Take a peek at some of the trade threads around here. You will be smacked upside your head with the class warfare that happens in these threads.
Posted on 11/29/2003 6:16:23 PM PST by Republican Challenger
I am a nationally published journalist who has been drafted to challenge George W. Bush in the Republican Presidential primaries, beginning in New Hampshire on January 27. My aim is to prompt legitimate debate and genuine new ideas, but I start with a question:
HAS GEORGE W. BUSH BETRAYED TRADITIONAL GOP VALUES?
He has failed in his promise to control spending. Nondefense spending has skyrocketed under Bush. The Congressional Budget Office reported that for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, nondefense spending rose 7% – nearly double the 4% discretionary spending caps Bush promised to enforce (Source: Washington Times). Since Bush took office, nondefense spending has leapt 13% -- 21% if spending on the war on terrorism is included. “My impression of Bush,” says Chris Edwards, director of fiscal policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, “is that I’ve never seen him give a speech in which he says government is too big and we need to cut costs.”
He has failed in his promise to keep America strong. Under Bush, U.S. foreign policy and international esteem have reached historic lows. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars since 9/11, the Bush administration has failed to catch Osama bin Laden, failed to find Saddam Hussein, failed to defeat Al Qaeda, and failed to stabilize Iraq after an invasion that his own Pentagon policy adviser, Richard Perle, now admits was “illegal.” As a result, the geopolitical balance of power has been jolted, traditional allies have been severely alienated, and as a result, the European Union – led by Great Britain – is now conducting secret talks about the formation of an EU military force outside NATO.
He has failed in his promise to be a “compassionate conservative.” Perhaps never before has a U.S. President so divided the country, according to a recent Time cover story. Despite Bush’s promise to be “a uniter, not a divider,” he has turned Republican against Democrat, rich against poor, Christian against Muslim. He has eroded our civil liberties and Constitutional rights in the name of “national security” and aided and abetted a corporate elite class in the theft of the Republican Party and the two-century-old values that made it the Party of Lincoln. “Corporations have been enthroned,” Lincoln said presciently before he died. “…An era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people…until wealth is aggregated in a few hands…and the Republic is destroyed.” Under Bush, Lincoln’s ominous – and accurate – prediction might find its final manifestation unless he and the “neo-con” corporate juggernaut are stopped.
DO YOU AGREE? Please let me know your thoughts. There will be more to come from me, including a detailed platform and agenda for ending the corporate reign in this country, shrinking the federal bureaucracy, and restoring Constitutional freedoms to pre-9/11 levels. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your comments and questions.
Oh, goody, Doctor, we've got us another Napoleon on our hands! That's the third one this season, isn't it? Will a straitjacket be necessary?
He's no paleocon. We're not big on Nelson Mandela, for one thing.
Might be fun for a gag.
Sorry, you do not have a right to be heard.
The fact that you make such a statement betrays your political views as not based in conservatism.
Just for kicks, how would you propose to do those things? Would you need cooperation from Congress, and if so, how would you go about getting it?
I won't do his job for him. If he wants my vote then he must first stake out his position and come to me to try to persuade me that his way is best. I am against so call listening tours because you either have core values or you don't. If you have core values then your actions and positions should be consistent and predictable. If you don't have core values then you shouldn't be anywhere near public office.
So far his positions have been pure liberal. Off with his head!
But then again I am in a bad contrary mood tonight.
You choose to debate Bush at his strongest point? The Muslim terrorist is an immediate threat to our nations security but he is not the biggest threat...Look further East...to an emerging China and a desperate N. Korea. They are communist behemoths whose stated intentions toward this country should make ones hair stand on end. Many expect conflict within two decades. As President, how important do you think a military foothold in the ME and Afghanistan would be in countering this greater future threat. Look at your World Atlas. Our national security depends on our ability to extend our military power
President Bush said this while he was still Gov. of Texas:
We must see China clearly -- not through the filters of posturing and partisanship. China is rising, and that is inevitable. Here, our interests are plain: We welcome a free and prosperous China. We predict no conflict. We intend no threat. And there are areas where we must try to cooperate: preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction; attaining peace on the Korean peninsula.
Yet the conduct of Chinas government can be alarming abroad, and appalling at home. Beijing has been investing its growing wealth in strategic nuclear weapons... new ballistic missiles; a blue-water navy and a long-range airforce. It is an espionage threat to our country. Meanwhile, the State Department has reported that ;all public dissent against the party and government [has been] effectively silenced; a tragic achievement in a nation of 1.2 billion people.
Chinas government is an enemy of religious freedom and a sponsor of forced abortion; policies without reason and without mercy. All of these facts must be squarely faced. China is a competitor, not a strategic partner. We must deal with China without ill-will; but without illusions. By the same token, that regime must have no illusions about American power and purpose. As Dean Rusk observed during the Cold War, It is not healthy for a regime ... to incur, by their lawlessness and aggressive conduct, the implacable opposition of the American people.
We must show American power and purpose in strong support for our Asian friends and allies; for democratic South Korea across the Yellow Sea... for democratic Japan and the Philippines across the China
seas ... for democratic Australia and Thailand. This means keeping our pledge to deter aggression against the Republic of Korea, and strengthening security ties with Japan. This means expanding theater missile defenses among our allies.
And this means honoring our promises to the people of Taiwan. We do not deny there is one China. But we deny the right of Beijing to impose their rule on a free people. As I've said before, we will help Taiwan to defend itself.
http://www.freerepublic.com/forum/a395503e07c50.htm
The Bush Administration's military strategy is multi-dimensional. I know that our soldiers in Iraq are targets for every Islamic nutjob on the planet...But better we keep it on their turf then then here on our streets with our citizens as the target. The soldiers are doing their jobs and we need to do ours by at least giving them our unconditional support.
Unless you can articulate a comprehensive plan for our national security you will not be getting my vote either.
And in the immortal words of Dirty Harry.......
...you're a legend in your own mind.
Take a peek at some of the trade threads around here. You will be smacked upside your head with the class warfare that happens in these threads.
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