[RobinMasters]

Ping.

[ConservativeMind]

That helps explain things a bit more.

At least liberals can’t say Bush was ever conservative. This one is for the books. Note it.

[Lou Budvis]

If W had fired Rummy in the Spring of ‘06, it’s doubtful the dims would’ve taken back the House. Now we have 0bama and dim supermajorities in Congress. Heckuva job, Bushie.

[Jedidah]

Frankly, I’m tired of labels.

I refuse to pigeonhole myself. I think. I ponder. I make informed decisions. I choose candidates and policies that I think are right and good.

If we must use labels, I consider myself a “reasonable.”

[CedarDave]

Just so we’re clear, talking about George W. Bush, X43, not George HW Bush, he of the “read my lips, no new taxes” broken pledge.

[Alex Murphy]

Bush seemed to equate the conservative movement — the astonishing growth of conservative political strength that took place in the decades after Barry Goldwater’s disastrous defeat in 1964 — with the fortunes of Bauer, the evangelical Christian activist and former head of the Family Research Council whose 2000 presidential campaign went nowhere.

Ping for later

[ecomcon]

Well, well. Assuming Latimer is not a self serving jackass like one Scott McClelllan, this might explain a lot.

[Dr. Sivana]

“Let me tell you something,” the president said. “I whupped Gary Bauer’s ass in 2000. So take out all this movement stuff. There is no movement.”

If the last names were reversed, or if Bush ran a non-profit while Bauer governed Texas, the results would have been quite different.

Let's also not forget that Bush cranked up over $100,000,000 before the primary in 2000 to clear the field. Steve Forbes was the only one with the money to compete.

[RobinMasters]

Update: Palin “unprepared”, McCain “a five-spiral crash”

[Uri’el-2012]

Confirms my suspicion.

The IQ of cow poop.

[b4its2late]

Big disappointment to me in his second term.

[RetiredArmy]

Georgie II was not a conservative, never was. He was simply all we had to vote for. Like McCain, it was either him or the latest socialist the Dims put up for view. Bush was a total over all failure as president. While he did a fair job on the war effort, he made mistakes there also. I believe he was too obsessed with Saddam. Sure, Saddam needed taking out, but I think he might have heard too much about Saddam from daddy. Sadly, our side has few good ones to choose from any more. When they say the era of Reagan is dead, that in my mind, simply means we have no one on our side that resembles Reagan on the national level. The republicans have gone center, moderate, left. Few good conservative republicans any more. We are simply stuck with what the stinking republican party gives us. I dropped my membership in the republican party years ago. I do not call myself a member of any party. I am simply a conservative. That defines me. That and my religious beliefs. Thus I guess I am a Christian Right Wing Conservative if I had to label myself. But, too me, George W. Bush, junior, the second, Dub-ya, whatever, was a dud, a failure. If I had had anyone on our side better than he or McCain too vote for, I would certainly not have gone with them.

[reagan_fanatic]

No one was ever under the illusion that Bush was a Conservative. We voted for him because we could not stand the alternative, which was worse. The same reasoning was used for McCain.

It would be nice to have another strong Conservative leader like Reagan on the field, but that doesn’t look to happen anytime soon.

[stockpirate]

Any one worth their salt knew Bush was not a conservative. He used us to get elected then in his second term he set up the demise of America to the socialists.

[Globalist Goon]

Pull the 2000 election threads and you will see plenty of folks pointing out that Bush is not this good ol’ boy conservative.

[gitmogrunt]

Does anyone still believes Bush was a Conservative?

[Seruzawa]

All those years of certain freepers calling those who criticized Bush’s policies “traitors” and such. Now that was a pretty bizarre experience. Where are all those guys now?

That’s what happens when you care about one issue only. Bush knew that all he had to do was oppose abortion and mildly support gun rights and he could get away with the most expansionist social policy in history. He could hobnob with The Swimmer and still have fanatical support. He was a pretty smart guy after all. Too bad he wasn’t a conservative.

[mbs6]

And then he laid this doozy:

“I’ve abandoned free market principles to save the free market system.” — George W. Bush

See video here: http://thinkprogress.org/2008/12/16/bush-free-market/

[TADSLOS]

I was once in the Oval Office when the president was told a campaign event in Phoenix he was to attend with McCain suddenly had to be closed to the press…

“If he doesn’t want me to go, fine,” the president said. “I’ve got better things to do.”

Eventually, someone informed the president that the reason the event was closed was that McCain was having trouble getting a crowd. Bush was incredulous—and to the point. “He can’t get 500 people to show up for an event in his hometown?” he asked. No one said anything, and we went on to another topic. But the president couldn’t let the matter drop. “He couldn’t get 500 people? I could get that many people to turn out in Crawford.” He shook his head. “This is a five-spiral crash, boys.”

Bush, lifting the GOP to new heights...

[ZGuy]

Most of this does not sound like “bush-speak” at all. My bet is that Matt Latimer has written a tell-all with profit over honesty in mind and it seems surprising that everyone seems to be accepting his quotes without any verification that his stories are true or accurate. I don’t accept the MSM blindly, why should I believe Latimer?