Compassionate Conservatism MY A$$.....................................
I'll give President Bush credit for his conduct on the War on Terror but that's about it. Republicans better get back to being conservatives. The democrats lite formula isn't working. Here's a tip for aspiring positions. Don't ever call yourself a compassionate conservative. It's the kiss of death in my mind.
Maybe they should go back and review the Contract With America. Now that was a winning stratergy.
After 911 Bush had a mandate and could have done so much good, instead he was a disaster to Conservatives. Bush and Rove have pretty much destroyed the GOP. His latest bailout of Wall Street will haunt us for a long time. We are now in for some very hard times.
Bush did a lot of good stuff... tax cuts.. attacking al queda.. patriot act.. freeing iraq.. conservative judicial appointments.. increased border officers... and fence.. created homeland security..
This is what happens when Republicans turn their backs on Conservatism.
NO MORE ‘REACHING ACROSS THE AISLE’. If I hear a Republican candidate say that......I will not vote for him/her. I’VE HAD ENOUGH of mamby-pamby, PC politics. Screw ‘em!
Bush became a big spending liberal with his no child left behind program and the prescription drug program, the biggest increase in the entitlement programs since medicare. He signed McCain-Feingold rather than veto it. He pushed amnesty. And those are just a few of the things that alienated his conservative base. As a result, the Reps lost control of Congress and may never regain it in our lifetime.
If you think that President Bush represents the core values of true conservatism then you yourself are a liberal.
Boy, that shows how out of touch I am. I thought is was Bush who turned his back on us (immigration, bailout, et al). And after going to the wall for a guy twice, I'd think there would be a little loyalty on the other side....
Bush turned on Conservatives, and Conservatism long ago. This is the result. The GOP should learn from this.
Conservatives did not turn on President Bush.
President Bush turned on conservatives after conservatives dragged him over the finish line twice.
Conservatives only asked for the occasional nod in their direction but they got the finger.
True conservatives didn’t choose President Bush or John McCain as their first pick in the primary elections but when it came time to vote in the general election they stayed the course.
Conservatives didn’t go for the glam, glitter and empty promises as did the moderates, minorities and swing voters to whom Bush and McCain have constantly pandered.
This election should wake the Republican party up and reaffirm that their future lies with conservatism - not with being Democrat-Lite.
We didn’t turn our backs on Bush. He turned his back on us just like his Daddy.
Being a Reagan Republican, I have to say I was no big fan of many of George W. decisions as President, but I do respect the man and am angered by the treatment this man has received at the hands of the MSM and the general public. I am also equally angered by the abandonment of George W. by the GOP Leaders. When things were good, GOP Party Leaders embraced him. When the democRATS and MSM started to malign him and his popularity rating tanked, instead of circling the wagons, the GOP Leadership ran like scared children!!! We lost this election because the GOP Leadership are a bunch of cowards who “cut and run” at the sign of trouble!! God Save the Republic!!!!
"We"? No, YOU and your fellow Bushbots turned your backs on conservatism with your blind support for the guy who did more to bring a halt to the Reagan revolution than anyone else -- George W. Bush. (GHWB started it; GWB finished it).
Trillion dollar bailout of Wall St. crooks, (non-defense) spending that'd make Jimmy Carter blush, an open hostility to defending our borders and deporting illegals, drastically extending the reach and power of the Dept. of Ed. ("No child left behind"), huge Medicare entitlement, etc. GWB implemented more social programs than any previous President. Conservative? Not by a longshot.
Long past time to purge the GOP of its liberals in GOP clothing ...and John McCain is high on that ignominious list as well.
I disagree.
We didn’t turn our back on Bush. He turned HIS back on us - time and again.
He was also a very poor communicator. And although he DID win two elections, the margins were needlessly close. Kerry and Al Gore aren;t especially bright men. Gore in particular is a scientific idiot.
The election was lost because the Economy tanked, McCain was ineffective in communicating to the American public the deep complicity of the Democrats - particularly the President-Elect, in creating the problem, and McCain himself was simply the wrong candidate. McCain was too old, not photogenic, not well spoken and hjardly charismatic. His opponent was all those things.
The Republican Party continues to amble, an ineffective anachronism which is increasingly unable to effectuate its own objectives or those of the people who support it.
America still IS a center - right country, but will not remain so for much longer unless the issues of the leftist major media monopoly, the propagandization of school and college students by the leftist NEA, and the inability to erach out to the gropwing Hispanic and Asian American populations are not bridged.
Either there has to be a major shake-up of the Republican Party leadership or it should be shoved aside by a new political party, as effective as the Democrats and liberals are in the political arena, but wedded to a conservative, traditional and more populaist political philosophy.
Just my take on this - it is really sort of subjective.
With all due respect to you, conservatives (and I say that as though FR was still a conservative forum) did not throw Bush under the bus. President Bush has been driving the bus that we seem to find ourselves under.
He's too stupid to defend his beliefs. What are voters supposed to think? Rep's had a chance and did nothing. Now the othere team goes on offense. This ain't comoplicated.
The Bush Legacy is President elect Barack Obama and a complete 100% reversal of the 1994 elections in terms of people and policy.
Thanks George you did “one heck of a job”
“...I didn’t leave the Republican Party...it left me...”
He ate us first!