WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO WELCOME BACK TRAVIS MCGEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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.
Rudy is regarded by the Club for Growth as being an anti-tax fiscal conservative. So that part will indeed appeal to Reagan Democrats. But Reagan Democrats are moderate on social issues, not ultraconservative. In time, with a series of increasingly right-tilting Republican candidates they can be coaxed to vote for someone more conservative than otherwise. But you can’t scare them off right away. You have to ease them toward the right direction. On the other hand, seeing them jump party lines to vote for someone more center-right than anyone the Dem party is fielding might inspire Blue Dogs to eventually run themselves. Then WE might consider voting for one of them. I’m done with the same old, same old Republicans - but I do not want to sit out election day,
This is truly frightening - especially as I live in the gray area.
I don't want my kids to grow up in Kosovo X 100, if it comes to that.
WOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO WELCOME BACK TRAVIS MCGEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, that Oleg Volk does such GREAT work!
This is a huge reversal from the praise and virtual deification that Noonan heaped on Bush five years ago. She is slow, but I am glad to see her thinking with more clarity.
The distinction in my mind has always been clear. I am for the winning GOP, the winning GOP that Reagan created. Conservatives that are socially and fiscally conservative. It is the policy that wins. It wins because it embraces the best America has to offer.
Those Reagan Democrats stuck with us in the South until they realized that the GOP was dumping socially conservative issues off the boat.
I could never trust a Democrat who says he is socially conservative. That is a smoke screen because the Democrat Party knows those voters are worth taking back, even if you have to fool them.
The Democrats are showing just how liberal they are now, and merely dupe people into believing they care about faith.
None of the Democrats will ever get my vote. The GOP needs to straighten up its act, which I am doubting they are capable of under current leadership.
I do not vote for liberals in either party.
Looks like you're keeping busy, I see!
Yes, the immigration juggernaut is looking grim -- the agenda has been advanced so far for so long now, our elites are simply "in your face" with the whole program now. Well, it's not over 'til it's over...
This is not a Peggy Noonan article. I can’t identify an author. Vanity?
As far as I can tell, the person/persons that constructed this vanity mish mash of really good articles, did so with the purpose of taking excerpts of the original articles and spinning them into a reason to support Rudy.
The original articles never mentioned him. In fact it really isn't clear where Peggy's words left off and the schuyster took over.
If I were Noonan, I would be very irritated. She has been repeatedly flamed for words that are not hers.
I think someone knew that the articles used in this piece were powerful and sought to turn them into an opportunity to benefit Rudy.
Doh! Sorry about that.
theothercheek, are you the author/compiler of this mishmash?
I made the same mistake. Post is not formatted all that well.
‘Of course, that depends a great deal on whether the Republicans can unite behind a successor candidate, and that candidate is one that can match her celebrity and talk and campaign circles around her. If that happens, because this election will be very close, like 2000, then the Republicans could hold the White House in what will appear a great upset.’
Thats about where I’m at right now as well.
Nope, it ain’t over yet.
I’m afraid the WSJ Republicans want to create more poor...mainly us. It’s hard to control people that can afford to say no to big government.
But it's his belief that both parties are running a scam on the public. He's in a position to observe some of the players we talk about here. These guys, drink and party with each other like long lost brothers.
He's observed the various parties come and go since the 19___ (never burn a source is my belief). He has told me 9-11 would have happened regardless of which party was in power, 'cause nobody gives a sh*t about John Q. Public.
But the 'establishment' did get a bit upset as the fourth hijacked airliner was heading towards their sacred turf.
When he pulls the pin, he promises to join in FReeping ;^)
Really looking forward to his comments when the time comes.
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