Friday, June 01, 2007

Peggy Noonan Ain't Happy With Bush And Company

One time Reagan speechwriter par excellence, Peggy Noonan, wrote in today's Wall Street Journal http://opinionjournal.com that conservative Republicans and the Bush administration are now officially at a parting of the ways and primarily over the "comprehensive immigration reform" bill scam. I am afraid that Miss Noonan may be right and it is a waste of the "political capital" that President Bush so confidently talked about after winning reelection in 2004.
I am so amazed that such a complex bill worked on in the dead of night with more holes than Swiss cheese has got the president and lackeys so much against Mr. Bush's natural allies, the conservative base. Now there is no question that we conservatives are somewhat divided between the round 'em up and ship them home types, ones that want to tweak it to allay national security concerns, and the libertarian who cares about borders types. But, bottom line is the opposition is at least 70% of the Republican electorate and I would say at least a majority of Democrat voters. You can not pass a bill that only has 26% support of voters and sell it as the best thing since sliced bread.
As Miss Noonan points out in her column, had the Bush administration came in with smaller, understandable bills doing one big individual thing, then there may have been a consensus on finding a way to make illegals not illegal. But, alas Mr. Bush and lackeys really do think that this approach will eventually, maybe in a generation or two, bring Hispanics to the Republican party. NOT.
So, Mr. Bush and "allies" like Sens. John "F--- You" McCain, Lindsay Graham and others can not really defend this dreck. So, they are turning against the people they need the most. You and I-conservative Republicans. We are called alarmist, wanting to see people die, and worst of all nativist racists. I tell you, name calling is the refuge of those that know they are wrong on something.
Miss Noonan is basically saying that we conservative Republicans need to distance ourselves from the president and find a candidate that will best unite disparate conservative forces as Ronald Reagan did in 1980. Well, in an odd way, I think that Mr. Bush has done that with this push on the illegal immigration bill scam. Even those that are for it will not put all their political capital on the line. Some, like Sen John Kyl, a real conservative that I do not envy at this point, barely won reelection in 2006. He will, when he realizes the hostility from many who have supported Mr. Bush all the way turning on him on this. When he concedes, and he will, the bill will be officially dead.
Conservatism will not be dead however. It will unite behind a candidate for president and will come back stronger than ever.
I am sorry that Miss Noonan has been separated from the Bush administration since 2005, but I will agree with this analysis. Both George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush have squandered in different ways their legacies. Read the whole piece and see if you agree.

1 comment:

Pat Jenkins said...

mr. 64 i am impressed with your blog and will make return trips. as far as noonan's scathing column, to her point of bush arrogantly abandoning the base with his stance i do not hold the same opinion. the column spawned a post for me today on my blog and without this sounding like a shameless plug please feel free to add a thought i would love to hear what you think.