Under Bush’s watch, Paulson put 9 bankers in a room and made them take the money. That never would have happened under Reagan, or any other conservative. It did not prevent a severe depression. It was the opposite of a courageous move. He “chucked aside his free market principles to save the free market”, which is an asinise statement. You can make excuses for him all day, and some of them may even be good ones. All I ask is that you admit the man was not a conservative.
Why is that so important to you?
He was conservative in many areas, and did many conservative things (many under the table and without recognition). For decades long pro-lifers like my husband and me, he was the most pro-life President we ever had. As far as judges goes, he out-selected Reagan. He cut taxes and never raised them.
No one is arguing that he is flawless, nor would any conservative argue that he was conservative across the board. But to say that he is "not conservative" at all flies in the face of the truth.
And THAT, to me, is what's important.
“All I ask is that you admit the man was not a conservative.”
Believe me please, if I thought that I would admit it. I know that President Bush had to be pragmatic and keep his eye on the right ball, so to speak.
I doubt if the President was aware of Paulson putting 9 bankers in a room and make them take the money. There were no strings attached to TARP 1 so, I don’t think it would require much coercion... And, it did prevent a severe depression. You should research the huge amount of money that was withdrawn in a few hour period. If action had not been taken there was serious risk of bank runs and an incredible crash in markets, employment, and demand for goods and services that would have dwarfed what has happened. I would love to see some investigations on this, it happened just a few short weeks before the election. I think there is a good chance it was an intentional move (attack) to help democrats in the election and to provide fodder for future actions of trying to take over some private sectors.
I have had the opportunity to look the man in the eye and listen to him, he is genuine, he is courageous beyond his own personal strength, he is sincere, and he is right most of the time. Remember, his view is a lot more complete than most of us get.