http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/politics/3397429Back when President Bush was riding high — before much of the public turned sour on Iraq, before some conservatives got mad about his increased federal spending and his Harriet Miers nomination — it was widely assumed that the 2008 Republican presidential candidates would vie amongst themselves for the right to proudly carry their leader's torch. That doesn't seem to be happening.
Republican hopefuls — as many as a dozen men who already are jockeying for advantage — don't want to be perceived as insiders and heirs to the Bush political establishment.
On the contrary, most of them are trying to advertise their independence, to distance themselves from Bush on key issues, to appear as rebels fed up with Washington.But the woes plaguing Bush — including the scandals involving indicted powerhouse Tom DeLay and well-wired lobbyist Jack Abramoff (a GOP conservative activist when he first came to town), as well as the legal cloud hovering over Bush strategist Karl Rove —
are playing havoc with the traditional GOP respect for hierarchy."The scandals we're facing are the consequences of being in power so long," said Matthew Continetti, a conservative analyst who is writing a book about the Republican Party