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"Giving the Democrats incremental victories for an ever larger and more rapacious federal government is by no means "winning."

Correct, and if that was all that we were doing, then I'd have reason for concern.

But the other half of the coin is that Bush is getting something for what he is giving up.

Yes, the Left got more money for their Educational Department, but in exchange Bush got the right to finally fire bad teachers, test all teachers, insure that all children can at least read and achieve basic levels of fundmental skills, as well as the ability to completely close failing inner city public schools, something that in the past was completely off limits for us to do.

Yes, we're running a deficit, but we've killed off the estate tax, dropped the dividend double tax, cut income taxes at least twice, given two raises to our military, and fully funded our ABM defenses (just in time for a sabre-rattling north Korea, I might add).

I've said it before and I'll say it again here: If you just want to make the case that Bush has spent too much money, you'll get no argument from me. He has let Congress spend too much. But that's only half of the argument. Bush's spending has bought us important victories.

How much are you willing to pay, for instance, to stop partial birth abortion?

How much is too much to spend to stop a North Korean ICBM from vaporizing LA, San Francisco, Seattle, and San Diego?

And there is something else to consider: Bush hasn't been doing all of this in a vacuum. He's been opposed and fought by both the media and the Democratic Party at every turn. To win these victories he's had to pay the price in both blood and treasure.

Such is war.

Sacking the ABM treaty is good. Missile defense is good.

Tax cuts are good.

Steering clear of the International Criminal Court is good.

Killing Kyoto is good, but mostly symbolic. Not even a single Senator from either party voted for it's ratification.

Winning the War on Terror is very good. But...

The folly of the Road Map plan in Israel is very bad. We should butt out, and quit being on the side of the terrorists there.

Any federalization of education is bad.

Any federalization of prescription drugs is bad.

CFR is bad.

The farm bill is bad.

Foreign Aid is bad. $15 billion to generate new AIDS cases is bad (more incentive for AIDS diagnoses than ever before).

The fetal stem cell research hairsplitting was bad. Other non-aborted stem cell sources are just as promising. This is just another example of why the politicization of science through government grants is bad.

Failing to address the problem of Illegal Aliens is bad. Failing to deal with the widespread acceptance of foreign IDs is bad. The recent bill standardizing their acceptance is bad. Trying to penalize law-abiding immigrant candidates with a Section 245(i) Amnesty was bad. Rewarding the criminal behavior of Illegals is altogether bad. Flouting the will of the American people in doing so is bad. Government hubris is bad.

These bad things are incremental victories for the big-government Democrats. Unless, you want to claim them as victories for big-government Republicans?

The conservative cause is not advanced by glossing over the negative aspects of President Bush's tenure in office. Taking note of them does not necessarily preclude a vote for him in 2004.

Politicians build coalitions to win elections. Selling one's affiliation cheaply by declaring one will support a given politician "no matter what," is a clear invitation to being ignored by the politician while he bids for the ballots of swing voters with your money.

There is certainly nothing wrong with trumpeting the President's accomplishments. Some of them are Historic. Nor is there anything wrong with pointing out his flaws and errors, in the hopes that doing so will nudge his Administration towards a correction of the same.