GOP Leaders to Bush: 'Your Presidency is Effectively Over'
Warning bad language from Prez.
GOP Leaders to Bush: 'Your Presidency is Effectively Over'
By DOUG THOMPSON
Nov 4, 2005, 08:13
A growing number of Republican leaders, party strategists and political professional now privately tell President George W. Bush that his presidency "is effectively over" unless he fires embattled White House advisor Karl Rove, apologizes to the American people for misleading the country into war and revamps his administration from top to bottom.
"The only show of unity we have now in the Republican Party is the belief that the President has failed the party, the American people and the presidency," says a longtime, and angry, GOP strategist.
With the public face of support for Bush eroding daily from even diehard Republicans, the President faces mounting anger from within his party over the path that may well lead to loss of control of Congress in the 2006 midterm elections and the White House in 2008.
"This presidency is in trouble," says a senior White House aide. "Even worse, I don't know if there is a way out of the trouble."
Congressional leaders journeyed to the White House before Bush left on his South American tour this week to tell the President that his legislative agenda on the Hill is dead, his latest Supreme Court nominee faces a tough confirmation fight in the Senate and he is facing open revolt within party ranks.
"The Speaker is having an increasingly difficult time holding his troops in line," says a source within the office of House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert. "Anger at the President grows exponentially with each passing day."
At a recent White House strategy session, internal party pollsters told the President that his approval rating with Americans continues to slide and may be irreversible, citing his failed Iraq war, the failed Supreme Court nomination of Harriet Miers and his failure to deal decisively on a number of fronts, including Hurricane Katrina, the economy and the Valerie Plame scandal.
In meetings, leaders and strategists have suggested a number of things that Bush must do to try and save his presidency and GOP prospects in upcoming elections, including:
Apologize to the American people, Congress and our allies for misleading them on the reasons for invading Iraq;
Revamp the White House staff from top to bottom;
Fire Rove.
"We keep coming back to Rove," says a GOP pollster. "He has escaped indictment, so far, but the feeling within the party is that another shoe is ready to drop and the longer he waits to jettison Rove the greater the damage. As long as Karl Rove remains at the President's side, the Bush presidency is effectively over and he is just riding out the days until the nation elects a Democrat to replace him. Even with Rove gone the damage may be irreparable."
Bush, however, has dug his heels in on Rove. When a GOP strategist suggested last weekend that the President fire Rove, Bush exploded.
"You go to hell," he screamed at the strategist. "You can leave and you can take the rest of these lily-livered mother****ers with you!" The President then stormed out of the room and refused to meet further with any other party leaders or strategists.
Bush's escalating temper tantrums and his intransigence on political issues increase Republican worries about the long term effects on both his presidency and the party's prospects in upcoming elections.
"Right now, George W. Bush is the Republican Party's chief liability," says a GOP strategist who has advised Presidential campaigns for 30 years. "The entire political future of the party and perhaps the nation now rests on the shoulders of a President that no one - Democrat or Republican - believes in or trusts."
© Copyright 2005 by Capitol Hill Blue
Notice they never list illegal immigration as one of the reasons the public is disgusted with this president.
Bush's Increasing Mental Lapses and Temper Tantrums Worry White House Aides
By DOUG THOMPSON
Nov 2, 2005, 05:26
An uncivil war rages inside the walls of the West Wing of the White House, a bitter, acrimonious war driven by a failed agenda, destroyed credibility, dwindling public support and a President who lapses into Alzheimer-like periods of incoherent babbling.
On one side are the dwindling numbers of die-hard loyalists to President George W. Bush, those who support his actions and decisions without question and remain committed to both Bush and scandal-scarred political advisor Karl Rove.
On the other side are the increasing numbers of those who say Rove must go and who worry about the President's declining mental state and his ability to restore credibility with Congress, our foreign allies and the American people.
The war erupted into full-blown shout fests at Camp David this past weekend where decorum broke down in staff meetings and longtime aides threatened to quit unless Rove goes. Insiders say Chief of Staff Andrew Card now leads the anti-Rove legions and has told Bush that he wants out of the high-pressure job.
White House staff members say the White House is “like a wartime bunker� where shell-shocked aides hide from those who disagree with their actions and office pools speculate on how long certain senior aides will last.
Bush, whose obscenity-laced temper tantrums increase with each new setback and scandal, abruptly ended one Camp David meeting by telling everyone in the room to “go **** yourselves� before he stalked out of the room.
Senior aides describe Bush as increasingly “edgy� or “nervous� or “unfocused.� They say the President goes from apparent coherent thought one moment to aimless rambles about political enemies and those who are “out to get me.�
“It’s worse than the days when Ronald Reagan’s Alzheimer’s began setting in,� one longtime GOP operative told me privately this week. “You don’t know if he’s going to be coherent from one moment to the next. What scares me is if he lapses into one of those fogs during a public appearance.�
Aides say Bush, who has always had trouble focusing during times of stress, is increasingly distant during meetings, often staring off into space during discussions on the nation’s security and other issues.
Card has responded to the crisis by cutting back on the number of staff members with direct access to the President and jumping in to answer questions when Bush’s mind wanders.
“Some people say Karl Rove is ‘Bush’s brain,’� says one increasingly-concerned West Winger. “Well Andy has become the President’s voice. He’s there to speak when the President seems unable to find form an answer.�
Bush’s mental state is a hot topic on Internet blogs and has increased since this web site disclosed last year that the White House physician had placed the President on anti-depressant medication – a story the administration never denied. Others, including prominent psychiatrists like Dr. Justin Frank of George Washington University, wonder if Bush, an admitted heavy drinker who claims he quit without any professional help, is hitting the bottle again.
An increasing number of mainstream media outlets, including Newsweek, The Washington Post and the New York Daily News recently confirmed our earlier reports about Bush’s temper tantrums.
“Bush usually reserves his celebrated temper for senior aides because he knows they can take it,� the Daily News reported. “Lately, however, some junior staffers also have faced the boss’s wrath.�
“This is not some manager at McDonald’s chewing out the help," a source with close ties to the White House told the paper. “This is the president of the United States, and it’s not a pleasant sight.�
Bush loyalists claim the President can survive his current spate of political troubles and emerge stronger than ever but an increasing number of White House aides express increasing doubt. Some even go so far as to speculate if the President’s deteriorating mental condition can survive another three years in office.
“The President has lost his focus, his ability to govern and the trust of the American people,� says one longtime GOP operative. “Those are things that are difficult to recapture when you’re on top of your game and this President has taken one too many blows to the head.�
© Copyright 2005 by Capitol Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/p ... 7617.shtml
