That is not my intent at all, neither is it to march in lock step. I don't think criticism, politely and respectfully rendered, is bashing and trashing. Perhaps others do.
Here is an interesting example, from just today's Manchester, NH, Union Leader. Now I think there are few people who have followed to any extent the Union Leader over the years who would say it is anything other than reliably and consistently conservative. It often spars editorially with the Boston Globe and the liberal Concord Monitor, among others. Here is today's lead editorial.
"Money-burning Bush: How to make a one-term President
PRESIDENT BUSH is trying to buy the 2004 election. It isn't going to work. He needs to get smart about spending, and now.
Conservatives predicted that the $400 billion price tag on the President's Medicare prescription drug bill was underestimated. Last week they were proved right as it was revealed that the plan will cost at least $540 billion — a third larger than projected.
Conservatives predicted that the federal deficit would increase dramatically without spending cuts. Last week they were proved right as the Congressional Budget Office projected a $100 billion increase in the deficit, and the White House revealed that the President's new budget will peg the deficit at $520 billion — a $145 billion increase over last year.
It is incredible that come this fall, Americans may have to vote for a Democrat to get a President who will curb federal spending and shrink the federal deficit. Yes, the Democrats promise the moon, but this President promises Mars.
President Bush is supposed to release a federal budget today that curbs federal spending. We'll believe it when we see it. He's promised to control spending before. But in the past month he has proposed a Mars exploration program estimated to cost $170 billion (and sure to cost more) as well as numerous small spending hikes such as increasing funding for the National Endowment for the Arts by $18 million.
We'd much rather the NEA fund Shakespeare (which it does) than freaky performance artists (which it used to). But the bottom line is that it shouldn't exist in the first place. If Americans want to fund art, they will go to plays, watch movies, attend concerts, and buy paintings. They don't need the federal government to do that for them.
There is precious little that Americans truly need the federal government to do. This President claimed to understand that. But his actions show that either he doesn't understand, or he was lying."
Now, were I to post this editorial from a reliably conservative source, were I to say I am quite in agreement with it, does that make me a "BushBasher"?
With all due respect to you...and I mean that, not just as a throwaway term...I respect enormously what you have done - while I understand the passions that grow hot in politics and in life, if we cannot honestly speak our minds, discuss, and learn, then what is the point?