I am quick to tell people who assume that because I am conservative that I am a Republican. Not so. I claim allegiance to no political party; none of them make the grade in my book. I will qualify the foregoing by saying that I am strongly, undeniably, definitely, adamantly and uncompromisingly not a Democrat.
I do, however, align myself with Republicans when they are right, or when they are more right than the Democrats, which is nearly all the time. To do otherwise would be stupid.
But today is not one of those times. The Republicans—the GOP, the party that took control of Congress back from the Democrats after 40 years of exile in the wilderness of minority status, the party of Ronald Reagan, the party that held both the White House and the Congress during George Bush’s first six years—have evolved into Wusses of the first order (Yes, that’s a capital “W”). And the Wus in Chief is none other than George Bush.
Mr. Bush, imperfect as he (and the rest of us) is, gained my admiration for his ability to not be swayed from what he thought was the right course. GW doesn’t put his finger in the wind to figure which way to go. He sticks to his belief that the war against terror is important, despite the liberals and Democrats apparent failure to notice that terrorism is our greatest threat. He sticks to his belief that Iraq is the primary battlefield in that war, despite tremendous public opinion to the contrary, and a gaggle of Democrats in Congress determined to undermine the administration's policy, notwithstanding the horrible negative consequences of doing so. And while I dramatically disagree with his position, he has stuck to his guns on the border issue. But more recent developments show Mr. Bush to be weak-kneed and cowering against the Democrat’s political assaults.
He allowed the Democrats to carry the day in their manic drive to drive out Donald Rumsfeld, barely putting up any resistance after the election. That was bad for two reasons. If he was going to shove Mr. Rumsfeld overboard, why didn’t he do it before the election when it might have made a difference? And second, now that the Democrats have smelled blood in the water, they are after another scalp.
And now, he’s allowing the Democrats to create a tempest in a teapot over the firing of eight federal prosecutors, something he is constitutionally authorized to do at any time for any reason. He doesn’t need to explain anything to anyone. He doesn’t need to send his aides to testify before Congressional committees. He doesn’t need to scapegoat Alberto Gonzales. He needs to quit waving the white flag, stand up and behave like the President of the United States, and tell Congress to quit wasting everyone’s time on this non-issue and get back to work on important things.
The Republicans in Congress are little better. Where’s the support for their president? Some of them have even gone over to the other side on this issue, either not realizing that there is no “there” there, or being more concerned for their own sorry hide than for what’s right.
The Republicans are often their own worst enemy, losing battles not because they are wrong, but because they are afraid to be right.
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