Why the Bushes Can't Hit The Right Note

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In yet another misguided effort at damage control, Christian conservative leader James Dobson of the organization Focus on the Family disclosed last week that top Bush aide Karl Rove had privately told him Bush was focusing on women as candidates and that some conservative favorites had dropped out of the running "because the process has become so vicious." Neither Dobson nor the White House gave specifics, and even allies on the right were skeptical of the account. "I don't buy it," one leading conservative said.

Bush's friends contend that it is the conservative élite, not the President, who miscalculated and that self-righteous right-wingers stand to lose their seats at the table of power for the next three years. "They're crazy to take him on this frontally," said a former West Wing official. "Not many people have done that with George Bush and lived to tell about it." If a Justice Miers eventually takes her seat on the court, vocal critics can only hope the Bush Administration handles the punishment of the treasonous as poorly as it is currently promoting one of its most loyal subjects.