[mjolnir]

I very much admire President Bush. His work reflects a far greater intelligence than that shown by his detractors.

True, but that's no great task (joking).

To be critical of the President is completely understandable and no doubt correct, since no statesman is perfect. To fail to see that this president has stood on principle on virtually every issue, and has thought through even those issues one disagrees with him on, is to fall into the sort of sweeping knee-jerk attack that is typical of leftists rather than conservatives.

The fact is, President Bush has held the line on taxes, on protecting the unborn, on the war on terror, etc., etc., etc., out of principle, forethought and conviction. President Bush could have easily coasted, popularity-wise, on the success of Afghanistan and left Iraq to his successor. President Bush could have pulled an Arnold and gained numerous plaudits from the press for compromising with Democrats on taxes, stem cells, etc.

He hasn't.

The fact is, on immigration President Bush not compromising with Democrats--- he is acting on the same principles he ran on, and that he employed as Governor. I agree he is wrong on this issue, but, (contra Dawkins)it is really is possible to be wrong on one issue (or even more than one--- imagine that!) without being ignorant, stupid, insane or wicked.

[Pravious]

“The fact is, President Bush has held the line on taxes...”

Oh? What happened to the sweeping tax reform (including getting rid of the IRS) he spoke about during the last election? He won, that’s what happened - and we haven’t heard a peep about it since.