The American Spectator

I rarely limber up my typing fingers to comment on an article by Mr. Babbin because it becomes so very redundant to keep saying that I agree, in general, with what he writes. Alas, this time I cannot resist the urge to chime in with a very large AMEN, but also a cautionary note or two. First the good news. I just saved on my car insur……OOPS — wrong letter. I am completely in agreement with the generalities AND the specifics of the Babbin article. Would that he, or someone like him were POTUS so that the called for actions would actually occur.

Unfortunately, our POTUS is George W. Bush, and he won’t do it. There was a recent article that stated that once the actual election campaign was over, Dubya virtually refused to take any action that he deemed “political.” Thus he would refuse to use the bully pulpit to name his adversaries and weigh in against them or their arguments. We have seen this time and time again. He nominated a dozen folks to be judges only to se them completely savaged and slandered and filibustered by the radical Left and the Senate Democrats. What we saw out of Dubya was an almost offhand remark or several, but no concerted campaign push to bring heat on the obstructionists, such as Kennedy, Schumer, Leahy, Reid, etc., and certainly no naming of the opponents. One fine candidate even got fed up with the twisting in the wind and character assignation and withdrew his name.

Now we see the RINO squishes and Dem moles in the GOP caucus gain the upper hand and make a deal that throws two more of Bush’s judicial picks to the wolves, and still Bush simply goes on his merry way. This has given the Left three “wins” and thoroughly emboldened them.

We have been further treated to the psychodrama of John Bolton of late. Again Bush has made a few almost off-hand remarks, but has led no overt ongoing campaign to get Mr. Bolton confirmed. Indeed, the White House has negotiated with Biden, Dodd, et al., almost to the point of a complete cave in, in an effort to simply get an up or down vote on the nomination, and no compromise has been sufficient to break the filibuster.

Bush has spent months and months letting the anti-war, anti-American Left, including elected Democrats campaign against the Iraqi war, unimpeded in any significant way by any concerted, ongoing counter-attacks by Bush, himself. His poll numbers have finally dipped so low that his staff has convinced him to fight back. Now we will see if Dubya’s recent nationwide address was a single strike or the opening of a much needed campaign.

We have seen one area where Bush will fight back. He has done it before and now we see it again. He is quite willing to take on and chastise his base supporters. The latest is a shot across the bow that he, Bush, doesn’t like it when the Conservatives criticize a friend of his (Gonzales). So Kennedy, Schumer, Dodd, Reid, et al. get off unscathed. So McCain, Warner, Graham, Chafee, Snowe, et al. get off without as much as a hint of dire consequences for their disloyalty to the Administration. But Heaven help the poor conservative that criticizes Gonzales, or the Bush open borders policy, or etc.