Texas Senator Bucks Trend, Stands Solidly by Bush

By Shailagh Murray
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 17, 2007

In a sea of Republican doubt, Sen. John Cornyn of Texas is all about certainty.

He is certain that President Bush's decision to send more troops into battle is the right move. He is certain that Democratic war thinking is wrong. Despite the growing misgivings of so many GOP lawmakers, Cornyn is certain that the United States should stay in Iraq until the job is done.

The freshman senator is such a throwback to the early days of GOP fealty to Bush that his Senate Web site includes a "compassionate conservatism" link. Choosing survival over solidarity, other Republicans are seeking political cover. Cornyn, 55, is one of 20 GOP senators up for reelection in 2008, but he is trying a different strategy from most of the others: unwavering loyalty.

He not only supports Bush's troop-increase plan, but he describes any alternative in the starkest possible terms. "Are we going to allow Iraq to become another failed state which will then serve as a launching pad for future terrorist attacks, perhaps including against the United States?" Cornyn asked during a recent Senate floor speech.

"Now is not the time to choose a path of retreat and defeat -- as many of the [Howard] Dean Democrats would have us follow," he said in defending Bush's anti-terrorism strategy.

Cornyn opposes a nonbinding resolution approved by the House yesterday that criticizes Bush's decision to boost troop levels in Iraq. The Senate is scheduled to meet in a special weekend session today to decide whether to begin debating that resolution.

Cornyn is a favorite at the White House, but his unalloyed defense of Bush's Iraq policies have some back home wondering whether he has gone too far.

"He's pretty much married himself to the president and to Karl" Rove, Bush's top political adviser, said Harvey Kronberg, editor of the Quorum Report political newsletter. "I'm just speculating, but we like to see a modest amount of independence here in Texas."

With his white hair and tall, regal bearing, Cornyn showed up in Washington in January 2003 as a Bush insider. He had a long friendship with Rove and possessed a nickname bestowed upon him by the president: "Corndog." Speaking at a campaign event before Cornyn's election, Bush called the former Texas attorney general "a man who can help us get some things done to make America a safer and stronger and better place for all of us."

The new senator's White House connections gave him instant clout. Cornyn won a seat on the high-profile, and highly partisan, Judiciary Committee and quickly took a prominent role in several major political battles, including a long-running dispute with Democrats over some of Bush's most conservative judicial nominees.

He gained a reputation as a vocal, if somewhat predictable, advocate for the conservative agenda. The one area where Cornyn has broken with Bush is immigration -- the senator has staked out a more conservative position. Having formerly served on the Texas Supreme Court, Cornyn is particularly bothered by "activist" judges, whom he accuses of promoting liberal causes from the bench.

The Democrats' takeover of Congress last fall was a wake-up call for many Republicans to begin distancing themselves from the White House. Cornyn himself branched out recently by teaming up with Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) on a tobacco-regulation bill and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) on a homeland security funding measure.

On the war, however, he has been unwavering in his support of Bush.

Cornyn has sided with Bush on a series of controversial, war-related issues. He endorsed a White House proposal for trying "unlawful enemy combatants" that sought to limit Geneva Conventions protections. When the National Security Agency's secret program to intercept international telephone calls from the United States was revealed, Cornyn called it a "useful tool" to protect Americans from terrorism. He was one of nine senators to oppose an amendment to ban the use of "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment" against anyone in U.S. government custody.

Some Republican war supporters, most notably Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), have harshly criticized Bush's handling of the conflict. Cornyn resists any such talk. In a recent CNN interview, Wolf Blitzer put him on the spot with the question, "How much of a credibility problem does the Bush administration have right now?"

Cornyn smoothly deflected. "Well, the problem is, Wolf, we have so many members of the United States Senate who are running for 2008, I think we need to put this in a larger context. But the fact of the matter is that we need to do whatever we can to protect our troops. And the fact is that the Iranians are very much involved in what's happening in Iraq right now."

Pressed on the subject in an interview, Cornyn conceded, "Clearly no war is going to proceed without mistakes, and I think there have been mistakes made."

Cornyn is not surprised that some of his Republican colleagues are turning skittish on Bush. "That's a function of the president's [poor] approval rating. When it's soaring, people are rallying around him. When his numbers are in the tank, that is diminished. But I really do believe that this is more important than the next election and who's up and who's down in Washington," Cornyn said.

The lack of daylight between Bush and Cornyn, particularly over the war, has raised a few eyebrows among Democrats and within Texas political circles.

"He needs to more clearly stand on his own two feet and stop saying, 'I agree with the president,' " said Cal Jillson, a Southern Methodist University political scientist.

"Even in Texas, total fidelity to George Bush is not the wisest move, substantively or politically," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer (N.Y.), the Senate Democrats' campaign chairman. "The whole world is changing. There's an opening in every part of the country, including in Texas, like there wasn't even five years ago."

Democrats' political prospects in Texas brightened considerably last year, after a Democrat captured the seat of former House majority leader Tom DeLay (R) in the general election and Democrat Ciro Rodriguez won a surprisingly convincing victory over Rep. Henry Bonilla (R), in a December runoff election in the massive 23rd Congressional District.

A few weeks later, the Texas Blue, a progressive Web site, raised the question of Cornyn's potential vulnerability. The evidence: two years of monthly tracking polls that showed Cornyn's job approval rating barely breaking 45 percent and a random sample of Texas residents conducted in December that detected a slight shift in favor toward Democrats.

Cornyn questioned the tracking poll's methodology, noting the firm, Survey USA, relies on recorded "robocalls," rather than using live agents to query voters. But his reaction suggested he had seen the numbers. He has raised $3.2 million for his 2008 campaign, more than any other incumbent GOP senator.

"I'm preparing for whatever happens," Cornyn said.