Bush, the political liability

September 21, 2005

It was bound to happen. With the president’s national support in freefall, Republicans facing re-election next year are starting to look over their shoulders and wonder whether they’d even want Bush to campaign with them in their states/districts.

The very idea of the president being a liability is without precedent since Bush took office in 2001, and yet, the reality appears to have reached the surface.

As polls show the president’s approval numbers falling, there is growing concern among lawmakers that GOP margins in Congress could shrink next year, and even rank-and-file Republicans are complaining that Bush is shirking the difficult budget decisions that must accompany the rebuilding bonanza.

Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.) said he and other fiscal conservatives are feeling “genuine concern [which] could easily turn into frustration and anger.”

The anxiety is palpable among those facing tough campaigns next year.

One indicator many Republicans are watching to gauge whether Bush is becoming a liability for the party is in Pennsylvania, where Rick Santorum, the No. 3 Republican in the Senate, is trailing state treasurer Bob Casey Jr. by double digits.

“My caucus would do anything for Senator Santorum,” Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-R.I.) said of his colleague. Chafee, who himself faces a tough reelection battle next year, predicted Republicans will increasingly be faced with the choice of propping up Bush or protecting their own. “I think they’re going to collide,” Chafee said of the two options.

Asked whether Bush’s problems were a factor in his slump, Santorum responded, “That may be.”

For Santorum to make such an admission on the record seems significant. Earlier this year, the response to such a question would have prompted Santorum or any number of other vulnerable Republicans to dismiss the very idea of Bush being a burden to their campaigns. Bush is a fine leader, proud to stand with him, yada yada yada.

Not anymore. A lame-duck president, with an approval rating at-or-below 40%, and a legislative wish list that won’t help vulnerable incumbents, is suddenly finding that Republicans, who are more worried about their own prospects than the White House agenda, aren’t anxious to do his bidding.

And if Bush has lost his power over Congress, Bush has lost just about everything.

And if Bush has lost his power over Congress, Bush has lost just about everything.

It couldn’t have happened to a more appropriate person.

  • It reminds me a bit of Clinton and Gore with some southern Democrats in RED districts. They stuck with teh party, they just didn’t want any visitors from DC at home. Now, Bush is going to feel that all over the country.

  • One of the few pieces of good news after Hurricane Katrina was that
    at last the infestation of Formosan termites in New Orleans had been
    stopped. Maybe the current situation might see Congress and the
    White House freed of their rodent-infestation problem. At very least
    we’ll see some snakes being driven out.

  • I find it funny that Santorum likely does not consider his own incompetence and ineptitude to be factors in his steaday decline. “Must be someone else, not me. The president. Yeah, that’s it. The President.” These clowns do not take responsibility for anything.

  • I’m GOP and pissed. I’m active in primaries to support candidates that are fiscally conservative and socially liberal. My party is the exact opposite on both counts (and the reason I support Libertarians in the general elections). The time is long past for Repugnants to impress me by distancing themselves from The Shrub. Give the house to the Donkey’s and let the investigations and impeachment begin!

  • Bravo Chopin! I’m glad to see that even GOP’ers are beginning to see the chinks in this administrations armor. I’ll second your motion for investigations and impeachment.

  • Timmy, I’m not “beginning” to see the chinks. I have hated the Shrubs for decades. As an atheist, I had to endure Shrub 41 say in 1987 “I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots”. As a resident of Houston in 1994, I had to endure Shrub/Rove smear and destroy my governor Ann Richards. And don’t get me started on George, Neil and Jeb’s ‘bidness’ dealings. I have never voted for a Bush. Nor am I in any danger of doing so in the future. There is absolutely NOTHING about Shrub’s MO that surprises me. What shames me is that my entire party has placed loyalty to these thugs over statesmanship and country.

  • And if Bush has lost his power over Congress, Bush has lost just about everything.

    Would that it were so. He still has the highly abused and abusable power of executive orders to wreak havoc. And like a cornered or wounded animal—and knowing what spiteful bastards are Bush, Rove, and Cheney—what damage might they wreak as they go down even just for spite? There’s still ample time to gut agencies of what few good people might be left, destroy regulations, you name it. I wouldn’t feel safe until all these assholes’ heads were in baskets.

  • Santorum was in trouble long before GWB’s latest problems began. His own ludicrous statements did him in a long time ago.

  • If you were chief political strategist for the Congressional Dems right now, what would you advise?

    Complete capitulation, apparently.

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