May 13, 2005

IT'S ONLY POLARIZING WHEN REPUBLICANS WIN:

One Slim Win After Another for Bush (Ronald Brownstein, May 13, 2005, LA Times)

All the polarizing political dynamics of George W. Bush's presidency condensed into a single illuminating episode Thursday, as the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted to advance the nomination of John R. Bolton.

Like so many of Bush's initiatives, the nomination of the blustery Bolton as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations energized conservatives, outraged Democrats and squeezed moderates in both parties.

And, as he has many times before, Bush won the legislative fight by the narrowest of margins — maintaining just enough support from Ohio Sen. George V. Voinovich and other committee Republicans critical of Bolton to overcome uniform Democratic opposition and move the nomination to the Senate floor on a party-line vote.

The vote demonstrated again Bush's willingness to live on the political edge — to accept achingly narrow margins in Congress and at the ballot box to pursue ambitious changes that sharply divide the country.

"This is their style of governing," said Marshall Wittmann, a former aide to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who is a fellow at the Democratic Leadership Council, a centrist party group. "You build upon the base and pressure the middle and you ignore the other side. You push across the finish line and you move on. In their mind, a win is a win, regardless of how narrow or polarizing it is."


It's worth recalling that just about the only two Democratic victories of the Clinton years were his tax hikes, which passed by one vote in a Democratic Senate, and the Assault Weapons ban, which passed by two votes in a Democratic House. Voters exacted their revenge in November 1994.

President Bush keeps hammering home major victories by narrow margins and the voters keep rewarding him and the Party.

Posted by Orrin Judd at May 13, 2005 10:18 AM
Comments

Once the logjam over the judicial nominations is broken, things will move even more swiftly.

The highway bill is going to be interesting, though - if Bush vetoes it, he will probably earn some enmity from the porksters, which will hurt him down the road. It's an odd position to be in, where the use of the veto may actually diminish his power. Last time I can remember that is when Nixon's veto of the War Powers Act was overriden.

Posted by: jim hamlen at May 13, 2005 10:47 AM

Marshall Wittmann is one of those Republicans, like Kevin Phillips, that reporters like Brownstein go to when they want negative quotes about conservative Republicans. Of course, to give Ron credit, he does identify Whittmann's DLC connections, but does try to smooth over how far left Marshall has gone since the 2000 election.

Posted by: John at May 13, 2005 11:40 AM

Well, NAFTA was passed in 1993, with more Republican than Democratic votes. Hmm, maybe you aren't scoring that as a Democratic "victory" - good point.

I'll keep quiet about welfare reform, then.

Posted by: Tom Maguire at May 13, 2005 11:42 AM

In retrospect the AWB had turned out to have been a tremendous victory for the pro-gun side. It galvanized our supporteres and ultimately discredited anti-gun voices. The public and even the media know who told the truth about the issue and whom they shall believe next time. More importantly, the politicians learned the price of taking "the first step toward common-sense gun control."

Posted by: Lou Gots at May 13, 2005 11:51 AM

Slim win. All you got to do is win.

Posted by: Mikey at May 13, 2005 12:12 PM

What Orwell knew: "Some animals are more equal than others." said the pig. Still believed, still false.

Posted by: Luciferous at May 13, 2005 12:33 PM

Whittman isn't even a Republican anymore, is he? I thought he switched after McCain lost.

Posted by: oj at May 13, 2005 12:53 PM

This is kind of like the last Super Bowl where some claimed that since the Patriots won by 3 instead of the point spread of 7 they really didn't win.

Brownstein, being a typical MSM reporter, tries to spin Bush's victories as less impressive than they are.

Posted by: AWW at May 13, 2005 1:03 PM

I though Whittmann was still holding onto the Republican monicker to justify his Bull Moose website, but a Google search shows a pretty much switched parties in October of last year in his statement of support for Kerry and Edwards (he may still have the "R" on his voter registration card, just in case Sen. McCain comes a-courtin' in the run-up to the 2008 election).

Posted by: John at May 13, 2005 2:20 PM

I have been involved in and around GOP politics for a long, long time. I have never seen anyone who has a hold on the base the way Buwh does. One of our Senators was on the list of undecideds a few months back re: the nuclear option. His offices in the state got slammed with phone calls and faxes; a secretary in one of them said she felt like she should stay in her home-- every time she went somewhere she wouldrun into people who accused her boss of treason. He is now firmly on board.

Posted by: Dan at May 13, 2005 3:10 PM

Dan:

That is why 2008 will be so interesting. None of the purported GOP candidates really has much of an attachment with the "base", and a couple of the hopefuls actually despise it.

Posted by: jim hamlen at May 14, 2005 11:05 PM
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