President 2008 Watch: Conservatives – Looking Past Bush

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Wall Street Journal: Bush’s Conservative Base Frets Key Issues Are Losing Focus

Social, Economic Backers Increase Their Criticism As War Directs Agenda

Fallout from the war in Iraq, which already has weakened President Bush among the general public and in Congress, now is causing problems with the group that has been his mainstay: social and economic conservatives.

These longtime loyalists, appreciative of Mr. Bush’s record on issues ranging from tax cuts to his veto of federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, also have supported his war policies. But Mr. Bush’s annual State of the Union message Tuesday night aggravated their underlying fear: that the president might become so consumed by the worsening conflict in Iraq — and chastened by Democrats’ takeover of Congress — that he will give up on the issues they care about.

“I think the president left a lot of conservatives shaking their heads” by avoiding the issues atop their agenda, said Bill Lauderback, executive vice president at the American Conservative Union.

Yesterday morning, the weekly meeting of conservatives that is convened by antitax activist Grover Norquist, a White House ally, was marked by “tense exchanges” with administration press secretary Tony Snow over border enforcement and Mr. Bush’s immigration proposals, according to conservative activists.

Conservatives are becoming more openly critical, adding to the president’s woes and emboldening Democrats for battles ahead. Increasingly, they are looking beyond Mr. Bush for a new standard-bearer, though no one in Republicans’ emerging 2008 presidential field has yet captured conservatives.

President Bush has bee a lame duck for over a year. When he refused to enforce the immigration laws and the Mexican illegal aliens were protesting in the streets of Los Angeles conservatives received the message.

When the President nominated Harriet Miers to the United States Supreme court, conservatives heard the message.

After the cataclysmic Congressional election of 2006, Bush sold out Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, conservatives received the message.

Time for conservatives to move on.

Time to reformulate “realistic” policies that can be enacted into law and drop self-destructive minority perpetuating litmus tests.

Has anyone been listening to Newt Gingrich lately?

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