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First rule...do not rush, do not rush, do not rush. Here is the post I referenced.

I said it was simple, not short. But, I believe history will tell us that the leadership from this administration has been remarkable in the face of incredible pressures. This president has the press/media always looking for weakness, the left and democrats are constantly undermining his efforts, many of our so-called allies abandoned the U.S. at a critical time of need, and, the UN was worse than worthless. At a time when the economy was reeling from a cyclic recession coupled with the costs of September 11. Yet, through it all, we have removed a despot, planted the seeds for democracy in the “swamp” of the Middle East, and the economy is on the upswing.

And – I think this gets overlooked sometimes – this President and his advisors understand POLITICS. Tim Russert said last nite on the Dennis Miller Show that demographics have changed considerably since the 2000 election. More elderly, more “minorities”, more urban voters, etc. Russert said that if the 2000 vote were held with today’s demographics, GWB would lose the popular vote by over 3 MILLION votes!!! That struck me. It is easy to carp from the relative security of the sidelines over GWB’s proposed immigration plan, or his changes to the prescription drug plan, or his proposed social security changes, or even the Patriot Act. But this President knows that to see his WOT through his potential 8 years in office, he must appeal to those “margin” groups that the democrats have so successfully exploited since at least FDR. To do otherwise is to surrender the 2004 election – at great peril for our nation. I believe, with all my heart that our President understands this intuitively, instinctively and intellectually. I can’t imagine a Hillary or a Gore or a Kerry or a Dean or an Edwards in charge over our very survival.

So I ask, what is the real cost of GWB’s proposed spending?

My new best FReeper FRiend has it right (apologies to all my other best FReeper Friends). This is the most important election cycle since 1940. I will vote for GWB and the republican ticket. If I were to do otherwise, I would be denying my young sons what I believe is the best shot at a secure future.

Lando

Bravo, Lando, for writing with such conviction and clarity of thought. Your post is very encouraging to me. Maybe it's only the late winter doldurms, but I've been discouraged lately. With all the carping from those who claim to be on the right side of the political divide in this country, I fear we may be on the verge of putting yet another 60's radical into the presidency.

People seem to have forgotten the devastating legacy of the Clinton presidency — if they ever really understood that legacy at all. But Bill Clinton is not an idealogue. Kerry is. If we think Clinton's presidency was bad, we ain't seen nothing yet if Kerry gets in.

The idea that this nation would be so foolish as to install Kerry as president just three years after the events of late 2001 is just devastating to me.That every single right-of-center person in this country isn't standing up and working as hard as they can for GWB's re-election is mind-boggling. I am beginning to think that perhaps right-of-center people are genuine paper tigers.

I mean, they are the ones who always claim to be strong on defense. They always claim to want to march to the borders to keep the illegals out. They are the ones who talk tough about the 2nd Amendment, and religious freedom, and so on. But the left keeps winning. Why? Are the Republican leaders in Congress the only empty suits on the right? Or is it maybe that they are that way because we in the right-of-center grassroots are empty suits, too?

The President's problems are self-inflicted. Without the inconsistencies, that you slough over, the media, the Left, and we disgruntled Conservatives, would have little ammunition--and in the case of the Conservatives, no need--to attack him. As a lawyer, I will assure you that the first thing one looks for, to tear down an adversary, are inconsistencies in his argument, inconsistencies in the testimony of his witnesses. As a one time Conservative student, upholding traditional American values at one of the historically most Liberal campuses on the continent--as well as having encouraged campus Conservatives in fights over the decades since--I can assure you that the prime vehicle the Leftwing Professor uses to undermine the traditional values of students, is to find logical inconsistencies in the conduct or statements of Conservative spokesmen, both current and historic.

It is the same with the witch-hunters, and smear artists of the media. Bush without his immigration views; Bush without Medicare drug coverage; Bush without the idiotic "No Child Left Behind" program in Education; Bush without foreign AIDS campaigns, etc., would be an infinitely stronger candidate than the Bush you defend.

You see what you want to see, however, and will rationalize to where you want to go.

But enough. I do not really like to have to attack the President. I feel he has been a victim of just the sort of fallacy that you suggest in his defense. The culprit is Karl Rove, the epitome of the dysron. Perhaps Conservatives will give the President a pass, for the moment, and focus on Rove with sufficient clarity as to why and how his approach is stupid, in the hope that the President will yet turn back to reason, and we can yet come back together.

How, this Ohioan votes this fall--and I will vote, if only for the few real Conservatives who are also running on the Republican ticket--will depend on what the President does with respect to the Rove approach, over the next few months. In the meanwhile, I am going to try to restrain my outrage towards the President, ideologically, and focus on tactics. It may be a forlorn hope, but it would be good for America if more of us could get on the same page.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

And – I think this gets overlooked sometimes – this President and his advisors understand POLITICS. Tim Russert said last nite on the Dennis Miller Show that demographics have changed considerably since the 2000 election. More elderly, more “minorities”, more urban voters, etc. Russert said that if the 2000 vote were held with today’s demographics, GWB would lose the popular vote by over 3 MILLION votes!!!

Not as decisive as you make it sound. It has to play out through the electoral college. But in sheer numbers, yes, this sounds about right.

Then count in the 4 million formerly reliable GOP evangelical Christian voters who stayed home in 2000, a number that has been growing as more conservatives realize that the GOP uses 'bait' issues to get their votes but have no interest in delivering.

Conservatives will not be moved by goofy little articles.

Cut the spending. Slate NEA/DoE for phase out in two years. Enforce the immigration laws. Bring a constitutional amendment on marriage to the Senate and push it through in the next month.

Words are cheap. If they want conservative votes, they'd better do something conservative to earn them. Because they've worked hard to alienate us so far.