For me it was a gradual process.
Signing the CFR and lack of response in immediately securing the borders after 911 set some doubts in the air.
Then there was the bankruptcy bill viewed as a failure to hold the line against that human condition which knows no boundary, greed. Although there are many irresponsible people, they are always with us and there will always be those that prey upon their foolishness and weaknesses. Creditors and money lenders creat the problem of those that are overextended, the debt laden. The Bible set the standard of forgiveness of 7 years whereas George W. Bush allowed the greed of money lenders to begin reestablishing the road to debtor prisons, in whatever form they will be reconstructed.
And there then was the formation of the Tax Reform Commission in which the President deferred all policy development with minimal direction. Although minimal direction may have seemed appropriate, the developed product was so poor that the Commission should have been shut down in the first quarterly review after its launch or in the alternative it should have had more of the Conservative stamp on it since it was after all a Conservative agenda item.
Then there was a strange silence, unwillingness to use the bully pulpit over the Kelo decision whereby senior citizens who wished nothing more than to live out their days in their homes would be forceably removed from their homes by a ruthless group of private interests that bribed their way forward using a mockery of eminent domain.
And then there was the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court. A strange nomination that the Administration could not explain other than perhaps Laura Bush wanted a female justice.
And then there were the disparaging remarks made through the press to the Swift Boat Veterans and later to the Minutemen in the same tone.
And all along the way there were insults to the American laborers that Mexicans would do the jobs they did not want to do and that carried over to insulting those who waited in line after applying to legally immigrate to America.
And Conservatives have all along given the benefit of the doubt to the President. Perhaps no longer.
Still we will not attack or abandon the President. We will remain unified. The House still echos the Conservative principles that we all share, and we must do all we can to retain the House and make it more Conservative.
Given the response to my earlier 'betrayal moment' post, I think that many of us can say that we've been willing - perhaps too willing - to overlook the more obvious errors that this President has made.
I, too questioned Bush's consistent reference to Islam as a 'religion of peace,' when history demonstrates that plainly it is not. If Christian preachers said even one percent of what imams routinely preach in mosques in this country, they'd find themselves in jail. This is not a matter of opinion.
When it came to fiscal responsibility, I was willing to set aside my concern because we are at war.
When it came to the war, I was all there. But I began to woonder if we weren't fighting Kerry's 'sensitve' war on terror instead of the definitive and awe-inspiring total war we should have fought.
When it came to education, I was apalled at Bush's willingnes to partner with the traitor Kennedy. There is hardly a Republican who won't shovel cash into educational institutions that are irredemably corrupt, intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt. At the end of he day, the 'debate' over education amounts to little more than deciding how many more seats in a porn theater our dollars are going to fund.
When it came to articulating a clear, moral and yes - electrifying message of liberty and the personal responsibility that comes with it, I'm still waiting. A real leader must be articulate and persuasive, as was Ronaldus Magnus.
When it came to calling out our foreign and domestic enemies by their proper names, well - I'm still waiting for that too.
The fact that our leadership is wiling to tolerate treason and corruption for the sake of 'getting along' just makes me sick at heart.
So where does that leave us now? I have an idea, but that makes me sick at heart as well.