GOP Sen. Olympia Snowe says Bush lost Senate for Republicans

Interesting article in today's edition of The Hill about how Bush is not the fundraising champ that he used to be. The first line says it all "Financial projections for the President’s Dinner tonight confirm that Republican confidence in the president is in a state of collapse."

That's pretty tough, but tucked into that piece are some harsh words, very harsh words about George Bush from Maine's Olympia Snowe. Keep in mind, she said this on the very day Bush trekked to Capitol Hill to plead his case for immigration. If what Snowe thinks is pervasive among her caucus, then Bush is in trouble. Now, Olympia Snowe isn't your average Republican Senator. She's somewhat moderate...way more moderate than any of the others, including her colleague from Maine, Susan Collins. But, Snowe gave the sense that Bush is leading Republicans off the cliff:

Bush visited the Senate Republicans’ weekly luncheon yesterday for the first time since September to build support for immigration reform. Lingering concerns about the president’s stubbornness and his stance on the controversial issue may undermine his outreach effort.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said she thinks her former GOP colleagues Sens. Mike DeWine (Ohio) and Lincoln Chafee (R.I.) lost reelection because of Bush’s unpopularity.

“It’s definitely because of the president and his policies, more from the standpoint of immovability and not being willing to adjust policies in response to real-time circumstances,” she said. “It wasn’t just the fact that things weren’t working well in Iraq, it was the president wasn’t willing to adjust his policy to recognize and acknowledge that.”

Last year’s losses at the polls have shaped her Republican colleagues’ view of the president in 2007, she said, adding, “All of that had manifested itself in ways this year, leading to concerns about the president’s policies.”

Snowe said that during yesterday’s meeting, her thought was that Republicans would still be the majority if not for Bush’s failures.

“What’s disconcerting is that Republicans shouldn’t be in the position of having lost the majority,” she said, adding that because of the president Republicans had an “uphill battle” running for reelection in New England last year.

Even after the 2006 election losses, most of the Republicans on the Hill are still willing to do Bush's dirty work. We'll see over the next couple weeks whether Republicans stick with Bush on Iraq. My bet is they will.