Dubya and the Democrats

It didn't take long for President Bush to embrace his new friends in the majority. Now that the Open-Borders/Amnesty Democrats have defeated those pesky Republicans in the House and Senate, Dubya appears elated. If we needed any further proof that this President is a squishy moderate in (formerly) conservative clothing, yesterday's press conference should put those doubts to rest:

"The Democrats won the election yesterday, and that means they get some of what they want, if not a lot of what they want, if not all of what they want." Specifically, here's what you can look for: You can look for there to be a minimum wage bill. The president was passionate about one thing in this press conference. He came alive when he was asked a question about: What does this mean for your immigration policy? "Yes, I think we have a better chance of getting immigration reform now with a Democrat-controlled Congress."

Fabulous. Don't get too comfortable with the current thriving economy, because come January, the Demo's, with the blessing of the President, are going to wreak havoc. A minimum wage increase will kill small business owners and open borders/amnesty will create even more entitlement programs, not to mention undermine our already vulnerable national security. Our porous borders are not unnoticed by our enemies, and I'm surprised AQ hasn't yet orchestrated an attack from south of the Rio Grande. It sends chills down the spine to imagine how they must be salivating at the prospect of unleashing bloodshed again on the "paper tiger" now that politicians who view terror as law-enforcement and not a War, are back in power.

Rush spoke for many true conservatives yesterday, in his "liberation" monologue:

I believe my side is worthy of victory, and I believe it's much easier to reform things that are going wrong on my side from a position of strength. Now I'm liberated from having to constantly come in here every day and try to buck up a bunch of people who don't deserve it, to try to carry the water and make excuses for people who don't deserve it. I did not want to sit here and participate, willingly, in the victory of the libs, in the victory of the Democrat Party by sabotaging my own. But now with what has happened yesterday and today, it is an entirely liberating thing. If those in our party who are going to carry the day in the future -- both in Congress and the administration -- are going to choose a different path than what most of us believe, then that's liberating. I don't say this with any animosity about anybody, and I don't mean to make this too personal.

For many of us who are frustrated with pork-barrel spending, political correctness in the prosecution of the War and the antics of the "Gang of 14" (led by John McCain to oppose the President's judicial nominations) the 2006 midterm election was a process of voting for the lesser of two evils, knowing that at least Republicans held strong on national security and terror -- the most crucial issue of our time. We'd vote them back into office, then demand reform. Instead, thanks to the abandonment of conservative principles, we're left with Speaker Pelosi and her San Francisco values. For the 50% of the population who didn't know who she was, that means anti-military, pro-gay marriage, anti-war and big-spending. Feel better?

Many are calling the election debacle a "victory for conservatism and a defeat for Republicanism." Indeed, the far-left of the Democratic party, knowing they'd never win an election based on their true ideals of big-government, big-spending, unrestricted abortion on demand and sympathy for dictators, ran so-called "blue-dog" Democrats, who in some ways are more conservative than their Republican counterparts. In today's Washington Post, George Will observes:

This year Democrats tacitly accepted much of the country's rightward movement over the past quarter-century. They did not call for restoring the 70 percent marginal tax rates that Ronald Reagan repealed. And although Pelosi and 15 of the 21 likely chairmen of committees in the coming Congress voted against the 1996 welfare reform, which has helped reduce welfare rolls by roughly 60 percent, Democrats this year did not talk about repealing it.

The property rights movement gained ground Tuesday as voters in nine states passed measures to restrict governments from exercising eminent domain in order to enlarge their tax revenue. In Michigan, opponents of racial preferences in public hiring, education and contracting easily passed their referendum, 58 to 42 percent, in spite of being outspent more than three to one. In Minnesota -- the only state Democrats have carried in each of the past eight presidential elections, but one that is becoming a swing state -- Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty was reelected. And, come January, the number of Republicans in the House (at least 200) will still be larger than the largest number during the Reagan years (192 in 1981-83).

The country remains receptive to conservatism. That doctrine -- were it to become constraining on, rather than merely avowed by, congressional Republicans -- can be their bridge back from the wilderness.

georgewill@washpost.com

Unfortunately, with a moderate President "reaching across the aisle" (just as he did with Ted Kennedy on "No-Child Left Behind" and the massive Medicare entitlement) to a woman who's called him the "Emperor with no clothes" among other distasteful things, look for even more illegals to drain the country's taxpayers.

I don't blame the electorate; though they will suffer, as will the rest of us, as a result of taking Republicans to the woodshed. I just pray it won't entail another horrific attack on American soil by an enemy, that, while barbaric in many ways, is wise to both our political system and modern technology.