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.
With our porous borders, our ports doing only spot cargo inspections, our food and water supply vulnerable to tampering it is largely luck that we have not had another 9/11 or worse. But it’s coming. And then I want to see what the media will say about “fear mongering” and I would like to see what the one-issue conservatives will say about national security not being as important as abortion.
We do know relatively how many little defenseless little boys and girls we will kill every year. You’re the one hypothesizing that terrorism is worse than it has ever proven itself to be.
..................................
“I can only look at the here and now and the threats we are facing.”
Yes, you can and should, but you are not looking at the here and now. You’re hypothesizing, instead, to support your flawed reasoning that the certain killing of 6 million children (in the next four years) somehow takes a back seat to hypothetical terrorist attack.
I think your analysis is solid. If Gore gets in, it’s the end of Hillary. But who on the Republican side will be the one to beat Gore (I suppose any of them would be better). With Hillary, the most pundits agree the strongest matchup would be Rudy. Who is it with Gore, in your opinion.
‘The fact that an untested, done nothing yet rookie like Obama is giving Hillary a run for the money does suggest that she is not invincible. If Gore gets in, I agree that he runs away with the nomination.’
Yep.
I think Americans are quite ready for a female President.
Just not Hillary Clinton. Most find her at best ‘distasteful’.
Which is why I don’t waste much time ranting and raving about either Clinton, to be honest. They are both so last century.
“I think Americans are quite ready for a female President.”
Does this mean you think Rudy will win?
‘I think your analysis is solid. If Gore gets in, it’s the end of Hillary. But who on the Republican side will be the one to beat Gore (I suppose any of them would be better). With Hillary, the most pundits agree the strongest matchup would be Rudy. Who is it with Gore, in your opinion.’
Too soon to tell. Romney, despite the flip flop accusation (they have merit) has run a very good campaign to date. Duncan Hunter is also running a good campaign, but he’s just not a dynamic enough speaker to ‘break through’ so far, but that could change.
Thompson’s built up a helluva lot of buzz, the problem is if he doesn’t tamp it down a bit before announcing, he runs a large risk of disappointment/disillusionment.
McCain has no chance whatsoever, he never did prior to this (2000).
Guiliani can’t gain the nomination because of gun control, and to a lesser extent his views on abortion. Gay marriage kills him politically, call it the political version of ‘partial birth abortion’. He was half way there......
Its early enough to say who won’t win, but its still too early to say who will win, if you see what I mean. Right now, the Democrats are once again carrying a bunch of unelectable candidates again (Hillary, Edwards, Kucinich, Biden, and Obama).
The Republicans have three guys that could possibly win the RNC primaries, Romney, Hunter and Thompson. And if they do, they’ll be a great contrast to whoever the Dems nominate in the end, because the Dems are wholly committed to September 10th, 2001 politics these days.
Average voters may be unhappy with how Iraq has been handled, but they know the enemy is Islamofacism, and that won’t go away because of who we elected here.
And Americans across the political spectrum are as unified as you can expect on any issue in regards to hating the Amnesty Bill, which McCain just loves to death....
‘“I think Americans are quite ready for a female President.”
Does this mean you think Rudy will win?’
Nope. It means he’s going to end up hoping for a GOP administration position in the end.
Any one of them.
The guy is a complete arrogant ass. It took a poor campaigner like Bush to even make him credible and his positions have become more extreme since that election.
‘But who on the Republican side will be the one to beat Gore
Any one of them.
The guy is a complete arrogant ass. It took a poor campaigner like Bush to even make him credible and his positions have become more extreme since that election.’
Hmmm. Somewhat agree.
I qualify it because I think its pretty clear Algore had a midlife crisis/mental breakdown after the 2000 election cycle. He’s far more unhinged these days then he was in 2000, in other words.
Its funny, both he and Obama are given to wild exaggerations. Algore says the seas will rise 23 FEET, when scientists say at worst it would be 23 INCHES.
Obama overstated the number of dead from a recent tornado to be ‘10,000 dead’ when the actual number was 12 or 13.
LOL! Riiiiight....
I don't know who wrote this but they are clueless.....
Once conservatives find out the truth about Rooty Tooty they will drop him like a hotcake.....
Writer, take note! Conservatives will NOT "put social issues on the back burner"......
He may have an "R" by his name, but Rudy is a liberal......
I'm deeply concerned that Bush has lost his mind......
He just doesn't understand that LEGAL immigration is what has been the lifeblood of our country's history......
Not ILLEGAL immigration!"
It’s hysterical that someone who used to be paid to write speeches for Ronald Reagan could say that “conservatives would put social issues on the back burner!!!” Ha, ha, ha, that’s so funny, she has a sense of humor!
There. Fixed it.
Misplaced loyality????I owe no loyality to a Journalist named Peggy Noonan, I don't care if she can wax as poetic as Garrison Keillor. I do owe President Bush some loyality, and I support him and his efforts to guide this country.
Has Peggy lost her mind?
Anyone who supports legalized murder (abortion) is unfit for any public office.
Mountainfolk, even has you speak.. about Gingrich, Gingrich is on TV Now on Fox bashing President Bush, the newly appointed head of the conservative folks on Fox acting like he speaks for all Republicans, it is enough to make you... barf!
Oh by the way Newt... what elected Office do you hold? You don’t you are just a “talking head” paid for by the Mass media to stir the pot.
You're right, it's an invasion. Why can't Bush see that?
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