Bush: I'd rather be right than popular

CNN ^ | 07/07/06

[nicollo]

KJC1, find me the quotation.

blitzgig, Bush ain't the fool you paint him to be when you wrote,

Bush shows he is dedicated to doing the right thing no matter what the stupid polls say.

The very nature of popular government requires that our leaders respect the will of the people. Do we trust our leaders so entirely there's no need for elections? Of course not. So the question is not what the polls say, but what the elections say. Clinton won twice. He must have done something right. Clinton's problem was that he read the polls too narrowly. Bush/Rove do not. But be damned sure they read the polls, for Bush ain't a fool.

And neither was Lincoln when he said,

If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how - the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what's said against me won't amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.

Lincoln was saying nothing different from Bush today. But come on folks, of course the Prez cares about the polls. (And so did Lincoln - desperately). What differentiates Bush (and Lincoln) from Clinton is that Bush realizes that choices made according to immediate polls will not necessarily lead to good results later. Duh.

For Clinton, the focus on immediate polls it worked brilliantly in '96 and got him re-elected. If anyone here thinks Bush ignored the same during '00 and '04, they're delusional. Nevertheless, what Bush is saying is correct in that his focus is on long-term results, not immediate polls

CT, more opportunity here for the uninitiated to learn.

[Txsleuth]

Actually, I care what COEXERJ145 thinks.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

It is as it always was. I have been reading old threads going back to 2000 just for grins and it is the same group of unappeasables posting the same complaints year after year after year.

It gets old real quick, I was telling jveritas that on the NAU threads on why I don't post on them. It's the same-old same-old.

[jveritas]

Please do not face the absolutists with facts, they will never get convinced. They simply HATE the man. Now they will respond "Oh no we do not hate him but..." You know the old and tired garbage answers from these folks.

[John Jorsett]

You don't get it do you? Like him or hate him he has his own set of principles that he follows. He is following those principles on immigration. In fact he is one of the very few that is actually holding to his principles on that issue.

Please avoid the "don't get it" line. The lefties scream that at every opportunity, and I'd like us not to use their tropes. As for staying consistent with principles, that's great, but you can have a principled stand and still be dead wrong, which he is. My principles say different, and it's my job to bring pressure to bear wherever possible to try to make mine win out. If Bush loses on this issue due to the opposition of those like me, that's how our system works.

[COEXERJ145]

The NAU threads are great. The keywords are a hoot.

[AdamSelene235]

Like another freeper on this thread, the issues you are raising are so meaningless from historical point of view.

Criminalizing free speech and expanding a program with unfunded liabilities that are on the same order as all privately held wealth in America are historically significant.

[Fudd Fan]

Kinda like when the RATs say "we support the troops BUT..."

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

LOL - I like the CueSpookyMusic keyword myself.

[Texasforever]

Those threads remind me of the Michael Rivero era of Free Republic. I guess some folks love to see a conspiracy under every rock.

[Fudd Fan]

Who is criminalizing free speech?

[onyx]

Oh no, not another replay of last night? LOL!

[COEXERJ145]

I'm always partial to "MORETHORAZINEPLEASE".

[Texasforever]

My principles say different

And when you are elected POTUS then you can act in accordance with your principles.

[Fudd Fan]

I'm always partial to "MORETHORAZINEPLEASE".

Apparently some have missed their doses!

[COEXERJ145]

There is never enough to go around on FR. Just read my tagline.

[KJC1]

No prob. Give me a few minutes to Google.

[Txsleuth]

"If Bush loses on this on this issue..."

Bush is NOT, repeat, NOT running for anything again.

You guys are as silly as the dems...always gunning for Bush.

IF you are SO important...then why haven't you all changed the Congresswienie's minds?? THEY are the ones up for reelection.

[jveritas]

They will not give it a rest, always repeating the same complaints. Unbelievable! Imagine those people having the same life style of constant complaints and winning at work or at home, it will be tough for the people around them.

[Texasforever]

That thread started me reading some of the old battles at FR. Man I can't believe how much HASN'T changed in 6 years.