GOP Irritation At Bush Was Long Brewing

GOP Irritation At Bush Was Long Brewing

By Jim VandeHei
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 17, 2006; A01



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/16/AR2006031602430_pf.html



For years, the Bush White House and its allies on Capitol Hill seemed like one of the most unified teams Washington had ever seen, passing most of Bush's agenda with little dissent. Privately, however, many lawmakers felt underappreciated, ignored and sometimes bullied by what they regarded as a White House intent on running government with little input from them. Often it was to pass items -- an expanded federal role in education under the No Child Left Behind law and an expensive prescription drug benefit under Medicare -- that left conservatives deeply uneasy.

What Bush is facing now, beyond just election-year jitters by legislators eyeing his depressed approval ratings, is a rebellion that has been brewing since the days when he looked invincible, say many lawmakers and strategists. Newly unleashed grievances could signal even bigger problems for Bush's last two years in office, as he would be forced to abandon a governing strategy that until recently counted on solid support from congressional Republicans.




The tipping point for many lawmakers was last year's debate over the Bush plan to restructure Social Security by offering personal savings accounts. For years, House Republicans had sent word to Karl Rove, Bush's top strategist, and others that any efforts to dismantle the Social Security system could prove disastrous to them. Regardless of the merits, the legislators would say, older Americans vote in high percentages in congressional races and would likely punish the party if it tinkered with the popular program.

House Republicans in particular were already panicking about the Medicare prescription drug benefit they had passed more than a year earlier. The program was seen as too costly for conservatives and too confusing for seniors. Yet a majority of Republicans voted for it under intense lobbying from Bush and GOP congressional leaders, and several regretted it.


"Bottom line, there is a lot of buyer's remorse," said Rep. Tom Feeney (R-Fla.). If the vote were held today on the Medicare prescription drug benefit, he said, as many 120 Republicans would vote against it. "It was probably our greatest failure in my adult lifetime," he said.

Oh boofuckinghoo!!! What they should have been feeling was afraid and disgusted. I couldn't give a shit about how underappreciated they feel.

In fact, they're slow.

What's he talking about? It did just what it was supposed to do -- fill the coffers of the pharma industry.

That IS the entire republican platform, isn't it? To enrich their primary constituents?

because they don`t use enough anal ease...