Bush has exhausted his supporters’ trust

David Frum quotes letters from fed-up Republican readers who are mad as hell about the Miers nomination. Here’s a good one:

Simple—we are asked to “trust me,” once again. In fact, we’ve believed too many times. We believed in school vouchers; we got the Kennedy education bill. We believed in tax cuts, now under permanent threat of going back up again. We believed “you’re either with us, or you’re with the terrorists;” Iran and Syria continue their silent invasion of Iraq. We believed in WMD; they’re still buried somewhere in Syria. We believed in limited government; we got outrageous farm subsidies, steel tariffs, an unneeded prescription drug benefit, and a bloated transportation bill. We believed his commitment to homeland security; we got ever more porous borders. We trusted his appointments; we got George Tenet, Norm Mineta and Michael Brown. Come on; are we stupid?

It’s simple: nobody wants to be made a fool of once again. The trust well is dry. It’s amazing he can’t see it.

And poor Harriet is just the lighting rod for a 5 year gathering storm…

And here’s another good one:

You just gave a laundry list of “why Miers” with a negative point of view. Why on earth did you not apply the same principles, questions and concerns about W?

He appointed a loyal friend because that’s what he knows and understands. He has never been required to perform, has never been held accountable, and has rarely, if ever suffered any negative consequences he actually earned. This character forming lifestyle began in his youth and continues. You supported the most unqualified, unaccomplished, unremarkable man who has probably ever even considered running for major office.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at October 07, 2005 11:14 AM | Send