Not a good sign for President George Bush. According to the Washington Post, some conservative or generally supportive pundits are starting to turn on him:
For 10 minutes, the talk show host grilled his guests about whether “George Bush’s mental weakness is damaging America’s credibility at home and abroad.” For 10 minutes, the caption across the bottom of the television screen read, “IS BUSH AN ‘IDIOT’?”
But the host was no liberal media elitist. It was Joe Scarborough, a former Republican congressman turned MSNBC political pundit. And his answer to the captioned question was hardly “no.” While other presidents have been called stupid, Scarborough said: “I think George Bush is in a league by himself. I don’t think he has the intellectual depth as these other people.”
He must be a RINO. MORE:
These have been tough days politically for President Bush, what with his popularity numbers mired in the 30s and Republican candidates distancing themselves as elections near. He can no longer even rely as much on once-friendly voices in the conservative media to stand by his side, as some columnists and television commentators lose faith in his leadership and lose heart in the war in Iraq.
While most conservative media figures have not abandoned Bush, influential opinion-makers increasingly have raised questions, expressed doubts or attacked the president outright, particularly on foreign policy, on which he has long enjoyed their strongest support. In some cases, they have complained that Bush has drifted away from their shared principles; in other cases, they think it is the implementation that has fallen short. In most instances, Iraq figures prominently.
“Conservatives for a long time were in protective mode, wanting to emphasize the progress in Iraq to contrast what they felt was an unfair attack on the war by the Democrats and media and other sources,” Rich Lowry, editor of the National Review, said in an interview. “But there’s more of a sense now that things are on a downward trajectory, and more of a willingness to acknowledge it and pressure the administration to react to it.”
The Post rattles off a list of Punditry V.I.P-dom that seems to be abandoning the ship of lockstep loyalty so quickly that you’d expect George Bush is poised on top of the White House shouting: “I’m King of the World!!”
Among the people The Post cites as heading to the lifeboats:
–Quin Hillyer, executive editor of the American Spectator
–National Review and conservative icon William F. Buckley, Jr.
–Columnist George Will
–New York Times’ columnist Thomas Friedman (who isn’t a conservative but supported the war but now feels staying the course is “pointless.”)
It quotes White House press spokesman Tony Snow as saying what’s going on is understandable, given doubts about the war and notes that Snow is doing what he can to shore up the President’s credibility — by appearing on the Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity Shows.
In case you haven’t guessed, Rush and Sean are sticking solidly by the President.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.