Texsox Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Republican malaise Robert Novak (back to web version) | Send March 4, 2004 WASHINGTON -- At 1 p.m. on Feb. 25, some 15 prominent Republicans invited to be surrogates in the coming presidential campaign gathered at Bush-Cheney headquarters in suburban Northern Virginia for a private briefing. Less than two hours earlier that day, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan detonated a political bombshell. To judge from the bland and uninformative briefing, nobody on the president's campaign team heard the explosion. Former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, a Washington lawyer-lobbyist who last year resigned as figurehead chairman of the Republican National Committee to become figurehead chairman of Bush-Cheney '04, led the precisely orchestrated, one-hour briefing. He did not mention that Greenspan had just testified to Congress advocating reduced Social Security benefits. Racicot might be excused for being silent and unaware of the central banker's latest political mischief, since it also escaped the attention that morning of key Bush policymakers. The invited advocates were handed a thick batch of talking points to ingest by the campaign's appropriately named chief of surrogates, Julie Cram. Nowhere in the handout did the forbidden words "Social Security" appear. "The president's opponents are against personal retirement accounts" is the closest the briefing material came to the dreaded subject. Many prospective surrogates left campaign headquarters profoundly depressed by the mediocre briefing and the material given them. This fits the deepening malaise among Republicans in the capital. They are neither surprised nor terribly worried by polls that temporarily show George W. Bush trailing John Kerry. What worries the GOP faithful is the absence of firm leadership in their party either at the White House or on Capitol Hill. The lack of a ready response to Greenspan, while Democrats quickly turned his comments into an indictment of President Bush's tax cuts, was not an isolated failing. Today, Republicans on either end of Pennsylvania Avenue seem to be going in opposite directions. -- Disagreement between congressional Republicans and Bush over the size of the highway bill reflects mutual recriminations over runaway federal spending in general. While the president's aides are angered by the lawmakers' addiction to concrete, conservative lawmakers are furious that Bush's budget has preserved and actually increased federal funding for the arts. -- Bush's call to make his tax cuts permanent and to repeal the estate tax for all time leaves Republicans in Congress perplexed about how they will be able to write a budget without a massive increase in the huge deficit that never will command a majority vote. -- House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and his allies are bitter that they received no backing from the president and administration in their efforts to keep the independent 9-11 investigation from extending into the campaign season. -- The president came out for a constitutional amendment to bar gay marriage without consulting congressional Republican leaders, which helps explain the unenthusiastic reception from his own party on Capitol Hill. -- Congressional Republicans still have not recovered from the shock of the President's Economic Report extolling the outsourcing of industrial jobs -- good economics perhaps, bad politics definitely. The disaffection is such that over the last two weeks, normally loyal Republicans -- actually including more than a few members of Congress -- are privately talking about political merits in the election of Sen. Kerry. Their reasoning goes like this: There is no way Democrats can win the House or Senate even if Bush loses. If Bush is re-elected, Democrats are likely to win both the House and Senate in a 2006 midterm rebound. If Kerry wins, Republicans will be able to bounce back with congressional gains in 2006. To voice such heretical thoughts suggests that Republicans on Capitol Hill are more interested in maintaining the fruits of majority status first won in 1994 rather than in governing the country. A few thoughtful GOP lawmakers ponder the record of the first time in 40 years that the party has controlled both the executive and legislative branches, and conclude that record is deeply disappointing. But incipient heresy also reflects shortcomings of the Bush political operation. Its emphasis has been on fund-raising and organization, with deficiencies in communicating and leadership. The president is in political trouble, and his disaffected supporters who should be backing him aggressively provide the evidence. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 This election will be very close and bubble down to florida...again. I hope the ballots are confusing again, otherwise I think Mr. Kerry will be the next President of the United States. Damn I hate that man. He was the only democratic candidate that I chose to detest, and he had to win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 This election will be very close and bubble down to florida...again. I hope the ballots are confusing again, otherwise I think Mr. Kerry will be the next President of the United States. Damn I hate that man. He was the only democratic candidate that I chose to detest, and he had to win. John Kerry loves you! That's wny he is doing all this, to make America a better place again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 John Kerry loves you! That's wny he is doing all this, to make America a better place again! A candidate claiming to make the world a better place? I guess my opinion doesn't matter just yet because I can not vote, but I would vote for Bush in this election. When in doubt, always go with the Republican. That is pretty much my philosophy. And I have doubts about John Kerry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KipWellsFan Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 A candidate claiming to make the world a better place? I guess my opinion doesn't matter just yet because I can not vote, but I would vote for Bush in this election. When in doubt, always go with the Republican. That is pretty much my philosophy. And I have doubts about John Kerry. When in doubt make sure America stays in its freefall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 When in doubt make sure America stays in its freefall. hardly a freefall. A freefall will be if we march into Syria, Yemon, Iran and anyother countries Bush doesn't like at the moment. But as long as Iraq is slowly heading towards self-rule and the economy continues to rebound. We have a pretty nice thing going. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cwsox Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 I guess my opinion doesn't matter just yet because I can not vote, but I would vote for Bush in this election. Your opinion does count, very much. But consider that God did not allow you to be old enough to vote in this election for God's own reasons.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1549 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 Your opinion does count, very much. But consider that God did not allow you to be old enough to vote in this election for God's own reasons.... rotfl. I can't argue God's will. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baggio202 Posted March 4, 2004 Share Posted March 4, 2004 John Kerry loves you! That's wny he is doing all this, to make America a better place again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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