Bush has broken with us. She's right. Bush has broken with the conservative movement. There may have been a time when I would have defended Bush against an attack like this but since his comment this week, he's really shown his contempt for his supporters. He clearly demonstrated the truth of Noonan's main assertion:
What political conservatives and on-the-ground Republicans must understand at this point is that they are not breaking with the White House on immigration. They are not resisting, fighting and thereby setting down a historical marker--"At this point the break became final." That's not what's happening. What conservatives and Republicans must recognize is that the White House has broken with them. What President Bush is doing, and has been doing for some time, is sundering a great political coalition. This is sad, and it holds implications not only for one political party but for the American future.(via)
The White House doesn't need its traditional supporters anymore, because its problems are way beyond being solved by the base. And the people in the administration don't even much like the base. Desperate straits have left them liberated, and they are acting out their disdain. 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.
For almost three years, arguably longer, conservative Bush supporters have felt like sufferers of battered wife syndrome. You don't like endless gushing spending, the kind that assumes a high and unstoppable affluence will always exist, and the tax receipts will always flow in? 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."
The president has taken to suggesting that opponents of his immigration bill are unpatriotic--they "don't want to do what's right for America." His ally Sen. Lindsey Graham has said, "We're gonna tell the bigots to shut up." On Fox last weekend he vowed to "push back." Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff suggested opponents would prefer illegal immigrants be killed; Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez said those who oppose the bill want "mass deportation." Former Bush speechwriter Michael Gerson said those who oppose the bill are "anti-immigrant" and suggested they suffer from "rage" and "national chauvinism."
These are fellow Republicans they are talking about! They've never been this virulent against the Democrats. And now they want to attack their own in such a vicious manner? It still ticks me off every time I think about how nice he is to the Democrats even when they're railing against him but he treats his base with contempt when they disagree with him.
I don't agree with everything that Noonan says in her piece, I think she being a little unfair in assessing Bush's motives but I agree whole-heartedly with this assertion:
Now conservatives and Republicans are going to have to win back their party. They are going to have to break from those who have already broken from them. This will require courage, serious thinking and an ability to do what psychologists used to call letting go. This will be painful, but it's time. It's more than time.The conservatives can start to do this by governing, not in fear but by principle. Doing everything they can to defeat the immigration bill will be a good start toward regaining the trust of their base.
I'm more than ready to let go of this president. This week was the tipping point and now I'm so over this president. I've joined the liberals in counting down the days until he's out of office. Hey Susan, do you think we should get one of those Bush countdown clocks for the blog?
