IS THE BLOGOSPHERE INSIDE THE BELTWAY? :

Bush Extremely Strong With Base (Will Lester, May 31, 2002, AP)

Occasional grumbling by some prominent conservatives about President Bush sometimes overshadows his extremely solid support among stalwart Republicans and conservatives around the country.

"Within the conservative leadership, there is increasing restlessness about some of the Bush's domestic policy decisions in the last few months," said Steve Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a conservative anti-tax group.

Democratic strategist Jim Jordan dismisses such complaints as "strictly a debate among the Washington elites."

Polls do not suggest discontent among some conservative activists has spread outside Washington.

"Bush wins overwhelming majority support from all Republicans and with strong Republicans it is all but unanimous," said Thomas Riehle, president of Ipsos-Reid public affairs, which conducts a tracking poll for the Cook Political Report.

"At this point in any president's first term, you would expect to have alienated some faction of your own party, but that is not the case with George Bush."

Few things make the Web more fun than listening to the Weekly Standard and bloggers declare Bush a one-termer in the making. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 31, 2002 3:05 PM