I know some of you hate the anecdotal articles about Republicans abandoning Bush, but I can’t help myself. I know they offer little, if any, predictive value, but there’s something about reading these items that makes my day a little better.
The latest comes from the AP’s Scott Lindlaw who found some pretty high-profile conservatives who seem to believe Bush has failed as a president.
When an influential group of conservatives gathers in downtown Washington each week, they often get a political pep talk from a senior Bush administration official or campaign aide. They don’t expect a fellow Republican to deliver a blistering critique of President Bush’s handling of the Iraq war.
But nearly 150 conservatives listened in silence recently as a veteran of the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations ticked off a litany of missteps in Iraq by the Bush White House.
“This war is not going well,” said Stefan Halper, a deputy assistant secretary of state under President Reagan.
“It’s costing us a lot of money, isolating us from our allies and friends,” said Halper, who gave $1,000 to George W. Bush’s campaign and more than $83,000 to other GOP causes in 2000. “This is not the cakewalk the neoconservatives predicted. We were not greeted with flowers in the streets.”
Jeez, when we make these kinds of remarks, we’re accused of being pessimistic America-haters. This guy worked for Reagan and gave over $83,000 to the Republicans a few years ago. Is he just “disgruntled”?
The AP article also found a few rank-and-file activists who aren’t exactly excited about voting this year.
“I am bitterly disappointed in his actions with this war. It is a total travesty,” said Tom Hutchinson, 69, a self-described conservative from Sturgeon, Mo., who posted yard signs and staffed campaign phone banks for the Republican in 2000. Hutchinson said he did not believe the administration’s stated rationales for the war, in particular the argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
Hutchinson, a retired businessman and former college professor, said his unease with Iraq may lead him to do something he has not done since 1956: avoid the voting booth in a presidential election.
Jack Walters, 59, a self-described “classical conservative” from Columbia, Mo., said he hadn’t decided which candidate to vote for.
“Having been through Vietnam, I thought no, never again,” Walters said. “But here comes the same thing again, and I’m old enough to recognize the lame reasons given for going into Iraq, and they made me ill.”
As I mentioned once before, the primary reason I enjoy articles like these is to reinforce group behavioral patterns. Reasonable Republicans who realize that Bush’s presidency has been a disaster need to realize that there are plenty of others who’ve come to the same conclusion.
Some people find strength in knowing they’re not alone. So to my Republican readers who know in their hearts that Bush is wrong, keep your chin up. There are probably more people than you realize who are just like you.