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What Has Bush Done For Conservatives Lately?
Accuracy In Media ^ | August 23, 2002 | Paul M. Weyrich

Posted on 08/25/2002 12:50:21 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

Recently, I did an interview with Focus on the Family in which I stated that pro-family conservatives are not motivated to vote in the upcoming elections in November 2002. While I stand by that statement - because it is true - I was contacted by a high level White House staffer who pointed out all the reasons he believes that pro-family conservatives should be motivated to get out there and support President Bush. Taken together, it is a pretty impressive list. I will mention some of the items on his list, but by no means all of them, for purposes of discussion.

First there is the passage of the tax cut and the effort to make it permanent. Then, there is the nomination of excellent judges and the defense of those nominees who are encountering opposition for partisan purposes. President Bush rejected the International Criminal Court. He got us out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and thus paved the way for a missile defense system. The Ashcroft Justice Department, directed by the President, opposed partial birth abortion in the Ohio case and opposed euthanasia in the Oregon case.

The President opposed human cloning and has pushed for the right legislation in the Congress to ban it. The President opposed taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research. The Justice Department has supported the correct view of the Second Amendment.

The President has pushed for energy independence. He signed the parsonage tax credit bill and the Born Alive Infant Protection bill, during which, at the signing ceremony, the President made the strongest pro-life statement coming out of the Oval Office in a couple of decades.

The President signed the Child Custody Protection Act. In the Prenatal Health Insurance Bill, he insisted that the definition of eligibility include the fetus. In the House he pushed for a welfare reform bill where marriage, work and the family are central.

The President rejected the United Nations Rights of the Child Treaty. He rejected funding for the United Nations Population Fund. He raised abstinence education funding to a record $300 million.

In addition, the President has praised single sex schools, highlighted the Boy Scouts, and condemned the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling removing "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.

My White House friend says that the whole demeanor and atmosphere in his place of work has changed. He is right about that. No more pot smoking, condom swinging, late night liaisons with teeny-boppers at the White House. It is a dignified place to work once again.

Now, in fairness, all of this has to be weighed against the sight of the president and Teddy Kennedy working together to pass the budget-busting education bill that threw out vouchers on day one. And there are liberal holdovers at the Justice Department and others departments pursuing policies that should be rejected by a conservative administration. Moreover, the administration seems to have a weakness toward homosexuals. Not only have there been a number of high level appointments, but the Justice Department, under the leadership of one of the heroes of the religious right, had a so called Gay Pride event. The President signed into law the so-called campaign reform law which has hurt the ability of every pro-family organization to explain to the voters the records of the Members of Congress or the positions of the challenger candidates. Then there is the huge agriculture subsidy bill that undoes most of the excellent "Freedom to Farm" reform effort of 1996, with most of the money going to big farm conglomerates, doing little for the family farm.

And now the Department of Health and Human Services has ruled that the government can share medical records with employers and insurance companies without your consent. And HHS is pushing a plan to deal with 9/11 type medical emergencies that all but does away with any remaining states' rights.

Again, I could go on. You will have to determine which list means the most to you.

But of the many good things the president has done, almost no one knows about them. I was speaking with some Midwest grass roots activists, who pride themselves on knowing what is going on. I read them the list from the White House staff member. They were shocked. They had heard of only about a quarter of the items mentioned. If folks like this haven't heard the good news, it is a lead pipe cinch that folks in the precincts know less.

If the Bush Administration expects to motivate voters for this fall, it had better learn to tell its story, short and sweet. One way that might be done would be for the president to cut a series of radio spots to be played in states where the stakes are high.

But what the heck, my advice on such things is never followed anyway.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
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To: Tailgunner Joe
bump
121 posted on 08/26/2002 8:49:52 PM PDT by foreverfree
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To: FreedominJesusChrist
If a body is found on the street and is unidentified, it can be used for research in medical schools. All the cadavers used in research are not donated before death. I'm sure they haven't made a 'conscious decision' before they died or were murdered. It is very much a parallel.

And why don't you just state your opinion instead of deriding mine first. It might be a bit more Christian.....
My logic is not at all 'nonsensical.' It is very clear and fact based, though obviously based on facts of which you were unaware.

The point is that President Bush stopped the murder of human embryos.......a fact that you continue to ignore in your effort to criticize him. He has done more in a year and a half to save innocent lives than any other President in history.

If you are pro-life, you should be pleased with that.

122 posted on 08/26/2002 8:52:46 PM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: Uncle Bill
Gee, on top of being a RAT, you're also a really nice guy! HA!
123 posted on 08/26/2002 8:54:49 PM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: WhiteGuy
"When I began entering into the give and take of legislative bargaining in Sacramento, a lot of the most radical conservatives who had supported me during the election didn't like it. "Compromise" was a dirty word to them and they wouldn't face the fact that we couldn't get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don't get it all, some said, don't take anything. "I'd learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: 'I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.'

"If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that's what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.

~~ Ronald Reagan, in his autobiography, An American Life

124 posted on 08/26/2002 9:01:08 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: WhiteGuy
"It's not good enough, Americans deserve better."

Could you please point out the country in the world where things are better than here?

125 posted on 08/26/2002 9:02:47 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: MissAmericanPie
I didn't vote for him to be compassionate to strangers, while showing a total lack of compassion for his own countrymen and the survival of our Constitutional Republic, not to mention our survival of open borders and insane visa policies.

He can keep his paltry crumbs, no one that loves their country and is concerned with it's survival will nibble on them either.

This is from your first post. If you don't see the anger in it directed at President Bush, I am amazed. On top of that, you made parallels with both Hitler and Clinton, and in the latter case, said that President Bush was potentially worse. You also called him a multicultural globalist who doesn't care about America. You really think that is sticking to the issues? You insert your angry opinion in every post, and you show no respect for him whatsoever. It may not be hate, but it comes across that way repeatedly, and it is definitely not "clear sighted."

Please remember, that I am not the one who is angry at this President. I am projecting absolutely no anger on you whatsoever......it's dripping from every post.

126 posted on 08/26/2002 9:13:17 PM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: ohioWfan
I misunderstood, I thought you meant that I called you names. Yes I'm angry about our insane visa policies, angry that since 9-11 something like 100,000 visas have been issued to people from terrorist nations. It is crazy and insane, it should make somebody somewhere angry.

See post "Lesson #1 En Route to the Gulag".

Not that we will end up in a gulag with this President, or any other, but with the policies he has promoted in place and a future President like Clinton who liked to use the IRS to punish his enemies the door is open for mischief. Why leave a door open to mischief. The worse parts of the "Patriot Act" do not sunshine as advertised, they go on and on. TIPS was a bad idea, now this wish to revisit posse comitatus? Why in the world would posse comitatus need to be revisited?

Federalized airport security crosses the 4th amendment line requiring agents of the government to produce a warrant to search and seize. All of these things start off as benign and helpful, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions, and I don't think anyone can point me to one Federal agency that hasn't grown and abused it powers, from the E.P.A. to the B.A.T.F. to the F.B.I., the I.N.S., the I.R.S..I think caution should be the order of the day when tools as powerful as these and barred by the Constitution are allowed free reign to possibly run amuck in America, this year or fifty years from now.

127 posted on 08/26/2002 9:50:40 PM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: ohioWfan
"And why don't you just state your opinion instead of deriding mine first. It might be a bit more Christian..... My logic is not at all 'nonsensical.' It is very clear and fact based, though obviously based on facts of which you were unaware."

I have been stating my opinin this entire time. Trying to compare the unfortunate deaths of those who have already been born, to those who haven't even been given the chance to live is non-sensical, especially in the light you are putting it. The fact is that even if someone is murdered, either they or their families have to give permission for their body to be used for scientific research.

"The point is that President Bush stopped the murder of human embryos.......a fact that you continue to ignore in your effort to criticize him. He has done more in a year and a half to save innocent lives than any other President in history."

President Bush did not stop the murder of human embryos, he might have limited it, but he did not stop it. Private biotech companies are allowed to kill human embryos everyday in their research and university hospitals are still being given grants from the federal government to continue their barbaric research. President Bush did not totally stop embryonic stem cell research, he just limited it to some degree.

As for this statement: "He has done more in a year and a half to save innocent lives than any other President in history." I will assume that you are just using hyperbole.

"If you are pro-life, you should be pleased with that."

No I will not, because I realize that any sort of research that profits off the murder of innocent babies is wrong, even if it masquarades itself as a sensible compromise.

128 posted on 08/26/2002 9:53:34 PM PDT by FreedominJesusChrist
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To: Luis Gonzalez
Could you please point out the country in the world where things are better than here?

That's not the point. The point is what Americans deserve, not how we rate with the rest of the world. If we gave up 90% of our freedoms, but things were still 'better than the rest of the world', we should be upset about it. Americans deserve what Americans deserve, and it has NOTHING to do with what other countries do.

129 posted on 08/26/2002 10:09:23 PM PDT by zoyd
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To: zoyd
No, that is the point.

"Here" happens to be the top.

We got to where we are somehow.

We haven't given up 90% of our freedoms, nor are we in any immediate danger of it happening.

Your position assumes that America was at its zenith on its foundation, and somehow less than that now.

It doesn't make any sense.


130 posted on 08/26/2002 10:49:44 PM PDT by Luis Gonzalez
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To: Askel5
Bush Seeks Secrecy For Pardon Discussions
131 posted on 08/27/2002 12:55:31 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
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To: Askel5
Washington spending going wild and Corporate debt saps nation - Credit stress hits Depression level - The Denver Post


132 posted on 08/27/2002 2:06:58 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
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To: Askel5
Bush Administration Trump Liberals in Thirst for Federal Power

Bush Gives Tax Break to Environmental Wackos

The Green Right - Conservatives Taking Up Liberal Causes

So far, the GOP is not giving conservatives reasons to vote on November 5th

Conservatives' Billions Fuel Leftist Establishment


133 posted on 08/27/2002 2:38:09 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
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To: Askel5
Bush Swells the State
134 posted on 08/27/2002 2:52:27 AM PDT by Uncle Bill
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To: MissAmericanPie
I tell you what, MissAmericanPie.......why don't you quit wasting your time sitting at your computer if you are so convinced that America is on the way to destruction because this President is not moving fast enough to correct the wrongs done by previous presidents, and is himself taking your freedoms away (apparently in your view, with no reason whatsoever), and get out and find, campaign for and help elect the man who fits into your little Presidential box.

And consider this possibility.......you are not being personally betrayed by President Bush, but rather by whoever it is who is feeding you the globalist swill you regurgitate all over this forum.

President Bush (at his own personal risk) and his administration are working to keep you safe, prosperous and free, and you're too brainwashed to even see it.

135 posted on 08/27/2002 6:09:48 AM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: FreedominJesusChrist
More power to you.

The evil of the abortion industry is so huge and so ugly, that it's going to take a very long time to undo. There is no way for President Bush to make it stop.

But he is taking steps that have never been taken to reverse the number of abortions in this country (can you name another who has done anything more?.......Nixon? Ford? Carter? Reagan? Bush41? Clinton??)

You want it to end immediately.....so do I......so does George W. Bush. But it can't be done.

I am thankful that finally we have a President who is moving us back to a culture of LIFE. I'd rather work toward that goal..... along with him...... than sit back and take potshots at him because he's not moving fast enough for me.

I am praying for him. I hope, with your screenname, that you are too. He is your brother in Christ, and he has asked for your prayers that God would grant him wisdom, and is praying for that for himself. If there is something more you think he should be doing, pray for it......don't just sit there and complain.

136 posted on 08/27/2002 6:23:15 AM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: ohioWfan
I don't need you to instruct me on what actions to take. So far you have not addressed one fact, but instead make comments that could come from a liberal/neo con or be found at D.U..

It is not I, but Bush himself, reguritating globalist swill, or did you not happen to notice the quotation marks around his statements? Surely you noticed his wink to the camera during his speech in Mexico when he said, "If you can make five dollars in your home town or fifty dollars in New Jersy your going to come to New Jersey aren't you..wink wink."

So far all you have offered is, "I think, in time, you will see progress from this President on the issue of immigration (as I have told you before). I am an optimist, and I believe without a doubt that President Bush loves this country, and will not do anything to deliberately harm it." It seems easier for you to ignore the obvious open borders in front of your face, ignore his statements, he really doesn't mean them, they are just politics, 245i was just a clever ploy, and embrace your feelings, they are so much more comfortable than believing what the man says himself. Oh and don't forget to attack those that take him at his word when you're stumped for answers that demand more depth than your optimism can muster, lol.

This discussion has become circular, with you growing more angry, and me tempted to give back as good as I get. I'm up for continuing it in the hopes of igniting a new awarness of the dangers of globalism, but I'll leave the decision up to you. I received worse flames when I first began my posting about the dangers of the U.N. when I first signed on F.R. now, not many thinking people doubt the ambitions of the U.N. The only credit I take is that my posts contributed to the debate, more people felt free to post articles about it. I look forward to bringing an awareness of the dangers of unbridled globalism into the light also and I notice there are many Freeper's that have contributed some great articles on the subject that are far better at it than I.

It is certainly your choice to read them or not, believe them or not, in this age of uncertainty it's more comforting to hug yourself and say everything is going to be ok. We are for sure at opposite ends of the spectrum on how we react to trusting our leaders to do the right thing.

I'm for throwing overboard any politician that even hints at globalism and slapping the conservative party that forwards such a candidate for election. Are there enough like people to effect things? Probably not, but there really is nothing much left to try.

137 posted on 08/27/2002 8:05:47 AM PDT by MissAmericanPie
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To: Tailgunner Joe
I appreciate seeing Paul Weyrich's views on FreeRepublic, I certainly hope this thread serves to educate some of us. I also hope it's another call to Karl Rove AND those rascal republicans in the senate TO GET OFF THEIRASSES and start selling conservative candidates and conservative ideas to the mucked up masses.
138 posted on 08/27/2002 8:10:10 AM PDT by YaYa123
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To: MissAmericanPie
Well, finally something we can agree on. We're at opposite ends of the spectrum. But the 'circular' argument goes both ways. You accuse me of evading specifics, but I've given you specifics that you've ignored.

And please give it up on the DU/liberal stuff. It's stupid. I'm very conservative, and the insinuation that I'm not is idiotic.

Have a depressing life. Bye.

139 posted on 08/27/2002 8:33:32 AM PDT by ohioWfan
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To: Luis Gonzalez
Could you please point out the country in the world where things are better than here?

What a silly request. There is no better place in the world than right here. We all agree.

What would it take to make you realize that even though this is the most wonderful place in the world, that those who represent us in the 3 branches of government are steering the ship toward socialism on a global scale?

Confiscatory taxation, wasteful spending, out-of-control government regulation, and the incremental denial of our constitutional rights?

It's here now, and it's getiing worse.

That's my only point.

There is no more willingness in my nature to compromise.

140 posted on 08/27/2002 10:43:23 AM PDT by WhiteGuy
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