What issue will ultimately make Bush's OWN Republican voters turn on him?

[mtnsnake]

Poll question: What issue will ultimately make Bush's OWN Republican voters turn on him?

Personally, I think it'll be high gas & oil prices that does him in with his own voters. Although they used the war on terrorism & everything else under the sun as their excuse for voting for him in 2004, they really voted for him to get that measley little $250 tax break he bribed them with again. Money is the bottom line to those people, IMHO.

(edited to add "Please explain..." in the "Other" option.

[Coastie for Truth]

1. I said high gasoline prices

BUT - I think another FEMA major screwup - this time in an upper middle class section of a Red State (like the Carolina Outer Banks) could do in the GOP.

[terrya]

2. I agree with you.

When it costs more and more to fill up the Cadillac Escalade (where do they come up with these names for cars?), you're going to look for someone to blame. And on this issue, the buck stops at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave (or should I say Crawford)

[OneGrassRoot]

3. I said other.........

I think his handling of Katrina shows AMERICA'S WEAKNESS AND VULNERABILITY. He played on the "I'll keep you safe" approach, and this blows that to hell. The feeling of vulnerability post-Katrina, and how that exposes the faults of the Iraq War, are what will get former supporters to turn on him.

[TwilightZone]

4. There needs to be an option for "there isn't one".

Do not underestimate blind faith and blind partisanship.

[IndianaGreen]

5. I ended up voting for the high price of gas option

but I fear you may be right. Two of my co-workers are Bush people. They have a cult-like belief that Bush is G-d's agent on Earth. They will never abandon Bush, just as they will never abandon their fundamentalist faith!

[TwilightZone]

7. People keep assuming that the Republicans will actually blame Bush

for our problems, and that simply doesn't happen.

They'll just keep listening to Rush and continue to think that everything is the fault of the Democrats.

[mainegreen]

6. Illeagle immigration

Republicans HATE HATE HATE how he's handled migrants from Mexico. They think he's to soft (he is). Just mention this topic to a Repub and watch his head explode as he rants about how much Bush sucks on this topic. I love it!

[mtnsnake]

8. "Just mention this topic to a Repub and watch his head explode"

You are so right about that! Come to think of it, it's about the only time in the past when I've ever heard any of the Bushites find something wrong with their leader....that is, up until these obscene gas and oil prices hit. Now I'm hearing some of them piss and moan like never before about Bush (among each other mostly) about how much it costs them to fill their gas tanks.

[BeachBuckeye]

9. Nothing will separate him from his real "base"

I voted "other" because I don't think any crime, any kind of action you could name would cause his "base" to abandon him. Lets face it, those who are his "base" are just plain crazy.

[mtnsnake]

14. I disagree. Money will cause greedy people to turn on anyone,

even Bush, if they start losing money out of their own pockets while he's in power. After all, it was he who bought their votes with a promise of "more money in your pockets", to begin with.

[Shipwack]

10. None of the above

Bush could disembowel a man on live TV, and the spin machine would convince people that it was for the greater good.

[Cosmocat]

12. Nah ...

If you look back, they don't even care to try and make people think it is for their good most of the time, they just do some variation of the "partisan" game ...

But, your right ... It would have to be VERY drastic stuff for his "base" to admit he is a disaster ...

[TexasLawyer]

11. abandonment of conservative principles

Today's (Sunday) NYT-- Week in Review

Thumbing Nervously Through the Conservative Rulebook
By ROBIN TONER

Sept. 11, 2005

Conservative beliefs about the proper size and role of the federal government are facing perhaps their greatest domestic test.

<snip> Re Katrina

Grover Norquist, a leading advocate of substantially reducing the federal government, argued that the disaster only underlined the need for more tax cuts to spur the economy. "Step one is you deal with the problem - rebuild New Orleans," he said, "and step two, you enact economic policies so you can afford to rebuild New Orleans."

<snip>

Still, many conservatives themselves no longer share the traditional belief in reining in the federal government wherever possible - most notably, in recent years, championing a far more interventionist foreign policy in Iraq and beyond. And for those committed to the idea of a strong executive, particularly on domestic security, the response to Katrina was troubling. The focus, they say, should be less on the size of the government than on how it performed.

William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, the conservative magazine, said there clearly needed to be more "energy in the executive," as Alexander Hamilton would put it, in the first days after the hurricane. "Personally, I don't have a problem saying maybe conservatives should favor more spending in some areas of security, disaster relief," he said. "That's a pretty core function of government from a conservative standpoint. This isn't Great Society, New Age, government feel-good kind of stuff."

<snip>


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/11/weekinreview/11tone.html?pagewanted=2

[mtnsnake]

15. Next to their almighty wallets, that is a real gripe with some of them

and an option I forgot about. Good one.

[AntiCoup2K4]

18. If they actually gave a shit about "conservative principles"....

....they would have never voted for the Chimp in the first place. And they sure as Hell wouldn't voted for him again after converting a huge surplus into the worst deficit in history. Not to mention creating the biggest government expansion in history, and New Orleans is proof of how well that worked.

If all of the above pisses off liberal me, I know it should infuriate any actual conservative.

[IChing]

13. Finding out that he really works for Satan and they were Punk'd (irony)

My conservative 89 year old Dad said: "that guy sure has made a bunch of bad decisions"

This shocked my brother and myself,
so maybe the tide is turning.

But the power controls are still in place
rigged elections,
the media,
and other devices (terror alerts)
that manipulate the masses for their gain.

[Jamison]

16. I voted gas prices too.

It's not too bad at the pump for most people, but it's really gonna hurt people bad who use nat. gas & heating oil for their homes in the winter. It's going to be insanely expensive to order 500-1,000 gals. of these types of fuel. If we have a really cold winter it's gonna make it even worse.

[ribrepin]

17. I voted high gas prices

Also the immigration issue. But don't forgot the superstition factor. A lot of bad things have happened while Bush is in office and there are people who have got to be asking themselves "why." Not his base but maybe enough.

I voted for Reagan in 1980 based on superstition. Things were not going well under Carter. I wanted a little happy news. Within a year, I was regretting that vote.


Someday, people will have had enough. I just hope the country is not completely broke by then.

[salin]

19. Other. Culminating effect of all the above, and the realization that this

administration has ruled 100% of the time as "madison avenue admen" - lying right and left - not spinning - but outright lying - on every issue and the realization of their use not of "polling" to get the public mood on things - but market testing - finding ways to package unpopular ideas (such as a war in Iraq) - in such a way that people will be manipulated into following.

The betrayal felt by many in the base - will not only break Bush support - but will seriously damage the republican party for years to come.