Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

By Ellen Ratner
Given the events of last week, if I were a conservative, I'd be feeling mighty insulted by President Bush. After all, the right has supported Bush through thick and thin. They have strained every nerve in standing behind his Iraq disaster, even after no WMDs were found and Rumsfeld's obviously incompetent all brain and no muscle strategy left the country in chaos; conservatives closed their eyes to this administration's massive government spending, the opposition to which once defined the main difference between themselves and liberals.

Then came the immigration issue, and suddenly, the scales fell from conservatives' eyes. Emperor Bush appeared to be wearing no clothes. His ''path to citizenship'' proposal was seen as an amnesty dressed up in empty patriotic rhetoric designed to trick his right-wing base into believing it was something else. Within hours, his tough talk about high-tech border security was exploded for the myth it was. Moreover, Bush was on the phone with Mexican President Vicente Fox telling him the truth while at the same time the president's speechwriters were concocting soothing lies to tell the public during his televised speech to the nation several weeks ago. And what was that truth? That President Bush might as well be president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, because his entire immigration policy is a sop to those businesses needing cheap, exploitable labor. That his ''temporary guest-worker program'' is a crime against American workers whose only fault was to insist on wages that included those benefits necessary to survive, such as health insurance. That the president, after hyping the public for years about national security and the flag, in fact could care less about sovereignty issues such as border security.

To many conservatives, Bush's indifference about this last issue exposes his entire war on terror as a fraud, much like a home security company that sells expensive alarms but then suggests that the back door be kept wide open.

And then came last week, the crowning insult – Bush and Rove, having spit on their conservative base, looked around and probably had a conversation that resembled the following: ''Looks like our base woke up about immigration, and our poll numbers continue to skid. We have to distract them. After all, there are elections in '06, and if churches don't turn out those Bible thumpers and morons to the polls, the Democrats might take the House and/or Senate and we might be looking at impeachment proceedings. Why not fire 'em up about gay marriage? Maybe we can't win the war, can't control spending, and can't secure the borders – but we sure can bait 'em about this red-meat issue! Grrrrr!''

And so the president, doubtless on advice from pollsters, levied his final insult to his own base – ''You're so stupid,'' he said in effect to his (former) right-wing friends, ''that I can derail your serious concerns with some nonsense about marriage.''

It was the ultimate declaration of Bush's political weakness. This president is on his petard, hoisted so high by his incompetence and dishonesty that even his base now sees him for what he is. This week's move against gay marriage was such a transparent move to shore up his base by using the ultimate red-herring issue – gay marriage, a fact in Massachusetts and an issue that is ultimately, pro or con, being decided at the state level. I predict Bush's attempt to exploit this issue will become yet one more failure in a long list of failures by this administration.

One doesn't have to look too far to understand why. Bush has more contempt for conservatives than most liberals. The truth is the right-wingers I know are not ''Bible thumpers'' or ''morons.'' They're mostly thoughtful people with whom I may happen to disagree but whose stand on issues is as principled as that of any liberal. And the issue of gay marriage – something I support – will ultimately be decided in the hearts of each citizen and at the state level, not by ''too smart by half'' politicians from the White House Rose Garden.