May 16, 2006--The Wrath of Viguerie
It’s one thing for a politician to find his base eroding; it’s quite another for constituents from that core to turn their criticism into a feeding-frenzy.
But this is precisely what is happening to President Bush. When even Richard Viguerie, the direct-mail king who perhaps more than anyone else can take credit for building a commanding Republican majority that has effectively taken control of all three branches of our government, when someone such as Viguerie says, as he did yesterday in an article in the NY Times (linked below), that “There is growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose [my italics] the Congressional elections this fall,” when something like this happens you don’t even need your wife (or mother) to tell you how much trouble you’re in.
Viguerie is a bit of a voice from the past so if he were the only conservative leader with his pants in a bunch, Bush and Republicans up for election in November could get a good night’s sleep.
But then there is James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family whose daily radio talk show attracts many millions of devoted listeners. He is saying more and more openly that the Republicans who he and his followers turned out to support two years ago have betrayed them because they have not been pushing hard enough for the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. About the president, he says, “A lot of people are disappointed that he hasn’t put as much effort into the marriage amendment as he did for the prescription drug benefit or Social Security reform.” (This gives you a clear sense of his and fellow conservative Christians’ priorities.)
Aware of the fact that the outcome of midterm elections are disproportionately influenced by whichever party does a better job of motivating its core voters to get to the polls, folks such as Dobson are implying they will hold Republicans hostage by not mobilizing their followers unless they see action on those social issues that to them are defining. Thus, two years ago, as a strategy to get anti-gay voters to vote, there were statewide referenda on the ballots of key swing states. Look for more of the same this year as well as others staking out tough positions on immigration, the current hot wedge issue.
But then I have been wondering what might really be going on here—do conservatives really want to see Republicans lose control of Congress? And, do Democrats really want to take control of the House and Senate? Maybe the conservations, ever sly, in fact do want to lose in November so they can run two years later as the opposition party, blaming spending, deficits, and even the war in Iraq on the Democrats.
If true, I guess this means I should be hoping the Democrats lose so the focus of blame and accountability can remain where it is and should be—on the Bush administration and their Congressional partners in crime.
I suppose, then, that this also means I should be hoping that The Brain, Karl Rove, doesn’t get indicted so he can be around long enough to help mastermind a final Republican victory.
But this is precisely what is happening to President Bush. When even Richard Viguerie, the direct-mail king who perhaps more than anyone else can take credit for building a commanding Republican majority that has effectively taken control of all three branches of our government, when someone such as Viguerie says, as he did yesterday in an article in the NY Times (linked below), that “There is growing feeling among conservatives that the only way to cure the problem is for Republicans to lose [my italics] the Congressional elections this fall,” when something like this happens you don’t even need your wife (or mother) to tell you how much trouble you’re in.
Viguerie is a bit of a voice from the past so if he were the only conservative leader with his pants in a bunch, Bush and Republicans up for election in November could get a good night’s sleep.
But then there is James C. Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family whose daily radio talk show attracts many millions of devoted listeners. He is saying more and more openly that the Republicans who he and his followers turned out to support two years ago have betrayed them because they have not been pushing hard enough for the constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. About the president, he says, “A lot of people are disappointed that he hasn’t put as much effort into the marriage amendment as he did for the prescription drug benefit or Social Security reform.” (This gives you a clear sense of his and fellow conservative Christians’ priorities.)
Aware of the fact that the outcome of midterm elections are disproportionately influenced by whichever party does a better job of motivating its core voters to get to the polls, folks such as Dobson are implying they will hold Republicans hostage by not mobilizing their followers unless they see action on those social issues that to them are defining. Thus, two years ago, as a strategy to get anti-gay voters to vote, there were statewide referenda on the ballots of key swing states. Look for more of the same this year as well as others staking out tough positions on immigration, the current hot wedge issue.
But then I have been wondering what might really be going on here—do conservatives really want to see Republicans lose control of Congress? And, do Democrats really want to take control of the House and Senate? Maybe the conservations, ever sly, in fact do want to lose in November so they can run two years later as the opposition party, blaming spending, deficits, and even the war in Iraq on the Democrats.
If true, I guess this means I should be hoping the Democrats lose so the focus of blame and accountability can remain where it is and should be—on the Bush administration and their Congressional partners in crime.
I suppose, then, that this also means I should be hoping that The Brain, Karl Rove, doesn’t get indicted so he can be around long enough to help mastermind a final Republican victory.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
11:09 AM
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