News > Politics > Conservatives Hate Bush Too

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SUNDAY JULY 15 2007 9:00 AM

Peggy Noonan was a special assistant and speechwriter for Ronald Reagan. She can be considered a true conservative. She also worked for President H.W. Bush and came up with the terms; a kinder, gentler nation, a thousand points of light, and Read my lips: No new taxes. She currently works for the Wall Street Journal and, apparently, thinks George W. Bush is a douche.

On Friday, Noonan wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal explaining why many Republicans no longer like Bush. They not only dont like him - they hate him.

I found myself Thursday watching President Bush's news conference and thinking about what it is about him, real or perceived, that makes people who used to smile at the mention of his name now grit their teeth.

You have to be a pretty shitty Republican president to get conservatives hate you. Noonan gave examples of what some of her fellow Republicans had said about George.

"I don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth."

"I took the W off my car today.

Noonan believes one of the reasons for this new distaste for W is because of his feel good attitude while everything around him is turning to shit.

As I watched the news conference, it occurred to me that one of the things that might leave people feeling somewhat disoriented is the president's seemingly effortless high spirits. He's in a good mood. There was the usual teasing, the partly aggressive, partly joshing humor, the certitude. He doesn't seem to be suffering, which is jarring. Presidents in great enterprises that are going badly suffer: Lincoln, LBJ with his head in his hands. Why doesn't Mr. Bush? Every major domestic initiative of his second term has been ill thought through and ended in failure. His Iraq leadership has failed. His standing is lower than any previous president's since polling began. He's in a good mood.

Yeah, Peggy, thanks for finally picking up on what many of us saw during his debate with Al Gore, when he laughed as he talked about a prisoner being executed. LAUGHED. The dude is a creep, plain and simple. It only took years of his failed policies for conservatives to actually take a look at the man.

But Peggys not done there, she goes on to describe Bush as weird.

I suspect people pick up with Mr. Bush the sense that part of his drama, part of the story of his presidency, is that he gets to be the romantic about history, and the American people get to be the realists. Of the two, the latter is not the more enjoyable role.

Americans...like the president to be the cool-eyed realist, the tough customer who understands harsh realities. With Mr. Bush it is the people who are forced to be cool-eyed and realistic. He's the one who goes off on the toots. This is extremely irritating, and also unnatural. Actually it's weird.

A conservative speechwriter for Reagan and Bush just called the president UNNATURAL. Like a werewolf, or the Creature of the Black Lagoon. Not the best company for a president to be in. But Peggy stops short of calling for Bushs impeachment. He may be unnatural and weird, but he should continue on with his duties. The same cannot be said for another conservative, Bruce Fein.

Fein is a conservative lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. He was an associate deputy attorney general under Reagan and also was general counsel to the FCC. Fein, plainly and simply states that Bush should be impeached.

Bush is certainly in trouble when conservatives are coming out with statements like this:

Bush's crimes are more worrisome than Clinton's because he is seeking more institutionally to cripple checks and balances and the authority of Congress and the judiciary to superintend his assertions of power. He has claimed the authority to tell Congress they don't have any right to know what he's doing with relation to spying on American citizens, using that information in any way that he wants in contradiction to a federal statute called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. He's claimed authority to say he can kidnap people, throw them into dungeons abroad, dump them out into Siberia without any political or legal accountability. These are standards that are totally anathema to a democratic society devoted to the rule of law.

The way things are going, it would not be a surprise to see Bushs approval rating fall into the teens before his term is over. As much as his supporters love to scream the words, But Clinton..., we all know that if Clinton was blatantly breaking the law the way Bush has been, he would have been impeached. But that isnt the case for the worst president ever.

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Comments

theconservative

Spring, TX

October 2004

JUL 15, 2007 09:24 AM

didn't read the article, but the title is true.

alpha22

Scottsdale, AZ

May 2005

JUL 15, 2007 09:26 AM

we all know that if Clinton was blatantly breaking the law the way Bush has been, he would have been impeached.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

clinton was impeached for lying to a grand jury

Kenet

USA

November 2004

JUL 15, 2007 09:27 AM

It's often hard these days to tell whether this is reality or just some elaborate satire designed to raise my blood pressure.

Now, if someone in power could just DO something rather than talk about it (I'm looking at you, Reid and Pelosi), perhaps we could all get closure, but I'm betting on "unlikely".

The idea that anyone would support this douchebag president is crazy. Thanks for coming over seven years too late.

Bilharzia

I'm lost

April 2004

JUL 15, 2007 09:27 AM

Invertebrate congress! That guy is a genius!

Marcus_Cthulhu

Fredericton, NB

June 2007

JUL 15, 2007 09:32 AM

It's kind of funny when you think about it because Bush has never really been a "good conservative". He NEVER acted to limit big government, he's all about big government. Right? I mean that's as unconservative as it gets. He's never really been under the conservative tent other then in the religious and big-business aspects. Obviously those are two big points, but big government was supposed to be the anti-conservative ideal, no?

Marcus_Cthulhu

Fredericton, NB

June 2007

JUL 15, 2007 09:34 AM

alpha22 said:
we all know that if Clinton was blatantly breaking the law the way Bush has been, he would have been impeached.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

clinton was impeached for lying to a grand jury

It was judged NOT to be perjury due to the nature of the lie.

Letranger

Brooklyn, NY

September 2005

JUL 15, 2007 09:36 AM

Bush is insane. dont take my word for it. psychologists say that he exhibits paranoia, delusionment, megalomania, and other symptoms of mental disturbance.

plus he thinks he's annointed by God.

they speculate that 20 years of drug and alcohol abuse probably didnt help either.