Consider: What if Bush governs as a "moderate" the next two years?

[stevietheman]

What if the conventional wisdom we now have about Bush doesn't hold?

What if he decides that to lay the groundwork for 2008, and also preempt impeachment progress, he needs to compromise with the Democratic Congress?

What if he replaces most of his cabinet with moderates across the board?

What if Bush plays the "I can be your President too" card?

Think about it. What does he have to lose by becoming more moderate now?

If you think in terms of Bush and Rove being political animals more than anything else, Bush's morphing into a moderate bears a distinct possibility of materializing, no?

How should the Democrats deal with a compromising, deal-making President in a way that helps Democrats in 2008?

There's your thought exercise for tonight. I just want to make sure that this possbility (even if remote) is covered.

[William769]

1. I don't care what he does in the future.

I want investigations into his past! Let the chips fall where they may.

[jgraz]

2. Not bloody likely...

but even if he does, we need to treat him like the rabid, mass-murdering monster that he is. The dead from Iraq, Katrina and 9/11 deserve no less.

[jgraz]

23. On second thought...

The guy has no real ideology -- he just does whatever the biggest strongest daddy figure tells him to do. That daddy figure is now...Nancy Pelosi. He may abandon his base in order to save his legacy. At which point the Repugs in Congress will turn against him and sign on to impeachment proceedings.

This is gonna be fun...

[Cobalt-60]

3. It would be an improvement

But its too late.
He's already done enough to earn several nooses.

[madokie]

4. have you been following him any 'cause he isn't going to be anything except an asshole

like he has been for 6 years, wanna bet

[Red Right and BLUE]

5. He has nothing to lose.

But it's too late. Look at all he's done.

[bobbolink]

6. As long as he's behind bars, I don't care.

:evilgrin:

[customerserviceguy]

7. I see this as a real possibility

Bush was most successful as the governor of Texas when he was dealing with Democrats there. Now, I'm not saying that Texas Democrats are representative of US Democrats as a whole, but Bush seems to be able to play the "give and take" game of politics fairly effectively with the opposition, he's not that good at it with members of his own party. His severe disagreement with congressional Republicans on immigration illustrates that.

This election may have freed him from having to please members of his own party, many of whom have been sniping at him, or have been distancing themselves from him. This could be payback time for some of them. You're right about him being a political animal, surely he must realize that if his legacy is to be something other than Iraq, he only has two years to make that happen. And he must work with a Democratic Congress to get that legacy.

[Wiley50]

8. What if Low-Tar cigarettes only kill you a little bit? n/t

[porphyrian]

9. Then it's win/win.

If he acts moderate, we get bills passed and '08 candidates can't use that as a campaigning difference to distinguish themselves from him. If he doesn't, we have legislators acting moderate to distance themselves from him and we get bills passed, possibly even by overriding a veto.

[SammyWinstonJack]

10. And what if pigs fly? That's about as likely as george compromising with Dems.

[ThomWV]

11. What Are You Lookin' For? Time Off For Good Behavior?

[stevietheman]

15. It would be what he's looking for...

I want him to be impeached, removed and tried at the Hague myself.

But I'm just trying to get DUers to think about the possibility of Bush "going moderate" and what to do about it, politically.

[0007]

12. If junior yanks the money from the wealthy that he gave through

tax breaks and gives to the poor and education, if junior will sign the death warrant for Tom DeLay and the other scum sucking thief's that stole from the working person, if junior will bring back to life all those that have been killed for his mistakes, if junior will put Dick Cheney in prison along with all the other neocon, if junior will give all persons in this country health coverage and work with Hugo Chavez for helping the needy, then I'd say there's hope.

But the truth is this son-of-a-bitch is incorrigible.

[MissWaverly]

13. he's still the same old smirk

do you think that he is going to have any more respect for the Dem Congress than he did
when it was ruled by members of his own party, he wiped his feet on them, he has this
warm fuzzy meeting with Speaker Pelosi and 4 minutes after she leaves, tries to push
through the Bolton nomination to the UN. Sounds like a genuine effort at cooperation
to me. NOT. Maybe he was more cooperative in Texas while gov. but that was before
he became the DECIDER.

[DinahMoeHum]

14. Are you kidding? Monkeys will fly out of my ass. . .

before THAT happens.

:evilfrown:

[O.M.B.inOhio]

16. a response

Playing nice now does not undo his impeachable offenses, though it my lessen the passion with which impeachment is pursued. Compare Clinton's offense to the piles of corpses in Iraq and there's no question that * ought to be impeached. But he doesn't have to play nice to be safe in this Senate.

If * plays moderate, the far-right and fundamentalists will feel betrayed and lose some faith in their political power. They'll go back to bombing abortion clinics. And Dems can play up the fact that their majority was responsible for pressuring * into compliance.

I'm not concerned that a moderate Executive will undermine our future. But I am concerned that they let us have these 2 years to allay concerns about e-voting, and there'll be another Presidential theft in 2008.

[Ignacio Upton]

22. His father actually played nice with us from time to time

And that helped piss off a lot of conservatives in 1992 who voted for Perot. Hopefully the Consitution Party can be viable in 2008 to take advantage of Bush "triangulating."

[gratuitous]

17. That would require a change not heretofore apparent

In the universe of possible outcomes, I'd rank it up there with success in Iraq or the possibility that I'll poop out a pill that cures cancer if I jab a fork into an electrical outlet.

He's not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, and he's got a revenge streak a mile wide. He's enjoyed about six years of unbridled and unquestioned power. Every compromise, every time he has to back down, every time he has to crank up another phony smile while the Democrats force him to do what's best for the country will stick in his craw and just make him meaner and more spiteful.

A politically savvy Bush/Rove would have dumped Rumsfeld months ago, when the drumbeat for his dismissal was loud. A politically savvy Bush/Rove would have abandoned social security reform or the Bolton nomination when they ran into organized, intense opposition even from his own party. Same with the Harriet Miers nomination. A politically savvy Bush/Rove would have done something, anything for the victims of Katrina, even if the only person benefiting was Helmethead Lott.

These are not political geniuses; they're vain, self-centered, narcissistic sociopaths who measure everything by one standard and that's "what's in it for me?"

I don't see it at all.

[AIJ Alom]

18. Then we point out the wolf in sheep's clothing or the duck in

sheep's clothing. Point this out to the other wolves to destroy their support. And we use all and every tools at our disposal to get rid of the wolf who has already taken it's toll on our flock.

[Jim Warren]

19. moderate security prison then nt

[Eric J in MN]

20. If Bush moderates by signing Democratic legislation....

...then our candidates can run on the accomplishments of the bills they passed.

[elocs]

21. Bush should be in trouble for what he has done,

not for what he is doing. Criminals always seem to get religion after they are caught and promise to be good boys from now on. Although if I was a criminal who might be indicted, but had no fear of ever being convicted, I don't know how worried I would be. The Nixon example might be interesting--go after the VP first.

[Chomp]

24. I think OP's proposition

is actually quite likely.

Jnr. now just wants to see the last 2 years out, keep his head down, not cause any more trouble, hope Baker and Gates can get him out of Iraq and generally disappear.

He's a beaten man. Done. He wants out and I think it's simply path-of-least-resistence from here on in.