Bush Aims To Forge A GOP Legacy

Washington Post ^ | 1/30/5 | Thomas B. Edsall and John F. Harris

[SmithL]

When President Bush stands before Congress on Wednesday night to deliver his State of the Union address, it is a safe bet that he will not announce that one of his goals is the long-term enfeeblement of the Democratic Party.

But a recurring theme of many items on Bush's second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years, political strategists from both parties say.

Legislation putting caps on civil damage awards, for instance, would choke income to trial lawyers, among the most generous contributors to the Democratic Party.

GOP strategists, likewise, hope that the proposed changes to Social Security can transform a program that has long been identified with the Democrats, creating a generation of new investors who see their interests allied with the Republicans.

Less visible policies also have sharp political overtones. The administration's transformation of civil service rules at federal agencies, for instance, would limit the power and membership of public employee unions -- an important Democratic financial artery.

If the Bush agenda is enacted, "there will be a continued growth in the percentage of Americans who consider themselves Republican, both in terms of self-identified party ID and in terms of their [economic] interests," said Grover Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform and an operative who speaks regularly with White House senior adviser Karl Rove.

Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House.

[SmithL]

"Investor class." Yeah, I like the sound of that.

[Veritas et equitas ad Votum]

Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration and spending issues.

Otherwise this BS theory makes sense.

I fear that 2006 could be for the RATS what 94 was for the GOP...

[vbmoneyspender]

Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House.

Given that Clinton was only interested in helping himself, the Democrats must view it as shocking that a Republican President is actually trying to help his party.

[tomahawk]

Breaking away to where?

I'm also bothered by open borders and overspending, but I am not contemplating leaving the GOP and letting the DemonCraps deep six this country.

[Soul Seeker]

The Washington Post is only NOW figuring this out? LOL

[bayourod]

"Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration "

You've been spending too much time on FR. The Buchanan/Tancredo crowd is still well less than 1% and the people in the polls who say they're agin illegal immigration will also say they support President Bush's proposal to fix the situation.

The only risk is to those fast zipper little congressmen who can't think beyond pandering to racists. But they can be replaced.

[Doctor Stochastic]

So far the legacy (long term) is deficits larger than Carter's budgets.

[COEXERJ145]

Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration and spending issues.

Too bad for you the only people who are "threatening to leave the GOP" are a bunch of self proclaimed "true conservatives" that probably haven't voted Republican except when Buchanan was running (and getting soundly crushed like the loser that he is).

[peyton randolph]

Tom Daschle would be deeply saddened...but everyone now ignores the opinion of this EX-Senator. ;-)

[jveritas]

To you great chagrin, President Bush will remembered as one of our greatest President ever. He will remembered as the President who lead us to victory in the war on terror.

[CatAtomic]

So far the legacy (long term) is deficits larger than Carter's budgets.

just wait until this year's budget battles start and everybody's pet entitlement doesn't get its standard 9% bump,,, then the real moaning will begin.

[jveritas]

In 2006 the GOP win more seats in the Senate and the House, like what we did in 2002 and 2004, of course to your great chagrin.

[Once-Ler]

Too bad for you the only people who are "threatening to leave the GOP" are a bunch of self proclaimed "true conservatives" that probably haven't voted Republican except when Buchanan was running (and getting soundly crushed like the loser that he is).

That is an excellent point. Where are the immigration crusaders? Who is the national figure who stakes his claim on the issue of immigration. The last one was Buchanan who got his hat handed to him. When the issue of the day was deficit reform Perot almost took it to the White House and look how fast the Republicans and rats lined up right behind him. Tancredo is out there standing in 7 inch Gene Simmons platform boots scream at the top of his lungs and waving his arms frantically and nobody has heard of him.

Some Freeper isolationist was barking a figure of 80% of America want illegals removed from America and yet there is no figurehead for this political powerhouse issue.

[COEXERJ145]

Some Freeper isolationist was barking a figure of 80% of America want illegals removed from America and yet there is no figurehead for this political powerhouse issue.

If that was the case than neither Bush nor Kerry would have won the election and someone running one immigration as their only issue would be in the White House. At the very least there would have been enough write in votes for Tancredo where it would have shown up in the overall results and he would have been pushing it from November 3rd on.

[Mind-numbed Robot]

They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House.

That must be bad. It is exactly what the Democrats have done for years.

[Fenris6]

Many Democrats and independent analysts see a methodical strategy at work. They believe the White House has expressly tailored its domestic agenda to maximize hazards for Democrats and tilt the political playing field in the GOP's favor long after this president is out of the White House.

More likely, Bush's strategy is to do what he thinks is good for the nation, not the party. But I shouldn't expect the Left to wander into that thought process.

[goldstategop]

It would be great 2008 present to see the Democrats go the way of the Whigs. I can't wait!

Denny Crane: "I want two things. First God and then Fox News."

[kenavi]

GWB's main strength, other than that he stands for something, is that he is without hatefulness, same as Pres. Reagan and Lincoln (and FDR). That's what will allow for a legacy, if someone of like character follows him.

[goldstategop]

My favorite Stephen Moore quote: The Bush agenda lies "at the wonderful intersection where good policy is good politics for Republicans and conservatives," said Stephen Moore, president of the Free Enterprise Fund.."

Indeed. Its a wonderful intersection where we get to see the implosion of the Left.

Denny Crane: "I want two things. First God and then Fox News."

[BlackbirdSST]

Too bad for you the only people who are "threatening to leave the GOP" are a bunch of self proclaimed "true conservatives" that probably haven't voted Republican except when Buchanan was running (and getting soundly crushed like the loser that he is).

Open border nutcases, once again proving how clueless you really are. Blackbird.

[LowCountryJoe]

From the article - The danger for Bush is that there may be less support than he imagines for major changes of the sort represented by proposals for Social Security and plans to limit civil damages, some experts say.

"These are not incremental policies," Edwards noted. "They have a greater risk of failure."

Jacobson agreed, especially on the question of Social Security. "I'm not so sure that a program designed to increase the exposure of ordinary Americans to market forces in ever-broader aspects of life is politically sustainable in the long run -- wait till the next recession."

This says too damned much about many Americans today. This is just one of a handful of deep-rooted reasons why the federal government is grotesquely obese...many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

[drt1]

One glaring omission in the article about the Bush Legacy is the Supreme Court. IMO this has the potential to be THE LEGACY, a legacy that will be immune from the likes of Ted Kennedy and the other Super Nutcase Libs and one which will exert influence and carry forward the Republican agenda for many years to come.

[A. Pole]

many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

Maybe they should learn from the Argentinians?

[A. Pole]

More likely, Bush's strategy is to do what he thinks is good for the nation, not the party.

And he thinks that for the nation the glory and greatness is the best.

As Machiavelli demonstrated, a state which wants to become an empire needs to import many people. These republics which want to remain free and stable for a long time should emulate Sparta or Venice, but they have to forego the hegemony and imperial glory.

See The Beginning of Machiavelli's Rome's

[Ed_in_NJ]

The leftist Washington Pest lacks the character to state that when W does something good for the country, it is bad for the self-serving rats.

[LowCountryJoe]

Typical post...inequality, unfairness, class warfare, blah blah blah. True "conservative" material from the market-hating crowd..

[stylin19a]

to late...we have scavengers in our town. They send out 'scouts" in the early evening. Then the pickup trucks come in the dead of night\early morning to pick up whatever they've marked as useful.

It's illegal, but nobody seems to mind.

[Willie Green]

many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive.

Anti-American weasels, like LowCountryJoe, make these taunting statements fully aware that domestic business and industries are shackled and encumbered by the federal regulatory bureaucracy and hostile litigatory environment. The cowardly scumbags don't believe in fair trade or a level playing field and always resort to blaming Americans first.

Thanks, Joe, for showing us your true, anti-American sentiments.

[Final Authority]

I was involved in a high tech start-up ten years ago. The CEO had a meeting and said he wanted everybody to be investors, he wanted us to be owners and he wanted everybody to realize the benefits of capitalism. He dreamed up a stock price of $9.00 a share and then offered everybody options that would be available immediately. Many bought thousands at $2 to $5 per share. When year end bonus time came around he gave everybody shares valued at $9.00 even though they were never available on the market. What this meant was that everybody's tax assessment went up and had to pay taxes on the margin of the stated value of the shares.

We were definitely the investor class and the CEO spent the money on junkets all over the world drumming up business and entertaining various women.

When the CEO needed more money he sought venture capital. The VEs looked at the balance sheets and offered cash and about $.10 per share for the outstanding stock. They owned the company and then sold it off again in a year for several $million. What did the "investor class" get out of it? An empty bank account and not so much as a thank you, but we did get the opportunity to look for another job. I think this is why the President wants payroll taxes to be moved to the stock market. I think GWB has been told that since people lost money in the '90s and right after 9-11 they have not flooded it with new capital to allow the entrenched rich to steal it without being noticed. The market needs money and GWB is their man.

[RS]

"You've been spending too much time on FR. The Buchanan/Tancredo crowd is still well less than 1%...."

You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE...

[Final Authority]

VEs s/b VCs. so sorry.

[Final Authority]

You are exactly right about Perot and what may happen in four years, a real nationalist conservative will or possibly put the Dems in the WH and as a majority in one of the houses. The problem I see is how I and others who believe in the US Constitution and the rule of law deals with being called a "racist" every time we speak out on this matter. Our friend here, bayourod, wrote that certain congressmen are playing to the racists among us. I guess we have just been referred to as racist because we believe in the nation known as United States of America and the Constitution which is the foundation for all of the laws, liberties, and freedoms which we enjoy. Without these, without borders and a common language, and without the rule of law, we have nothing.

[Final Authority]

Another anecdote about the folks who shout racism. Mike Farrell of MASH fame was on Lou Dobbs the other night. Lou was getting the best of him about the criminal alien problem and borders, especially the southern one with Mexico. Before the segment was over as Mike knows TV and broadcasting well, he managed to imply that Lou's opinion on this matter and everybody that agrees with Lou was motivated by racism. He shouted racism several times and Lou shot back that he was only a true believer in the Constitution and the rule of law. In the end Lou was disgusted with his guest and rightly so.

[fallujah-nuker]

"Some Freeper isolationist was barking a figure of 80% of America want illegals removed from America and yet there is no figurehead for this political powerhouse issue."

Do you recall when the moderator in the last debate mentioned that he received far more letters from Americans on illegal immigration than any other subject?

[fallujah-nuker]

"You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE..."

You seem to think that George Bush Sr. was entitled to the votes that Perot received. If there was no Perot on the ballot most of the people who voted for him would simply have not voted and Clinton would still have won.

[fallujah-nuker]

LowCountryJoe wrote "many Americans cannot stomach market outcomes and, for that matter, have lost their competitive drive."

Amen, starting at the very top. Newt Gingrich, Robert Rubin and Bill Clinton could not stomach what the market outcome meant for firms like Goldman-Sachs who had invested heavily in Mexico and saw their investment ruined by the collapse of the peso. So they arranged the bailout of Mexico to bailout the bankers of Manhattan. The taxpayer gets to take the risk, but Goldman-Sachs gets all the profits.

If Republicans like Newt Gingrich had actually put their rhetoric about allowing markets to work in this instance Goldman-Sachs would have been ruined and Jim Corzine would have been unable to buy his Senate seat in New Jersey. Instead they choose to apply their theories on some steelworker in West Virginia. All animals are equal but some are more equal than others I guess.

[fallujah-nuker]

Hmmm, Dubya is allied with Mike Farrell, Ed Asner and Diane Keaton on the issue of illegal immigration. Interesting...

[Richard Kimball]

But a recurring theme of many items on Bush's second-term domestic agenda is that if enacted, they would weaken political and financial pillars that have propped up Democrats for years, political strategists from both parties say.

Translation: It would solve the problems the Rats have been milking since Lyndon Johnson was in office.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Reagan used our capacity to spend to defeat global communism. Could W. be using our capacity to spend to defeat domestic liberalism? The 'Rats have been a cancer on this society for a century and a half. It's time to terminate them.

[F16Fighter]

"Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration and spending issues."

Usually it's Democrat who'd advocate spending taxpayer dollars like a drunken sailor, or ignoring crucial sovereignty issues at the Mexican border.

This Republican President shall NOT overcome that part of his "legacy."

[B4Ranch]

Once you get the taste of a deserved win in your mouth you will never forget how sweet it was and always crave for more.

Competition is being suppressed by the NEA! It is rude and shameful to be a winner according to some educators!

Public gloating is rude but winning is wonderful! Spelling bee nixed because it 'leaves child behind'

[F16Fighter]

"Too bad for you the only people who are 'threatening to leave the GOP' are a bunch of self proclaimed 'true conservatives' that probably haven't voted Republican except when Buchanan was running (and getting soundly crushed like the loser that he is)."

Red Herring.

Now remind us again how it is that a "true conservative" can both promote AND ignore an Illegal Invasion; As a CiC refuse to enforce the US sovereign border FROM said illegal invasion; and spend OUR money like a socialist?

[RS]

"If there was no Perot on the ballot most of the people who voted for him would simply have not voted and Clinton would still have won."

We disagree, without the distraction of Perot, the Republicans could have presented a more cohesive message without having to fight on two sides.

In any case, I don't believe that 20% of the voters in this country go to the polls for a single issue, or once there, that they would decline to vote for President at all.

[fallujah-nuker]

Here is what Don Feder wrote back in 1992, "After winning as a conservative in 1988, Bush extended an olive branch to his enemies and his middle finger to his erstwhile allies. He signed the quota bill, and all the racial con men were for him this year, weren't they? He initialed the Clean Air Act, and all the environmental wackos were in his corner, weren't they? He signed the Hate Crimes Bill and invited homosexual activists to the White House for the signing, and that crowd clambered aboard his reelection bandwagon, didn't they?

And what did he do for his core constituency from 1988? For evangelicals, he appointed John Frohmayer head of the National Endowment for the Arts and stuck with him through Mapplethorpe and "Piss Christ." His first Supreme Court appointment voted to uphold Roe v. Wade and declare a graduation invocation a violation of the First Amendment.

For fiscal conservatives, he raised taxes, rolled over for congressional spending, re-regulated and gave us the greatest bureaucratic expansion of all time."

Regarding conservative votes as an entitlement program got Bush Sr. defeated in 1992.

[RS]

"Regarding conservative votes as an entitlement program got Bush Sr. defeated in 1992."

Which proves my point... without Perot to run to and "feel good" Perot voters would have had to actually use their brain, and voted against the Clintons.

Using 20/200 hindsight, do you seriously think that Clinton was a better President from a Conservative standpoint then Bush or Dole would have been ?

[fallujah-nuker]

"Using 20/200 hindsight, do you seriously think that Clinton was a better President from a Conservative standpoint then Bush or Dole would have been?"

I really do not see much of a difference between them where the rubber hits the road. A positive outcome of Clinton's victory was the GOP taking control of congress in 1994, Bush Sr. even made a similar comment at the time. I think Bush has a much better chance of getting another amnesty for illegal aliens passed than a democrat would. Recall that it was Reagan who did so last time in 1986.

Back in 1952 Senator Pat McCarran warned that that immigration would be used to transform America by those who did not like America (Senator McCarran was a Democrat by the way, his positions would put him to the right of every Republican in the Senate today). Ted Kennedy's immigration act of 1965 seems to have done the deed.

From 1952 through 1988 the Republican ticket carried California in every election save 1964, now the Democrats have carried California in 4 straight presidential elections. This is due the demographic shift in California's population due to immigration. Dubya's amnesty plan works for the Democrats, not the GOP.

[Clintonfatigued]

"Too bad many GOP voters are on the verge of breaking away over the immigration and spending issues."

You're so right. There's something you missed though--many conservative voters are disillisioned by the Free Trade At Any Cost crowd. If Republicans don't reject free trade and return to their roots of economic patriotism, they will create an opening for the 'Rats.

[RS]

"A positive outcome of Clinton's victory was the GOP taking control of congress in 1994, Bush Sr. even made a similar comment at the time."

... and you take this as some sort of endorsement of Clintons presidency ?

BTW, is the GOP taking control of Congress a good thing from your Conservative point of view ?

[bayourod]

"You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE..."

That's why I don't take Buchanan/Tancredo for granted.

They do not have the vote drawing power like Perot did. But they are a very serious, very real danger to the future of the Republican party if the Old Media can succeed in portraying their racism, bigotry, meanness, and xenophobia as the position of the Republican party.

Republicans are not racist. Republicans are not anti-Hispanics. But it is going to be difficult to convince Hispanic voters of that when Buchanan/Tancredo are being promoted by the Old Media as representative of Republicans.

[Howlin]

You forget how quickly Perot shot out from nowhere to give us the Clintons ...TWICE...

Ross Perot got 9 percent of the vote nationwide; Tancredo can't even muster 2 percent here on FR. Pat got .45 percent of the vote.

Try to be real.