basskisser wrote:

I'm glad some conservatives have taken those blinders off.

Conservatives crucial to Bush's re-election restive about Iraq war

SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, July 11, 2004


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(07-11) 10:29 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --

When an influential group of conservatives gathers in downtown
Washington each week, they often get a political pep talk from a
senior Bush administration official or campaign aide. They don't
expect a fellow Republican to deliver a blistering critique of
President Bush's handling of the Iraq war.

But nearly 150 conservatives listened in silence recently as a veteran
of the Nixon, Ford and Reagan administrations ticked off a litany of
missteps in Iraq by the Bush White House.

"This war is not going well," said Stefan Halper, a deputy assistant
secretary of state under President Reagan.

"It's costing us a lot of money, isolating us from our allies and
friends," said Halper, who gave $1,000 to George W. Bush's campaign
and more than $83,000 to other GOP causes in 2000. "This is not the
cakewalk the neoconservatives predicted. We were not greeted with
flowers in the streets."

Conservatives, the backbone of Bush's political base, are increasingly
uneasy about the Iraq conflict and the steady drumbeat of violence in
postwar Iraq, Halper and some of his fellow Republicans say. The
conservatives' anxiety was fueled by the Abu Ghraib prisoner-abuse
scandal and has not abated with the transfer of political power to the
interim Iraqi government.

Some Republicans fear angry conservatives will stay home in November,
undercutting Bush's re-election bid.



That's the reason why Bush and his pack of lying, thieving thugs are out
in force now, pushing for a ban on gay marriage, restricting stem-cell
research and attempting to stop all abortions. It has nothing to do with
principle, and everything to do with motivating the simpie fundies to
get to the polls.

"Bush screwed up in Iraq...never mind, he'll keep those gays in their play."

"Bush's economic policies have resulted in a net loss of jobs for
Americans....never mind, he's clamped down on those stem-cell
researchers..."

"Bush has loosened environmental and food safety regulations...never
mind, he'll stop abortions."

There's no group of voters more simple-minded than Republican fundies.