Bush the Shunned

"Here comes the Judge".... the voters.

Moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island won his primary yesterday despite a strong conservative challenger. (Wapo) Chafee is not a Bush Republican, in fact he admitted that he didn't vote for Bush in 2004 and that "My record voting with the administration is spotty at best." (U.S. News & World Report 9/11) For Republican incumbents this election season, that is something to brag about!

Then we have Democrat Senator Joe "Bush Lite" Lieberman of Connecticut, who did align himself on many issues with Bush.... most glaringly the Iraq war.... and his party threw him to the wolves. Now he campaigns on the fringes of the pack as an Independent, shunned by the Democrat alphas but embraced by the GOP who have abandoned their own Republican cub.

In Arizona's primary for the House seat being vacated by Jim Kolbe, GOP conservative Randy Graf, a "firebrand running hard against illegal immigration" and endorsed by his local National Border Patrol Council, seems to have won his primary. With 95% of the precincts reporting, he leads by 6% over his closest rival. His opponent, Steve Huffman, was backed by Kolbe and the national GOP party.

Across the election board, the trends are clear.... the voters don't like where Bush and the GOP have taken the country, and want action on the conduct of the Iraq war and border security.

One last thought on the Iraq war, a recent Senate intelligence committee report concluded that Saddam Hussein was "distrustful of Al Qaeda".... not an ally of the terrorist group, as the Bush administration has claimed. (Newsweek 9/18)

November.