Not a slouch to be trifled with
Bush’s Base Betrayal This is an excerpt from the op-ed piece written over the weekend by super conservative Richard Viguerie. The White House has responded with an attack and Viguerie just retorted in Editor and Publisher (below). He added more bluster with his second remarks telling people not to give any money to Republicans!
In 2004, Republican leaders pleaded with conservatives — particularly religious conservatives — to register people to vote and help them turn out on Election Day. Those efforts strengthened Republicans in Congress and probably saved the Bush presidency. We were told: Just wait till the second term. Then, the president, freed of concern over reelection and backed by a Republican Congress, would take off the gloves and fight for the conservative agenda. Just wait.
We’re still waiting.
Sixty-five months into Bush’s presidency, conservatives feel betrayed. After the “Bridge to Nowhere” transportation bill, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and the Dubai Ports World deal, the immigration crisis was the tipping point for us. Indeed, a Washington Post-ABC News poll found last week that Republican disapproval of Bush’s presidency had increased from 16 percent to 30 percent in one month. It is largely the defection of conservatives that is driving the president’s poll numbers to new lows.
And from the Editor and Publisher:
But Viguerie went a little farther, urging conservatives to stop donating to the Republican National Committee.
“White House and congressional Republicans seem to have adopted a one-word strategy: bribery,” he argued. “Buy off seniors with a prescription drug benefit. Buy off the steel industry with tariffs. Buy off agribusiness with subsidies. The cost of illegal bribery…pales next to that of legal bribery such as congressional earmarks.”
Continuing his assault, he appeared yesterday for a Post online chat, writing or saying at one point, “It is not entirely true that Bush has betrayed everyone. The 1% of his voter support that came from big business corporate America – he’s been truthful to them. They have gotten the legislation, the appointments; I can’t think of any issue that they have strongly supported where Bush has opposed them.”
He also agreed with a reader who predicted decades of ruin caused by the Bush team. “It may be that America may never recover from the financial bankruptcy facing us,” Viguerie wrote.
related link:
Viguerie Declares War on Bush
Bush has betrayed all americans not just conservatives.
So conservatives don’t think he’s conservative enough, and liberals think he’s too conservative. This is what happened to Nixon, except Bush is more conservative than Nixon ever was(so was Clinton.)
I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing traditional American Conservatives in my own family make the same sort of principled choice in the years of the Bush. Principled being the operative word. For that is a quality absent from the fear-babble offered up as rationale by those remaining as supporters.
Turning the clock back to a time when Imperialism and reactionary politics automatically ruled the world seems to be the core motivation for the still-rabid dregs. No need to itemize the individual issues. Apologists will take care of that for us. What is worth examining is the thread of fear — characteristic of the rationales, the excuses, played upon by those hucksters in the employ of the corporate directors who pull the heartstrings of Rove, Cheney, et al.
I applaud those Conservatives whose convictions still require principled response to ideological corruption and cronyism. I may debate individual issues with many. Certainly, that happens from time to time within my own family. But, I’m proudest of the eldest member — who went to the county clerk this January and had himself removed from the electoral rolls as Republican — after 50 years.
#5. Smartalix, couldn’t have said it better myself. Excellent piece.
Man, can’t these guys do anthing right? Anything at all?
Bush has enacted 6 years of conservative policy after conservative policy. Lexus nexus will live on to prove that.
The failure is conservative idealogy.
Bush style conservatism is why I vote Libertarian. The only Republican I have a great deal of respect for these days is Ron Paul.
If Newt were to run for President, I would probably give him serious consideration too, but he’s one of few Republicans I would.
Many people don’t realize that Bush’s presidency has served to partially discredit affirmative action — yes, it’s true! We now realize that giving an unearned job to a spoiled rich white kid is not the panacea for any problem we actually had, and may have even created some new problems.
Please send more funding for our conservative think tank. We need money so we can think some more.
“The news cattle have finally started to pick their heads up out of the trough of synthetic crap Bush and his ilk have been shoveling out.”
Smartalix that one is a keeper!
All you blowhards need to read the op-ed carefully. It’s not about Bush. In fact it’s about clout and threats. It’s quite interesting since no other pressure group I know of is willing to sacrifice power overtly to make a point. This is all outlined in detail.
You should also note that this all comes on the heels of a lessened role by Karl Rove. Coincidence? Probably not. In fact the conservative powers are going to let (encourage!) the Democrats take the House in 2006 just to make Bush miserable. To teach him a lesson. In 2008 we’ll see some interesting action. What fun!
“Bush has enacted 6 years of conservative policy after conservative policy. Lexus nexus will live on to prove that.”
Bull. Shit. The man is nowhere NEAR a conservative. Never was.
This author was saying the same stuff about Reagan in 1984.
My my about half the electorate voted for him. Now where have they all gone? Apparently he was never a conservative and conservatives voted for him reluctantly. Yet in both elections the web was crawling with people who would give their lives for him because he was so great!
One word: Diebold
So conservatives don’t think he’s conservative enough, and liberals think he’s too conservative. This is what happened to Nixon, except Bush is more conservative than Nixon ever was(so was Clinton.)
Comment by AB CD — 5/24/2006 @ 4:11 am
Yup, only a die hard neo-con could throw Clinton’s name into the discussion.
what finally happened is this – the contradiction between Republican words: “we hate big government!” and Republican actions, “spend, spend, spend!” has become too big to ignore.
the GOP base actually believes in the things that GOP elected officials spout, so are naturally dismayed that, after dominating the Congressfor a decade, and both Congress and the White House for 5 years, the budgets and deficits are bigger than ever.
Third parties have no chance without the adoption of an instant run-off voting system.
As a lifelong conservative, all I have to say is … Richard WHO?
“as a lifelong conservative”? — Folks have not only had to deal with Viguerie as an ultra-right ideologist since the early 60’s, you should at least know enough about who runs your own side of the political spectrum to know that he’s one of the prime fund-raisers for conservative politics in the US.
He invented junk mail fund-raising. Every major conservative figure since Goldwater has been his buddy for that alone.