Tired of hearing "Bush losing base"...side note, who is big loser in this?

[HardWorkingDem]

I'm getting tired of the left taking glee in Bush supposedly "losing his base." Sure, it is fun to watch but we have to be very careful because this is simply a side show. His base will not desert him. They might bitch and moan, but in the end they will not leave him.

Who else are they going to vote for? Some Dem? Hardly....

Now the GOOD thing - just who does everyone think is really going to pay for Bush's messes? (Rethug Party wise) It's going to be Jeb Bush or another Bush that tries to run for the Whitehouse. That is where this is going to all pay off. The hard right wingers possibly will never trust another Bush again. And that is great. The Bush dynasty will be over.

[BayouBengal07]

1. Sure

The hard right wingers possibly will never trust another Bush again. And that is great. The Bush dynasty will be over.

But does that mean the party will just run someone even more hard right to rally their base? I mean, its amazing just the fact that there are so many "Christian Conservatives" in the US to MAKE a base and WIN elections with it (twice!)

[peace frog]

2. Bush dynasty not necessarily over...

I agree there will be serious Bush fatigue by 2006 and 2008 elections, however IMO Jebbie and his big-money backers will not be denied. He can weasel his way into the WH as VP running mate to a more acceptable presidential candidate (John McCain comes immediately to mind), then use this office as springboard to the presidency. I give it a better than 50-50 chance of happening.

[MADem]

4. I still wonder if they won't try to con Condi into running in the #2 slot

or maybe even top billing...

[Bluesplayer]

8. do you really believe

that the repugs would actually support a black or a woman, let alone both?

[Savannah Progressive]

17. They might support an African-American, or a woman

If they thought they had the leash on the pet tight enough to control her. Can't you see the glee as they roll back civil rights legislation, and Equal Opportunity legislation, all the time crowing about how it's the feeling of a "Black VP" that this is the time to do this?

[peace frog]

18. Oh the humanity!

And YES, I can see them rubbing their soft white hands together and cackling with glee over such a scenario.

[MADem]

22. They would support a self-loathing transsexual in a Dior gown

excessive makeup, too many jewels and a french twist so long as the message was "Marriage, family, orientation other than what you see on Leave it To Beaver is EVIL, cut taxes, cut services, screw the poor, screw the elderly, fuck the disabled, and don't leave a child behind, but PAY FOR IT YOURSELF! The "right" religions get to gorge themselves at the government trough, gas guzzlers are good for everyone, screw the environment, corporate wealth and power must be consolidated in the hands of a few "right" folks, spend, spend, spend, we'll all be dead soon anyway, heh heh heh!!!"

Hell, if they could teach Barney to say all that, they'd vote him in!

Come on, one look at his administration is telling: he has "show" women, "show" blacks, "show" hispanics, who have completely abandoned their communities and constituencies. It's not about where you came from, it's how well you toe the corporate line and demonstrate slavish devotion with him.

I do not believe that Monkey is a hard core racist or sexist. I think he will hug ANYONE, adore ANYONE, rub their head with glee, give them a cute nickname, invite them to cut brush on his pigfarm, if they parrot his attitudes and opinions with appropriate fervor. The reason he comes off as a racist/sexist is because the majority of minorities/women think, quite rightly, that he has his head up his ass. His only prejudice has to do with his inability to see the reality of the suffering of a vast percentage of the population in this "land of the free."

[charlyvi]

9. I don't think the Christian conservatives are the main part

of his base. Just the loudest. I think the biggest chunk of the base is corporate robber barons, and old time conservatives who don't read the paper much.

[MADem]

3. A lot of them did not vote in huge numbers, or voted for kooky

third party types who did not have a prayer of winning, but "shared their values." You do have to wonder if they will give up their illusion of power, even if all they get for their trouble and slavish support are scraps from the table of the monkeyking. I'll be happy if they all decide to teach the GOP a lesson in 08...

[Skittles]

5. well, they're finally figuring out GWB and GOD are two different entities

now that IS something to behold

[MrBenchley]

6. How could anyone tire of watching the GOP self-destruct

And every step Chimpy takes to mollify the loony-tune fringe alienates the moderate center.

You DO know they couldn't vote for Chimpy again even if they wanted to?

[OneTwentyoNine]

12. Huh...not me,this is must see TV IMO.......n/t

[MrBenchley]

21. Here's AmericaBlog...

"This Week with George Stephanopoulous had a fascinating exchange on Miers with Leahy and Specter. They got into James Dobson's quotes about knowing things "that I probably shouldn't know" and getting that information from Rove.
Specter said that if Leahy didn't call him as a witness, and interrupted Stephanopoulous to further say (and speaking in the Dolesque third person): "If Pat Leahy doesn't call him, then Arlen Specter may." Rove and Dobson before a Judiciary Committee. Oh god, please do not tempt me so..."

http://www.americablog.org/

[HardWorkingDem]

16. Not tired of watching the self-destruction...tired of...

listening to the pundits and everyone spreading bs that Bush will lose his base; he might tick them off and they might whine a lot, but they won't vote for any Dem.

Also, we have to be careful here and not get lulled into complacency over all of this.

I saw several pundits over the past couple of weeks asking "where have the Dems been?", while the general consensus among Dems appears to be let them eat their own young alone. I'd rather much see some Dems out there at least helping them out a bit.

[MrBenchley]

20. It's not bs....

Chimpy IS losing his base...

When you hear pundits going "where have the Dems been?" they mean, "Why don't they do something we can attack them for?"

[MADem]

23. BINGO!!! Bob, tell Mr. Benchley what he's won, yet AGAIN!!!

He's in the TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS!!!!!

[MrBenchley]

25. Thanks!

Believe it or not, in another thread we've got a child pouting and wailing that the DLC (which Bill Clinton helped found and which served as the base of his support) had attacked Bill Clinton, and that that was why he hated them....

You wonder what planet some of these people live on...it sure as shit ain't earth.

[HardWorkingDem]

26. Do you really believe....

that Bush's base is going to shrink from all of this? I hardly doubt it. The only people that might come our way are those who are the persuadable voters, or the ones that wanted to vote for Kerry but just weren't sure about what would happen (wow, bet they are surprised now).

Bush's base will stay loyal, though maybe hold their nose. And after hearing Specter on the news today and then that one traveling judge out of Texas who was bragging about the pro-life events and evangelical events that Miers has attended seems to show that Miers will probably be more than right wing enough for Bush's base.

Besides, these people are red meat eaters and have learned to love the taste of blood and won't be going anywhere soon.

[MADem]

27. Yep, they have abandoned the GOP before

They did it after Nixon. You'd think they would have gone with Ford, but no, he wasn't fundy enough for them. Some switched and voted for Carter, because of his Bible Belt bona fides, but most of them just STAYED HOME, preferring to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and God the things that are God's.

[cassiepriam]

7. Yes, the lemmings will follow him off the cliff.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. What? no Jenna, Queen of America?

oh damn. I was on pins and needles.

[pretzel4gore]

11. 'nothing fails like success when working for the devil'

unfortunately, every cliche ever written has applied to the bush crookery and oinkfest. one cliche's is certain: they have killed the golden goose!
> if grampa bush was working for the nazi party in the 20's and 30's, then how can anyone act surprised that, after his off'spring' act as cia boss/vp/govner/president that the nazi party won the 2nd world war, finally? how can intelligent people act, much less really be, surprised or shook up?

[bklyncowgirl]

13. If this splits at least part of the fundamentalists away from the GOP ....

it is a very good thing indeed.

These people will probably never vote for a Democrat. That's OK, as long as they go back to not voting or set up their own Christian Values party that's cool with me.

One concern. If the Fundies match a right wing christian agenda with a populist agenda ala Pat Buchanan, this could cause big problems for the Democrats if the Dems are still toeing the corporate line.

[win_in_06]

14. That means a more conservative repug will do well in their

primaries.

I see fundies being more energized than ever and not tolerating anyone with any moderate tendencies.

Look for Allen, Brownback or Huckabee to get the nomination,

not McCain or Rudy.

Slogan something like, "the True-Blue Conservative"

[peace frog]

19. Do that and they might lose

Voters in large numbers will be sick of the Far Right fringe types next election go-round. Sure, they can run their candidate but he/she won't get the nomination this time, too much fundy fatigue in voters of all stripes.

I see a moderate Dem or Repub (could go either way, depending upon the popularity of the candidate), acceptable to great numbers of voters of both parties, taking the 2008 election.

[zanne]

15. Why are we so worried about his "base"?

His base consists of the true fanatics--about 30% of the Republican Party. Before most Republicans knew what they were all about, they managed to bring the rest of the party along with them. But that was then. Now, it's just scandal after scandal and lies being revealed constantly. So 30% of Republicans are being "squeaky", because they know they'll get the grease. Bush will keep his base, no matter what. But who cares?

[pattim]

24. I hope they'll be demoralized.

And go for nobody. Quite a few DUers, I know (I've lurked for a while), have declared their intention to just give up, they're so sick of the Dems caving. Perhaps this will even the balance.

[AlGore-08.com]

28. Actually, there is the possibility that if the far right gets mad enough

That the Dems can use that anger to keep GOP moderates from winning the primaries. Gray Davis did that during his last campaign - - Dick Riordan, a moderate GOPer, was polling to win the primary and beat Davis in the general.

But Davis went on the offensive, and spent the GOP primary attacking Riordan's conservative credentials - - pointing out all these things Riordan did and said which would help him in the general with moderate and independent voters. But it's the party base that votes in the primary, so Riordan scrambled to try and prove he was really conservative and really anti-gay rights, anti-choice & anti-other-things-that-made-his-poll-numbers-go-down-among-Dems-and-moderates-in-the-general. But the moment Riordan would produce evidence that he really was anti-gay (or whatever), Davis would fling out further evidence that Riordan was really a moderate, and demand to know where Riordan really stood and how could the voters trust him? The conservative primary voters left Riordan in droves, and Riordan ended up getting a pathetic 33% of the GOP primary vote and losing to a far right clown who couldn't campaign his way out of a wet paper bag. Davis, who was extremely unpopular at that point, won a race nobody expected him to win.

Also, if the conservative base stays hacked off through the 2008 cycle, there are two things that MIGHT happen which could benefit the Dems.

If the far right demands that the GOP nominee be a provable right winger, they might end up nominating somebody who is so far to the right, the GOP can't use their stealth "he's a different kind of Republican"/"He's a compassionate conservative" cr*p they've been using to win over moderates.

Or... if the GOP ends up nominates somebody who doesn't pass their litmus test in 2008 (an old fashioned, Rockefeller conservative or a real moderate Republican), that a third party conservative candidate MIGHT peel off enough votes from the GOP candidate in 2008 to make a difference in a close race.

Those things might happen, if the far right gets and stays alienated from Smirk. Might.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

29. This is why we need to reject Harriet Miers

Some Rethugs are planning to vote against Miers, and if the Democrats unify against her too, it will be a massive humiliation to Dubya. She's not only a crony-- she's blatantly unqualified, and the founder of a law firm that embezzled millions from its clients. Any of you Dem Senators out there (especially you, Harry Reid), listen up: If you vote for Miers, your political career is over. You will not be getting a penny from us in the upcoming elections.

[formernaderite]

30. It's a side show because: HE"S NOT RUNNING

for anything. Oh, and the base is safe.
I hope the dems aren't using this as their planning strategy.