This is almost comical. Last night, Bush was at a love-fest fundraiser with the National Republican Campaign Committee. The Republicans on the Hill have rarely questioned anything Bush did. They just did what he wanted with no oversight. And, he raised them money and campaigned for them. It's been a mutually beneficial relationship to enact their destructive agenda.
Yet, today, Jim Vandehei dutifully reports a new spin from the GOPers on the Hill -- they never really liked Bush....ever...from the beginning even:
President Bush's troubles with congressional Republicans, which erupted during the backlash to the Dubai seaport deal, are rooted in policy frustrations and personal resentments that GOP lawmakers say stretch back to the opening days of the administration.Sure, now those Republicans are running like rats from the sinking presidency of George Bush. But to pretend they've had issues all along is just bull.
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.
House and Senate GOP members have been lapdogs for Bush. They never acted like an independent branch of government. His wish was their command. They did as instructed. Now, they're saying "yes, we did it, but we didn't like it." If the GOPers on the Hill claim they didn't really like Bush, maybe the public won't hold it against them at the polls now that W is tanking.
It's hard to decide what's more pathetic -- the GOPs feeble attempt to create distance with Bush or Vandehei and the Washington Post actually believing it.
