Fineman Sights the Conservative Crackup--Updated!Today's
column:
President George W. Bush may have no military exit strategy for Iraq, but the “necons” who convinced him to go to war there have developed one of their own—a political one: Blame the Administration.
Their neo-Wilsonian theory is correct, they insist, but the execution was botched by a Bush team that has turned out to be incompetent, crony-filled, corrupt, unimaginative and weak over a wide range of issues.
The flight of the neocons—just read a recent Weekly Standard to see what I am talking about —is one of only many indications that the long-predicted “conservative crackup” is at hand.I always roll my eyes whenever a liberal commentator mentions "neocons", because he usually has no idea what the term means. Fineman does, of course, but here he uses it in that lazy, "conservatives who supported the war in Iraq" way that Air America Radio hosts do.
The funniest part is when he describes why the various parts of the Republican base are supposedly deserting:
Religious conservatives
The Harriet Miers nomination was the final insult. Religious conservatives have an inferiority complex in the Republican Party. In an interesting way, it’s the same attitude that many African-Americans have had toward the Democratic Party over the years. They think that the Big Boys want their votes but not their presence or their full participation.
And what really frosts the religious types is that Bush evidently feels that he can only satisfy them by stealth—by nominating someone with absolutely no paper trail. It’s an affront. And even though Dr. Dobson is on board—having been cajoled aboard by Rove—I don’t sense that there is much enthusiasm for the enterprise out in Colorado Springs.
I expect that any GOP 2008 hopeful who wants evangelical support—people like Sam Brownback, Rick Santorum and maybe even George Allen—will vote against Miers's confirmation in the Senate.Yeah, the theocons like
the Commissar and
Instapundit are deserting over the Miers nomination, while secular humanists like Dobson and
Hugh Hewitt are supporting Miers. Errrr!
Corporate CEOs
For them, Bush’s handling of Katrina was, and remains, a mortal embarrassment to their class, which Bush is supposed to have represented—at least to some extent.The vivid images from the Superdome were just too much for these folks. Recently, a prominent Republican businessman, whom I saw in a typical CEO haunt, astonished me with the severity of his attacks on Bush’s competence. And Bush had appointed this guy to a major position! Amazing.Amazing that this typical CEO fell for the MSM's portrayal of Katrina.
Isolationists
An old term, but still applicable. With the fall of Communism in Europe and Russia, the old anti-Communist wing of the conservative movement lost its role. Now the isolationists of old are back, and with a new crusade: immigration.
The relatively unchecked flood of illegal immigrants into this country is indeed a legitimate cause for alarm. But in the eyes of this crowd—one leader is my MSNBC colleague, Pat Buchanan—the Bush Administration is doing nothing.LOL! Pat Buchanan? Whom does he lead? Not saying that the criticism isn't valid, but Buchanan's a nobody with zero influence these days.
Neocons
They think that the Middle East can be remade, and this country made safe, by instilling a semblance of democracy in the Fertile Crescent and beyond. But they seem to have given up on the ability of the Bush Administration to see that vision through.
They want more troops, not fewer; more money, not less; more passion, not the whispered talk of timetables for withdrawal.Fortunately the whispered talk of timetables for withdrawal is coming from the chuckleheads on the Left, not from the Bush Administration.
Fineman's generally a good commentator. But he's sleepwalking his way through this ridiculous analysis.
Update: Just for the heck of it, I went surfing around to some of my favorite God-Bloggers. For the most part I found indifference to Myers.
La Shawn Barber:
I’m having trouble generating enough interest to write about the Supreme Court nominations. I honestly couldn’t care less that George Bush picked yet another crony for an important job, a lifetime appointment that could overhaul the foundation of our social policy for the better. Or the worst.The Stones Cry Out is a group blog. They
don't like the pick, but there's a range of opinion there that does not appear to include a lot of outrage.
Christian Conservative has not blogged on the topic.
In fact, it's my opinion that the one thing that characterizes those in opposition is that they are Meritocrats (not knocking them, just describing them). Most of the argument seems to be that she's not qualified, which is certainly a fair consideration. But it hardly seems likely to be the top consideration of the God-squadders.
Power Line's John Hinderaker has a
very similar take.
