Posted on 11/08/2006 8:56:05 PM PST by John Carey
President Bush was left weakened and more isolated than at any time in his presidency by Tuesday's Democratic thumping of Republicans. He offered Democrats gestures of reconciliation — and capitulated to demands for Donald H. Rumsfeld's removal — but history suggests his last two years will be filled with more confrontation and challenges.
Except for rare instances, Bush has ignored Democrats in Congress during his first six years in the White House and has relied on Republican might to ram through legislation. Although he came to Washington promising to be a uniter rather than a divider, the partisan bitterness and acrimony only got worse.
Suddenly, that's supposed to change on a dime. Bush is supposed to forget that Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record), the incoming House speaker, called him dangerous, incompetent and an emperor with no clothes. Democrats are supposed to forget that a combative Bush said "terrorists win and America loses" if the Democrats won on Tuesday.
Bush invited Pelosi to a makeup luncheon Thursday. "She's not going to abandon her principles and I'm not going to abandon mine," the president said. "But I do believe we have an opportunity to find some common ground to move forward on."
The president's turnabout was dictated by Washington's seismic shake-up of power. Democrats suddenly hold the whiphand in Congress, controlling both the House and the Senate for the first time in 12 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Pelosi is 3rd in line for POTUS. That's horrifying.
Do these news people actually get paid for this type of obvious "analysis"?
Was Ford the only speaker to become President?
LOL! Some whip. More like a soggy piece of spaghetti.
They barely control Congress. They lack the punch to get anything significant done on their own initiative.
Pelosi and Reid are lame ducks. And they haven't even been officially crowned.
Keep Bush and Cheney separated at all times and pray for their good health.
Pelosi is 3rd in line for POTUS. That's horrifying.
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Beyond horrifying. I hear she is already having red flags with hammer-and-sickle and Islamic crescents imprinted on them....for her new office.
I hope Bush is tripling his Secret Service protection. Al Queda would pay alot to have Pelosi in the WH...
I might take some heat for this but here goes.....We elected him to fight these libs on all the issues. He must not roll over and give them anything. He needs to fight them tooth and nail and make them spend large sums of political capital to enact any of their crazy schemes. If he is not prepared to fight this vigorously than he should step aside. Resign. Let Cheney fight for us if Bush is unwilling.
There's a lot of bias in this AP piece. I get the feeling the press thinks that the liberal version of reality has just been validated. It hasn't. This will be an important time for new media to stiffen its resolve. Right now. No resting.
Only so far as the President has the balls to USE the veto pen, and only so far as the Repubs have the balls to fillibuster.
I hope they do, but we shall see...
Never been used, and filled with invisible ink just in case.
Might as well get over it. The Republican majority was too gutless to push anything through while they had the opportunity and GW doesn't know what a veto pen is.
But...but...but... the "americans" yesterday "mandated" that all the partisan bickering stop and they want the "Congress" to hug, hold hands, love one another and work together now that the Commie 'RATS are in charge again. The GOP members in the House and Senate need to do everything they can to stifle anything the 'RATS try to pull in Congress. That's what I want. Payback is a ...........
Depending on when he does that, Pelosi would be Veep.
I hope they do, but we shall see...
Me too. The heat is going to have to be white hot from the Republican Insurgency to prevent the Old Boys club in DC selling us out. Face it, we got complacent. We sat on our butts and yelled it each other over trifles while DC burned. They did not hear often enough or loud enough from us. That has got to change. Instead of knee jerk cynicism all the time. Conservative are going to have to get back in the game. They hear from the other side ALL the time. We are a lot less activist by nature. We got to learn to be activists. DC is deaf. They do not hear you unless you yell LOUDLY.
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