Courting The Conservatives

Conservatives Bush woos the right with verbal bouquets and appointment vetoes

For George Bush, the stinging criticisms by stalwart right-wingers like Jesse Helms of his handling of the Panamanian coup attempt were a bitter reminder of an old political truth: he has never been a favorite of Republican conservatives. As President, Bush might have been expected to ignore the demands of a faction that has been sniping at him for years; instead, he has wooed the right, doing the minimum, and sometimes more, to keep it happy. Says Stuart Rothenberg, a political analyst with Paul Weyrich's Free Congress Research and Education Foundation: "He's like the constant suitor. He's always there with the...

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