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Christine Todd Whitman says Bush's Strategy; Will Hurt Republican Party
Topic Started: Jan 27 2005, 12:44 PM (118 Views)
gvok
Unregistered

Bush strategy will hurt Republicans, says former aide

By Alec Russell in Washington
(Filed: 04/01/2005)

One of President George W Bush's former cabinet officials has criticised his record and his electoral strategy, accusing him of running a short-term policy which will damage the Republicans in the future.

Christine Todd Whitman joined Mr Bush's first cabinet as head of the Environmental Protection Agency and one of its few Republican moderates before leaving after a series of disputes in June 2003.

In a new book, It's My Party too: the battle for the heart of the GOP [Grand Old Party, the nickname for the Republican Party] and the Future of America, she describes regular battles with "extreme anti-government ideologues".

Her book is clearly designed to cast a shadow over Mr Bush's inauguration later this month.

But she says that while Mr Bush's campaign did energise his own political base, he failed to expand it. The results showed he "missed an opportunity to significantly broaden his support in the most populous areas of the country", she writes.

Ms Whitman argues that the strategy of Karl Rove, Mr Bush's chief political adviser, to focus rigorously on the narrow conservative base may have won the day, "but we must ask at what price to governing and at what risk to the future of the party".

Mr Bush's supporters have dismissed her charges as the work of a disenchanted former official. They point to his re-election victory as the ultimate riposte, and are confident that the political future is with the Right wing, not in the Centre.

Ms Whitman held her fire in the countdown to last November's election and even campaigned for Mr Bush in her home state, New Jersey, at the last minute, rallying round like most other moderate Republicans.

In October, when the New York Times quoted her accusing the White House of often depending on faith rather than facts, she promptly denied having made the remark.

The newspaper reported that she had said on the day of her resignation: "In meetings I'd ask if there were any facts to support our case. And for that I was accused of disloyalty!"

Now she feels emboldened once again. She sets the tone for the book by pointing out that Mr Bush's three-percentage-point margin of victory is the lowest of any re-elected incumbent.

Mr Bush came to office promising to end the culture of leaks that characterised his predecessor's White House, and he has been broadly successful.

Until now, his former treasury secretary Paul O'Neill and his anti-terrorism chief, Richard Clarke, were the only officials to pen unflattering portraits of the Bush White House.

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Wichita
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The Adminstrator wRench
How's the baby? She past her first birthday? Fond of snow? (My little great-nephew was NOT fond of walking in the snow, but was fascinated by the snow blower and liked being in the snow "shower" it created.)
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gvok
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[This is a bit off topic, but] she's 15 months. She just started walking actually. We haven't brought her out in the snow because it has been so cold here lately but we will when it warms up a bit. Thanks for asking Wichita.
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Fesarius
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I like CTW, but I don't agree with her assessment here.
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Admiralbill_gomec
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Christie WHO? :)
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