Is Bush a Conservative? (Warning – opening this thread forfeits your right to gripe at me!)

Commentary Magazine ^ | February 2004 | Daniel Casse

[quidnunc]

By the end of 2003, after months of falling popularity and an unceasing barrage of criticism from Democratic presidential aspirants, George W. Bush suddenly seemed to be leading a charmed life. His surprise visit to U.S. troops in Baghdad over the Thanksgiving holiday introduced a note of high confidence and inspiration. Two weeks later, the world was treated to footage of a helpless and disheveled Saddam Hussein in American custody. Although attacks on U.S. forces in Iraq continued, their ferocity diminished amid promising signs that the battle to rebuild Iraq and fight terrorism elsewhere was on course. Within days of Saddam Hussein’s capture came the announcement that Muammar Qaddafi had agreed to open his program for amassing nuclear weapons to international inspection. That same week, France, Germany, and Russia, persistent opponents of the Iraq war, acceded to American requests to forgive a portion of Iraqi debts. By mid-December, a CBS poll showed 59 percent of Americans approving of the way the President was handling Iraq — the highest level since early July.

At home, there was still more good news for the White House. In late November, the Commerce Department reported that the economy had grown at a startling 8.2 percent in the third quarter — the highest level in nearly two decades and a figure that exceeded even the most optimistic projections. There followed a cascade of other positive economic announcements. Inflation and interest rates were at their lowest point in decades. Productivity was historically high. Housing starts were soaring. Manufacturing, only recently thought to be disappearing from the America landscape, hit its highest level in twenty years.

Congress, meanwhile, had passed a bipartisan overhaul of Medicare that, while highly controversial, was clearly a political victory for the President. Flush with this legislative success, in late December the White House released word that it was considering an overhaul of Social Security — and possibly re-establishing manned flight to the moon.

Is everybody happy, then? Hardly. For one thing, not since Richard Nixon has there been a Republican occupant of the White House who has provoked such naked antipathy from his political enemies on the Left. Bill and Hillary Clinton generated their own fevered response from the angriest and most conspiratorial corners of the Republican Right. But what is striking about today’s liberal hatred of George Bush is not how shrill it is, but rather how even the most extreme outbursts have been fully embraced by mainstream Democratic politicians and journalists.

But criticism of the President has not been confined to Democrats or the Left. For the past year, a chorus of dissent has arisen as well among some conservative pundits and intellectuals — the very group one might have thought would rush to the defense of a President under assault by his liberal antagonists. In a particularly harsh and surprising condemnation, the talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh told his listeners in December that Bush’s legacy to the nation would be the greatest increase in domestic spending, and one of the greatest setbacks for liberty, in modern times. “This may be compassionate,” warned Limbaugh, playing on Bush’s 2000 campaign slogan, “but it is not ‘conservatism’ at all.” To be sure, conservative discontent with President Bush is likely to have few if any political consequences in the short term; unlike his father before him, George W. Bush will win the Republican nomination unopposed. Despite grumbling among some conservatives in the House of Representatives, no splinter group of disaffected Republicans seems set to take on the cause of Bush’s Democratic opponent the way some embraced Clinton in 1992. Still, Bush’s ability to remain a popular Republican President while causing so much dismay on both Left and Right does demand an assessment of the direction in which he has been taking the GOP and the country. Should he be reelected this fall, he will remain not only a controversial figure but possibly one of the most consequential Presidents we have had in the modern era.

-snip-

[dighton]

Bonus link, #712.

[EggsAckley]

This is one of my favorite pix of GW. Unpretentious, genuine, and extremely manly. And, yes.....I AM voting for him again. People who diddle around with third party losers just to "make a statement" are idiots. No one "sees" their statement except themselves, and their vote is absolutely wasted.

Yes, yes.............flame away. My new year's resolution was to NOT debate with Libertarians any more. So pile on, if you must. I WILL not respond. You're not gonna change MY mind, and I'm not gonna change YOURS, so it's just a bunch of empty rhetoric anyway.

[PISANO]

Quick call GW's campaign coordinator and volunteer your services to get this comprhensive list out to us conservatives so we have something to VOTE for other than GW's success at protecting America from another attack.

[ChadGore]

Re: Is Bush a conservative! No.

bzzzzzzzzzz, WRONG !, but thank you for playing

[jstolarczyk]

Two major polls now have Bush losing the general election by nearly double digits. Is Bush a true conservative, depends who you talk too. One thing for darn sure Kerry and Edwards are not by any stretch conservative. So do we sit on our hands and deal with true unashamed left wing liberal in the White House, or do we give Bush a chance to be more conservative when he is not facing a reelection. What kills me is how much pride I sense in conservatives who attack Bush. Proud they are more conservative, Republican legislators that are just as responsible as the President for the deficit bashing him. Once again Republicans eat their own. Name one electable conservative politician other than Bush. Please do not say McCain!

[BadAndy]

He claimed to be a compassionate conservative. Thus far he has been all compassion, no conservative.

[luvbach1]

The Demonrats say he is; in fact, they say he is far right.

[Southack]

"Since taking office George W. Bush has increased the national debt by $895.7 billion"

Bush must be king, spending all of that money all by himself...

Grin!

Yes, Bush has allowed Congress to spend too much. I'll grant you that criticism.

Fortunately, that spending has at least purchased us some conservative victories such as increased defense spending (including our national missile defense system deployment this year), homeland security, as well as positioned us to be able (politically) to kill our involvement in the International Criminal Court, the anti-2nd Amendment UN Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty, the Kytoto Global Warming nonsense, etc.

Such over-spending isn't desired, of course, but it's tough to push through conservative proposal after conservative proposal without such overt bribes when Democrats can shut down the Senate with ease.

But if spending is your be all and end all, then you may as well bark at the moon.

On the other hand, if what you "get" from all of that spending matters to you even in the least, then you have to put Bush light years ahead of his closest opposition.

[E=MC²]

So...everything with you boils down to DOLLARS??? Those dollars won't matter squat if a nuclear bomb or highly infectious disease kills multitudes of Americans. Priorities must be considered.

[labolarueda]

Is Bush a Conservative?

Not even close. He's a centrist vacillating slightly between the left and the right, but not a conservative in my opinion.

[Mike4Freedom]

Presidency of George W. Bush -- the first 36 months

Let me add some things to your list:
Signed the Medicare drug benefit which will probably cost over $ one trillion before it collapses Medicare.
Signed the Campaign Reform act limiting everyone's first amendment rights.
Signed the Patriot act, limiting everyone's Fourth and Fifth amendment rights.
Invented the status of "enemy combatant" making all US citizens subject to arrest and indefinite detention without judicial intervention, charge or trial. This eliminates everyone's due process rights guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment.
Promised to sign a renewal of the Assault Weapons ban, thus limiting everyone's Second Amendment rights.
Imposed Federal rules further into education with "No Child Left Behind" in violation of the Tenth Amendment.

Is this enough to give you second thoughts about rating Bush 2 as a conservative? Maybe you need more! Or maybe you don't think that obeying the Bill of Rights is an important aspect of conservative thought.

[jstolarczyk]

Very nice, listing all those things that so many conservatives forget. Hannity, Limbaugh and G. Gordon need to be reminded as well.

[Southack]

c#4

[jstolarczyk]

Capitalism trumps Socialism every time. Name on true socialist country that is successful. Better not mention Germany or France, they allow some capitalism to support the socialist programs, also both are in trouble economically.

[Sir Gawain]

So...everything with you boils down to DOLLARS??? Those dollars won't matter squat if a nuclear bomb or highly infectious disease kills multitudes of Americans. Priorities must be considered.

No, just pointing out that Bush is no conservative, except on foreign affairs. Sure we'll be secure another 4 years with him in office, but what about the new Democrat voter based he's creating with the amensty and the way his domestic policies are turning off conservatives? Sooner or later, we're gonna have a Dem back in the White House. That's a reality.

[labolarueda]

FOREIGN-AID

Wow! Lots of transfers from poor people in a rich country to rich people in poor countries.

[Southack]

"Signed the Patriot act, limiting everyone's Fourth and Fifth amendment rights."

Nonsense. The Patriot Act is demagoged by people who have never read it. I've read it, and it is harmless. Show me one sentence or paragraph in the entire legal text of the Patriot Act that limits "everyone's Fourth and Fifth amendment rights."

[luvbach1]

Fox News poll shows Kerry up 51% to 43% Bush. Kerry hasn't even gotten anywhere near 51% among Demontats! Could the electorate be this easily swayed? If so, Bush can sway them back again.

[Dane]

I see you you are doing Uber Libertarian Alan Chapman's bidding. This is the guy on FR who basically wanted firemen to get a check first before they put it out.

[luvbach1]

Correction: it's "Demonrats!"