Beset by discouraging polls and division within ideological ranks, the White House is accelerating efforts to woo back disaffected conservatives and energize the Republican base in a reprise of a strategy that succeeded in the last two campaign cycles.
[....]
The message that Bush and others are sending to alienated supporters is that, no matter how upset they have been about various policies or political missteps over the past couple of years, life would be far worse under the Democrats. They name liberal lawmakers who would take charge of key committees and warn conservatives that taxes would go up and protection against terrorists would go down. And they cite, in particular, the confirmation of two conservative Supreme Court justices who might have been blocked by a Democratic Senate.
"The White House strategy is to remind us who would be in leadership in the House and Senate" if Democrats win, said Gary L. Bauer, president of a group called American Values and a Christian conservative who sends a daily e-mail to 100,000 supporters. "The idea is that that's going to be enough to get out most of this vote."
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform and a close Rove associate, said the White House team is blanketing the conservative circuit. "They're out there, they're talking to people, they're at our meetings," he said. "This is a full-court press." Norquist dismissed conservatives who are threatening to stay home on Election Day: "They're not doing anything other than whining."
Gee--where have we seen this strategy before? Stop whining and vote Republican because if you think we're that bad, then just think how much worst it is going to be under the evil Democrats? It is the politics of fear and terrorism--brought to you by the Republican Party and the Bush White House.
But let's continue on with the WaPost story:
Some conservatives said it is too late. "They honestly need a baseball bat against the head," said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who helped Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) take over Congress in the 1990s. "Because if they don't change the lexicon immediately, as bad as this election is going to be, they're going to lose the presidency in 2008. I've given up on 2006. They've already made so many mistakes, there's no way they can fix it in two weeks. But I'm worried now they're going to lose all the marbles."
The White House courtship of the right paid enormous dividends in the past, but this year it is complicated by a far more skeptical audience than in 2002 and 2004. Conservatives who were key to those victories have grown frustrated with the Bush policies on federal spending, immigration, Iraq and foreign affairs, and uncertain of his commitment to issues such as preventing legalized same-sex marriage. The Mark Foley page scandal did not help reassure "values voters," as strategists call them, nor did the publication of a book by former White House official David Kuo saying that Bush aides dismissed Christian conservatives as "nuts."
The entire Republican legislative agenda--both the Republican-controlled Congress and the Bush White House--has been a disaster for this country. No wonder the conservatives are whining and staying home. This Bush administration has become a whore for corporate tax breaks and Big Business consolodation of power, has become a whore for a greater share of the national wealth flowing up to the rich elites, has become a whore for the PNAC neocons who dream of a new century of American imperialism. These policies have enriched a select group of conservative elites at the expense of the entire nation. It is no wonder that the public opinion polls are showing a deteriorating slide of President Bush's job approval ratings and the Republican Congress' approval ratings. This country is on the wrong track.
And what is the Bush administration's response to all this? Will the Bush administration even consider readjusting their policies to reflect the will of the American people? Of course not. The Bush administration's response is more marketing spin. Consider this from the WaPost:
"This is going to be a very important part of the election," said White House political director Sara Taylor. "In a traditional midterm headwind, Republicans are going to have to make sure they turn out their base. In places where they do that, Republicans are going to win races they're supposed to win. In places where they don't do that, they're going to have a much harder time."
The White House has tried to rev up its base in various ways. Bush has given interviews to Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, the Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot, and groups of conservative columnists and talk show hosts. Cheney appeared last week on Rush Limbaugh's radio show and yesterday gave an interview to conservative television and radio commentator Sean Hannity.
To maximize the blitz, the White House set up a tent on the North Lawn yesterday and let 42 radio hosts broadcast live during the day. Because it was on government property, "Radio Day" included outlets such as National Public Radio, but "it's mostly conservative talk," White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "This is a chance to talk to people and get heard," said Snow, a former talk show host who did more than 20 interviews yesterday and has also been dispatched to talk to conservative Web sites such as the Power Line blog.
Rove wandered into the tent with a piece of paper guiding him to a dozen interviews yesterday. Others on hand included Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman, Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, national security adviser Stephen J. Hadley, presidential counselor Dan Bartlett, White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend, and budget director Rob Portman.
More marketing spin! Let's set up a big tent for the conservative radio personalities to interview top Bush administration officials. That way the Bush White House can continue pushing out their stale talking points.
You have to admit that the Bush administration is consistent at marketing spin. It is about the only thing they could ever do--both good and bad.
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