
I was OK with counting myself as a “right-winger” for a while. Then President Bush nominated one Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court, and my fellow right-wingers erupted, saying that she was a crony, “Caligula’s horse,” etc., etc., and indicating that her nomination was so intolerable that people needed to move heaven and earth to keep Miers away from the Senate (because if she managed to get in front of the judicial committee in the Senate, why, then it would be “too late” because then “the fix is in”).
But what REALLY pushed me away was Dubai — specifically, the news that the Republicans in Congress were seriously trying to force President Bush either to kill the Dubai port deal or else try to continue the work of the troops in Iraq without any funding. That’s right, members of the GOP were prepared to go as far as the Dems in trying to force the President’s hand on Iraq — because the Dubai thing was something that was so intolerable that people needed to move heaven and earth to get the deal killed (in order to prevent a so-called terrorist state from attaining control of U.S. ports, we were told).
Apparently the latest “outrage” that the professional hissyfitters are waving the bloody shirt about is Rudy Giuliani. This isn’t the same kind of organized mass tantrum we saw over Miers, Dubai, and immigration — not yet, anyway — but still (link):
Yeah, that’s the kind of person I want to associate myself with — the kind of person who would apparently be proud to let Hillary decimate our liberties, just so they can pat themselves on the back that they didn’t sully themselves by voting for somebody who got dressed in women’s clothing one time for a charity event, or somebody who’s been divorced two or three times, or somebody who was happy to use the unconstitutional gun laws then on the books to go after the criminal element in New York.
I could go on. I could go on about how the GOP has gotten into the habit of throwing their own under the bus so fast you hardly know what’s going on before the hapless victim has been pressured into resigning from Congress. I could go on about the bizarre over-reaction to people voicing their disgust with Ann Coulter implying that John Edwards was a f@gg@t (and yes, she actually used the word, at a GOP convention if I remember correctly). There are probably other little things I could remember if I stayed up and thought about it, and I haven’t even mentioned the uprising over illegals and “amnesty.”
(Apparently George Soros orchestrated those Cinco de Mayo 2006 marches with Mexican flags and signs telling us white folks to get the hell off the Mexicans’ continent. I’ve long thought that the people at International A.N.S.W.E.R. have been laughing and high-fiving one another over the Right’s reaction to the “wetbacks” in the wake of those marches.)
I could go on, but it’s getting late. I’m not quite sure how to end this, so I’ll just stop.
I don’t understand why anyone would blame Bush for Katrina after the Dems who run NO and LA failed in every field to do their jobs. And just where do people get off thinking the President is responsible for solving all their problems? I carry ins. to cover natural disasters. If I didn’t have ins. I would pick up the pieces and start over. All of the graft and greedy hands dipping into the funds and programs available to Katrina victims is an indication that the feds didn’t have any business messing in that problem in the first place. It was a local and state problem. The feds poured so much money into NO that it was like drops of water over a water fall, There is no way anyone could have kept up with it all. And what good would it have done to have done more since gangs have taken over and are shooting it out with the cops and each other so that NO has become the murder capital of the US.
It has now been over two years since Katrina struck NO. If I had not found some grvt. program to assist me by now I believe I would get the message that I was going to have to help myself instead of sitting on my backside bitching and complaining.
The reason the GOP in in the pits is because the Dems, aided and abetted by the MSM, have falsely painted them as corrupt, immoral, and less than human. The GOP has not discovered a way to defend themselves from this constant slander. The GOP needs to imitate the Dems. talking points “big lie” campaign instead of wringing their hand and saying “Ain’t it awful” how they twist the tructh and lie about us. They should all be reminding people, over and over until it sinks in, that the Clinton’s sold the US out for Chinese money, transferred the contents of the patent office to China over the internet, gave them our military secrets, opened our country to the wholesale dumping of Chinese made goods which destroyed our manufacturing base and gave China the money to build up it military, , and helped China build missles that would reach the US mainland.
And just when have any of you heard of a Republican asking the American people if they are ready for 4 or 8 more years of Janet Reno, Ruby Ridges, Waccos, OK City bombings, coverups, and treason at the highest levels.
The Reps are int he pits because they don’t have an balls. It is as simple as that.
You’re right about Katrina but not much else.
You underestimate the influence that the MSM still has over a major swatch of the country. Their constant negative drumbeat, regardless of the truth — Iraq mess, Bush lies, Katrina – Bush & FEMA incompetence, Foley-gate, repub corruption, high gas prices, middling economy on brink of recession, etc. — did have an impact. Ask George Allen. Yeah, he had a gaffe, but nothing that should have lasted more than a day, and it allowed the loony Webb to skate free of scrutiny.
Dubai was Bush’s fault for not getting out in front and articulating and selling the merits. When this first became public, it sounded crazy on the surface that we would turn over management of our ports to UAE. Bush was playing catch-up, but never could get beyond the entrenched headlines, and the MSM was not about to help.
You are wrong on Miers and immigration reform. Miers was unqualified on merit & experience, held uncertain positions, and was (rightly) seen as another crony selection. Simply a terrible choice. The immigration issue is one the repubs mostly have in their favor if they continue to push for real border security and a renewed effort to enforce current laws and improve INS capacity. The media likes showing the protests but the majority are quiet supporters of common sense efforts to stop the onrush of illegals. (see Prince William & Loudoun counties, VA)
The main problem for repubs in the coming election is simple math. They are at a pretty good deficit in house and have little chance to gain much ground. The Senate is worse because the repubs will be defending twice as many seats as the dems. Probably the best that can be hoped for is marginal gains … if Iraq continues on the upward slope, the economy is decent, and the repub presidential nominee has the momentum. With Hillary, the likely dem candidate, such a polarizing person (and let’s face it, scandal-ridden leftist) I am still optimistic for the repubs. I still have hard time believing a majority of Americans want another 4-8 years of the Clintons. Remember, Bill never got a majority. If Hillary should somehow do a face-plant, all the other dems are super-lightweights.
Wiley:
No, Dubai was not Bush’s fault. That company is one of the largest of its kind in the world, it has an excellent reputation, the CEO is a retired US Admiral for Chrisake. The President would have had to say to himself, Shumer and Clinton are going to get in front of the cameras and say I am selling ports to terrorists and the paranoid idiots in my own party are going to start raving like loons. But he gave the GOP more credit than they deserved.
It is not your place to decide if Miers is not suited for the job. We have a system and supposedly the Republicans are all if favor of it, it says that the President gets to nominate his people and the Senate advises and consents. No where does it say that someone has to be on the shortlist of a group of self appointed know it alls.
And as for immigration, the right has made complete fools of themselves over this issue. They ignored it for decades and then blamed everything on Bush while calling him names, coming up with that paranoid nonsense about the North American Union and all kinds of stuff. For what? To make Hillary president? Well, she is further to the left on immigration than Bush is and if the GOP alienates enough hispanics and the Democrats get a super majority all the hissy fitting in the world won’t change what kind of immigration policy they get then, because the Democrats won’t give a damn what people like you think.
Right now we are hearing Republicans whine about Bush vetoing that S-Chip bill, after years of whining about what a big spender he was. Such hypocrites.
If immigration was the big horrendous end of the world thing to everybody the right thinks it is, do you think Democrats would be outpolling Republicans?
Terrye,
Right now we are hearing Republicans whine about Bush vetoing that S-Chip bill, after years of whining about what a big spender he was. Such hypocrites.
Would it not be fair to say that the “Hypocrite” is in fact the President? For the first Six Years of his Presidency, he vetoed nothing, zip, zero, nada. Now all of a sudden, he looses Congress, and walla, he has a Veto Pen. Who Knew?
Furthermore, he is NOW and only now, concerned about spending.
I heard a sound bite from him on the top of the hour news on my way home from work last night to the effect that this S-Chip program was government control of health care, socialized medicine. Yet we got a prescription drug bill for any and all seniors who want it thru Medicare. Who runs Medicare?
I use to be in your boat. For the first 5 years of his Presidency I took everything he said as gospal. Somehow, I managed to think for myself after that. Maybe my Brother helped get me out of the fog. Either way, I now can take his words and compare them to his actions. Previously, I could not do that.
If immigration was the big horrendous end of the world thing to everybody the right thinks it is, do you think Democrats would be outpolling Republicans?
Speaking of North Carolina, Senator Dole has a 62% approval rating.
Her 3 BIG items:
Secure The Border
No Amnesty
Win The War
Check the numbers for Sue Myrick, Patrick Mc Henry, and Walter Jones. They are all against C.I.R., and the poll very strong here.
Take Care.
By the way, no monster hurricanes last year and no monster
hurricanes this year (yet). Should Bush get the credit for this?
If you say don’t be ridiculous, then why does he get the blame
for two years ago, when a monster hurricane did hit New Orleans.
So what to do? Giuliani is going to win the Republican nomination
as Hillary is going to win the democrat nomination.
We cannot stop a fringe group saying they will fight a third party
candidate. It happens. Like you get a Nader.
Yes, of course, no third party candidate will win in 2008.
Over in the UK, where they have had an established third party for
a century, the “Liberal Democrats” or whatever their name is
now, haven’t held power once.
We can’t pull those people back. They will go, but their departure
can more than be made up for by centrists who don’t trust Hillary.
My bottom line is that Hillary will get the US attacked again,
really really big time, most likely probability from the fragmenting
Pakistan and their scattered nukes, but maybe from the Chinese-
Iranian partnership.
Let’s start with Fact Numero Uno: Almost everybody hates this
war. They think it is a bummer! I too want more take home pay,
and I get dhimmicrats trying to tax me for this war (and global
worming). The one thing the President has refused to do during
his entire tenure is to explain in nitty gritty fact, what this war is about
and why we don’t have the luxurious option of quitting.
This is the first thing that needs to change.
Then we need to make energy cheaper and more secure from
the worst countries on the planet, noting that today is the
50th anniversary of the “sputnik” launch, a vast program to
refuel our country is ripe for the picking. And do throw all those
low energy lightbulbs in a secure re-cycling site. They are
extraordinarily dangerous to your family’s health if you accidentally
break one, as I did.
Government cannot and should not try to do everything, but
these two things are enough:
1) Win the Jihad Wars
2) Refuel the country
If you want an encore, kick out the UN.
OK, I’m done now.
Dave: was “global worming” a typo? Made me laugh out loud either way!
I agree with your sentiment about GWB ‘splaining things to the public, but the more I learn and the more I observe my fellow Americans, the more I think he made the right call each and every time he said “Nahhh, not gonna go there.”
My feeling from Day One is that our main job as civilians is to figger this beast out for ourselves. Because Bush was right (yet again) — this is a war like no other, and it’s nuanced and very tricky in many ways. The sands also change frequently, and we need flexibility, not dogma, to maneuver with each wave of change. We live in the internet age, remember? We have all the world’s accumulated info and knowledge at our fingertips. And yet 90% of the info being circulated on the great river of intellect is plain crap or worse — hallucinated conspiracy tales and dark visions of our imminent demise. And sadly, those low and creepy swamps are still the places many people are drawn to. I don’t believe the internet has created more smart people than existed before the internet. Many if not most Americans still prefer to be spoon fed their major news from bobbling blondes and brunettes on the TV box.
Take the things Bush HAS spoken about, often. Like spreading democracy as the best tool to protect ourselves and prevent tyrants and terrorists from gaining strongholds. Do you hear any Pubbies talking about that? Nahhh. Instead, while our president was taking care of bidness elsewhere, his “conservative” allies created home fried boogeymen and doom scenarios with which to agitate and distract, tearing apart the only “sensible” party and creating brand new enemies that needn’t exist.
Sorry, I don’t blame Bush for not treating us like three-year-olds. We have all the tools to make ourselves decent, reliable, well informed citizens. A.J. is the model of how a serious citizen ought to read/digest/interpret the “news.” But most times it seems Americans would rather conduct pretend wars and cyber assassinations, rather than solve problems or commit to a long term plan for security and prosperity. It’s human nature I guess… we take three bold steps forward then two lumbering stumbles backward.
Speaking of the Bush Doctrine of Democracy, I cannot recommend highly enough Daniel Henninger’s column in the WSJ today. See:
Democracy Has Been Demoted
http://tinyurl.com/2to8gz
Ditto AJ, Sallyvee, Terrye, Aitch748.
You underestimate the influence that the MSM still has over a major swatch of the country.
I agree with this sentence. Political junkies (pointing at self) are constantly reading everything they can get their hands on and boy, the internet lets you become as obsessive as you please. Blogs do influence this sector and has the ripple effect. But the masses get their political views from TV. TV that recycles the NYT/WaPo/AP/foreign sources and the DNC. That simple. One of the worst offenders is the innocent little Good Morning America and the way they deliver it. This is what shapes mass opinions and the polls. The Democrats control the MSM. That simple. Bill Clinton launched the Dem’s FOX News attack. So why at Chris Wallace? That’s not hard if you trace it back. Who is his Dad and which show allowed ‘free speech’ to Juanita Broderick? Wham! The Clinton machine never forgets. The only liberal with guts enough to poke fun at Clintons was Imus. Wham! It was imperative that they take him out. They have the Power because they own the MSM. Their current campaign is Pelosi ‘praying’ for Bush over the children’s health care. See anything backwards about that? Or Rush against the military? And now Dems like Mex and Bush doesn’t. Or they were ‘deceived, lied to and mislead’ into a war. Or Pugs ‘corrupt’ so we must boot DeLay, promote Freezer Jeff, and ignore true patterns…….Hillary with tainted money and Schumer REALLY violating privacy. Yep……the Dem’s MSM can make truth disappear and come back………well………azzz backwards. Powerful.
Spineless Congressional Pugs that allowed their esteemed buds to get away with political murder of Bush. Miers….the first knife wound…..and they like to say that it was Bush’s fault instead of admitting their mistaken action. There was a system in place that we touted constantly…..until Miers and then we showed true selective memory. Malkin was on it like a flash. Crony……trace it back and count how many times you read it at Malkin’s. It was a footnote, a Bushjab that managed to raise it’s ugly head on every third issue. It was the MSM in action. Exactly the same way they go about changing opinions or feeding at the edges to get the damage done. Crony was all about immigration. Well, well, it worked. Congrats. We managed to feed them DeLay, Rove, Rummy, Libby, Gonzales and many, many, many more. Now we ignore Bush. After all……..don’t we all know that he is a heartless, stupid, incompetent that wants to over-run this country with criminal aliens? He WANTS to leave our borders open and invite the terrorists to come on in.
And we are suppose to be better off when we purge the middle, stay home and let ole Hillary/UN take it. After all, nothing is worse than all those illegal Mex. And I accused the left of not having enough to sense to fight for their very survival.
No steve, it would not be fair to call Bush a hypcrite. In the first six years he did not have to deal with a bill quite like this, it was not until the GOP decided to hand the election to the Democrats that an increase in S-CHIP like this made it out of the house.
And you know what steve, there is an old saying, beware your heart’s desire for surely you will get it.
The right wanted even with Bush because he did not do their bidding. Well congrats, President Hillary will be your reward.
owl:
Ain’t that the truth. Malkin acts like she is such a pro military kind of person, but she has no problem undermining a war time president.
I wonder how she would have reacted if Bush had refused to spend any money in the Gulf after Katrina. She and her conservative compadres want to cut spending, until it comes right down to cutting spending.
Owl,
Miers was a “crony”, she was with him for years, first in Texas and as council in the WH. It was Bush (& Miers) who pulled the plug. The “system” worked, he could have went forward with his nomination. (Bush also hoped to get moderate dems by nominating a women.)
Terrye – Dubai was definitely Bush’s fault. Yeah, I know about the huge, world-class company, but mainstream America didn’t. After 9-11, the WH should have been communicating with congress and then the major news divisions before this went public. We know Bush is playing against a stacked deck with the media, but his communications team has often been woefully inept.
You can blame President Bush for not communicating his every move, but then it’s not as if Bush has been among friends for the past seven years, is it? I seem to recall a certain Democrat minority that started pulling the unprecedented stunt of filibustering almost every judicial nominee Bush sent up to the Hill. I also seem to recall that this whole Dubai thing started with some Democrat union people afraid that Dubai Ports World’s new, modern, more efficient ways of running things at ports was going to start putting some union people out of work.
And Bush was NOT to blame for the massive tantrums that the Right Establishment threw over Miers and Dubai. I thought that we on the Right were supposed to be rational people who didn’t leap to conclusions early on or fan the flames of hysteria by hyping the hell out of things that sound bad while ignoring the good. Just because Bush isn’t good at communicating things doesn’t give the Right, who are supposed to be good at finding things out, an excuse to descend into hysteria. THAT isn’t Bush’s fault. No, blame for THAT falls on every person on the Right who helped spread the idea that Miers was an incompetent naif or that Dubai would allow terrorists to “get a foot in the door” through our ports (or worse, that Dubai indicated that sovereignty of U.S. ports was actually being turned over to a terrorist nation). Shame on them for that, and shame on them for trying to foist blame for it on President Bush instead of acknowledging that they went way too far in how they voiced their objections.
(I also seem to remember that the Republicans in Congress tried to force President Bush to cancel Dubai by threatening to withhold funding for our troops in Iraq. Was Bush to blame for this, or were the Republicans?)
Aitch, Laura Ingraham came close to acknowledging (but not apologizing or regretting) that the Right possibly “went too far” on the Dubai Ports World deal. Yep, one morning before I could change the channel she showed up on Fox & Friends… I don’t recall how the subject came up. But suddenly she was talking about how the Right exploded on the DPW issue and possibly made a mistake, in retrospect. My ears perked up and I awaited some sort of sensible explanation and perhaps a mini mea culpa. But she spun it into yet another Bush-choreographed debacle, accompanied by her signature mean, morose facial expressions and gravel road voice. You see, GWB didn’t phone Laura at home to discuss the matter with her in advance and obtain her blessing. He didn’t respect her womanly power and influence and so he had to be punished.
I don’t know what these freaks will do without Bush to use as their all purpose pinata.
“We know Bush is playing against a stacked deck with the media, but his communications team has often been woefully inept”.
IMHO, this communication failure IS the primary reason Bush has had so many problems with so many issues. After the first couple of times Bush “reached across the aisle” and had his arm bitten off you think he would have learned. Instead of getting his ducks lined up to carry his message, time and time again Bush was playing catch up. Blaming the “radical right” doesn’t absolve Bush from blame. I believe people wanted to know the wheres and whyfors behind issues and WANTED to support Bush, but instead of getting ahead in the game, Bush was MIA.
I’m sorry, some of Bush’s appointments WERE disasters because he put cronies in them. I know all politicians place cronies, but there are some positions where you just can’t or shouldn’t do it. Place them if you must, but for goodness sake put them out of sight so they can’t really hurt you.
Bush should have used the bully pulpit, but he couldn’t or wouldn’t because he is not a polished public speaker. Who is chosen to replace Ari Fleischer? Scott McClellan, possibly the most inept press secretary in the last 30 years. Scott is the son of a long-time Bush crony. He was so bad in this position I used to cringe when he was under attack by the press corp (which was most of the time). Talk about a deer caught in the headlights. He served from 2003-2006, about 2 1/2 years too long.
Bush’s nomination of Roberts to the SC was inspired, but who did he come up with for his second pick….Harriet Meiers. It seemed like this was a token, throw away pick to replace one woman with another. Yes, there was a fuss because it didn’t appear Meiers was qualified for the job. We got Alito afterwards and I still think the nation will be better served by Alito. Need I mention what a disaster Gonzales was at Justice? And, IMHO I don’t think Condi has covered herself or the administration in glory at State.
I voted for Bush twice and he will always have my respect for the way in which he grasped the true danger of radical Islam and how he’s handled the GWOT, but he’s missed the boat in so many other areas. To me it seems as though the WH is hunkering down with a bunker mentality.
And now, he’s found his veto pen, better late than never I suppose. Still, he’s not getting his message out, especially with the SCHIP. Once again, he’s allowing the Dems to set the public dialog on this. Someone (anyone) in the administration should be putting forth info that liken this to HillaryCare, i.e. using coverage “for the children” as an entry point for overall government health care….something Hillary did advocate in her plan as co-president.
P-mom – well said … it’s good to see another clear-eyed conservative vice the Bush apologists. I like W, but he’s made many mistakes. This complaining about how Miers was treated is laughable — reference Clarence Thomas. With help from the right, our nation was helped greatly with the nomination and confirmation of Justice Alito.