Bush and The Bug Man revisited

In Bush and The Bug Man, I discussed the less-than-perfect relationship between The Bug Man and good ol' George. And yesterday, I heard something that provides further insight into their relationship. Every Friday, NPR's "All Things Considered" has a segment discussing political activities of the week. The guests are usually David Brooks of the New York Times and E.J. Dionne of the Washington Post. The May 13, 2005, segment was hosted by Robert Siegel, and the discussion eventually turned to Tom DeLay and the Bug Man lovefest held on May 12.

Siegel: Tom DeLay, House Majority Leader, was feted last night by conservatives in Washington. A lot of them came, a lot of Republican members of Congress didn’t. Is this the twilight of the age of DeLay?

Brooks: I think it is part of the long slow twilight. He’ll fight and there is some loyalty to him. What struck me about the dinner is there are many different factions in the Republican party and the conservative movement. The people who feted him were the American Conservative Union, people like Paul Weyrich. This is very much the old right, and they are not the Bush administration.

Siegel: How are they different politically, though? What are the ideas that are big among this group that wouldn’t be big among today’s pro-Bush conservatives?


Brooks: They certainly do not believe in promoting democracy abroad. They do not believe in using armed services abroad. Tom DeLay was violently against using armed forces under Clinton in Bosnia and the Balkans. They also do not believe in passionate conservatism, which they call “big government conservatism.” They believe in cutting agencies, eliminating the Department of Education, eliminating the Commerce Department, really shrinking the size of government by say 25% they would say. This is all very different from what George Bush has tried to do.

And as I have said before, Brooks is no leftie liberal. His conservative Republican credentials are well established. His comments further show the potential for conflict between Bush and The Bug Man. DeLay is supported primarily by the old-time, true-blue conservatives, and Bush's actions and policies are in some ways the opposite of what those real conservatives want. It will be interesting to see if the true conservatives try to use DeLay as a means to get Bush to follow their agenda.