Brownstein on Rocks and Hard Places

Ron Brownstein's analysis in the LATimes today on the difficulties faced by the GOP leadership right now is quite a good synopsis of where things stand. If the Bush folks can persuade the angry conservatives that Miers is "right enough," they risk losing support from the middle - ditto on topics from immigration to tax reform, etc. And going into mid-term elections next year, the party cannot really stand to lose more support from the center, particularly if Democrats run a halfway decent campaign.

If Matthew Dowd is to be believed (and he strategized Bush's '04 campaign so he's probably got a better idea than, say, me for example), the Administration and Congressional leadership are going to pull a "full speed ahead" maneuver. Brownstein writes that Dowd "said that stabilizing the president's base was more important for the GOP over the next year than wooing independents disaffected from the administration."

The best strategy? Who knows. Maybe Bush just enjoys having toilet-level approval ratings and wants a Democratic congress to beat up on for the last two years of his presidency. If he keeps on his present course, there's a growing chance he could have both.