Patience, Part II. - Bush "is discovering the fine line between having a mandate and being a lame duck."
My 01-24-05 post is entitled "Patience & Fortitude. At this time we need the former. - Some See Risks For the G.O.P. in New Strength."
Today we get Patience, Part II.
In a 01-25-05 post entitled "Let's work to bring back those who used to vote Democratic, but are now living poor & voting rich. - Let's not pass up an opportunity of a decade," I wrote:
"Our challenge is to be patient, avoid falling into the Karl Rove trap, and to let the various members and wings of the GOP both on the national and state level fight things out among ourselves, while we safely enjoy observing things from a distance."
With the above background, the following from the 01-28-05 Washington Post sure should sound like music to our ears:
Bush Faces New Skepticism From Republicans on Hill
When President Bush flies to this Allegheny mountain resort Friday to meet congressional Republicans, he will encounter a party far less malleable and willing to follow his lead than it has been for the past four years.
Bush is accustomed to getting his way with Congress and finished his first term without suffering a major defeat. But mid-level and rank-and-file Republicans have begun to assert themselves on issues including intelligence reform, immigration and a major restructuring of Social Security, the centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
[N]ow that Bush has run his last campaign, he is being bolder in calling for legislative action than many lawmakers who must run every two years are willing to be.
That leaves the success of his second-term agenda very much in doubt.
In hallway conversations, over glasses of wine and even in front of television cameras, Republican lawmakers are expressing trepidation about some of Bush's plans, putting him in the undesirable position of having to sell himself to his own party when he could be focusing on Democrats and independents.
Many House Republicans are hesitant to do anything that might jeopardize their chances in the midterm elections in 2006, while in the Senate at least half a dozen members have begun jockeying for the White House.
It's the 'no interest like self-interest' rule, and it's every man for himself," said an aide to a Senate Republican committee chairman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain good relations with the White House. "He's discovering the fine line between having a mandate and being a lame duck."
Today we get Patience, Part II.
In a 01-25-05 post entitled "Let's work to bring back those who used to vote Democratic, but are now living poor & voting rich. - Let's not pass up an opportunity of a decade," I wrote:
"Our challenge is to be patient, avoid falling into the Karl Rove trap, and to let the various members and wings of the GOP both on the national and state level fight things out among ourselves, while we safely enjoy observing things from a distance."
With the above background, the following from the 01-28-05 Washington Post sure should sound like music to our ears:
Bush Faces New Skepticism From Republicans on Hill
When President Bush flies to this Allegheny mountain resort Friday to meet congressional Republicans, he will encounter a party far less malleable and willing to follow his lead than it has been for the past four years.
Bush is accustomed to getting his way with Congress and finished his first term without suffering a major defeat. But mid-level and rank-and-file Republicans have begun to assert themselves on issues including intelligence reform, immigration and a major restructuring of Social Security, the centerpiece of his second-term agenda.
[N]ow that Bush has run his last campaign, he is being bolder in calling for legislative action than many lawmakers who must run every two years are willing to be.
That leaves the success of his second-term agenda very much in doubt.
In hallway conversations, over glasses of wine and even in front of television cameras, Republican lawmakers are expressing trepidation about some of Bush's plans, putting him in the undesirable position of having to sell himself to his own party when he could be focusing on Democrats and independents.
Many House Republicans are hesitant to do anything that might jeopardize their chances in the midterm elections in 2006, while in the Senate at least half a dozen members have begun jockeying for the White House.
It's the 'no interest like self-interest' rule, and it's every man for himself," said an aide to a Senate Republican committee chairman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to maintain good relations with the White House. "He's discovering the fine line between having a mandate and being a lame duck."
posted by Sid Cottingham | 6:26 AM
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