Topic: Quotes
"And, in a broader perspective, what good has the Republican Congress done since Bush took office? The tax cut was excellent and the good record of the economy bears it out. The No Child Left Behind bill is a landmark piece of legislation that is proving its worth. And the Patriot Act has done a lot to keep us safe. But lately? In the past four years, what has this Congress done to deserve reelection? Precious little." --Dick Morris
Morris makes a valid point. This is a source of frustration for Republicans, as well as the American population in general, that the question is out there...what have you done lately aside from raise federal spending and retreat cowardly from any meaningul legislation? Bush garnered great support in his first term because of his legislation and leadership. It resulted in extraordinary grassroots support that won him a second term. In that second term, he and the GOP haven't done much.
Morris brought up points in his article that the Democrats salivated for bold filibusters and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington moments (the latter my words) in order to stop such horrific injustices as preserving Social Security for generations beyond the Baby Boomers, and securing our borders while making more paths to citizenship available to stem the tide of illegals. The GOP saw that, and had little faith in their own ability to debate publicly about said issues, and retreated.
Instead, the GOP Congress has, I admit, been more interested in preserving incumbency, with record spending and earmarks. That President Bush has not reined in these activities through vetoes or the threat of them, and not working with the leadership to stop such abusive fiscal policy, has aided in his decline in approval ratings.
We always know that Bush will never have support above 10% from Democrats no matter what he does, but what has hurt from the Republican and right-leaning Independents is that he is not sticking to his conservative principles on immigration and spending. I disagree with Morris that he did get two clear-cut victories in the Senate...Samuel Alito and John Roberts. But aside from that, the GOP has been behaving badly.
And instead of trying to turn the tide of public resentment by stopping the drunken sailor spending, saving Social Security, and reforming the borders, no, instead members of Congress are, like Chris Shays, saying how they now want time-tables in Iraq or, more deviously, outright coming out against the whole enterprise completely. Instead of leading on the important issues of the day, doing what I just said as well as saying why we need a strong foriegn polocy, they are pandering to the growing anti-war sentiment fueled by Democrats and the media.
Do I think things would be better with Speaker Pelosi? A Democratic Majority? Dear Lord, no. But I certainly hope the Republicans are scared in the mid-terms, and they take the proper lessons from the close-call. I hope that they see they need to be the leaders the people elected. They need to reform the government, spur the economy, cut the deficit and spending, protect our country from terror and rogue regimes, police our borders while not being xenophobic, and be strong.
And yes, President Bush is partly to blame for this. He has not kept his party in line. He allowed Social Security and Immigration reform to die without even a whimper. But as an all but declared lame-duck, with every passing day his influence wanes. It is probably too late for him to make a difference, even more so after November when all attention will pass to the Republican and Democratic candidates for 2008.
