The Moose, M.S.W. abhors lovers quarrels.
It's time that W. rekindle the romance in his life. No, the problem is not with Laura but with the wing nuts. The right thinks he's been seeing other women - Ms. Big Government Conservatism, Katrina and Rita. The broken hearted righties no longer swoon over W's swagger.
Bush has become the conservatives' Carter - a hapless President wandering aimlessly adrift across the country from disaster to to disaster. W. has even told us to drive less to conserve gasoline (which is not a bad idea but it has to infuriate the Hummer- loving right). It is only a matter of time that Jimmy Bush urges us to turn down the thermostat. Will George W. Carter address the nation in a cardigan and bemoan a national malaise?
President Bush is lavishing billions and billions on his new lovers and the right is mighty jealous. He is showering them with agricultural subsidies, pork and promises of a great society. And the conservatives are just getting a few scraps off the dinner table - a few vouchers here and there.
They don't feel loved. They feel taken for granted. They are so upset, that they wrote him a near Dear John note as an editorial in the National Review,
"If Bush doesn't take decisive steps to try to offset the billions of new Katrina spending, the forecast will be: Danger, more softening ahead. Never in the Bush years has conservative discontent been so high, nor so justified. With a few false moves in the crucial weeks ahead, Bush could see even more of the life-blood squeezed from his presidency."
Ouch!
Ever since W's Katrina speech, the right feels like a lover scorned. Even their favorite exterminator, Tom DeLay, broke their hearts when he proclaimed that there was no more fat in the government and the crusade to shrink the government is over. If the President offers a moderate for the O'Connor vacancy, this marriage is destined for divorce court. To quell this break-up, the President must nominate a right wing lady.
The Moose wrote almost a year ago before the election,
"...what the Moose is observing is that the left now has that hungry look while the right is increasingly fat and lazy feasting on the fruits of power. Yesterday's conservative revolutionaries are today's fat cat lobbyists. And many right-wingers have merely become sycophants and shills for the Republican power brokers.
"Come to think of it - maybe the best thing for the right would be a Kerry victory! Divided government was just swell for conservatives in the nineties - they had a dynamic movement, restrained spending, entitlement reform, tax cuts and a balanced budget. Conservative brethren - consider Kerry - he can return the good old days!"
If you administered some sodium pentothol to some conservatives, you get the sense that they would admit that they'd be better off with a Kerry Presidency. Iraq would be his mess. They could assume the role of an aggrieved opposition and hold the line against spending. Direct mail fundrasing would soar. However, now that their man-child Bush is stumbling, they are in a funk with nowhere to turn. And conservative governance is on the verge of being discredited by the trifecta of cronyism, corruption and incompetence. Ronald Reagan is no longer the symbol of conservative governance, but rather Casino Jack Abramoff and his dear pal the Bugman.
Progressives should heighten the contradictions within conservatism by joining with them in attacking the Bushie and DeLay big spenders. The left should also embrace a program of slashing pork barrel spending, ag and energy subsidies and the transportation bill. Join the right in rolling back the Medicare Drug bill and propose a targeted program for low income seniors - this is a marvelous opportunity for a marriage of strange (and estranged) bedfellows.
The Moose, brandishing some counseling expertise with a Masters of Social Work, has some advice for the scorned lovers of the right - if you don't want to be taken for granted, play hard to get. Threaten W. and Rove to withhold the love they have always expected. Practice abstinence when they whisper sweet nothings in your ear.
Righties - you do your best when you're single and can play the field. -- | 
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