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White House Responds to Betrayal Claims
The White House has responded to a blistering article by conservative icon Richard Viguerie charging that President Bush has betrayed his conservative base. And Viguerie has responded to the response – claiming it isn’t a response at all. Writing in the Washington Post on May 21, Viguerie – a consultant and direct-mail specialist who helped elect Ronald Reagan in 1980 – said: "Sixty-five months into Bush’s presidency, conservatives feel betrayed. "After the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ transportation bill, the Harriet Miers Supreme Court nomination and the Dubai Ports World deal, the immigration crisis was the tipping point for us.”
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Viguerie also cited the No Child Left Behind Act, the Medicare prescription drug benefit, Bush’s signing of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance overhaul and "the greatest increase in spending since Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society” as betrayals of conservative principles. "The main cause of conservatives’ anger with Bush is this: He talked like a conservative to win our votes but never governed like a conservative,” writes Viguerie, author of the forthcoming book "Conservatives Betrayed: How Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Conservative Cause.” In an apparent attempt to deflect Viguerie’s criticism by pointing out his dissatisfaction with an unmistakably conservative president, Ronald Reagan, Peter H. Wehner – deputy assistant to the president and director of strategic initiatives – sent an e-mail message to an unknown number of persons. The message consisted of a series of quotes from Viguerie in the 1980s:
Viguerie countered in a statement: "Apparently the White House’s response to my article in the May 21 Washington Post is to send out an e-mail from Peter H. Wehner . . . consisting of six quotes by me criticizing Ronald Reagan during his presidency. "That’s a lot easier than trying to respond to my arguments. That’s a lot easier than trying to explain away the many examples I give of how Bush has betrayed the conservative movement. And that is standard operating procedure for this White House: Put the spotlight on the president’s critic, rather than respond to the critic’s arguments. "Peter, I plead guilty to your implied criticism of me . . . I put loyalty to conservative principles above loyalty to the Republican Party or a politician.” The job of conservatives, Viguerie argues, is not to be "mouthpieces” for any administration, but to give criticism where it is due.
He concludes: "The remaining task for conservatives is to nominate and elect a president who will govern as a conservative.”
Editor's note:
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