Karl Rove Didn't Have the Answers

Richard A. Viguerie attended a benefit dinner recently at which Karl Rove was the speaker. Mr. Rove took questions from the audience, but not from Mr. Viguerie. As the latter says:

“… it was understandable for Rove to pass me by. He is well aware of my unhappiness with President Bush and the GOP congressional leadership—it’s all spelled out in my latest book, “Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause“ (Bonus Books, 2006). The last thing he needed that night was to give me, an outspoken conservative with no desires for White House invitations, the opportunity, with the nation as audience via C-SPAN, to lob one at the President.”

Boy, who wouldn’t like a chance to grill question Karl Rove? Since Rove laughingly passed him over (chicken), Mr. Viguerie has posed the question rhetorically, after the fact:

Karl, you’ve made a number of references tonight about how the Republican Party has lost its way. Well, the conservatives here tonight [the event was at Hillsdale College] — plus millions around the country—would like to have some comfort level that we will feel better about the next two years than we have the last few years. Because quite frankly, the conservatives are getting highly nervous about the early signals we’re getting from President Bush and his team: 1) The President said he is looking forward to working with the Democrats on amnesty for illegal aliens, 2) Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson has suggested that nothing is off the table regarding Social Security, which conservatives interpret as opening the door to tax increases and benefit cuts, and 3) the President and congressional Republicans decided to throw in the towel and not fight for one of the few conservatives in his administration, UN Ambassador John Bolton. So, Karl, in light of developments such as these, what assurances can you give us that the White House and the GOP will indeed return to basic conservative principles?

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What assurances indeed? And who would believe them?

The next two years are going to be even more disastrous than we dare to think about. What I can’t figure out is whether President Bush changed, or he was always like this and we just couldn’t see it, given the glaring radioactivity given off by his Democrat presidential opponents.

Is Bush a better choice than those two? “Yes,” she said reluctantly. And if he’d run with his true colors flying, I’d have voted for him by default. But like many others, like Mr. Viguerie, I feel betrayed.

At least Gore and Kerry let it all hang out for everyone to see…or, rather, Kerry tried to hide some of the more shameful parts but they kept showing up anyway.

2008 will be a race to see who can distance himself further from the White House. The dust clouds you’ll see will resemble the ones stirred up by those herds of buffalo that once covered the western plains. Only these dust clouds will be covering the tracks of the fleeing politicians.