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-

[Sir Gawain]

logicall = logical

[TheBattman]

Signed the 2004 Omnibus Budget 1/26/2004 that now MANDATES that gun buyers' background check information be fully and permanently destroyed within 24 hours of the completion of the check, no matter what.

Unfortunately, I have already heard news reports that the FBI intends to continue to keep these records for 90 days...... The law has no teeth to enforce this mandate, so it's meaningless.

[Sir Gawain]

They still constitute your agenda, which is a Libertarian one

You've seen my voting history? I'd hate to have to bring up criminal charges.

[jstolarczyk]

Specify where has Bush violated the Bill of Rights. I am a gun owner, but just as there is no "separation of church and state" in the constitution, there is no right to fully automatic weapons. If you want one, you can still get one, legally. Where in the Bill of Rights are you entitled to a free education? As long as the government provides free education, they have a right to impose their standards. I agree on the Medicare drug bill, no argument there. The Patriot Act was a reaction to 9-11, but since I am not involved in crime or terrorism, it has yet to effect me. What would you do, cannot kill the terrorist, nobody wants them, we cannot interrogate them, unless they are held outside the US. Israel is darn near a police state and they cannot stop terrorist, imagine the difficulties in our open society. How would you feel about a Patriot Act if you lost family members to say a suicide bomber while at the mall? But, do you really think Kerry will be a better advocate for your point of view.

[Indie]

Simple vote in the fall. Bush.

There is no other choice that will result in a Bush win. Vote 3rd party and it's all over. Head for the hills and get your tin foil hats on if a Rat wins.

[Southack]

"No, just pointing out that Bush is no conservative, except on foreign affairs."

But that's just so wrong!

Bush signed into law the ban on partial birth abortions. Complain about the viability of that law all that you want, but signing such a ban is a domestic Conservative thing to do.

Ditto giving raises to our military.

And again for giving out tax cuts. Oh sure, you can complain about spending, but tax cuts don't go hand in glove with spending. You could get spending increases even without tax cuts, for instance. At least with Bush you get tax cuts. That's conservative, and that's on the domestic front, too.

Ditto for reducing logging restrictions, rolling back CO2 regulations, and easing the restrictions on Genetically Modified foods.

[evad]

Excellent post..I feel better.

[EggsAckley]

FR will NOT be used to help replace Bush with a Democrat. Period. End of story.

Ah, JR.......music to my eyes! Kudos!!

[jstolarczyk]

Hate to tell you this, your voting record is a matter of public record. No right to privacy there!

[annyokie]

Thank you, Howlin!

[Sir Gawain]

For every good thing you point out, there are 3 or 4 things that are not conservative. Bush is nothing farther right than a moderate based on his presidency.

[Triple Word Score]

AMEN!!!!!!!!!!

The closer we get to time and the more familiar we become with Ketchup Boy, the more frightening the alternative will be. Conservatives will come around and vote W. In the meantime, they just sound really stupid when they make these idle threats to vote third party.

The emails I get bashing him--it's all tinfoil stuff. Bush is reading our minds and selling us out, Ashcroft is searching our underwear drawers and tattooing invisible 666s on our foreheads in our sleep. BAH!

[Sir Gawain]

Don't tell Dane. I was just trying to scare him. ;-)

[Sir Gawain]

..but if he does know my voting record, man that's one crazy stalker.

[Dane]

You've seen my voting history? I'd hate to have to bring up criminal charges

Actually that would be civil charges if your are accusing me of slander, but what the hey you're the one whose first link comes from a Libertarian party stalwart.

Do me a favor send me the supoena when you reach your destination called "perfect political world", I believe that I will be waiting a longtime for the mailman to deliver it.

[labolarueda]

Saw it and read it, thanks. But #50 prevents me from freely expressing my ideas and opinions.

[Southack]

"I am especially anxious to hear what you think about enemy combatant treatment for native born US citizens."

Then see my post #49 and reflect upon how little criticism has been leveled at Democratic Party President FDR during WW2 for executing the American citizens who were brought back to the U.S. by German U-boats to conduct sabotage here.

[Delta-Tango]

Is Bush a true conservative,

No, but he plays one on TV.

[Miles Vorkosigan]

Yeah, and the Birchers had plenty of documentation to prove that Eisenhower was a Communist.

[Badray]

Thanks for posting that. I've copied it to my hard drive just in case it gets zotted.