Roger that.
$710.96... The price of freedom.
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 is no alternative to Bush. We need a wartime President that believes the war can be won and has the guts and vision to carry out a long term strategic policy.
You left out the split the vote alternative for conservatives.
Yes
Yes
Roger that.
$710.96... The price of freedom.
The CA GOP is bad shape right now. Plus a lot of Californians are disgusted with both Pubbies and RATS. You'd think that the Recall Election would have been fertile ground for 3rd party candidates. The Recall Saga was the perfect time for Libertarians and Constitution Party to step in and make serious runs for Governor. The fact that they didn't, reveals just how weak 3rd parties are.
Under Bush, our southern border no longer exists. An arab terrorist with no legs could roll his wheelchair in from mexico (with a cart of explosives in tow).
Bush signed a huge "no child left behind act", written exclusively by chapaquiddick ted.
Bush and the republicans in congress are spending our money like a drunken sailor. Bush signed a medicare drug benefit, which will add 400 Billion a year deficit spending. BUSH AND THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS HAVE MORTGAGED THE NEXT THREE GENERATIONS.
Under bush, Portland, Seattle and Detroit remain incubators for arab terrorism.
Under bush, if twenty arab men board an airplane, only two can be searched. To search any more is discrimination.
The limp dick republicans in congress control both houses. They don't even have the balls to stand up to a daylight only fillibuster. If these people are republicans, I'm ashamed to call myself one.
Wanna talk judges? Arlen Specter, a rebpulican, will be the head of the senate judicary committee. DO YOU ACTUALLY THINK HE'LL LET A CONSERVATIVE ON THE SUPREME COURT?
We go to war yet we protect a useless piece of land called anwar, with years of proven oil reserves.
No one in this administration has the balls to eliminate arab terrorism.
I will never vote for kerry. If bush signs the awb reauthorization, I won't vote for him either.
We have past the point of no return, it's gonna get worse before it gets better. If it ever does get better again.
He said it before the election. I don't believe you voted for him in the first place. Your post mentioning immigration and spending was exactly what I was writing about in which even if the AWB sunsets, there will be other reasons you won't vote for him.
Don't vote for him and you support kerry. You want a leftist socialist in the White House instead of working from a moderate like Bush.
We went from a liberal for eight years to a moderate for four. You're willing to move the country back to the socialists for another eight.
If you do not vote for Bush/Cheney you are effectively voting for Kerry/Edwards. You are doing it willfully and reckless and lying to yourself and everyone on this forum about your intentions and the consequences. It tells me you love neither G-d, nor your family, nor your country.
You are a disgrace to this country and to my brethren who died in Afghanistan and Iraq. Go vote for Kerry or Nader and take your ugly propaganda with you.
Appealing to Timothy McVeigh types is not worth it.
Timothy McVeigh was a domestic terrorist and enemy. We want to arrest, prosecute, and execute domestic terrorists who commit murder. We want to infiltrate their organizations and turn them against against each other.
No one who can say that with such a cavalier attitude prizes liberty or freedom. There are no magic wands. Freedom and Liberty are won one step at a time. There's no reason to go back to a socialist liberal government when in four more years we can trade a moderate government for a conservative one.
As we learned with the Clintons, that is not what would happen. Such people as you describe are not really conservative at all. They delude themselves. George W. Bush and Richard Cheney are real patriots. The men and women they lead are real patriots. Those that hate them hate America.
My attitude is not cavalier - it is grim acceptance. It is our generation that caused this mess. We need to step up and fix it. The constitution has a reset button. It needs pressed.
As I have stated in an earlier post, I will never vote for kerry. If bush reauthorizes the awb, I will leave my ballot blank and write to him why I did so.
During the clinton years, we conservatives circled the wagons and fought as a team. 1994 was an historic congressional election.
Will kerry trample our rights? Yes. So does bush. Bush pays little more than lip service to conservative causes. Both bush and kerry will run this country into the ground. Neither supports a smaller government. Neither supports spending controls. BOTH SPEND MONEY LIKE A DRUNKEN SAILOR. Bush passed a tax cut BUT DIDNT CUT SPENDING. He mortgaged our grandchildren. Arlen Specter will prevent the appointment of conservative, constructionist justices. YET BUSH SUPPORTED HIM OVER A CONSERVATIVE IN THE RECENT PA PRIMARY. Bush could have closed our southern border. He didn't. Terrorists carrying small arms and explosives can enter our country freely. Bush should be impeached for this last one.
History has shown us that freedom and liberty are not won one step at a time, but down the barrel of a gun.
As for you af_vet_1981, your personal attacks are a sign that you are unable to refute my statements. I urge you to challenge my statements, not me personally. There are things that I will not share personally, but you and I probably have much in common. My brethern and cousins and friends are in the sandbox also. I urge our leaders to let them take the gloves off and stop pussyfooting with the enemy. Islam is a psychopathic mental illness. They want to see all non muslims dead.
Bush has crapped on conservatives more than once in his past four years. He thinks that we'll still vote for him because we've nowhere else to go. He's taking us down the same road as kerry, just a little slower. Conservatives need to draw the line somewhere, and I drew mine on the awb.
Do you not pay attention to the news? One would think you'd keep up with the latest reports about an issue so dear to your heart.
Or, as it appears, do you just want a wedge issue?
What a bunch of utter BS.
A vote for anybody but Bush is a vote for John Kerry; and if you don't vote for Bush, don't bother going back to the polls until 2020.
Willie, I cannot believe you're going to try to put Kerry in office.
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