June 01, 2007
When there is no lesser evil
Peggy Noonan has a must-read piece on the Bush administration's abandonment of the conservative base (hat-tip Jamie).
One part seemed familiar:
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.
Dawn Summers guest-blogged something similar about the Democrats back in 2005.
Perhaps it is the mark of a losing party to blame its supporters for its losses and reverse on the very principles that had gotten it elected in the first place. It's a time of disillusionment for both parties. My Republican friends are angry about amnesty, my Democrat buds are seething over the lack of a timetable in the Iraq bill. If there was ever a time for a third party to make a strong showing and send a real message, now may be it
Posted by Karol at June 1, 2007 05:28 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: Republicans Democrats Peggy+Noonan
PEGGY NOONAN STOLE MY POST! I want Dorian Davis on this IMMEDIATELY! And I hope Peter Stole My Doughnuts, also leaves her a snarky making fun of battered wives comment!
Posted by: Not Dawn Summers at June 1, 2007 06:18 AMI'm too busy thinking about those delicious doughnuts to be snarky.
Posted by: Peter at June 1, 2007 11:04 AMBush's immigration stand is not much of a surprise to me. I was at Bush's acceptance speech given at the 2000 Republican convention.
He did say in that speech that he would push for a guest worker program. We all assumed that it would also mean border enforcement and deportation of all illegal non-guest workers.
We were wrong
Posted by: Jake at June 1, 2007 11:12 AMSo, here is the complication. Both of the parties are fairly well-heeled, each with their own patronage organizations. While it is less in their interest to have the other party in power, it is a complete threat to each of their existences to have a third party rise up. You have to imagine the CarvilleRoves of the country would pull out every trick in the book to quash a grassroots 'rebellion' against the status quo.
Posted by: David at June 1, 2007 03:48 PMJake, it's not a surprise to me either. It's just that I figured he'd understand the post 9/11 threat we face and the fact that securing our borders should be a priority.
The thing is, and I guess here is where I start to sound like a battered wife, I would still vote and work for Bush in '04 if I had to do it again (and I didn't vote or work for him in '00 but I would if given a redo). When faced with actual opposition like Gore or Kerry, I still prefer Bush a gazillion times over.
That's why I think it's so important, like beyond important, that we choose a great candidate in the primary. Sure, I can hold my nose for John McCain for 4-8 years but I'd really rather not. And, I know, everyone thinks McCain is done for but I say that without Fred Thompson in the race, McCain has a great shot of being the eventual nominee. I feel like he's the guy conservatives will turn to as "good enough".
Posted by: Karol at June 1, 2007 04:06 PMI don't really know. I see him as our John Kerry, who also wasn't raising a lot of money at this stage in the campaign.
Posted by: Karol at June 2, 2007 02:39 AM
