Thursday, October 20, 2005

Circular Firing Squad

Fred Barnes has an excellent piece over at the Weekly Standard website entitled “The Conservative Revolt” giving us “six reasons” why “conservatives have turned on Bush.”

His reasoning is unimpeachable, the grounds for revolt real. As Mr. Barnes and others persuasively argue, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court appointment was just the last straw, particularly to the Conservative intelligentsia. Go find it and read it, if you’re that interested.

No, Ms. Miers wouldn’t have been my choice, either. Yes, there are valid grounds for criticism of the President. But El Jefe’s not joining any revolt, and he’d urge any conservatives thinking of getting out the pitchforks to reconsider. We have enough trouble at present, and it is time to hang together or hang separately.

The usual second term political/legal scandals are well under way, and the liberals are rubbing their hands together like kids on Christmas hoping that there are indictments of Karl Rove, I Lewis Libby or others in the Plame mess. Meanwhile, in Austin, a runaway prosecutor seems determined to jail Tom DeLay for being a successful politician. Finally, there is a war on – a war which the political opposition is at best ambivalent about.

Conservative/Republican poll numbers are sinking. An election is coming. Depend on it: if the Democrats recapture Congress there will be more subpoenas and investigations than snowflakes and ice-flows in Antarctica. Just imagine how the media is going to pile on. Although the Democrats have some relative moderates, their political base is going to insist on some blood. Consequently, Bush will be exceedingly lucky to avoid impeachment. Also, remember the war. Last time this sort of thing happened, the consequences included the fall of Saigon, and defeat in Vietnam.

The stakes are too high now for patriotic conservatives to play dissident, and persons like Messrs Frum, Bork and Will should stop it. The Senate will deal with the Miers nomination, one way or the other. Would-be rebels would do well to turn their rhetorical guns away from the White House.

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