Posted on 07/17/2004 5:33:14 PM PDT by Kuksool
The presidential election in November will be decided by priorities, more in this cycle than any other. For the general voter base, America is polarized along party lines. This was obvious, even from four years ago with Al Gore and George W. Bush. This division between left America and right America is intense.
So, as it is with America, the national stage has been lit up with an even more intense division between the two camps. Mud slinging abounds; hatred and spite-filled rhetoric is everywhere in this political season. So much so, it's nauseating to watch and makes me want to ignore politics altogether.
Lately, Moveon.org has continued to compare President Bush to Adolf Hitler. Talk radio continues to hammer on John Kerry. The RNC attack machine is always on alert, with columnists, talking heads and hosts ready to back them up. The same goes for the DNC, with its own talking heads, celebrity friends and liberal news media.
Thus, with everyone polarized, the intensity of partisan politics has picked up, and voters will again head to the polls with a party view of politics. America is no longer together on issues and people; we're divided and we're going to be divided severely in November. That's how it's going to shape up.
Yet, for some conservatives, choosing a candidate isn't limited to George W. Bush and John Kerry. Because President Bush has betrayed conservatives on various social and fiscal issues, the conservative base is divided and hasn't rallied around Bush like it did four years ago.
This leaves some conservatives wondering whether or not they should jump ship for a third-party candidate like Constitution Party nominee Michael Peroutka or even the Libertarian, Michael Badnarik. Meanwhile, the rest of the conservative/Republican camp is griping that a vote for a third-party candidate will do nothing but help John Kerry.
In reality, they're right. A vote for a third-party candidate may be a stand for ideals, and it may send a message to the GOP, but it won't do much good. There aren't enough conservatives who will vote third party to scare GOP officials, but there are just enough third-party voters that it may help John Kerry.
Yes, a vote for Michael Peroutka is a wasted vote. It's hard to say whether a third-party candidate will ever be viable, but it's obvious that no third-party nominee has a shot at the presidency in this election cycle.
Therefore, conservatives need to look at the priorities. What's important? If we truly care about appointing conservative judges, then we can't have John Kerry in office. If we truly care about the economy, then we can't have Kerry in office. If we care about the War on Terrorism, then we can't have Kerry in office. If we truly care about cutting taxes, then we can't have Kerry in office.
The only viable alternative is President Bush. He's not a conservative, true. He has betrayed conservative principles and has taken actions that would make a liberal proud, but he's the man when it comes to the economy, taxes, war on terrorism and, most importantly, the judicial branch.
This election is about these priorities, and it's about choosing the lesser of two evils. It's sad that the grass-roots GOP can't come up with an alternative to George W. Bush, but reality dictates that conservatives should support the president in this cycle.
The Republican Party needs reform and it needs to be changed, but jumping ship from the GOP won't do any good. It will give John Kerry the office of the presidency, and it won't help America.
Some conservatives will take a stand and vote third party because of the principle of the matter, but in the real world, the Republican Party is a conservative's only hope of changing America.
There was a lot of crazy speculation here that Clinton wouldn't cede power to the GOP back in 2001. And it was just as baseless and paranoid then as it is now.
That's what LBJ said about Vietnam.
"You can call it scare mongering if you want to; I call it facing the facts."
There is nothing factual whatsoever about your wild speculation. Repubs have beaten the lies before and can beat them again. You can provide no historical basis for your claims, only ridiculous hyperbole.
Perhaps you've missed some of those great 'free trade' agreements signed of late by the White House. I'm for free trade but what Bush is doing is not free trade. FTAs with third world countries, namely CAFTA in route to FTAA, are going to make it even worse. I'll give him an a ounce of credit though. Protectionism won't work either. Now if he would only follow through with this instead of throwing up 30% tariffs for steel and the like. Problem is he's jumps from absolute opposites it seems depending on which way the poll, I mean wind, blows..
we're giving Iraqis their freedom to run their own country.
Sure 'we' are. Does that mean all 100,000+ troops can come home now instead of 2006? Hey, maybe while they're packing their bags over the next two years they may stumble across another buried missile or parts of 15 year old lab equipment confirming the existence of the invisble WMDs. But don't worry, when the troops do come home, our tax dollars will be flowing freely to Baghdad for decades to come. There is more than one type of an empire...
My views are stated in several previous posts. I never expected to be flamed for being a conservative republican. If we can't criticize our leaders, we've already lost. If we can't petition them for improvement, it's already a dictatorship.
My summary is Bush has problems with his conservative base, of which I am one. Bush needs to implement policies more in line with our core values (and presumably his). Cut spending, reduce the size of government, do not sign the awb reauthorization, etc.
Our votes are still the carrots and sticks for politicans.
George Bush: I ask you to get back in touch with your conservative base. Or be voted out. A RINO is a democrat.
We all lived through eight years of degenerate bill clinton. We can do it again. Perhaps republican congressmen will then finally get some balls.
Read up on French politics lately? Specifically, look up the Muslim headscarf ban and the repatriation of radical Muslim clerics. Do you honestly think Chirac would have those items on his list at all if he wasn't in serious danger of vote-splintering from Le Pen and the extreme-right Front National?
The only reason it hasn't happened in the United States is because conservatives haven't made a consistent, serious long-term threat to splinter the vote on the right.
A vote for anybody but Bush is a vote for John Kerry;
By that logic, if I were to suddenly change my citizenship (not that I would; I'm just giving an example) before November, I'd be voting for John Kerry.
and if you don't vote for Bush, don't bother going back to the polls until 2020.
Mm-hmm.
For better or worse, many of those from 2000 were purged from the roles.
I wish I had the resolution to state it like that.
See posts #85, #112, and #123.
Sixteen years? Oh, that's just a hoot. If the Democrats could hold on to their power for that long, their misrule would drag us down into civil war (potentially against Mexican nationals and Muslim fanatics) VERY quickly.
Maybe you could provide some specifics about what you would do differently than President Bush with the economy?
Luckily, the second tax cut was good enough to get our economy going in the right direction, thus elimating the need for GWB to make economic speeches, which always showed how clueless he is on the economy.
BTW...you don't know what you're talking about.
I can tell you that economics taught in almost any school outside of Chicago is worthless. MBA's have nothing to do with economics. Most successful business leaders are also clueless on the economy. All they have to know how to do is run their businesses.
If kerry gets in so be it.
Good grief! You sound too forgiving.
The country couldn't stand four years with Traitor/Kerry at the helm and you know it. Bush better WIN!
You don't own anyone's vote, Howlin.
Thank God.
Thank God.
Bump
But don't you know that we must subvert our individual rights to serve the good of the whole nation? Why, it's our duty!
While President Bush is our only viable choice, it would be great to see "better" representation be elected to Congress-like Cain in Georgia-sending a message that it is time for true conservative ideas that have real conservative backing to be placed on the agenda.
Er, you do realize that the only way these statements can be squared with one another is to stipulate that "GOP officials" are as dumb and oblivious to reality as a bag of hammers, right?
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