Posted on 06/05/2002 1:20:54 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Let me just say up front that I am not addressing you if you voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and regret it. The same goes for those of you who voted for Bush and insist on holding his feet to the fire on the important issues. If, however, you cast your vote for Bush, still believe he is the only hope for America and intend to support every move he makes without so much as a raised eyebrow, this is for you.
It has been nearly a year-and-a-half since George W. Bush, the savior of conservatism, descended from on high to begin his earthly reign in Washington, D.C. Republicans assured us that he would restore integrity to the White House and would be a marked improvement over the promiscuous Bill Clinton. Well, in all honesty, that could have been accomplished by electing a neutered chimp to the office of president.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush the man proved to be a nice break from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Unlike Gore, Bush had a more likable...well, he actually had a personality. He also possessed the unique ability to address the American people without the smug and condescending vibe Clinton exuded. However, when it came to policy, George W. Bush the candidate failed to demonstrate that he would govern any differently than his Democrat counterparts.
Still, throughout the campaign, there was a loyal group of Bush supporters who would take offense at even the slightest implication that their candidate was anything but a staunch conservative. Even now, they continue to stand by their man, and I find this to be rather perplexing.
Perhaps those who have pledged their undying allegiance to President Bush could answer a few questions for me, in no particular order of course:
• How would you have reacted if Bill Clinton had signed the Patriot Act into law and given the government sweeping new surveillance powers?
• Would you have criticized a Democrat president for signing a $26 billion education-spending bill?
• Did you feel betrayed when Bush signed Campaign Finance Reform into law?
• What do you think about Bush's position on granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants?
• Would you have tolerated a Democrat proposal for federally funded faith-based initiatives?
• What would your reaction have been if a Democrat had said, "No one should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government"?
• What do you think about the president's granting of Permanent Most Favored Nation status to China?
• What's the difference between Bush and the Democrats on the issue of farm subsidies?
• How would you react if a Democrat president sent a $2.13 trillion budget to Congress?
• Would you have stood for a Democrat saying "No!" to arming airline pilots?
• What would your reaction have been if a Democrat had pushed for the federalization of airport security?
• Are you willing to stand by and let the Bush administration cater to the environmentalists on the global warming issue?
• What do you think about Bush's call for a Patient's Bill of Rights?
• What one thing has Bush done that sets him apart from the Democrats?
• It's been a year-and-a-half since Bush took office. When do we start to see a decrease in the size and scope of government? For that matter, when do we start to see even a remote indication that this administration will think about doing anything to try to limit the federal government?
This list is by no means exhaustive, but I would really be interested in some answers. Perhaps it would help shed some light on the mindset of modern compassionate conservatives.
The fact that a Republican president is governing like a Democrat isn't surprising. What's amazing to me is that there are a few select Bush supporters out there who cannot—or will not—utter one word of criticism against their president for any reason. In their minds this man is the epitome of conservatism, and to question his actions would be to question their own beliefs and cause them to wonder why they supported him in the first place.
The way I see it there can only be two explanations for this: 1) these people really and truly believe in what Bush is doing, or 2) they do not wish to face up to the real reason they voted for him — he was simply a slightly more palatable choice than Al Gore.
"Never on both counts if we do something stupid that lets the Dems take control of the White House or increase their votes in the Senate and the Congress."
Sadly I fear you are correct. Unfortunately the Dems probably will take back both at some time in the future. This is why some of us wonder if it was a good idea to grant these powers to the government in the first place. If you give power to government it is unrealistic to expect gov't to return it.
Conservatives want moral government? HOGWASH!
The bigger Government gets, the more corrupt, invasive and all encompassing it gets.
Real conservatives want government reduced many times along with all of our taxes.
Moral government? LOL!
Very true, but whats the alternative? Perhaps take the high road and pave the way for a democRAT/socilist TOTAL takeover in 2004? Read my post 121.
Bush was a finger in the dyke.
No obscene pun intended but admittedly it does kinda apply.
prisoner6
He appoints a man with a daughter who helped promote the GAY agenda through her work at Coors Beer, and then announced he would let her on stage to campaign for him
He has appoointed more openly GAY personnel to his administration than any other, and this is a Christian??
He is deliberately allowing millions of illegal aliens to break the law instead of uphold the law by kicking them out...didnt we hear RULE OF LAW in our recent past concerning a past president? Why doesn't RULE OF LAW apply here??
He has done NOTHING to make people feel secure, except insititute policies that frisk pregnant Grandmothers in wheelchairs instead of Muslims before they board planes
He stifles free speech through CFR.
He calls the Saudi's our friends??
He has done NOTHING to prosecute Clinton and Her Husband for the last 8 years of crime in the White House...And just what was CHINAGATE about now that we have a Conservative in the Justice Department??
Our tax rebate was considered income on this years return, how is that a TAX CUT? And over 10 years? That helps us when??
Dont even pretend he didn't know about that report that just came out on Global Warming before it was released...
And just when is he going to take the lead and demand drilling in the Alaskan Oil Fields of ANWAR??
And GORE would be diffrerent how??
This is not directed at you, I'm just replying to your post:
Another question for the Bushcheerleaderbots:
What would your reaction be if a Solicitor General under a Democrat Administration rewrote the Constitution to say that the 2nd Amendment guarantee of the right to keep and bare arms was "subject to reasonable restrictions designed to prevent possession by unfit persons or to restrict the possession of types of firearms that are particularly suited to criminal misuse"?
No ... what we should do is band together and force OUR party to do what it is CONSTITUTIONALLY bound to do ... FAITHFULLY EXECUTE the law ... even where democRATS are concerned. We should make it known to OUR party that anything less is UNACCEPTABLE, now or EVER. We should USE the crimes the democRATS committed against them to cement our hold over the government for the next decade, like they did to us after Watergate, instead of acting like Clinton democRATS and ignoring the law.
Your approach will almost guarantee that democRATS win the next several elections because by ignoring the crimes you will be telling the democRATS that they can commit ANY crime and get away with it ... even if Republicans control the investigatory and prosecutorial portions of the Executive Branch. Your approach may even convince Republicans that the only way to win is to commit and coverup crimes themselves. Then where will we be?
If you think there will be a mass conversion to conservatism after driving W from office, you're on drugs.
I am not suggesting driving W from office. I am only asking that we stop acting like cheerleaders who defend ANY action of the GOP and act like Americans by defending the very document that made this country ... the Constitution. I am asking that we defend the integrity of those institutions, like the judicial and election systems, that separate us from the terrorists and tyrants around the world.
W wasn't about stopping the slide into socialism. It was about slowing it down and giving conservatives the opportunity to FIND a way to stop it.
You won't FIND the way by knowingly covering up crimes committed by the bad guys ... especially crimes that threaten the very integrity of the system you CLAIM to respect. You just give them blackmail material to keep you from EVER exposing them for what they are. Ignore these crimes NOW and it will be nothing but mutual assured destruction and continued movement AWAY from the rule of law from NOW ON. Without faith that our laws will apply equally to those who are elected as us, there will be no respect for the law ... and our laws are one of the most important things separating us from tyrants, kings and terrorists.
Do you visit local watering holes and argue with dyed in the wool socilists, especially the older ones who've been through the depression and wars? Try to present the conservative line to them. Get them to vote it. Ain't gonna happen, and trust me in the inner cities and union areas, they are teh ones we have to defeat.
Exactly ... so all this talk about Bush positioning himself to win their support is NONSENSE, as are the polls now being touted to show his margin of victory. But these socialists do have to obey the law ... unless, of course, we destroy the law by not enforcing it and turn this country into a place like the USSR (which was run by SOCIALISTS and ONE party that decide by its WHIM what laws would and would not be obeyed).
As millions upon millions of illegal aliens smash our borders and spit on our sovereignty.
Would you at least wipe the froth off of your mouth, stop, and think for even a nano-second?
The WTC came crashing down after Arabs hijacked and flew American planes into it, killing thousands of Americans. Same thing happened to the Pentagon, but with less casualties.
Americans' passions and shock were overwhelming. Never since the 1860s had this country seen anything remotely close to that on our soil.
With Americans' blood boiling hot enough to melt steel, the President wasn't about to go and make a statement on national TV disparaging Arabs and/or Islam for the sake of those Arabs and Muslims in AMERICA! Had he made a statement like you would have wanted, even more blood would have been shed in our streets. Enough innocent blood had been spilled by those barbarians.
The President of the United States of America does NOT need to lead a mob mentality, or make a statement(s) that would be construed in such a way.
Your line of thinking would have reduced us to the level of those barbarians who attacked us! We are AMERICANS. We are better than that.
GASP!!!
This thread has been very enlightening. Bush supporters honestly don't seem to understand why constitutionalists and advocates of limited gov't are so disappointed in Bush. To them, he is doing pretty much what they would do in his position.
Especially telling is how they react to the question "What would you say if a Democrat were to say that no one should pay more than one third of their income to the Federal gov't?"
Most seem to see nothing wrong with paying 33% of their income to the gov't. One actually said he would congratulate the Democrat:) If we have a huge increase in the budget, well so what, the government must need the money or they wouldn't have made the budget so big. In short Bush supporters seem to have a pretty much blind trust in the gov't as long as Bush is heading it.
Hence, their inability to see why some of us would prefer Bush to follow his campaign rhetoric promising small and limited gov't.
It's pretty irritating to hear the constant whine about how we must back Dubya in every single thing he does or says no matter if it's Conservative or not.
I thought only the Democrats practiced wet panty, rose garden politics.
Well that effort sure as hell beats the crap out of beating up on other conservatives!
Yeah, why don't we go get them? I can't think of anyone or anything more to go and get.
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