But you see, I'm a Freeper, I'm a true conservative and have been for more than three decades and I understand these things and understand what a president's most important role is, and I want to see this country returned to the values that made it great.
What you have to realize, though, is that people like us are in the minority in this country. You can quote every poll in the world about how many people call themselves conservative, how many people call themselves liberal, etc. And I will still contend that "true" conservatives like we are are in a minority, just as the real radical leftists are in a minority as well. Where elections are decided is in the middle.
It was the middle that gave Reagan his big majority in '84 ... or do you think everyone who voted for him in places like New York, etc., all favored true conservatism?
I told you, I can make a philosophical argument that the overtime rules in question are arcane and do not apply to the way things are in 2003.
However, it is issues like those that do resonate with those voters in the middle ... many of whom, whether it's stupidity or not, have structured their economic situation around the fact that they have regular overtime coming in ... who have often shown an inclination to vote for us even if they really don't buy our entire agenda. I just said this in another thread, there are people out there who vote for us, who like tax cuts, who like our position on social issues, who like our positions on defense, the war on terror, etc. ... but who at the same time have no great inclination to undo the New Deal and Great Society, and who have been conditioned to look to the president of the U.S. as the individual responsible for keeping them employed.
So from a political standpoint, is it not utter madness to do something to piss those folks off, and that rightly or wrongly simply invites caricature as the eeeeevilll GOP kowtowing to the corporate special interests and stepping on the throats of the little people, a year before a presidential election?
I truly believe the economic situation is turning around. I pray that things are better by the spring of next year at the latest, I think we need six months of good economic news before the election to make it a lot easier to seal this deal.
But if things don't turn around, and the farther we get removed from 9/11, I believe that in that middle group of voters that decides elections, the war on terror, defense, etc., are going to become secondary to economic issues, because those are the issues that are more tangible to people.
And yes, I'd like to see Howard Dean get the Dem nomination, because I think he'd be the easiest of the crew to beat.