Wednesday, November 15, 2006
"A Backhanded Compliment"
is the most charitable way to view Senator Mel Martinez, President Bush's choice for RNC chairman. A "slap in the face" to those many Republicans who dared oppose the will of President Bush on immigration and language is an equally fitting description of his choice.
Martinez was a coauthor of the Senate's amnesty legislation and an opponent of official English. He owes his rapid rise in politics solely to the favor of George W. Bush. Martinez is the Cuban version of Harriet Miers.
For Bush to choose Martinez instead of, say, Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland, is not just a slap in the face of the GOP base that loved Bush enough to elect him twice, but loved the Bush amnesty notion a good deal less. The Martinez choice is a thumb in the eye.
A boxer sticks a thumb in his opponent's eye when he is afraid of losing. The only place the Bush immigration plan remains popular is within the grounds of the White House, at least so long as his staff is not allowed to vote by secret ballot on the merits of the proposal.
DC is abuzz with complaints that "had only Bush fired Rumsfeld before the election, the Republicans would have kept control of (blank)." A better question might be: "what if the week before November 7th, President Bush had held a gala signing ceremony for the border fence bill surrounded by endangered Republican candidates?"
|posted by Jim on 1:08 AM|
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