I'm workin'. Can't listen to Rush. But I will say this: Rush is about principles. Conservative principles. It seems to pi$$ him off when people who call themselves conservatives don't act on conservative beliefs. He's not burdened with the need to govern and campaign, and he knows it. The few times I've been able to listen in the last month, he's made it clear that he understands the "Karl Rove Strategy", but that he openly wonders about its efficacy and effects on the "base" that elected Bush. Not to mention actual policy.
I'm with Dales (who worked his a$$ off under a different screen name, IIRC, during Campaign 2000, keeping us all informed regarding polling data). This crap is starting to smell. And offend.
And some of us here need to take a good look in the mirror and ask if we aren't beginning to look like the right's version of Paul Begala or James Carville. I mean, damn, can this Prez do NO wrong in your eyes? Is there no bottom to your loyalty to a mere man?
I don't know about others here, but I helped elect Bush to advance a conservative agenda, not sit on a huge pile of political capital and good will (70%+ approval) and make "strategic concessions" to our mortal political enemies.
Thanks (yeah, that was me under the name Hugh Akston).
Look, as Sci Fi Guy above added to my earlier post, there are some very good things that have been done. I can't and won't overlook those. But at the same time, some of the moves have been hard to square with my views, and this is one of them.
And some of us here need to take a good look in the mirror and ask if we aren't beginning to look like the right's version of Paul Begala or James Carville. I mean, damn, can this Prez do NO wrong in your eyes? Is there no bottom to your loyalty to a mere man? There are two bottom lines: one is that I trust this president; the second is that unlike the Dems, too many Republicans refuse to stand behind their president. The Dems know how to circle their wagons. You "red meaters" mostly seem intent on pulling ours apart.
And some of us here need to take a good look in the mirror and ask if we aren't beginning to look like the right's version of Paul Begala or James Carville. I mean, damn, can this Prez do NO wrong in your eyes? Is there no bottom to your loyalty to a mere man? What the "Bush Can Do No Wrong" crowd here should think long and hard about is that if the more conservative voters/members of the GOP remained silent as GW co-opted the democrat agenda on issue after issue would not such lack of outrage within the republican ranks encourage the Bush Administration to move ever further to the left given that it is the path of least resistance? Seems to me, politics being what it is, this would happen.
I don't know about others here, but I helped elect Bush to advance a conservative agenda, not sit on a huge pile of political capital and good will (70%+ approval) and make "strategic concessions" to our mortal political enemies.
It's a horde of political good will, still in the high 70s, a modest retreat from those heady 90+ days, but look at all we've gotten for spending those 12 points so judiciously. Look how the Dems have absolutely CAVED on our issues!
The lesson that Bush the Elder didn't learn was that when you have 80% or 90% approval, you can't bank it, you binge.... gamble.... go for broke.
Because in the end you'll be broke or out to pasture anyway.
Political capital is nothing like financial capital, for it often accrues through spending and has a shelf-life that can't be ignored.
