Posted on 05/03/2006 4:49:58 PM PDT by Logic Times
The Left’s hatred of George W. Bush has no rival...
...or so it once seemed. But not so fast. There is a new breed of GWB hater: the Betrayed Conservative, a creature of surprisingly intense emotions for a member of the rational Right. The Betrayed Conservative is good news and bad news for the conservative movement. The good news is that there are vocal, passionate conservatives out there – large numbers of them – unwilling to accept anything less than sound conservative policy out of Washington. They are angry and active and have imposed some measure of discipline on that exasperating collection of spineless Republicans in the nation’s capital. At the drop of a bad Supreme Court nominee or immigration bill, the Betrayed Conservative explodes with the sort of colorful epithets that would make Al Franken blush. And make no mistake, Bush is their whipping boy, and they rarely stop at forty lashes.
The bad news is that Betrayed Conservatives are a political disaster. Betrayal involves a breach of confidence, but in the history of American conservative politics there has never been any confidence to breach, never been a reliable tradition of conservative policy in Washington implemented by principled public servants. Such animals have rarely walked the halls of the Capitol Building, and when they appear, they are hunted down by both the rabid Left and vacillating Right with the viciousness of ritual murder. Such creatures of principle – Newt Gingrich for example – threaten all pure politicians.
(graphics in the article - follow link)
(Excerpt) Read more at logictimes.com ...
The purists' hatred for Bush could kill the conservative movement...and put 'rats in power for a generation.
Interesting, especially the pics.
Excellent post!
Well, I'm no purist but Bush's and the Senate's stance on immigration has turned me into a single-issue voter.
So we have to accept liberals just because they have a "R" behind their name? They campaign conservative and go swishy left to the center when they get the job and we still must vote for them? I don't understand the logic? They should be a better reason for voting Republican, than simply their not Democrats.
Muleteam1
What a damn joke!! There is no conservative movement with Bush in office.
Bush is NOT a conservative. Never has been, never will be.
I think a decent solution would be for conservatives to vote out the liberal Republicans during the primaries. Whether Bush is conservative or not is moot - he is not up for re-election. However, getting rid of those liberal Republicans in the House and Senate will go a long way toward showing the executive branch what we want. That should be our focus.
Amen.
Ungh... Another "not as bad as the other guys" argument. Complete with photographs.
APf
The conservatives will never accept the achievable as acceptable performance. They want it all and they want it now. They will not accept two steps forward and one step back. They want all steps forward. What they soon achieve is three steps back followed by three more.
It is what LBJ told me in 1968. When I asked how he managed to get liberal programs passed that FDR tried and failed to pass, he said he could not have done it with out conservative help. He said it was the Goldwaterite position of throw out the RINOs and go for all or nothing that got Goldwater nothing and LBJ everything.
The most disastrous thing for conservatives is for the most part they not get involved with the efforts needed to convince a majority of the voters to their positions. They have no sales skills and refuse to learn them. They spout their ideological positions which centrists reject. Then after massive defeats they console themselves by thinking the problem was their failure to get their message out.
They mostly just blame RINO Republicans for not doing what it will take to make conservatives a majority.
The margin of victory for Republicans is coming more and more from those to the left of center. So that is where many Republicans including George Bush are moving.
Conservatives never figure it out. Candidates always try to emulate the positions of those who win races. When the right sits on its hands, the lesson the Republican candidates learn is to move more to the left to replace them with left of center moderates. That just moves the center more to the left. That has been happening for 75 years.
The right never learns from its failures or its successes.
Uh-huh, and where do I fit into this equasion?
Most of my ire is directed at the Congress. I oppose strongly the President's proposal on immigration, but he ran on it and I'd be a a hypocrite to claim betrayal. I've gone head to head with the crowds that both want to impeach the President, and with those that support everything he does because he's the President. I like him, he's going to be remembered as one of the Greats, I have vision enough to see beyond today and know that. And he'll have earned that legacy. He's still wrong on immigration.
I defended Tom Delay and, infact, feel betrayed by both those classified as the "betrayed Conservative" and the Moderate establishment. Each threw him overboard, and I've given National Review several bitter tongue lashes for leading the fight.
I supported incrementalism by supporting NCLB as well as private accounts for social security.
I refused to support Miers because, frankly, her qualifications were not good enough. Nor did I see any discernible Judicial philosophy. After decades of being disappointed with incrementalism on this issue enough was enough and I wanted a little more security on the choice. Still doesn't mean Alito will be as hoped, but the odds are better. I supported Roberts, and lashed out against Coulter who STILL hasn't apologized.
As far as pessimism, practically everyone out there whether incremental, betrayed or whatever other designation of conservatism has been preaching a nightmare. I've said time and again I see a status quo! Democrats are Marxists engaged in treason, and Republicans campaigned on issues they seemingly had no intention to deliver on. they thought cnservative rhetoric was good enough to justify office. I was over at Human Events and read they plan on stressing how bad Democrats are. That's it. No policy, just scare tactiques. Be still my heart. meanwhile Grassley is skipping out on extending tax cuts for ONLY TWO YEARS to attend a meeting in his state. Any wonder people are unhappy? And yet, I see status quo not blowout.
I've said time and again they can turn this around in a couple of months. Is that pessimistic? I don't think so. It's quite rational.
These classifications of people are cute, but they don't even begin to cover every segment of people out there.
My only comment is that the Republicans can get along without any of my money.
Great post, Logic Times! BTTT
You stated my opinion perfectly! That'd make a great tag line.
I'll never be able to understand the mindset of someone who would actually vote on something as important as who will become our President, on one, single, pet issue.
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