Bush was hardly too far to the right. He got two constitutional Supreme Court justices appointed, but tried to give one of those positions to a moderate pal of his which would have given the court to a Liberal majority. Conservatives had to defeat him on that. That battle caused divisions in the Republican party.
Joe was hysterical about Katrina and Bush was not “conservative” in his handling of Katrina; he was totally incompetent on a political and management level. How any Republican President could walk away from Katrina taking responsibility for the first responder failures of an incompetent Democrat Mayor and Governor is beyond me. He even had pictures of the evacuation buses under water! He had the Governor, after failing to evacuate the city, interfering with the Federal rescuse of people because she did not want to look bad politically and make Bush look good.
Amnesty for law breakers and unprotected borders with Mexico in light of illegal immigration, drug cartels and terrorism is not conservative. Conservatives had to defeat him on this and that battle caused divisons in the Republican party.
Joe has been hysterical about the war in Iraq and his complaints did not arise from a “conservative” Bush. Bush lost the public relations control of the war because he refused to engage the Left. That is not the way conservatives interact with Liberals. As soon as Cheney was free do to so, in one episode, he squashed the Left and Obama like a bug. If Obama brings those terrorists to the US, he is going to pay a heavy political price because Cheney has the guts and the brains to stand up and warn the public!
Bush, at the prodding of Congressional conservatives, finally came to realize, before the crash, that the banks were making unsound loans and threatening the banking system. As soon as Barney and the Congressional Black Caucus race baited him, he backed off and permitted the system to go down! That was not conservative. Conservatives do not give race baiters power.
Bush spent like a wild eyed liberal. His deficits and lack of Federal reform was hardly conservative. He did not even make it clear to the public that Democrats were the majority in Congress, spending like there was no tomorrow. He vetoed nothing. He expanded Federal power and spending in the most unconservative ways.
Bush’s Tarp decision set us in motion to Marxism which Obama is now moving forward like a freight train. That was not conservative.
Under Bush’s leadership the Republican Party ran against conservatives and promoted Rinos for power. Conservatives found themselves voting for “the lessor of two evils” in almost every election. Bush took the wind out of the sails of the Republican party.
Joe is a confused nutcake, surrounded by liberals giving him advice and telling Republicans how to create a permanent Rino minority. He does not know what he is talking about when he says Bush’s failures were conservative.
You've also hit on what bothers me, too. If the only somewhat conservative voices in the media think that GWB was extreme right wing and representative of how a true conservative would behave then the wrong impression is being made. Of course, that's probably the point. How else will conservatives be a permanent minority?
Great post. :0)