You're going to get ripped to pieces for this, of course. But, unfortunately our problem as a nation isn't being addressed by simply putting a Republican in power, joined with a Republican Congress, and then watching our agenda move forward, as some of us (myself included) had hoped.
It would have worked and it's the simplest solution, to be sure. Like Arnold in California, it would have demonstrated that we have workable ideas and they solve problems.
It didn't work because Dubya isn't interested in advancing the Conservative agenda. He's pandering and waffling to the point of making his own rule and Republican party dominance something to be afraid of, as opposed to the lesson in responsible governance we had hoped it would be.
To make matters worse, I don't think after all that's been said, done and proposed that an eleventh hour switch to Conservative principles would be anything but the desperate actions of a desperate man.
Nothing George W says, at this late hour, can restore my confidence in him. His deviation from Conservative ideals and principles has been so great.
I have never donated more money to Republican candidates than I have this election cycle. I am even directly and actively assisting (10 to 20 hours a week) a Republican hopeful in his House campaign. I would be willing to bet that not one of the Bush-supporters here have donated one tenth as much in money or time on behalf of the Republican Party as I have over the past three or four months.
I see the salvation of conservative principles to lie in an invigorated Republican majority in Congress--not in a "compassionate conservative" Bush presidency.
I would much rather have four years of gridlock courtesy of an invigorated Republican majority in Congress than four more years of record-breaking deficit spending and social welfare transfer payments courtesy of Karl Rove and George W. Bush.