Who exactly has Bush "aided"?
Hugh Hewitt writes (regarding the Miers nomination): I did not call for the GOP to steadfastly defend the president and his nominee against obviously meritous charges of perjury, etc. I argued that the Democratic Party's example of absurd and wrong headed loyalty of a scandal-plagued Clinton contrasted sharply with many among the GOP's immediate turn on Bush/Miers even before the hearings, when Bush deserves political support from the very people he has aided, at a minimum until the hearings begin. The GOP and allied pundits cold move a long way towards party loyalty and the sort of political maturity that enduring majority coalitions need without ever coming close to the line the Democrats crossed with Clinton, and that move would serve the party and their goals in the long run.He's got a point -- there's a difference between loyalty to a President on the matter of perjury charges and similar crimes, and a Supreme Court nomination. But Hugh is arguing here that those the President has aided owe him loyalty in return. Fine, to a degree. Those the President has aided with his Presidency do perhaps owe him something. But what has President Bush done for me? He's passed tax cuts... that will expire in a few years. But he's also spending like a drunken sailor, including massive new drug benefits. He's kept America "safe" from terrorism... while undermining vital civil liberties. And he won't even close off the southern border, something that is vitally important to preventing terrorists from smuggling in weapons of mass destruction. He's appointed a justice to the Supreme Court... whose opinion on vital questions is still a mystery. No credit there. He's supported the Firearms Liability Protection Act... while also supporting the Assault Weapons Ban. He has failed even to propose meaningful reforms to bring our nation's gun laws back to sanity. He's failed even to propose meaningful social security or tax reforms. Never mind pass them -- he hasn't even proposed them, aside from broad speculative outlines of possible future proposals that fade into mist once Democratic opposition crystalizes. In short -- we, the People, put a single party in control of the Presidency and both Houses of Congress. And what has he changed about our government? Not much. He's changed how we interact with other nations, to be sure, and mostly in positive ways. But domestically, he's done nothing for gun owners, nothing for libertarians, nothing for small-government conservatives. So when Hugh says that "we" owe Bush... well, maybe someone does. But I don't owe the man a damned thing. |
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