ZOT! Can there be a serious challenge to Bush in the GOP primaries?

John Buchanan is a journalist and magazine writer based in Miami Beach ^ | november 29, 2003 | john buchanan

[Republican Challenger]

I am a nationally published journalist who has been drafted to challenge George W. Bush in the Republican Presidential primaries, beginning in New Hampshire on January 27. My aim is to prompt legitimate debate and genuine new ideas, but I start with a question:

HAS GEORGE W. BUSH BETRAYED TRADITIONAL GOP VALUES?

He has failed in his promise to control spending. Nondefense spending has skyrocketed under Bush. The Congressional Budget Office reported that for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, nondefense spending rose 7% – nearly double the 4% discretionary spending caps Bush promised to enforce (Source: Washington Times). Since Bush took office, nondefense spending has leapt 13% -- 21% if spending on the war on terrorism is included. “My impression of Bush,” says Chris Edwards, director of fiscal policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, “is that I’ve never seen him give a speech in which he says government is too big and we need to cut costs.”

He has failed in his promise to keep America strong. Under Bush, U.S. foreign policy and international esteem have reached historic lows. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars since 9/11, the Bush administration has failed to catch Osama bin Laden, failed to find Saddam Hussein, failed to defeat Al Qaeda, and failed to stabilize Iraq after an invasion that his own Pentagon policy adviser, Richard Perle, now admits was “illegal.” As a result, the geopolitical balance of power has been jolted, traditional allies have been severely alienated, and as a result, the European Union – led by Great Britain – is now conducting secret talks about the formation of an EU military force outside NATO.

He has failed in his promise to be a “compassionate conservative.” Perhaps never before has a U.S. President so divided the country, according to a recent Time cover story. Despite Bush’s promise to be “a uniter, not a divider,” he has turned Republican against Democrat, rich against poor, Christian against Muslim. He has eroded our civil liberties and Constitutional rights in the name of “national security” and aided and abetted a corporate elite class in the theft of the Republican Party and the two-century-old values that made it the Party of Lincoln. “Corporations have been enthroned,” Lincoln said presciently before he died. “…An era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people…until wealth is aggregated in a few hands…and the Republic is destroyed.” Under Bush, Lincoln’s ominous – and accurate – prediction might find its final manifestation unless he and the “neo-con” corporate juggernaut are stopped.

DO YOU AGREE? Please let me know your thoughts. There will be more to come from me, including a detailed platform and agenda for ending the corporate reign in this country, shrinking the federal bureaucracy, and restoring Constitutional freedoms to pre-9/11 levels. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your comments and questions.

[GWfan]

You also possess the ability to travel through time into the future.....Your sign up date is 11-30-2003. Um, it's still 11-29-03, even on the east coast.

Are you that wiley Wesley Clark?

[Amelia]

It's a shame we can't throw his ass into a mental hosptial.

He's not crazy, just misunderstood. ;-)

[F.J. Mitchell]

No doubt.

[CounterCounterCulture]

I am new to the Free Republic forum, and astonished at the number of comments in only a few minutes.

Many here are very protective of their President and absolutely love the man. And they'll lash out at any dissenters, even if there is valid criticism. Most of your essay doesn't meet the standards in my opinion. You're just wasting your time I'm afraid. But hey, it's your time and money.

[dighton]

Drafted by a living legend -- John McConnell, the 88-year-old founder of Earth Day and the Minute for Peace (1963).

This gets funnier by the second.

[DefCon]

I hate Federal Express and lied to me and stole from me.
I will only use UPS or the USPS.

[Republican Challenger]

In your cynicism, I'd suggest you look back at the words of the founding fathers and creators of the Republican Party on the vital role of a free and vigorous.
Accuracy is also important.
None of those cahracteristics exist in the conglomerate corporate media, which distorts everything across the entire political spectrum. It is one of the great myths of our time that the press is either too liberal or too conservative. The truth is it is too inattentive to the things we really should be talking about in this country, as opposed to Kobe Bryant or Lacie Peterson.
Do you not agree?

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Drafted by a living legend -- John McConnell, the 88-year-old founder of Earth Day and the Minute for Peace (1963). His friends have included 39 Nobel laureates. Former UN Secretary General U Thant called him one of the great peacemakers of the 20th century

A founder of Earth Day? Good Grief. You are not a conservative and neither is he.

I trade up not down

[Cultural Jihad]

So-called 'journalists' are just the mouthpieces of the latest liberal fad cause, and nothing in your post has contradicted that statement.

[Revolting cat!]

Well, howz about Senator Rick Lazio (R-NY), huh?

[txrangerette]

What a crock. W betrays GOP values
so we dump him in the primaries
for a flaming left-winger who will
make W look like one of Teddy's
Neanderthals.

When pigs fly!

This DU'er thinks we're stuuupid.

[Blue Screen of Death]

Drafted by a living legend -- John McConnell, the 88-year-old founder of Earth Day and the Minute for Peace (1963).

You DO like warm puppies!

[JennysCool]

Psst!: Err, um, UPS is a private company.

[Torie]

What you need to do is obtain an expertise on some issue, and then opine with a mastery of the topic. Absent that, one is just taking up bandwidth. There are NO shortcuts. Obtaining the intellectual capital to really have much of an impact is a long, hard slog.

[dcwusmc]

So why call the Mods? If he's that bad, he'll hang himself soon enough. Every time I see someone wanting a poster zotted, it only makes me suspicious that the one whining to the Mods doesn't have the stones to stand up and make a rational argument himself. It's one thing to object to profanity or the other specific no-no's, but a post like this can be either defended or attacked on its own merits or lack thereof. And if you CAN'T refute the guy's post, deal with it and quit whining to the Mods.

[Elliott Jackalope]

Nobody who has ever run for the POTUS has won without the following credentials:

Served as Governor of a state

-OR-

Served as a US Senator

-OR-

Served as a General in the U.S. Military.

Since you have none of these credentials in your resume, I humbly suggest that you have the proverbial snowball's chance in Hades. Perhaps you should consider running for Governor of some state, or perhaps for the US Senate first?

[CounterCounterCulture]

Drafted by a living legend -- John McConnell, the 88-year-old founder of Earth Day and the Minute for Peace (1963).

ACK!

[Ex-Dem]

"founder of Earth Day and the Minute for Peace"

You're kidding me right? With those credentials, you might as well be endorsed be ELF/Greenpeace and ANSWER.

[Amelia]

The lack of skill of the trolls continually amazes me. They almost want to reinforce preconceptions. Sad.

I think it's amusing, but I share your disappointment that it will probably all disappear shortly....