Posted on 04/23/2006 7:22:07 PM PDT by RWR8189
Obviously, your knowledge of the Clinton years is faulty.
Fine, stay home, vote for some idiot fringe candidates, whose chances of winning anything, ever, are lower than your winning a lottery. We'll all shoulder on without you.
Well it all comes back to one thing and no one wanted to believe George W Bush when he said it to this nation before the 2000 election. "Me and Mr. Gore are not that far apart on most issues". Yes and I believe he told the honest truth too. The results say as much. Not quite the damage Gore would have wished for but close enough. There is no reason now for Bush not to back Conservative causes over Rockefeller ones yet he refuses. Immigration has made it quite obvious which side of the GOP he stands on.
I read an article yesterday that makes sense and describes the problem in the GOP. The GOP right now is two different parties was the core of it. That seems to be the case and if so they must soon part ways for the good of the nation. There are Traditional Conservatives pushing smaller government and there is the Ford/Rockefeller Republicans simply looking out for corporate concerns using the Traditional Conservatives to gain initial power winning elections then they took over the White House, senate, and congress. Congress being the least controlled by such I would guess because it is closer to home candidates.
Either the RNC and GOP leader need to listen before this years election and act or there needs to be a parting of ways and rebuilding for 2008. Let the Rockefeller GOP go convince the DEMs to support them they DEMs love exploiting the middle class as much as they do.
There is a lot of angry persons out there who have voted GOP. I haven't seen this many posters in the forum this angry at the GOP that I can remember. That too is healthy. Much more so than taking on yokes of unquestioning loyalty as it's now clear what that accomplishes. George Bush is not one to take advice he doesn't wish to hear. He is not up for election again so that makes it difficult to make him listen. Focus on rebuilding this election cycle more so than winning. If it' comes down to RINO vs DEM cut the loss and work on the next election cycle. The RINO will be as bad as the DEM if not worse in the long run anyway.
If we lose the House, the president wont be able to ever get the tax cuts made permanent and they weren't so measly. And President Bush hasn't raised taxes, as Reagan did, three times, after he cut a few of the tax brackets.
Oh yeah, the GOPers stayed so true to their principles, when Clinton was in office, that that's why he signed so many EOs, gave away America's right to mine smokeless coal, so that his Indonesian pals could be the sole market for it, world wide, they never, not once, challenged one of his nominees to SCOTUS, somehow managed to be completely spineless, when it came to doing anything whatsoever, about the Chinese spy, who was caught, anything about the American companies ( FOBs ) who gave away and sold SECRETS, and on and on and on and on....none of which you seem to have the slightest knowledge of.
Your language is appalling and your abject lack of any knowledge and understanding of anything...from recent history, to the 8 years of the Clinton presidency to how government works, to what a president can and can not do, is beyond that. You rant and you rave and you pontificate and name call; but, what you have yet to do, is to make your case with facts. You're all emotion; that's all, one gigantic clump of bile.
Prove your position with facts; I double dog dare you.
Tenncare was rushed into being by Ned Ray McWherter and with the help of Al Gore and Hillary. Time and corruption within the system went on and Ned Rays term was up and he was term limited IIRC. The GOP won the governors seat by a man named Don Sundquist. His first term was marginal at best as far as getting through any meaningful Republican agenda but the DEMs liked him though. He was reelected by a wide margin because the DEMs ran a wallflower has been from the 1960's. Then Sundquist really started to change in policy. A state budget was suddenly broke. We need a state income tax to support Tenncare he declared.
The GOP leadership in Nashville was against it. The Dems were for it. The battle went on for several years and a record of this battle in in this forum by looking up Tenncare, Tennessee Tax revolt, Taxquist, or other such titles. Don Sunquist refused to help the GOP most of the time except for when it came to George W Bush 2000 election. Sundquist was the state chairman of the campaign IIRC. Bush praised Sundquist for his Universal Health Care support to all the uninsured children of Tennessee. No I'm not kidding this was a Bush 2000 press release I have it on file.
Sundquist went on to drag us through a couple of more state income tax battles and screaming Tenncare is broke. HMO's were taking money off the top and the CEO's were walking away rich stiffing the Tennessee Taxpayers to pick up the tab. He was the worse governor in the states history second only to Pardon Me Ray Blanton whom Fred Thompson took down.
So what happened? We had an election. Thankfully Don the RINO Friend of Bush was term limited out. A good GOP candidate ran against the self proclaimed Liberal Dem and lost. So was it the end of the world? No actually it wasn't. The Liberal as he called himself brought Tenncare under control and accountability. He did something Don The RINO refused to do. He told the HMO's to suck it in and the people the program was going on a diet. It had became a risk dumping ground for all health insurers. Hypertension would get you on Tenncare under Donny Taxquist reign.
While I wish Van Hilleary had won Phil Bredesen is a far better governor than our two term RINO. Our parks are opened again also. And guess what? Not one single mention of a state budget crisis or a state income tax. You see sometimes winning is worse than loosing. I wish John Jay Hooker had defeated Taxquist for his second term. The Tennessee GOP would have been as thankful as well.
So this is why the "You better vote GOP or the DEMs will win" party propaganda nonsense doesn't work on me. Let the GOP candidate earn the vote or reelection or let them go pound sand. The choice is theirs and I won't loose sleep either way.
Opps I almost forgot the irony of it all. The so called Bush/Frist Medicare reform and Medicare Part D? Oh my sides... Well folks guess where the idea came from? Yes it was modeled after Tenncare. As a matter of fact the same HMO's run both Tenncare and Medicare in Tennessee. Frist helped Don Taxquist keep Tenncare running and despite all it's corruption he lifted not one finger to do anything about it except to make certain HCFA paid the bill.
Good morning, nopardons. Well, I see they are at it again. The site has been flooded with the bile of which you speak. They are trying to drown this site in their bile.
I have a question, not that it's earth shattering or anything, but I wonder if "RHINO" is supposed to mean like the letters for Republican in name only. Or does it stand for Rhinocerous? If the first, what is the "H" doing in there? If the second, talk about a bull in a china closet.
As to the substance: the tax cuts have spurred economic growth that Clinton could only dream about, in the face of 9-11 and the Clinton recession Bush inherited and the Corporate scandals that rocked Wall Street and Main Street. And these are called measly? And as you say, the surefire way to lose them and get tax increases is to put the Democrats back in power.
Now having the left hate you is supposed to be BAD? This one has no clue that the left is being marginalized to the point where the lunatic fringe has become the Democratic party. Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and Ted Kennedy are now the party. Not to mention Harry Belafonte, Barbra Streisand and Whoopi Goldberg.
The only thing I will say is that the White House Communications effort must, absolutely MUST, change and get up to speed. The time for sleepy time rope a dope Scott McClellan is over if it ever wasn't. And I personally don't dislike Scott and I think I know what purpose he served. But things don't stay the same and tactics must change, just like in Iraq.
Harriet Miers was some kind of glitch that I am looking forward to learning about when the books are written. But Roberts is a pearl and the President needed no riot to pick him. What about the Appeals Court nominees Janice Brown, Priscilla Owen and William Pryor, not to mention recess appointing William Pickering whom the Dems tried to paint as racist, when really he had pioneered in opposing segregation? What about John Bolton being recessed appointed as U.N. Ambassador?
You mentioned how government works and what a President can and can't do. What about the weak Senate Republicans and the loss of Tom DeLay in the House? This President has withstood the worst of the worst of any President since Lincoln.
The Dems have now become indistinguishable from Osame bin Laden, and the Tim Russerts of America are gleefully trying to bring down a Presidency over trivial nothings.
And why did he have to do that? Well it all started back in the Ford years. You see the military took a significant down turn. I'll be nice and not mention the SEC of Defense at the time. I will however mention there were significant issues in 1976. I was on active duty.
Then came the Carter years. Jimmy got in office and things for a few years got worse. Next came a mad man in Iran. The United States Military had to prepare for possible war. Jimmy did see a problem especially after the failed rescue attempt and he did actually begin addressing them but you never hear about it. But is was bad enough $15,000 wouldn't keep me in. I did my four, got out, came home and voted for Ronnie and went deer hunting.
In 1982 when the recession hit I got desperate and tried to go back in the Navy. I worked in a critical job. The slots were full. Reagan rebuilt the military into a power that played a significant tole in the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1976 you were careful where you wore your uniform off base. In 1982 and beyond wearing it was given due respect.
In 1989 started the end of the Reagan military. Poppy and Rummy started the cuts. Then took us to war. We lost an aircraft carrier due to poor maintenance rotations. Three six month deployments in three years. Upon return on the third one it had a serious boiler room explosion. It lies 15,000 feet down on the ocean floor.
Next came Clinton to finish off what Poppy and Rummy left behind. Clinton could have at least stopped Rummy's stupid idea of ending the F-14 program and saving the tooling but he didn't. Of course congress from 1980-2000 helped also in the downfall.
Then came 9/11 and we needed the Big Mean War Machines. Over 9 months into the GW Bush term our newest conventional powered carrier failed INSURV. INSURV is a readiness inspection of the ships general condition. Then another carrier flunked boiler light offs. I served in all but 4 months in the Navy under Jimmy Carter as POTUS. I was on a carrier the one now 15,000 feet down. That ship nor did any carrier during that time before or up to The Kennedy ever failed INSURV. We always got underway on time. Yes it was pretty bad conditions but nothing like the things we see today. Our military is still in a manpower crisis. We need more active duty in all branches especially the Army so grandpa isn't called up to be deployed like Poppy, Clinton, and Bush is still to this day despite being at war is doing.
We are currently still running on Bill Clinton 1996 End Troop Strength Levels in all branches or within 20,000. I looked it up myself. There is no excuse none whatsoever at this point into the war in Iraq to have National Guard troops there. How much time since 9/11?over four and a half years and the End Troop Strength Levels were not raised as any prudent thinking POTUS and Sec of Defense would have insisted on. There are troops over there into their third year long rotation. This is because someone is doing defense cuts during a time of war. Don't blame the DEMs they don't have the White House and both houses now.
I support our troops and I expect our government to do them right when they send them into war and not play budget cutting politics at their expense. Where's the troops increase? I would expect to have to ask a Dem that much but a Republican? Bush has dern well earned some policy questioning in my book.
Amd I didn't go into things like his pandering to illegal immigrants.
How would you fix the situation with high gas prices?
My sympathies that you all in Tennessee were stuck for awhile with the horrible Governor Sundquist. My brother and many of his family live in Tennessee so I have some insight and connections.
However, what I get from it is don't elect a bad Governor if you can help it. Governor Taft in Ohio has been pretty bad from what I have heard, for example. There was a Republican Governor in New Mexico for awhile who was a big pro-drug legalization guy. Some on FR are FOR that...I am not...but beside the point...I think he was too high on Pot to be a good Governor. Who knows what else was wrong with the man?
But nationwide there is a different picture. In general we need to keep the Democrats of the type we see on the national scene OUT OF POWER. They cannot be trusted but to destroy the economy and national security and morals until there is nothing left intact to fix anymore. To let them appoint Supreme Court and lower court nominees is suicide.
A state here or there with a bad Governor, RINO or not, is different. Especially if it is in the South or West. You might get by better for a short time while a better Governor with a "D" after his name fixed some problem or other.
But Nancy Pelosi should never be third in line to the Presidency and Speaker of the House. John Conyers should never be in position to impeach President Bush as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, nor should the racist Charlie Wrangel be in charge of House Appropriations.
Hillary or whomever should never be entrusted with the Presidency of this nation.
Fred misses issue # 1, the bush position on open borders.
I guess the copy he got from the WH left it off.
Immigration is a losing issue for both Dems & Reps. The failure to enact legislation was not an accident, imo...I think that was the plan.
Neither party can address the issue because they will anger supporters within their own party for whichever side they choose against.
I think Barnes' silence on the subject is precisely calculated. He's advising: Keep Mum on Immigration and maybe it'll go away.
More than a little race concious, eh, whiteguy? Policy is one thing; I'm for a fence, exactly as Tom DeLay has outlined. Race centered, however, no no and NO!
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I don't believe this. I would rather have 41 conservative Senators, as a base to build on, who would prevent the Democrats from passing their agenda, than 60 Republican Senators who assist the Democrats in getting their agenda passed.
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1) Exactly what in that sentence works to prevent Democrats from being elected? Clearly nothing. If you were a DNC operative, would you not word your strategy EXACTLY like this to undercut the opposition?
2) Where in your attitude is there a recognition of the overwhelming power of incumbency and how such a strategy runs enormous risks of permanency?
3) Where in your attitude is there any recognition of even one tiny iota of policy difference between the DNC and RNC? Do you see any difference at all, even the tiniest amount, on abortion?
4) Where in your attitude is there acceptance of your own personal failure in getting conservatives GOP senators in Maine? Or Connecticut? That failure is yours. Not the party's. You didn't engage in the kind of activism necessary to fund conservatives in those states and have them defeat all alternatives. Given that conservatives accept responsibility for their own actions, why are you not blaming only yourself for your personal failure in persuading the GOP to do as you wish?
5) This is not really an attack on you so much as on the broad attitude that it has become fashionable on FR to embrace -- in order to buttress some supposed array of conservative principles. People who fancy themselves conservative need to look very hard at their attitudes when the consequence of those attitudes will condemn, yes, condemn their families and neighbors to life under a probable permanent majority run by the attitudes of Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton.
Illegals, illegals, illegals until the GOP gets it they are toast.
It's to create positive change and to avoid creating damage to the USA. Allowing Democrats to run the country even for a short period is dangerous to the health of our country. In fact you could say run = ruin. You are thinking like the Dems in 94 when they were disgusted by their parties failure to even bring a vote on national health insurance and by other embarrasments. They stayed home in droves and look what happened...at least 12 years in the wilderness. You think this country can last 12 years with people like Reid and Pelosi in charge? PS, you cant move forward if you are in the minority. And if you think the Dems are going to pass your programs, you are sorely deluded.
Oh, it is so easy to be a pamphleter and slogan writer as opposed to someone responsible for effecting change in the real world.
Keep Mum on Immigration and maybe it'll go away.
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This won't work. It isn't going away. Not with a country at war with Islam, tax payers being bilked for over $100 BILLION per year to support ILLEGALS, and our demographics plus our soverignty going away faster than we can keep track of thanks to a run-away Washington government that no longer takes care of America.
Washington fiddles while America burns, and I don't think the good CITIZENS of America will tolerate it any longer.
2. Deport all illegal aliens NOW!
3. Stop Federal Spending NOW!
4. Stop rebuilding New Orleans NOW!
5. Nuke Iran NOW! Nuke Syria NOW! 6. Secure all borders with troops NOW!
7. Find and Kill Bin Laden NOW!
8. Prosecute all CIA Clinton Moles NOW!
9. Stop playing friends with Clintons NOW!
10. Start exploring for new oil deposits in US NOW!
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