We are in a war against the Muslim jihadists. They are going to keep killing Americans until we either destroy them or harm them so badly that they are forced to surrender and rescind their jihads against us. Everyone says that they will never surrender, and if that's true, I'm fine with killing every last member of Al Qaeda. In truth, I think we can force them to surrender. They may bluster, but they are no tougher than the Japanese were 60 years ago. When we hit the Japanese hard enough, they surrendered. Our only alternative to this kind of victory is to keep losing more of our freedom and keep suffering their attacks.
While I don't like every step that the president has taken in fighting this war against these horrible enemies, he's done an overall good job. Furthermore, he will do a better job than anyone else running. Kerry will try to seek a compromise that will be a kind of surrender on our part. The Libertarian Party candidate won't be likely to mount an effort against these enemies. The Constitution Party is less enthusiastic about fighting this war than the Democrats or Libertarians are. I don't think that the Reform Party is likely to nominate a candidate. By process of elimination, I would vote for President Bush.
On the domestic front, I agree with you about education, spending, jobs, and health care. I don't like everything that President Bush has done. On the other hand, I knew that I wouldn't like much of what he'd do when he was running back in 2000. We knew that he wouldn't be the candidate to lead us in the perfect conservative revolution. For the most part, he campaigned as someone who would try to slow the bleeding that liberalism has caused. He never campaigned as the guy who would heal all of the wounds. With the exception of campaign finance reform, he has been the president that he promised to be. If anything, he's been a little better than I expected in making judicial nominees. I also applaud the fact that he imposed a steel tariff for a few years to protect some steel industry jobs.
I disagree with you strongly about Trent Lott. While I think his comment at Strom Thurmond's birthday party should not have cost him his position, I'm glad to see him go. He was never an effective leader. He largely rolled over and played dead every time he was challenged.
The only reason that I might not vote for President Bush is that I haven't seen my candidate win in years. My vote seems to be a bad-luck curse on any candidate. If I'm comfortable that the president will win my state, I might vote third-party just to spare him the curse.
By all means, vote for conservatives down the ticket even if you can't support the president. The worst thing that can happen is for other Republicans to lose because you are disappointed with President Bush. Find conservatives at other levels and support them with your vote certainly and your time or money if possible.