Bush’s political capital spent? "...losing control over a party that marched in lockstep with him."

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: News Analysis
A Reversal of Fortune for Bush’s Political Capital
By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: June 30, 2007

WASHINGTON, June 29 — After a string of Republican defections this week — on Iraq, immigration and domestic eavesdropping — President Bush enters the final 18 months of his presidency in danger of losing control over a party that once marched in lockstep with him.

First, two prominent Republican senators broke with the president on Iraq. Then, Mr. Bush’s party abandoned him in droves on the immigration bill, sending the measure to its death in the Senate, despite the president’s fervent lobbying for it.

And when Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to issue subpoenas to the White House for documents related to its domestic eavesdropping program, three Republicans, including a longtime loyalist, Senator Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, joined them, and another three did not take a position.

For a president who once boasted that he had political capital and intended to use it, the back-to-back desertions demonstrated starkly just how little of that capital is left. With the nation turning its attention to who will succeed Mr. Bush — and Republican presidential candidates increasingly distancing themselves from him — even allies say it could become increasingly difficult for the president to assert himself over his party, much less force the Democratic majority in Congress to bend to his will....

Even weakened presidents retain tremendous influence; if nothing else, the conservative tenor of many of the Supreme Court’s decisions in the last week is a reminder of the ways in which Mr. Bush’s legacy will continue to shape politics and policy for a long time. As the president demonstrated in clashes with Congress over war spending and stem cell research, he still has enough Republican support to sustain a veto....Still, for a president who once had almost absolute control over his own party and a proclivity to employ his power expansively if not audaciously, the last week was a reminder of how much things have changed. Republicans who came to office brimming with optimism just a few short years ago now sound as if they fear a long slog ahead....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/30/washington/30bush.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

[whistle]

1. Now Bush ends his spending phase and begins stealing

[Cha]

2. The bigger they

are the harder they fall. The republicons so deserve their long slog ahead and then some.

[phaseolus]

3. 2008....

...is going to be hilarious. Every Republican running for re-election is going to pretend that George never existed. Every Democratic opponent will prominently feature photos of the Repub in question shaking hands with Bush. It's gonna be fun to watch...

:popcorn: