Boston Globe: Support Low, Bush Isolated By GOP

[Hissyspit]

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/04/28/support_low_bush_isolated_by_gop

Support low, Bush isolated by GOP
Many fear '08 a referendum on president
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | April 28, 2007

WASHINGTON -- President Bush is entering a critical point in his presidency as an increasingly isolated figure within the Republican Party: He has suffered some high-profile defections from his inner circle, presidential candidates are rushing to distance themselves from his administration, and rank-and-file Republicans are expressing growing disillusionment with the scandals and mismanagement that have rocked the White House.

- snip -

"The looming election has started to put the fear of God in the Republican Party," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University. "George Bush has severely damaged the Republican Party in the short run, and probably the intermediate term as well." On the campaign trail, Republican candidates are barely mentioning the president, or are doing so only to criticize the Bush administration.

- snip -

The loss of support among Republicans is particularly striking because the Bush White House was spared most internal party dissent until the last few months. The president has run a famously leak-proof administration, and has almost always succeeded in getting Republicans in Congress to follow his lead.

Some Republicans argue that the recent defections are isolated cases that are not indicative of larger problems inside the White House or the Republican Party. Dowd was a former Democrat who switched party allegiances to support Bush because he saw him as a consensus-builder; Tenet's decision to write a tell-all book appears to be motivated in part by the administration's efforts to blame him for the faulty intelligence that was used to justify the Iraq invasion.

MIRE

[Swamp Rat]

1. "rank-and-file Republicans are expressing growing disillusionment"

Where the hell have they been all these years? :eyes:

[Erika]

2. Rubber stamping W and ignoring their constitutional duties

They will pay for it.

[Eagle_Eye]

3. With bush's lack of support, now is the time to impeach the

little twerp.

[pretzel4gore]

4. really! you mean gorge is bad?

bad for stealing 2k election? overthrowing the legal elected gov of Al Gore? It seems mr pig still likes those lil gems o iniquity! Swiftboating John Kerry's lowkeyed '04 run for the presidency was 'bad' the gopigs now say'? NO! Explanations to follow? I see said the blind man....

[Hissyspit]

5. .

[warrior1]

6. Until the republicans

vote to impeach him, it doesn't matter how low his polls are.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

7. Nov 06 was a bigass tea leaf not too difficult for "purple state" Repubs to read

[annabanana]

8. Not isolated ENOUGH... (We need enough to override the veto..)

If we had THAT.. Impeachment would just be a matter of time..

[ljm2002]

9. "The looming election..."

"...has started to put the fear of God in the Republican Party," said Jeffrey Berry, a political science professor at Tufts University.

Well, now... I thought that was the problem in the first place?

If they have any sense, they'll reject all that "fear of God" stuff and get back to actual real-world issues that they, and we, can actually do something about.

Sorry -- it just jumped out at me as an unfortunate turn of phrase, under the current political climate.

Of course what I really hope is that they don't put it all behind them, and that the population as a whole sees how bankrupt their ideas are really, and will continue to throw the Republican bums out in droves until the party is a shell of its former self, and withers up and dies.

And then "I'll stand o'er your grave 'Til I'm sure you are dead" -- the Republican Party that is.