Boston Globe: On trail, Bush stays close to right wing

[Trajan]

On trail, Bush stays close to right wing

By Anne E. Kornblut and Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | July 18, 2004

WASHINGTON -- As Senate Republicans began accelerating the debate over gay marriage last month, President Bush got a warning about the potential for political fallout. Representative Charles Bass of New Hampshire, sharing a ride on Air Force One, told Bush to ''back off this gay marriage thing, that it was going to be devastating for him in the Northeast," where voters have a famously libertarian streak.

''I don't think they actively support gay marriage, but they have a subliminal distrust for government establishing a moral code for people's lives," Bass, a Republican, recalled telling Bush.

In response, Bass said, Bush ''looked at me like I was crazy." The president ignored the advice and actively supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage that was defeated in the Senate last week.

In light of polls showing an excruciatingly close presidential race, the incident offered a telling glimpse of Bush's political mind-set: With just 108 days left in the campaign, the president is still proudly in step with his conservative base rather than gravitating toward more centrist issues as candidates usually do at this point. On issue after issue, from stem cell research to Cuba policy, Bush has shown little appetite for ''tacking to the middle," as political operatives call it -- and his campaign advisers freely describe their strategy as one designed to motivate millions of conservatives to vote rather than attract the narrow slice of the electorate that is still undecided.

-snip-

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/president/bush/articles/2004/07/18/on_trail_bush_stays_close_to_right_wing/

[NMDemDist2]

1. good, and I hope that every city he goes to the press reports

how carefully handpicked his audiences are. Also when law abiding folks get arrested for t-shirts etc

his police state mentality needs to be big news all over and hopefully folks will start to wake up

[WI_DEM]

2. I'm not sure this editorial is damning of Bush

On the one hand, yes it portrays him as an extreme right winger but on the other hand it also portrays him as someone with convictions who isn't going to bend just because his stand may be unpopular--they might be trying to do this as a counter to Kerry who they are attacking as someone with no convictions and constantly changes his position. But then again he might think that all he really has left is the conservative base so he is not going to desert them.

[wolfgirl]

3. Why are you surprised?

Bush & Co. don't care....they think they own this country. They've trashed our Constitution, killed/killing our children, stolen the livelihood of millions of everyday Americans, stamping out voices that raise any hint of disagreement, and corraling the media (albeit they are complicit).

Even if we win this election, these goons have burrowed their people into all areas/facets of local/state/federal government, the run the cooperations and own the media - we won't be able to breath easy even if we win.

It's going to take make longer than just this election cycle to take back our country and restore the Constitution!


:mad:

Okay...I'm on a bit of a rant, but I care so much and have such a fear for what my children are facing. This is not the life I dreamed for them.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Wolfgirl, you have a right to rant!

because you are absolutely right. I heard a conservative on Fresh Air the other day call all liberals "the enemy". They are out to trash everything this country was founded on to make a religious/facist state. Here is my plan to stop it:

1. Elect not only Kerry to the Presidency, but elect Democratic majorities in Congress.

2. DEMAND that the Fairness Doctrine be reinstated.

3. Use the Sherman Anti-Trust Act to break up the media mega-giants

4. Keep the Internet free from government censorship

5. Keep liberal grassroots organizations going to be watchdogs over what is happening in our country.

[Downtown Hound]

5. Of course he does

They're the only ones that won't throw eggs at him.

[TaleWgnDg]

6. I disagree w/ the analysis of Kornblut and Milligan, BosGlobe staff

Why? Because they both are dead wrong about George W. Bush.

GeorgeW is so damn ensconced in his Christian extremist teachings HIMSELF that he cannot divert from them. In other words, GeorgeW does not court the extreme religious right, instead he IS the religious right. As such, GeorgeW will NOT divert from those teachings . . . he has "found" Jesus, period.

He is a progressive's worst nightmare. Let's be honest, here. Know your enemy.

:dem:

[DaveSZ]

7. Indeed

He is a faux pro-war, anti-poor, Christian like Falwell and Robertson.

That's simply who he is as a person I think.