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I think everyone on both sides of this needs to ask a question:

Am I in this to just make noise, or am I in this for the long haul and to make POSITIVE changes in the political climate and in terms of legislation?

I'm going to be honest, I'm in it for the long term and to make changes. I'm willing to pick my spots, and fight where we can win. I think others need to make this choice, too. I'm willing to make deals and get what I can now.

If people want to call this selling out and cowardice, I have no control over that.

But we have to decide "at what price principle", and decide what we are willing to stomach. To me, the price does NOT mean handing the White House back to the Democrats, which have become more like the mafia than a political party. We all have to make a decision. It's gut-check time.

If you abandon your principles to win a position, what makes you think that the position can be made to advance those principles? After all, why would anyone in their right mind promote principles which had nothing to do with getting them to where they are? If the Republicans see that abandoning conservatism through "deals" and "compromises" works in getting them votes, then that's what they will continue doing. I don't understand this mentality that Bush and Republicans are inherently, naturally conservative, and what they do and how it affects them is only superficial. If Bush will continue to have the support of conservatives even after behaving like a socialist, then why should he wish to change his behavior and risk damaging his approval rating? Bush is not a god - he is a politician! All of what I'm saying has been proven time and time again over the past 10 years.

hchutch, what you have described, and perfectly, is simply the political process. Picking your fights and digging in your heels for the long haul is exactly what politics is about.

George W. Bush is a politician, and a good one. Moreover, he is unique as a politician in that he is among the very few who are persons of high character and integrity.

You are so right: this is gut-check time. People need to figure out what their end-game is and go from there. If they'd rather have Rats in power than support a good man who, right now, is the leader of the party of good ideas, so be it.

There's not a person on this earth who could meet the expectations of some of the people here. It's just not possible, not humanly, not politically, not geopolitically. And if an American president did have enough power to enact or impose every single policy he desired, without having to compromise with either the opposing party or world leaders or whomever, then Freepers would be very sad indeed. We'd be living in a dictatorship and, even worse, one in which a Rat as well as a Republican could be king.