DON ZARQAWI



Last week’s death of Al Qaeda’s Iraq leader, Abu Musab al- Zarquawi, was indeed a moment - brief though it may be - to celebrate some “good news” from Iraq. He was a totally rotten murderer who exulted in pain and torture. He left a path of death wherever he traveled.

Our soldiers - from the same unit that tracked down Saddam Hussein 2 ½ years ago - are to be commended for the bravery and cleverness in tracking this elusive killing machine.

And, on the heels of the Haditha allegations, it is high time the US military is again seen in a positive light. Our soldiers are - quite simply - the best ever and a few (possible) rotten apples should not taint all of them.

But Zarqawi’s death will not substantially change the outcome of this war in Iraq. Why not? Because Zarquawi is analagous to the head of a Mafia family: the FBI bags him, everyone exults over his conviction and long jail sentence, a new ‘Don’ is named and business goes on exactly as before.

That is what will happen here. Osama Bin Laden - who seems immune to Mr. Bush’s pledge almost four years ago to get him “dead or alive” - will pick another murderer to replace Zarquawi and the killing will continue. Period.

Meanwhile, the ongoing civil war will also continue in Iraq. Virtually every day now we learn of nightly raids, murders, tortures and incredible ‘payback’ atrocities: transportation workers being taken off buses, separated into Sunni and Shi’a and then the latter all executed; Sunni men in one town rounded up and beheaded and their heads found in plastic bags the next day all around town; car bombs aimed at weddings and mosques.

American soldiers have no chance to stop such widespread actions. How could they? There is no defined ‘enemy’ here. The fighting is between two groups of Muslims with decades of pent-up hatred from the brutal reign of Sunni Muslim Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath Party.

George W. Bush speaks of ‘victory’ in Iraq. But no two Americans can quite agree on just what that ‘victory’ really is. Is it the end of violence in Iraq? Fat chance of that happeneing.

Is it a stable government in Baghdad with the ability to defend the nation from outside aggression? If so, that could take decades - especially when you know that the Iraqi military is still inept and undermanned - and often gives cover to insurgents who get paid by the military by day and terrorize for the insurgency by night.

The Bush Administration never defined ‘victory’ prior to beginning this war. They also fudged the rationale for this war.

And the result is that 59% of the American people now view this War in Iraq as a ‘mistake.’ And the Bush presidency is a prisoner of this decision.

Beginning Monday at Camp David the President will convene a two-day meeting to explore all option for Iraq. Early word is being floated that we may actually increase the American troop levels this year - rather than decrease them as has been rumored.

The coming November mid-term elections should play no part in the troop levels; the administration needs to figure out how to stabilize Iraq as best as can be accomplished and then reduce troop levels.

But make no mistake about it: Zarqawi’s death is great news but there are thousands more just like him rushing to fill his sandals.

TOO LATE


As Carole King sang thirty years ago, “It’s too late, Baby.” She was referring to romance, but in this context it is too late for Team Bush to recapture the loyalty of the conservative GOP base.

Immigration/amnesty, Dubai Ports, Harriet Meyers, Katrina, deficits and Iraq have destroyed Mr. Bush’s credibility as president. The new federal effort on gay marriage is as transparent as the dispatching of “less than 5,000 unarmed national guardsmen” to our southern border: a cosmetic ploy in a vain effort to keep the conservatives in line.

This White House just doesn’t get it. Period.

Before - when Bush was in the 50's in all national polls - he could keep the GOP in line; and the GOP was happy to follow because they were winning.

But when your leader plummets to 29% - and is voted in the latest Quinnipiac poll as the worst president since WW II - there is no hope of enforcing party discipline. Thus you see the open defiance in the House on the Bush/Senate/McCain/Kennedy amnesty for illegal immigrants. And you see Speaker Hastert basically tell off the president over the FBI raid of Representative Jefferson’s Capitol Hill office.

The internal state of the Republican Party is one of total turmoil. They are floundering - and do not know what to do to right the ship of state.

So they are - again - trying to federalize a state issue: marriage.

Since when did we conservatives believe the federal government should usurp state’s rights?

This is yet another example of the Bush Big Government philosophy changing the basic tenets of the Republican Party. The Bushes - believers in a Big Federal Government - have become the un-conservatives: a huge Department of Education, a bloated and ridiculous Department of Homeland Security, massive deficits, a new ‘entitlement’ - prescription drugs, a never-ending war that has morphed into the dreaded ‘nation-building’ and on and on and on.

After all of that, why would conservatives happily re-join Team Bush just because he mouths a few platitudes about an issue a close friend of his tells Newsweek, “He doesn’t give a s*** about”?

Both George Bushes - father and son - tried to portray themselves as conservatives; both were cynical manipulators who cleverly used symbols - pork rinds, country music, a phony ‘ranch’ with no animals - to hide their Rockefellerism belief in massive federal power, especially when they control that power.

But it is indeed “too late.” GW Bush’s credibility is shot; his power eroded; his ability to influence events virtually gone.

His own arrogance and ignorance caused his downfall. He was too arrogant to listen when warned about the impending fiasco in Iraq; and he was too ignorant - and lazy - to study history to see what lay ahead in a war such as this.

The result?

A presidency deteriorating right before our eyes. Never - even under the inept Carter or the corrupt Nixon - have we seen a self-immolation quite like this. And we still have 2 ½ years to go!

The Republican Party is a mess; the Democrats are horrible and should never be trusted again.

No wonder more and more people are calling for a Third Party. Or, as has been written in this space for more than a year, an Independent Third Candidate who runs against both parties.

That may indeed happen in ‘08. But that is a long, long way away.

First comes a major battle: where is the heart of the Republican Party? Is it for someone like McCain - a Teddy Kennedy in GOP clothing?

Or is there another Ronald Reagan true-blue conservative out there somewhere who wants to re-take our party and put it back on conservative principles?

That is the key question today.

MORE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY


Ed Klein’s best-seller, THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY was the most talked-about political book of 2005. And today the paperback version is published by Sentinel with a new Foreward by Mr. Klein in which he recounts the unprecedented media boycott of his book.

Looking back to last year, it was a remarkable series of revelations that made THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY a fascinating story:

A) The pre-publication hype kicked off with carefully leaked material to Drudge;

B) A tantalizing excerpt in VANITY FAIR - a bastion of the Mainstream Media (MSM);

C) Word about Ed Klein that he was from the MSM - and thus was playing “against type” to dare to criticize Hillary;

D) Bookings for Ed Klein on all the big TV shows on the three broadcast networks and cable shows, too;


Then the Clinton Spin Machine went to work to attack Ed Klein and denigrate his character and career. Pressure was applied on TV producers not to let Klein on their shows. There was a veiled threat: if you want Senator Clinton on your show in the future, you better not have Ed Klein on now.

E) Thus the sudden tectonic shift in the story of the Hillary book: virtually every TV show cancelled Ed Klein’s already-booked appearance! Like a well-orchestrated stage show, as if on cue, Sentinel received call after call un-inviting Ed to be on their TV shows! As Rush Limbaugh said then on his show, “The press is not curious about what Klein is saying. They are circling the wagons, trying to defend Hillary.”

F) Following the old rule of physics - for every action there is an equal and opposite re-action - the ‘alternate’ media jumped into the vacuum. Taking the lead was Newsmax, which did yeoman’s work to publicize the book. Newsmax repeatedly covered all of the twists and turns as the MSM showed its true colors as an adjunct of Team Clinton.

G) The hugely powerful and influential Talk Radio world followed Newsmax’ lead and booked Ed Klein on scores of shows.

The result?

THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY soared to Number Two on the New York Times best-seller and list and remained near the top for five weeks! And all despite - or because of - the Mainstream Media’s duplicitous boycott!


Thus it is now clear: despite the beast laid plans of the Left, they could not prevent THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY from making a huge mark in the political world.

Just one week ago the New York Times published on the front page a long - and planted - story about the “state of the Clinton marriage.” This was clearly an attempt to pre-empt future speculation about many of the facts exposed in Ed Klein’s book. Behind this story is another truth: Democratic insiders all know that Hillary is damaged goods - much of the damage done by Klein’s book - and she probably cannot win a general election.

And it is the very issues and facts raised by Ed Klein that will be the undoing of Hillary: A) Her roots in the radical feminist ideology; B) Her total lack on conviction about anything; C) Her total, compulsive - and “congenital” - dishonesty. Plus her husband’s non-stop womanizing.

Indeed, THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY was a publishing hit. Five weeks on the Times’ list is very, very good.

But this book was even more: it was a political megahit that showed us much about the immediate future: A) The MSM is losing influence - and fast; B) The Internet and Talk Radio actually have more influence than the MSM; C) Team Hillary has a thin skin and is very worried about her character issues.

If you don’t have a copy of THE TRUTH ABOUT HILLARY, you need to get one and read it ASAP.

It will - in the end - have done more to keep her out of the Oval Office than any other book.

DO YOU BELIEVE?



1) Do you really believe - in light of the latest Osama Bin Laden tape in which he disclaims any 9/11 involvement by Zacharias Massaoui - that almost 5 years after the September 11 attack we have really tried our hardest to capture or kill this mass murderer?

I don’t.

There is no way that this man should still be on the loose - spewing taunts and boasts - and almost daring the USA to come and get him.

Whatever happened to President Bush’s pledge to get him “dead or alive”?

Why all the money, soldiers and political capital spent on Iraq - and only a small percentage of that spent on capturing or killing the demon who actually did attack us?

This is one of the underlying reasons that George W. Bush has plummeted into Nixonesque territory of unpopularity and untrustworthiness.


2) Do you really believe that our southern border cannot be sealed up tight - as so many pro-illegal immigration softies believe?

Is it really that hard - with all the technologies available today - to stop illegal entry into our country?

Let us put it this way: if Mexico was Afghanistan circa 2000 - a Muslim state that sponsored terrorism - is there any doubt that we would completely shut the border with an ironclad fence and security force?

No doubt whatsoever!!!!

Well, get this: last year 600 people were arrested illegally crossing our southern border who came from countries listed by our State Department as “states that sponsor terrorism.” 600 were caught; how many others from these terrorist states were not caught and are today nestling into our society and are prepping for some violent attack on our nation?

It is utterly ridiculous that we do not seal that border right away. Even if we do need to use the US Army to do it until all available fences and technologies are up and running, it must be sealed at once for national security reasons!

3) Can you believe that it has taken five long months for New York City firefighter Matt Long to be released from New York Hospital after more than a dozen major surgeries on fractures to his pelvis, legs, shoulders, ribs and legs? But he was indeed sent home yesterday for the first time since the New York City transit strike caused him to bike to work early one December morning. It was during that fateful morning that a private bus driver ran him over - and changed this wonderful young man’s life forever.

Your prayers helped save this wonderful young man’s life. His father today thanked all of you - from all across the nation - who so kindly asked God to help.

Thank you all!!!

4) Can you believe the Democrats are really going to nominate Hillary for President in 2008 - and thus re-open all the scandals and questions about the Clintons, their marriage, his philandering etc.?

Do they really want to go through that all over again?

Does the country?

Is the Al Gore ‘boomlet’ really a sign that many leading Democrats are desperate not to have Hillary in 2008? And Gore is yet another ‘anti-Hillary’ candidate in a party secretly distraught that the Clinton juggernaught can’t be stopped for the Democratic nomination - and yet they also know Hillary can’t win in a national election?

Just this week the New York Times front-paged a huge story on the ‘state of the Clinton marriage.’ It just seems unlikely that the country wants to go through all that again: their scandals, Bill’s new girl-friends, what and when did Hillary know etc. Who can stand this again?

This nation does not want to go backwards and have another Clinton - or both Clintons - back in their Co-Presidency.

Nor does the country want another Bush in the White House.

They want someone new with new ideas, a new approach to solving our country’s mounting problems and a new view of what a mess these Establishment politicians have caused.

5) Happy Memorial Day to you all! Have a wonderful start to the summer! And let us all take a moment to think of all the dead American soldiers who all gave their lives for us.

”MOLLIFYING” THE RIGHT



In the carefully orchestrated White House leaks leading up to Monday’s prime-time Oval Office immigration speech, the White House has cleverly - or so they think - made a new move: President Bush is going to send the troops to the Mexican border!

Oh, really?

If you read between the lines, you will find that in a Friday afternoon off-the-record White House briefing, a ‘senior administration official’ admitted that they were going to propose a modest increase in National Guardsmen placed - temporarily - on the southern border until the Immigration and Border Control people can increase their own manpower.

This official admitted that this proposal was to mollify the right in order to get the amnesty aka guest worker program through a joint Senate-House Conference Committee.

President Bush’s real agenda is clear: to continue the flood of cheap, illegal labor by granting them amnesty in the guise of some totally unenforceable guest worker program.

And he wonders why his polls have plummeted to 29%? And why his base is dissolving on a daily basis?

In the post 9/11 era, who would ever have thought a so-called conservative Republican war president would allow hundreds of thousands of foreigners to stream across our borders with virtual impunity? And that once they were here, they would go unpunished and, in fact, be rewarded for their actions by ultimately paying no penalty for their lawbreaking?

So here is the thinking in this Bush White House: it is the conservatives who are blocking the immigration issue. So Bush will throw them a measly little bone: the illusion of beefed up border security.

And that is all this is: an illusion.

This is yet another phony, cosmetic Bush ploy to try to keep his base with him.

And true-blue conservatives so gullible as to fall for this?

If GW Bush was sincere, he would be genuinely outraged over these people illegally crossing into our country. He would do whatever it takes to stop it, including using US Army troops on the ground, building a fence and employing the Coast Guard and Air Force.

He would make the top priority of his administration a simple one to articulate: we are going to seal our borders - period!

Furthermore, he’d launch the powers of his government to nail each and every employer that is hiring these people - and thus undercutting the law and the rights of American workers.

We have a system here - much of it for the benefit of the workers and enacted by lefties like Teddy Kennedy - which is being circumvented by this profusion of illegal workers. Minimum wages, Social Security and health insurance and other mandated rights and benefits all drive up the cost of labor. Employers are using illegals because they pay them off the books and scrimp on the pay and totally ignore the mandated benefits.

Ironically, Teddy Kennedy and the Left - aided yet again by another phony conservative, John McCain - are actually hurting the very same American workers and voters they always claim to want to help!

No wonder the bottom has dropped out in all polling for virtually all members of the political establishment of both parties. The American people are disgusted by everything that is happening in politics today. This immigration issue, Iraq, the gas prices and Katrina have soured the nation.

President Bush’s credibility is virtually gone. Monday night’s speech is not going to help his poll numbers; it is going to accelerate their further decline because he is trying to disguise his real position.

Leadership means staking out a position - and then trying to convince the people that they should follow. It does not mean trying to ‘buy’ off one side with a phony bone - so that you can adopt another agenda.

Mr. Bush is paying a steep price for assuming his ‘base’ - the right - would stick with him no matter what.

Indeed it is this base that is now deserting him and driving down his poll numbers into Nixonesque territory. And those poll numbers weaken his ability to get a GOP Congress to do what he wants.

Monday’s speech will be yet the latest example of a President with the wrong plan to fix a serious problem - and an unhappy base that is rapidly losing fath in his presidency.

PASSION AND FURY ON THE RIGHT



Who said the following?


No matter what Bush says, I don't trust him!!! He has caused untold turmoil in our nation. The man is a total phony!!!! The longer he stays in OUR White House the more uneasy I become. He has fully exposed himself as a total fraud!

A) Howard Dean

B) Hillary Clinton

C) Jack Sherratt, a California Republican who voted for GW Bush twice.

Answer: Mr. Sherratt, who is a regular reader of my column on Newsmax.com, the most visited conservative news site. His reaction to President Bush is not unique.

Another reader, Charley, wrote, I voted George Bush because I was under the impression that he was a man of high principle and moral values. But based on the decisions he has made since he was elected I see I made a HUGE mistake in judgment. He has sold out to big business on so many issues it makes me ILL.

Jack and Charley - and millions of conservatives like them - are the heart of the conservative Republican movement which has always thrived when it had a common ‘enemy.’ For 40 years it was Soviet Communism and Big Government. By the late 1990's it was Bill Clinton’s smutty behavior and Hollywood’s poisonous culture.

In 2000 George W. Bush was able to harness this passion and fury on the Right to defeat Al Gore. And, of course, 9/11 allowed Mr. Bush to harness the entire nation’s fear and pain to attack Afghanistan and Iraq.

From 1999 on I wrote column after column - from a conservative perspective - questioning the truthfulness and competence of George W. Bush. And I was excoriated by fellow Republicans and conservatives for this. Up until 6 months ago, the emails defending Bush - and attacking me for being a RINO (Republican in Name Only)- were steady and vitriolic.


But things are changing. There is an ongoing tectonic shift inside the Republican and conservative movement that is reflected in email after email - all from people who once proudly defended President Bush.

Until now, the base itself - the voters who nominated and elected him - has held. But that base is now beginning to defect. Polls show that Bush’s support among Republicans has recently dropped from 90% to 74%. And only 20% of GOP voters now “strongly” support Mr. Bush as opposed to 34% a year ago, according to the latest ABC/Washington Post poll.

President Bush - instead of commanding the passion and fury of the conservative movement to his political benefit has allowed himself to become its target.

On issue after issue, Mr. Bush has betrayed his own supporters:

On federal spending: From Jeff in Ohio: Leading up to the 2000 election. I was republican conservative Christian sure W was the man. Send over a huge plate of crow. I cannot imagine a worse disaster.
I will never vote Repub again. No excuse for uncontrolled increase in spending, and total disregard for civil liberties along with a thousand other reasons.

Or foreign policy: Dave from San Diego: I am so embarrassed that I voted for this fraud twice. What is even worse is our foreign policy fiasco being orchestrated by Darth Cheney and Dr. Paranoiac. Many of my fellow Republican friends are seeing this and feel like they cannot believe anything coming out of this administration.

On the Dubai Ports deal: Mike from Illinois: W's administration is a mess. He has abandoned his supporters. I feel as if it were a sham. Ports, borders, jobs flying out of here - it's frustrating.

On immigration: Alex from NYC: I've personally spoken with Republicans who are so angry over Bush's amnesty bill that they are thinking about leaving the GOP.

This new-found despair and disgust on the Right indicates turmoil this November - and maybe even a place for an anti-establishment Independent Third Candidate in 2008:


Mitchell from Ohio: I am a 30+ year voting Republican. I am so mad at him I can't see straight. He just doesn't get it. I predict big losses for Republicans in the 2006 elections and President Bush should look in the mirror when it happens.

From Rosanne in Pittsburgh: I will tell you that the American people are longing for a man or woman who stands for something, and not become lapdogs for their political party or a tool for the religious groups in this country that want to make religion the national policy for the nation.



George W. Bush, who tried to act and look like the ‘son of Reagan’ in order to command the conservative base, has proven himself indeed to be the son of George H.W. Bush - the last Republican President to betray his base.

And the result is that the passion and fury of the Republican Right are now aimed directly at him.

A DEAD PRESIDENCY



In 1979 -1980, while Jimmy Carter was our president, the economic numbers were indeed dire:

21% interest rates;

11% unemployment;

12% inflation rate

Gas lines, rationing and OPEC jacking up the price of crude;


There was also the November 4, 1979 hostage crisis in Tehran.

The result?

Carter’s approval ratings plummeted - and Teddy Kennedy, sensing political vulnerability - jumped into the race for the 1980 Democratic presidential nomination against an incumbent Democrat president.

By April of 1980, Carter suffered yet another blow when his poorly micro-managed Desert One hostage rescue scheme went sour.

But, despite all these setbacks and sour indicators, Carter’s approval/disapproval ratings were never as bad as GW Bush’s are today?

Why is this?

Today’s stock market is again booming. Unemployment is very low. There is - thank goodness - no inflation. And interest rates, while creeping back up, are nowhere near their 1979/1980 high. Yes, gas prices are exploding upwards - and that must hurt. But his ratings were declining before these recent spikes.

So why is President GW Bush even more unpopular that Jimmy Carter was?

Answer(s):

A) Iraq is an underlying sore point with more and more people. Why? Because it never ends, it never gets better - and we seem to be making no progress whatsoever.

B) Despite the good economic numbers, many people have ‘fear’ that the economy is soon going to collapse. There is a pessimism about the future; under President Reagan in the 1980's there was a real underlying optimism about the future. Americans are an inherently optimistic people so this negativity is hurting Bush and the Congress.

C) The feeling that our government is totally incompetent. From Iraq’s numerous screw-ups, i.e. no body armor, not enough troops, no armor on the vehicles, bad intelligence, CIA leaks, etc., to Katrina to Dubai Ports to this incredible immigration mess, it sure seems as if our federal government does not have a clue.

D) Shelf-life: GW Bush has worn out his welcome. He’s been on the scene for almost 7 years as either a candidate or as president - and the Bush Family had another 12 years in the Reagan and first Bush Administrations. The country might just be tired of the Bushes.


Whatever the reason for this total meltdown of a second term president, it is remarkable. With no legal underpinning - like Nixon and Clinton had with their impeachment preceedings - Bush’s fall is ground-breaking. Sure, other second-term presidents have had dips. But always their ratings rebounded.

Does anyone now believe a bounce upwards is even possible for this president?

He seems to lurch from one screw-up to the next - and the recent White House staff changes are merely cosmetic band-aids that can and will have little effect.

The fundamental problem is his credibility is shot, his base is disconsolate and he has no agenda around which to rally anyone.

In sum, he is no longer moving, which in politics is crucial. A candidate - or a President - has to keep moving from idea to issue to event. Just the image of movement keeps the enterprise fresh and new and alive.

The Bush Presidency is as dead as his father’s was at the end of the first Gulf War.

And it may be too late to save it - or the Republican Party’s control of the House of Representatives.