Bush is getting his conservative base steamed, writes Quin Hillyer of The Mobile Register, via the SF Chron Sunday opinion pages. Hillyer says the President isn't fighting for his judicial nominees; and has abandoned any attempt to control illegal immigration from Mexico, in order to win votes. He's also spending like a drunken sailor; and playing politics with tariffs, subsidies and corporate incentives, charges Hillyer.

Actually, putting a man on Mars is a wonderful idea and a worthy long-term project. But not if it can't be paid for while we're fighting terrorists on Planet Earth. Is there anything at all, pray tell, to which this president will say no? This second President Bush might be far better, on foreign policy and on taxes, than his father was. He's certainly better than any of the Democratic alternatives. But when it comes to other domestic concerns, he's positively Johnsonian and Nixonian: Politics first, and all fiscal concerns blithely ignored in a quest for re-election. As Richard Nixon once told his Cabinet, so too does George W. Bush choose to operate: Whenever in doubt, "Go spend some money."

George W. Bush is a conservative in the same way Britney Spears is a virgin: only when it suits his marketing.

So, where's a real conservative to go?

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at February 9, 2004 10:35 AM

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