[Southack]

That's the number one litmus test for true conservatives: banning abortion. - Southack

"Gotta disagree with you there, the number one litmus test is fiscal responsibility." - BJClinton

Here's why I disagree: a liberal, such as the former governor of Vermont Howard Dean (who balanced every state budget and pinched pennies like mad) can be fiscally responsible and pro-choice.

Conservatives aren't pro-choice. We aren't out advocating the murder of innocent little babies in their mothers' wombs.

Yet your litmus test would say: Vote for Dean, a Planned Parenthood doctor, over Bush, the only President to ever sign a federal ban on abortion.

Thus, your litmus test is woefully flawed, with all due respect.

[Mr. Mojo]

That's the number one litmus test for true conservatives: banning abortion.

There's no one litmus test for "true conservatives." If someone with a strong pro-life position also happens to be anti-RKBA, pro-tax/spend, and pro-open borders (and many such people exist), that someone is not even close to being a conservative.

[BJClinton]

who balanced every state budget and pinched pennies like mad

Oh come one, Dean was Gov. during the booming 90s. It was easy to have a balanced budget then. How would he do now?

[BJClinton]

who balanced every state budget and pinched pennies like mad

Oh come one, Dean was Gov. during the booming 90s. It was easy to have a balanced budget then. How would he do now?

Sorry, my cat hit 'post' for me. To continue, now that the boom has gone bust, as business cycles do, it's time to cut back, as we've done here in Texas. Now, the liberals here are bitchin' and moanin' and doing what liberals do: claims of racism, starving 'chilrun' etc. But the REAL conservatives here in the Lone Star state have done the right thing and cut the budget.

That's what Dubya and the others I voted for should have done at the Fed level. They didn't have to balance the budget, just cut spending some. Instead they barf out the Farm bill and the Prescription Drug BS (which isn't all bad, I know). Anyway, I don't think Dean would do anything different that Bush, in fact I believe he would spend more. But Bush has not been a fiscal conservative, which IS the most important quality of a true conservative.