Conservatives divided on some Bush policies

[Judi Lynn]

Conservatives divided on some Bush policies
Thu Feb 9, 2006 3:19 PM ET

By John Whitesides, Political Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Barely more than a year after celebrating a big U.S. election win, frustrated conservative activists gathered on Thursday in sometimes open revolt over Bush administration policies on immigration, spending and domestic eavesdropping.

The first day of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference featured sharp disputes on immigration policy and criticism of the expanding federal budget, growing entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security and threats to individual privacy rights.

The mood of frustration was noticeably different from last year's gathering, when White House political adviser Karl Rove touted Republican gains and the re-election of President George W. Bush in 2004 as a triumph of conservative ideas.

"George Bush is a conservative and most conservatives like him and support him," said David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union, a prominent lobbying group. "But most conservatives, at one level or another, are troubled by much of what they see going on in our government."
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http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=politicsNews&storyID=2006-02-09T201938Z_01_N09358889_RTRUKOC_0_US-CONSERVATIVES.xml

[applegrove]

1. I can hear their brains starting to work - from here - and I'm in CANADA.

http://www.pacdv.com/sounds/sounds/creak.mp3

[Demeter]

7. That Grinding, Screeching Sound?

Nothing to see here, move along. These are not the droids you want.

[Swede]

2. Troubled? Troubled.

I wonder what would piss them off,or scare the hell out of them. Oh yeah, a blow job.

[havocmom]

3. Life long members of the GOP around here are announcing they are no longer

Republicans. They are going public and taking stands against the shit the current GOP is doing. They do not like the fiscal irresponsibility. They do not find pissing on the Constitution amusing. They do not think DEMS are satan.

I live in a county which, by percentage of the population, is probably the reddest in the US. Folks here hold their tongues and keep cards close to their chest. When they come out and start conversations with "Well, I guess I'm not a Republican..." the GOP has SERIOUSLY overplayed their hand!

Been ranting for decades that the real threat is not liberals, the UN, black helicopters or even fluoride in the water but CORPORATE CONTROL of the folks making laws. Suddenly, I am no longer a lone voice howling in my local wilderness.

Now, all we have to do is run DEM candidates who will get a positive message out, resonate with what people are really dealing with, NOT let the GOP define them or frame the debate.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

6. I see a few stickers on old, white guys' trucks and on bearded,

ballcap wearin' white guys' trucks but I have yet to hear one member in my community support Chimp. Veterans, the elderly and Joe Schmo...not a lick of support.

Not one lick.

[AlinPA]

4. Yet they will march in lockstep to vote for any republican that runs on

God, Guns, Gays and the Flag. The first three (GGG) are core values and trump everything. Everything. The Flag is rolled out when it gets real tough.

[DC Law]

5. A law school friend of mine,

a dyed-in-the-wool conservative with whom I have friendly debates all the time, has personally told me that he's disgusted with not only Bush's fiscal incontinence, but his illegal wiretapping program as well. In fact, he's an attendee at Grover Norquist's weekly meeting of conservatives, and most people there, he tells me, agree with Norquist that the wiretapping is illegal and unsound. I really think the writing is on the wall--conservatives will find themselves fractured by Nov. 2006, and may even be outright eating their young by 2008.