So William Kristol disses Bush on Fox News Sunday? Georgia10 has a good dairy on this over at Dailykos.
Last week it was George Will who came out against the Iraq war.
And on This Week with George Stephanopolus, Republican Congressional Leader Duncan Hunter openly challenges Bush on the Dubai Ports World deal.
We're seeing a rebellion against George W. Bush by members of his own party. They seem to be running "away" from Bush rather than "with" him. Obviously they don't want to be tarred with the President's perceived failures, gaffs and incompetence, but the strategy of running as the "good republicans" as opposed to George W. Bush as the "bad Republican" is fraught with danger.
What theme are they going to campaign on?
How about this one: "If you re-elect me, I'll keep George from screwing up anything else!"
Or maybe, "Yeah, sure, I gave him a blank check, but nobody could have anticipated that he'd screw up that bad".
Or maybe, as a last resort, "Please give me another chance...I promise I won' support Bush anymore."
How are they going to portray themselves as "good" as opposed to Dubya's "bad" without admitting that the Republican Congress has enabled every last one of Dubya's ill-advised misadventures. They are just as culpable for these screwups as Dubya because they blindly rubber-stamped everything he wanted and when they did object, they were immediately cowed under by pressure from the enforcer, KKKarl Rove.
They must think the American electorate is stupid if they think that the good cop/bad cop routine will work. No, this time the public has caught on and they're not going to fall for the cheap theatrics again. This time they will be held accountable.
Oh yes, one more thing so it will be clear about where I stand. I personally like to use the term "Vichy Democrats". Those are the Democrats in Congress who were (and some remain) cowed by the Republicans and have voted with them for things like the Bankruptcy Bill, The Iraq War Resolution (yeah, that means you too, Hillary), the cloture vote on the Alito Nomination and maybe a dozen other crucial votes where the Democrats actaully had a chance of making a difference. Those "Vichy Democrats" will also be held accountable. Where there is no primary opponent, there should be. When the general election comes around, don't bother asking for my money or my time. I cringe at the thought of losing a Democratic seat but what good is having a Democrat holding the seat if that Democrat votes with the Republicans. We need to clean our own house also.
hizzhoner
