Posted on 02/18/2008 9:31:33 AM PST by meandog
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush urged disgruntled conservatives on Monday to rally around John McCain, calling their criticism of the Republican presidential front-runner "grossly unfair."
The father of President George W. Bush said he was annoyed by attacks within the conservative wing of the Republican Party against the Arizona senator, the all-but-certain Republican nominee to face Democrats in November election.
Many conservatives distrust McCain because of his moderate views on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform and for having originally voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Persuading them all to vote for McCain in November will be a central challenge.
"His character was forged in the crucible of war. His commitment to America is beyond any doubt," the 41st U.S. president, flanked by his wife Barbara, told a joint news conference with McCain in a Houston airport hanger.
"You know, if you've been around the track you hear these criticisms and I think they are grossly unfair. He's got a ... sound conservative record but he's not above reaching out to the other side," he said.
"So I hear these criticisms and Barbara knows I get a little bit annoyed about them frankly," he said, calling them "absurd."
The elder Bush said even former President Ronald Reagan, an icon of the conservative movement, faced attacks from the right wing of the party, citing several quotations from diaries written by Reagan in his early years in office.
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ross Perot and his chicken wand is the one responsible for giving us two terms of Clinton. It's a shame Bush's hit squad didn't carry out their assignment.
"I am the ding-bat in the tree waving his arms"
Now that the Bushies are lining up for McCain, I've got even more reasons not to vote for him.
When it was found that the Speaker of the House, the top Republican in that body, wasn't particularly interested in doing anything about the problem, and then it was discovered there were half a dozen other homosexual top level staffers and none of them appeared to even understand that everybody else had a problem with this, that was it ~ the American voters went for the Democrats.
That's why it's important to really go after Obama and his close relationship to Deval Patrick whose top staff guy has been arrested for homosexual rape of a 15 year old boy.
That kind of stuff definitely gets the public's attention, and as long as the Democrats seem not to want to do anything about it, that's going to make McCain, or whoever, particularly candidates for the Senate and the House, actually look good.
And, how do we make Republicans really look good ~ to start with some of those homosexual staff aids are still hanging around the House and Senate, and there's Senator Craig ~ somebody has to get fired, and quick, and it has to be highly public, and very pointed.
Maybe we can have those guys left to us make open confessions and beg forgiveness and for their Democrat compatriots of the same persuasion to come forward and RESIGN.
Think Craig is up to it?
Egad, they really are the ruling elite.
Reagan was certainly my favorite president. Yes, he made some mistakes, and he didn’t turn back the tide of big government. At best, he stalled it for awhile. I expect Reagan would have accomplished far more if he had had a (conservative) Republican congress. He did the best he could with the team he had.
My argument is Romney was a much better candidate for the general election than McCain. McCain is nuts. All his great polling in matchups is based on his honeymoon with the liberal media covering up his many character flaws. Under the media glare Romney would hold up much better as a human being. McCain, in addition to being a flip flopper like Mitt, is a genuinely creepy guy.
I do believe Mitt is an economic conservative. That's his only strong point for conservatives. McCain's only strong point is the war, which is the least popular issue for reaching out to centrists in the general election.
One of the best arguments I have against Romney the candidate is the lack of "fire in the belly" demonstrated by his weak-kneed withdrawal. His defenders say he ran the numbers and decided the odds were against him.
One thing we know about our enemy McCain is he's a fighter. He doesn't care about the odds. He will fight against us to his last breath. He will crawl over broken glass to the gates of Hell and beyond if it will help crush conservatism and ruin us forever.
Against that kind of obsession Romney the rational utility calculator didn't stand a chance.
That artist rendering of Rush is cracking me up!
You're right, but he was a Democrat who must have voted for FDR (4 times), Truman (my favorite Democrat for dropping the bomb), Adlai Stevenson, and in 1960 voted for America's sweetheart, Kennedy. These votes are all assumptions, based on his being a party faithful man. It wasn't until 1962 that he claimed that the Democratic Party had left him. Ronald Regan was my hero because he was a human who made mistakes and learned from them. He was also an extremely compassionate man.
This is the same George HW Bush that is pals with the Billy Clinton & co. Hey, George, read my lips: NO MORE RINOs!
For starters, Reagan was a Democrat for 29 years and a Republican for 42 years, until his death. He did vote for FDR four times and Truman one time in 1948. In 1952 and 1956 Reagan voted for Eisenhower. In 1960 he voted for Nixon and in 1962 Reagan joined the GOP. Reagan said the reason he quit the Democratic Party was because it started becoming to liberal for his politics.
Don’t be confusing us with facts! Conservativism is being redefined and modernized! Calm down, and march.
He’s right. Most of you people attacking McCain ARE absurd.
“grossly unfair.”
this, from a worse Failure than His moderate Son....
I don’t like it, but McCain won more votes than any other Republican candidate. The Republican Party did not elect him, the voters have.
Wow! I never thought of that, but you are right. If FR had been around in the 1970s or 1980s, many would be calling Reagan a RINO. They would be threatening to sit out the election. What is the difference between RINO Reagan and Democrat Carter/Mondale, they would be asking.
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