Wash Post: Free Reg
Well, ahem, not so fast Bugman. John F. Harris and Jim VandeHei, of the Washington Post, examine the lack of a real mandate for Bush’s second term agenda:
A recent analysis by Democracy Corps, which offers polling and strategy to Democrats, concluded, “Voters have not yet turned to the Democrats as an instrument of change, but when they do, there can be electoral changes on a very large scale.”
Tom DeLay is a crook. Everybody knows that. The only question is whether it is permissible to be a crook in the current political climate in Washington. It might well be that it is now perfectly acceptable to be a serial violator of House Ethics Rules, and still retain your position as the Majority Leader. But, that is going to change.
DeLay is not helped by the bungled packaging of Bush’s second-term agenda by Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and White House director of strategic initiatives Peter Wehner:
Instead…he settled on a bolder-is-better strategy. The rationale, according to White House aides, is that most second-term presidents tend to lose their policymaking leverage quickly. This dictated moving quickly and decisively — to ensure that Bush remained the dominant figure setting Washington’s agenda and to take full advantage of a narrow window.
By this reckoning, White House aides say, Social Security is a natural issue, because it shows Bush taking on a problem that most politicians had timidly avoided, and it could turn retirement security — political turf owned for decades by Democrats — into a Republican issue.
Even among many influential conservatives, there has been a growing consensus that the Bush governing theory, at least on Social Security, has been proved wrong. The conservative Weekly Standard magazine recently warned in a headline of a “Social Security Quagmire,” and argued that Bush should position himself so that a defeat on the issue does not cripple other parts of his agenda or produce big Republican losses in next year’s congressional elections.
The American people have forgiven an unforgivable amount of governmental malfeasance from the Bush administration. But it will not continue. The war in Iraq is not going well, or improving substantially. Bush’s and DeLay’s bold predictions about how the election had shifted the political landscape have not borne out. Their legislative agenda is every bit as unpopular as Bill Clinton’s 1993-4 agenda. The Republican leadership has grown as entrenched, ossified and corrupt as the Democrats had in Dan Rostenkowski’s time.
In short, the natural cycle is going back around to the top, and the Republicans will have to rely on safe seats and electoral disenfranchisement to minimize their coming losses.
Look for new ruptures in the Republican caucus, as moderates seek cover from an increasingly discredited leadership, that is increasingly out-of-touch with their constituents.
I am sure the Repuglicans, those republicans who are so repulsive that even other republicans refer to them as repuglicans, will do everything in their power to cheat, steal, lie and redirect every campaign dollar, every voting machine from Diebold and every dirty rotten trick in the book to hold on their majority. Lets make sure that the dirty rotten scoundrels are put out of government once and for all and tell Tommy, the bug Man, De Lay, you can keep killing bugs Tommy, just don’t spray yourself. We as a people need to tell every Secretary of State in every State in our Union that voting machines must have and will have a paper trail by the next presidential election if not sooner. Any S Of S who fails to uphold this mandate of the people should soon find their asses out in the unemployment line or more than likely in Diebolds employ. AS for Diebold and any other crooked voting machine manufacturer, if you are caught and convicted of voter fraud and vote rigging, your CEO and anyone else involved should go to prison for a very long time and your company barred FOREVER from doing business with any government entity in the USA, local, State or Federal.
I can only hope that Americans will wake up soon and that means Americans of all political persuasions and see that this administration and its crony’s in Congress are out only to destroy what they hold in contempt, a free America and only care to enrich themselves.
Booman, this is at least the second time you’ve equated the current regime with the Rosty era. I really don’t get what you’re trying to do. For one thing, its a huge assumption that the petty thievery of Rostenkowski and his cronies put the Dems out of power. More importantly, that corruption is to what’s going on now as a shoplifter is to Charlie Manson. Why do you want to make it seem equivalent?
Nor is there any reason to think that Clinton’s health plan was the Dem problem. After all, he kept his popularity throughout.
Your overall point is well taken, though: I hope you’re right about a sea change coming. It won’t be hastened by comparisons that don’t fly, though.
Points taken Dave W.
Clinton’s health care plan was not nearly as important as his NAFTA and gays in the military proposals.
But the WP made that comparison, I said ‘policies’.
And the House Dems were corrupt by 1994. Not as corrupt as Tom DeLay, but still corrupt.
If I had to guess, I’d say that the Whitewater bullshit attack had more to do with the rise of the GOP than anything else. It didn’t hurt Clinton that much, but voters thought they needed to clean house of Dem “corruption”. One of the great propaganda victories on recent times.
I’d give half the honor to Ross Perot. And I’d give a third to the VRWC, that spun out story after story about Clinton’s alleged moral turpitude.
The remainder should be divvied up amongst lazy MSM, bad political judgement by Clinton and his advisors, and Newt Gingrich’s savvy counterattack.
“Voters have not yet turned to the Democrats as an instrument of change, but when they do, there can be electoral changes on a very large scale.”
Congress is there for the taking, if the democratic party can present positive alternatives instead of negative reactions. Right now their policies are put together by blind men describing an elephant. Still no sense of cohesion.