Appreciate what you say DoughtyOne; and share your dissatisfaction here - and I am not 'touting' Bush. It remains, however; IMHO; that it is 'America-defeating' and more than pound foolish at this point to look at U.S.A. as glass 'half empty' versus 'half full'.
And still, I maintain, not having another 9/11 IS reason enough for us to appreciate - by whichever measure - that GW was at the helm - and NOT Al Gore; or ANY Demrat. Our enfranchised Military, another reason; and economic issues notwithstanding; we can still appreciate the economic growth that has unfolded since 9/11.
And yes, of course, it could happen again - at any time; but would hold every frickin, enemy-empowering Demrat responsible FIRST; not second, here. It is they who have unequivocally facilitated our enemies, by their Leftist ideological commitment.
NO question in my mind; we have been riding on 'more than a prayer' with GW at the helm; and at least there remains a chance FOR a prayer in our future; with a Repub or even Rino at the helm. Zilch. . .zero; nada; with 'otherwise' Leadership.
Would offer/acknowledge as well; not counting invisible hands' while it only took 'nineteen'on 9/11, that fewer could accomplish this task today. And given the numbers of Muslims who carry the jihadist within, who are either new arrivals or who are, already, American citizens, we do not have the luxury of entertaining thoughts of unrealistic - if not inpossible- safety margins protecting us here at home.
Am convinced in addition; that the Patriot Act, in no small measure, has been a hindrance to open Jihad in America; and we have a Repub to thank for that.
Oh, that GW had a more 'jaundiced eye'; or be less inclined to 'turn his cheek' here. But he has drawn more than a few boundaries and margins of safe protocol.) No need here to count the PC Liberal-appeasement and Liberal PC 'window dressing'.
We do have a Liberal stranglehold in Country; our Government-at-large that GW should have dissueded; dismantled or disengaged. Our surrender as well, to Liberal coercion by Political Correctness puts our entire Country at risk. . .and our future. Wish Bush had tackled this one; but of course, this is not a job entirely, for the President. It is our job as well.
We do not live in a perfect world; but 'our world' is more perfect than it would be; had an anti-America/anti-freedom; enemy-appeasing/enemy-loving; military-hating; U.N. advocating - anti-Capitalist; and anti-Faith/anti-religious, pro-global-warming/pro-Green, collectivist Demrat - been leading our nation.
And as we move into the future; while begruding degrees of Conservatism or Repulicanism; the very chance; hint or idea of ANY of your prescriptions, DoughtyOne; seeing the light of day, altogether, vanishes.
The lesson should be; that we vote ALL the 'rats', out of our Congress; get them out of our State Department; out of our CIA; our schools. . .Churches et al.
Facilitating the upside of the Leftist 'Democrat' Party is inviting absolute 'self-defeat' for our Country. We have had fair warning; and there can be little doubt that too late smart, is just that.
(As for Liberal Supreme Justices thanking a Repub President for their advancement; can only say that was THEN; this is NOW. The ideological battle for the soul of America was not so clearly defined. . .save by the 'we' - great Americans versus the 'they' - evil communist, notations. There should be no question, where the lines are drawn today. And there can be no excuses.)
Outstanding analysis. Grudges are never the way forward, and wailing victimhood is not a conservative trait.
The Democrats have gone off the cliff and want to bring the rest of the country with them. They must be resisted, defeated, etc., to keep this country on solid high ground. It’s our patriotic duty.
Thank you for your response Cricket. I would expect you to defend your point of view and you’ve done so. You make some valid points. For one, the economic stimulus and steady hand Bush used post 09/11, did turn our economy around amazingly fast. He doesn’t get enough credit for that aspect of his presidency, and I am as guilty as anyone for not mentioning it.
Even part of his/congress’ spending could be justified in part for stimulating the economy, which benefited the nation in no small measure.
There was another aspect of his presidency that I failed to mention last night, and for the life of me I can’t recall it right now. He does deserve credit where credit is due, and my not mentioning some of the good things was unintentional.
Thanks again for the exchange of views.
I wanted to add one short comment to my response.
It is my opinion that there are times when winning is something like preventing all forest fires. Fires are necessary to create new growth and to clean up the forest.
I am still very much of the opinion that we need to burn away the national political forest. We need a new awakening and we are defeating it every four years IMO.
If RINOs are the best we can get, then it’s proof positive that it’s time to endure the short term inconvenience, and then get on to rebuilding a solid healthy environment.