The question after the election disaster of 2008 will be, which betrayal did in the GOP?

May 17, 2007 | Jim Robinson

[Jim Robinson]

1. The war.
2. Failure to secure the borders.
3. Amnesty.
4. McCain-Feingold.
5. Big government.
6. Big spending.
7. Abortion.
8. Gay marriage/gay agenda.
9. Gun control.
10. Failure to protect private property.
11. Failure to abide by the constitution.
12. Failure to enforce the law.
13. Corruption.
14. Too many RINOs.
15. Lack of spine.
16. Loss of testicles.
17. Failure to run conservative candidates.
18. Most of the above.
19. All of the above.
20. Other.

[Jim Robinson]

Right, but I think you missed the point. The public knows it all too well. Only, they know the wrong story. We failed to win and sustain public support for the war effort and now the public has lost its will to continue the fight. History repeats itself.

[johnthebaptistmoore]

If President Bush eventually signs the “Immigration Amnesty legislation” before Fred Thompson officially enters the Presidential race, then what good would it do for Fred to enter the race whenever he finally does? Rush Limbaugh and many other conservatives have already said that this latest “terrible legislation” would lead to the end of the GOP as a political party as well as lead to the end of the U.S. as a country! I agree with both of these last statements. Fred Thompson had better officially declare for the Presidency very soon and I mean before President Bush signs this latest fiasco for the country. Most of the voters will not want anything to do with the GOP after President Bush signs this “I Bomb” as the unstable Michael Savage describes it. If people can really make themselves explode, then we are certainly going to find that out after President Bush officially does end up signing “amnesty for illegal immigrants” legislation into law, and I truly hope that this legislation ends up dead instead!

[Iconoclast2]

Isn’t the war more of a screw-up than a betrayal? It seems of a different character than the rest of the items on your list. Unless you mean by betrayal the failure of the Commander in Chief to allow the troops to win by imposing Queensbury-style rules of engagement and failing to identify traitors as traitors in the PR war . . .

But it sure is a depressing list.

[x]

Katrina? Unless your complaint is that we spent too much money on Katrina, than I don't know what you mean.

Katrina convinced a lot of people that President Bush wasn't a "the buck stops here" kind of guy. At least I got that feeling.

Technically or formally you could say that what went wrong in the early stages was the responsibility of city and state authorities, but given that we have a Federal Emergency Management Agency, it wasn't out of place to expect more federal coordination or oversight of the evacuation.

As far as I know, money was also wasted or stolen afterwards, and there have been ongoing FEMA scandals. Maybe emergencies should be local or state responsibilities, but where you do have a federal agency, people aren't out of place in expecting it to respond to a crisis.

Anyway, my feeling was that the hurricane was a chance for Bush to win back the sceptics through prompt and forthright action, and he didn't take it. Ordinary citizens might have more respect for the President's abilities and committment today if he'd taken more responsibility then.

[mc6809e]

And I suppose Al Gore and John Kerry would have done more to further conservative principles that has George Bush.

Yes they would have.

GWB has almost singlehandedly created an entire generation of future Democrats. It would have been better for conservatism in the long run had GWB lost the election.

I would have much preferred the incompetence of Kerry or Gore destroy the Democratic party than to have George destroy the GOP.

[Gracey]

16

[Petronski]

What’s Fred Thompson waiting for!?! Run already!

Maybe he's playing chess rather than checkers.

[srmorton]

I just don't get those of you who would tolerate the harm such men could have done to the country in order to cause damage to the Democrat Party. I remember conservatives saying that having a one term Democrat POTUS instead of reelecting GHW Bush would be "good" for conservatives. What happened was we had TWO terms of a man who disgraced the oval office and whose weak response to terrorism emboldened the terrorists and directly lead to 9-11. That was too high a price to pay!

I am also sick of those of you who put all of the blame on GWB instead of recognizing the role of the Congressional Republicans. I agree that he could have used his veto pen more, but the POTUS can do very little without the cooperation of Congress. When you are dealing with partisan Democrats, an irresponsible DBM, and some members of your own party that are more interested in their own political careers than in the good of the country, there is not much that one man can do. A Ronald Reagan who was so comfortable in front of the camera would go over the heads of the media and speak directly to the people. Sadly, there was only one Ronald Reagan and even he would have had trouble in today's political climate when the media twists everything Republicans say and covers for the Democrats. IMO, we should be supporting our CinC and praying for him every day rather than blaming him for all of the ills that have befallen us in the last six years.