Except...
..."See? I Told You So."
(ALL in good humor...permit me to be just a tiny bit provocative an hour before St. Paddy's Day hits here...)
In fact I simply had to stop listening to him. SO...just SHUT UP, Rush!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes and no. It depends on the meaning of centrist, and what policies are taken.
Two things are needed to win.
1. Gain part of the middle. No argument there.
2. This part is forgotted...NEVER FORGET WHAT BROUGHT YOU THERE. If you abandon your base, you are done.
These states decide the election. These are the swing states.
New Hampshire, Penn, West VA , North Carolina(Edwards), Florida, Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennesee, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri(As Missouri goes, so does the country), Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico.
The policies that move to the middle must be aimed at THOSE states. Reagan was a master. He had BLUE COLLAR appeal. He wasn't viewed like some Country Clubber. Bush needs to gain some Blue Collar appeal, and he is doing that so far. He CAN'T throw it away or his base with some stupid move like CFR, gun bans(so far so good), amnesty(that won't play well AT ALL, and I'm fairly pro-immigration), 5 billion in foreign aid, and stuff like that.
The Steel tariffs on the other hand is an EXCELLENT move. He didn't forget West VA, which went for him. That plays well in NE Ohio, parts of Penn, and Michigan as well.
BLUE COLLAR CONSERVATIVES win elections...and they are fickle voters.
We are not going to sway 43 through protest. 43 is 43 and his course is set.
Conservatives should not desert the Republican Party nor destroy the party image.
We need simply to work quietly in the background to remove 43 from the ticket.
Hello?? 1999?? Three years ago? President Bush has proven himself to be a conservative, albeit not a fire-breathing, in-your-face shove it down yer throat conservative. Fine, I don't care; he's gotten the job done.
You know, and I say this with the utmost respect for the honest FREEPers and the talk show pundits out there--it is so **** easy to sit at a keyboard and rip our President and tell him what he's doing wrong and how he's screwed up and how he better start toeing the line or else you won't support him. And it's just a little bit harder to speak into a microphone and blast away at the guy. But when some of you people actually hold office and try to get something done when you aren't given absolute power, you realize you have got to compromise sometimes and on some things. Accomplishment in the political arena involves the "art of the possible" as the lyricist Tim Rice once wrote.
Does it always mean a conservative slam dunk? No. Hell no. But right now we've got a strong voice at the table. And the anti-Bush blabbery we're hearing is exactly what the 'rats and Socialists love.
Because if Bush is gone, who is in? It sure ain't someone more conservative, I can guaran-damn-tee you that. It'll be a liberal. And where will the conservative voice be heard in the public policy arena then? On the keyboards of cyberspace and the talk radio airwaves. But not in the halls of governance.
Rush will have to rethink this. Since Delay, Armey and Ron Paul signed onto the 245(i) extension, they are now, along with Bush, RINO's.
Or so say some here at FR in any case.
this article is from 1999. It's currently 2002. Got anything more current?
This is a load of horse feathers, no real conservative would ever vote for Bush again. Fool me once..etc. He is out of there in 2004 for the sake of what remains of the nation. He's a no borders globalist, the worst possible type for President, no one I know personally says they will vote for him again, and they are people who actually vote. He has made it his personal business to step on the face of all conservatives, christian and otherwise, I think he will pay the price at the polls. He will not be able to pander enough votes from minorities to offset his conservative losses and carry the day, on going war or no on going war.