WASHINGTON — There are competing theories, among Republicans, about the precise moment that their relationship with George W. Bush began to fray.



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Some, like Representative Tom Davis of Virginia, say it was in August 2005, when Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans and President Bush viewed the devastation from the air-conditioned comfort of Air Force One. "Symbolically it was terrible, and substantively it was terrible; to me it was the turning point," he said.

Others, like Pat Toomey, president of the conservative Club for Growth, lament the day in 2003 when Mr. Bush signed the Medicare prescription drug benefit into law. "Creation of a new entitlement — this is not what Republicans do," Mr. Toomey said.

Still others, like Representative Deborah Pryce of Ohio, look to November 2006, when Mr. Bush waited until Republicans were crushed at the ballot box to fire Donald H. Rumsfeld as secretary of defense. "I'm very fond of him," Ms. Pryce said of the president. "But it's still hard for me to forgive the fact that the day after I almost lost my election, he fired Rumsfeld."

As the party faithful head to Minnesota to nominate Senator John McCain as their candidate for president, many feel deeply conflicted about the man Mr. McCain hopes to succeed. Eight years after he accepted his own nomination at another convention hall in Philadelphia, Mr. Bush leaves behind a party whose members regard him with deep personal affection, even as they blame him for hurting their political prospects and tarnishing the Republican brand.

Full article here in the NYT.