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Conservatives Shouldn't Abandon Bush
Townhall.com ^ | July 13, 2007 | Mike Gallagher

Posted on 07/13/2007 5:15:02 AM PDT by Kaslin

Watching a steady stream of Democrats like Harry Reid, Dick Durbin, and Chuck Schumer each take their turn delightedly pummeling President Bush over the war in Iraq today, I couldn’t help but think of fellow conservatives who are starting to give aid and comfort to these Democrat Party loyal oppositionists.

According to Byron York of the National Review, the Republican Party base has simply decided to throw Mr. Bush under the wheels of the bus. Since so many of us disagree with him on things like illegal immigration and Scooter Libby, York opines that a whole bunch of Republican loyalists are practically counting the days until Jan. 20, 2009, when a new commander-in-chief takes up residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Other conservative voices are jumping on the Bush-bashing bandwagon. The other night on Fox News, I saw a radio host proclaim that the president’s soft stance on illegals has cost him support for the war in Iraq.

Just what, precisely, is the point?

Why do conservatives believe that trashing the Bush Administration’s efforts on everything from this complicated war to a commutation of a vice-presidential aide will accomplish anything but give Democrats more ammunition against the GOP in 2008

Look, I’m as disappointed in this administration’s attempted amnesty for illegals as anyone. But I looked President Bush in the eye in the Oval Office and saw a man who truly believes in his heart that giving illegals a “path to citizenship” is the right thing to do.

I believe he’s wrong. But I know that this good and decent man believes he’s right.

So because of this issue, I’m supposed to abandon my president?

I’m expected to go on radio and TV and give miserable attack dogs like Dick Durbin more ways to say, “See -- even Republican supporters of Bush are defecting!”?

From the day the bombs started dropping on Baghdad, President Bush kept telling us that nothing about this war would be easy. Our nation has never attempted something as bold as installing democracy in this troubled part of the world and attempting to make a country like Iraq stable enough so that they can handle their own terrorists without our intervention.

Simply put, the vast majority of Americans supported our country’s pre-emptive strike. The longer this battle rages, the more we see impatient Americans start complaining. I guess that’s what a society in a Tivo/Iphone era does.

And I certainly expect that from Democrats who blame George W. Bush for everything from hurricanes to health care.

But I think it takes some guts to stand behind a president who is doing what he believes to be right, even in the face of enormous opposition.

Liberals are emboldened by Republican-fueled criticism. And if good folks like Byron York aren’t careful, we’ll be handing over the White House on a silver platter to Hillary or Barack. After all, just how far can Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson distance themselves from the Bush Administration?

Liberals are emboldened by Republican-fueled criticism. And if good folks like Byron York aren’t careful, we’ll be handing over the White House on a silver platter to Hillary or Barack. After all, just how far can Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney or Fred Thompson distance themselves from the Bush Administration?

Besides, who really wants to be on the same side of the political fence as Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy…or Betty Williams?

Betty Williams won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for creating a group that helped initiate peace talks in Northern Ireland. This week, she was the keynote speaker at The International Women’s Peace Conference in Dallas. According to the Dallas Morning News, during her speech she told the thousand or so attendees, “Right now, I could kill George Bush.” The paper said she went on to demand his impeachment since “the Muslim world right now is suffering beyond belief” as a result of this administration’s foreign policy.

What a woman of peace. That’s some “peace conference.”

I’m not sure what would happen if an American traveled to Northern Ireland and expressed a desire to kill Mary McAleese, the current President of Ireland. I doubt that such an opinion would be met with cheers and a standing ovation, as was reported had occurred when the Nobel laureate said what she said in Dallas.

And when we tracked Betty Williams down and put her on my radio show, I was shocked to hear her claim that any published report that quoted her as saying, “Right now, I could kill George Bush” was lying. I reminded her that according to numerous published reports, she used the exact same phrase in a July 24, 2006 speech to schoolchildren at the Brisbane City Hall. At that point in the interview, she sounded totally defeated and said she not only “regretted” saying it, when I asked her if she was sorry for saying it, she said she was. In fact, the Dallas Morning News sent me the audio of the speech which confirms their reporting of Ms. Williams comments about the president.

You can hear my interview with this awful woman at www.mikeonline.com.

People like Betty Williams and Michael Moore and Nancy Pelosi and Keith Olbermann and so many others on the left have made it quite clear what they think of George W. Bush. They teem with hatred and contempt.

They sure don’t need to get any assistance from us. Now, more than ever, we ought to stand behind President Bush.

But if people on the left OR right don’t want to support him these days, I have a heartfelt reminder: November of 2008 will be here soon enough.

Until then, how about getting off the president’s back?


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: amnesty; bashbotbait; bbs; bds; bush; bushbotbait; bushbotslaststand; conservatives; gop; mikegallagher; republican; republicanbase; term2; vampirebill
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To: Kaslin

good post. I agree with him. It’s time to stop stabbing ourselves in the back and shooting ourselves in the foot. Want Hillary? Keep up the good work and you’ll have her. I’m getting sick of the republican party. A bunch of wusses.


481 posted on 07/13/2007 9:48:03 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: fatnotlazy

Amen. I agree wholeheartedly. Bush has always been up front with what he believes and we knew it going into the elections. He at least has had the guts to face immigration when nobody else would touch it. When we find the perfect man, we’ll elect him president. of course, he’ll be killed within a month...


482 posted on 07/13/2007 9:50:04 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: DevSix

Good for you.


483 posted on 07/13/2007 9:51:49 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: azhenfud

Look, he never was a real conservative (who is???) and made no secret of that fact. He has tried to be a uniter, much to his own decline in popularity, but he’s no phony.


484 posted on 07/13/2007 9:53:00 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: LucyJo

AMEN, AMEN, AMEN!!!


485 posted on 07/13/2007 10:02:13 PM PDT by Marysecretary (GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL.)
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To: Kaslin; laurie_d
Notice he signed up over three month after you did
Why does a sign up date matter?
And if, as you say, laurie_d's sign up date is three months before me then she is obviously someone who has returned after being banned and shouldn't be here at all.
And you apparently know who it is Kaslin, or who they were if you prefer, from talking in the mailroom or elsewhere. So why don't one of the two of you own up as to just who you were?
486 posted on 07/13/2007 10:59:36 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: LucyJo

I for one will pray for the President. My beef is not with him as a human being, but as the leader of my nation. I personally think he is doing a lousy job of it. Good and decent he may be; but in terms of having sworn to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and to defend the nation against ALL enemies, foreign AND domestic, the man, to put it succinctly, SUCKS.


487 posted on 07/13/2007 11:13:00 PM PDT by 60Gunner (ER Nursing: You watch it... We live it!)
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To: Kaslin
...unless you are also philman_36.
With the amount of grief I get? IMO nobody in their right mind would pretend to be me.
488 posted on 07/13/2007 11:14:35 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: philman_36

HA...I guess you wouldn’t have supported WWII...let’s see Japan and Germany both had to be re built...now I’d also call that nation building...after a war which we won...to get a people back on their feet there’s nation building...otherwise we’d be back fightin’ again. Same with Japan and Germany...as a matter of fact...if Germany would have been taken care of properly after WWI...we’d not had WWII...


489 posted on 07/13/2007 11:17:00 PM PDT by shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)
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To: mad_as_he$$
One last word on Reagan. He never insulted or fractured the base - even when he was a Democrat.

He never had a base so quick to judge, so childish with differing segments of one-issue voters, And a public at large so spolied to think the Gov't had to save them from storms, etc, etc.....ala, perhaps he didn't have to?

I didn't say that it was Governments job to rescue people from their own sins. But when Government sets itself up as the deliverer then they need to be effective at it. FEMA is a complete disaster.

So the INHERINT efficcency of Gov't is now GWB fault! Incredible! FEMA was NEVER set-up as a first responder. That is not its role or job. That (correctly so) is to begin at the local and State level.

I do not dispute progress has been made. But to sum it up in one sentence - Too little too late.

History will laugh at you - Furthermore this nation as well as the World is safer because we have removed two brutal regimes, killed over 3/4 of AQ original leadership....and chased AQ and its mimics throughout the ME, SE Asia and the Horn of Africa.....You don't have a clue (it seems) how many truly evil, truly dangerous and EXPERIENCED bad guys we've killed or captured.

Too little to late my as$. You can only say such because those out there kicking in doors and risking it all 24/7 give you the luxury of security to spout off such BS.

Name me one solid example of where winning hearts and minds has been successful.

Full free true elections for the first in the heart of the ME (Iraq) and in Stan. With an incredibly high voter turnout in both countries.....where that turnout has only increased with each election.

As I said, you live in your own world....The best to you but I don't have time for it any longer. History will judge and those spouting off like you will be laughed at, at best.

490 posted on 07/13/2007 11:18:27 PM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: mad_as_he$$
There have been millions of prayers for him. Could it be that his alcoholic Christian guilt is just too strong?I am going to spend more time trying to undo his damage than praying for him.

I can't say that I agree with that statement. Scripture tells us to pray for our leaders. That would be, lasat time I looked, a mandate from... whom? Oh, yeah. GOD.

President Bush may be a wonderful, churchgoing, upstanding man in private life. But he is also responsible for attempting to sell our security out to a deadbeat, drugrunning, no-account, worthless nation. And he plays footsie with the people who are trying to expunge us from the earth.

Nice guy? Maybe. Good leader of our country? Hardly.

491 posted on 07/13/2007 11:19:45 PM PDT by 60Gunner (ER Nursing: You watch it... We live it!)
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To: Kaslin
Sorry - To late
Bush abandoned Legal Citizens in favor of votes (or whatever his logic was on the subject). As long as Bush stays strong on the war I will support that issue but not Bush.

This from a person who voted for him twice, believed in him and even attended the inauguration.

492 posted on 07/13/2007 11:23:20 PM PDT by jongaltsr (Hope to See ya in Galt's Gultch.)
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To: Anonymous Rex; Kaslin
The both of you are confusing. At least follow netiquette and add me to the conversation so I can follow the conversation. That is my nick being bandied about so cavalierly!
At least I'm following the situation better now that things are playing out.
Disregard my other reply Kaslin. I hope you can see why I made the conclusion I did, but since you were talking about A-Rex and not me...
493 posted on 07/13/2007 11:24:19 PM PDT by philman_36
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To: shield
Yeah, that was nation building, alright...

But I do recall, as I am sure you do, that the 'nation building' was preceded by 3-1/2 years of 'nation-pounding-into-a-smoldering-corpse-choked-hell'. Which was good and fitting.

Which is exactly the way you fight a war. You crush the enemy relentlessly until they lose the stomach to fight and beg for the chance to surrender. You then strip them of all war-making capacity. Then you build them back up.

But you do NOT fight them on one corner and kiss their asses on another, which is exactly what this president has done.

494 posted on 07/13/2007 11:27:34 PM PDT by 60Gunner (ER Nursing: You watch it... We live it!)
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To: Kaslin
Bush needs to stop this ridiculous pandering for whatever reasons,
and start listening to the base that got him elected twice.

I haven't abandoned Bush yet because I'm trying to trust he will
come about face and clean up his mess before it's to late.
Specifically the Border.

/Salute

495 posted on 07/13/2007 11:30:50 PM PDT by MaxMax (God Bless America)
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To: Kaslin

the only thing that upsets me about Bush is his stand on shamnesty for illegal aliens. they are not an asset to this country. they are a liability...


496 posted on 07/13/2007 11:34:35 PM PDT by television is just wrong (If being against illegal immigration is racist, so be it.)
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To: 60Gunner
WWII was the result of WWI....The war we’re in today is the result of the conflict called Desert Storm, it wasn’t finished due to the advise of the same men that put together that ridiculous Iraqi Study Group Report....if we don’t get Iraq right today we’ll be back....and it’ll be much worst...Bush is right...
497 posted on 07/13/2007 11:42:21 PM PDT by shield (A wise man's heart is at his RIGHT hand;but a fool's heart at his LEFT. Ecc 10:2)
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To: Kaslin
he abandoned conservatives we did not abandon him.

for once he should listen to us instead of the powers that be.

498 posted on 07/13/2007 11:44:11 PM PDT by Coleus (Pro Deo et Patria)
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To: shield

If Bush is right, then why is he coddling terrorists?


499 posted on 07/13/2007 11:44:36 PM PDT by 60Gunner (ER Nursing: You watch it... We live it!)
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To: shield
WWII was the result of WWI.

I respectfully say unto you: Bullshit.

WW2 occurred because nations who COULD have put a stop to Hitler and Hirohito before 1939 REFUSED TO DO IT.

WW2 occurred because instead of confronting and preempting brutal regimes, we APPEASED them or LOOKED THE OTHER WAY. Sound familiar?

500 posted on 07/13/2007 11:51:01 PM PDT by 60Gunner (ER Nursing: You watch it... We live it!)
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