Losing their religion

The MV Shrubya is sinking like the proverbial rock. How can I tell? Bush's approval ratings are the obvious first clue, but the malaise is deeper than that. NPR's "Morning Edition" today featured a segment on two separate conservative groups that are urging the Shrubbery to withdraw Harriet Miers' nomination to replace Sandra Day O'Connor on the Supreme Court. And Monday evening, as I was gorging myself on Hunan shredded pork, I happened to catch part of a trailer on MS-GOP suggesting that White House advisers were already in consultation with congressional leaders on how to go about doing just that.

The conservatives NPR mentioned weren't small-fry, either. We're talking Rush Limboob, Phyllis Schlafly, and former Bush speechwriter David Frum. George Will has been mercilessly savaging the Miers nomination at every opportunity.

And that's how I know the Shrubbery is in trouble. Forget the anticipation over special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's pending indictments (and another interesting tidbit on "Morning Edition" this morning was that he called the grand jury back into session today after hearing from investigators...so there may be more news on that front later). Forget the mess over FEMA and the aftermath of the hurricane of your choice. Forget (well, OK, don't forget--but discount) the death of the 2,000th U.S. service member in Iraq since Georgie got his war on. When Bush loses people like Limbaugh, Schlafly, and Will, people who have willingly--eagerly, even--donned the kneepads and gone down on him on a regular basis these last five years, then he's not just a lame duck, he's a dead one.

Yes, the ad that Limbaugh and the rest are releasing for TV today makes a point of braying that "conservatives support President Bush." Verbiage. The people behind this ad have worshiped at the altar of W for at least the last five years. The god of their idolatry could do no wrong: they didn't boggle at lying the nation's way into an illegal war. They didn't quibble at covering up Bush's massive incompetence in the aftermath of September 11. Harriet Miers as a Supreme Court judge doesn't even register on the political Richter scale in comparison to those events, yet the faithful are now turning away from the golden calf they have built themselves.

I suppose this could be a case of straining at gnats and swallowing camels. I'm even willing to entertain the hypothesis that Limbaugh et aliae have suddenly developed principles and embraced reason--though I'll want to see considerably more evidence in favor of that proposition before I'll declare it a fact, and that doesn't vitiate the fact that their timing is very convenient for them, politically speaking. Whatever else we may say or think about these people, they are politically savvy. They appear to have awakened to the realization that G. Dumbya Bush is a political disaster waiting to explode, and that if they continue to be publicly pious members of his cult, they can kiss any hopes they may still harbor of being politically relevant after his presidency ends goodbye. The rats are deserting the sinking ship in hopes they may be able to save something of the neo-conservative movement on which they all depend for their livelihoods and their claims to relevance.

This won't be the last time that conservative Republicans buck the White House. Of that I'm quite certain. And that's how I know that Bush is fork-ready.

Comments

[Bryan]

I saw the ad and wondered WTF. They have overlooked every bad move and the appointment of incompetents at all levels and now they are going off on Harriet Miers. Yes, she unqualified, but not more that the majority of his appointments.

They really have finally figured out that he has no convictions and says and does what is necessary to win elections to jobs that he doesn't want to do. He wants the trappings of the office, not the responsibilities.

Let them fight among themselves. Perhaps Bush has one his place in history as the man who consigned the Republican Party to permanent minority status.

[Anya]

I dunno, me. I've been reading George Will of late, and, compared to what he's written/said in the past, he's downright progressive these days. Or, at least he's gone back to being a True Conservative, and not in Limboob's league.