Posted on 06/05/2002 1:20:54 PM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
Let me just say up front that I am not addressing you if you voted for George W. Bush in 2000 and regret it. The same goes for those of you who voted for Bush and insist on holding his feet to the fire on the important issues. If, however, you cast your vote for Bush, still believe he is the only hope for America and intend to support every move he makes without so much as a raised eyebrow, this is for you.
It has been nearly a year-and-a-half since George W. Bush, the savior of conservatism, descended from on high to begin his earthly reign in Washington, D.C. Republicans assured us that he would restore integrity to the White House and would be a marked improvement over the promiscuous Bill Clinton. Well, in all honesty, that could have been accomplished by electing a neutered chimp to the office of president.
During the 2000 presidential campaign, George W. Bush the man proved to be a nice break from Bill Clinton and Al Gore. Unlike Gore, Bush had a more likable...well, he actually had a personality. He also possessed the unique ability to address the American people without the smug and condescending vibe Clinton exuded. However, when it came to policy, George W. Bush the candidate failed to demonstrate that he would govern any differently than his Democrat counterparts.
Still, throughout the campaign, there was a loyal group of Bush supporters who would take offense at even the slightest implication that their candidate was anything but a staunch conservative. Even now, they continue to stand by their man, and I find this to be rather perplexing.
Perhaps those who have pledged their undying allegiance to President Bush could answer a few questions for me, in no particular order of course:
• How would you have reacted if Bill Clinton had signed the Patriot Act into law and given the government sweeping new surveillance powers?
• Would you have criticized a Democrat president for signing a $26 billion education-spending bill?
• Did you feel betrayed when Bush signed Campaign Finance Reform into law?
• What do you think about Bush's position on granting amnesty to hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants?
• Would you have tolerated a Democrat proposal for federally funded faith-based initiatives?
• What would your reaction have been if a Democrat had said, "No one should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government"?
• What do you think about the president's granting of Permanent Most Favored Nation status to China?
• What's the difference between Bush and the Democrats on the issue of farm subsidies?
• How would you react if a Democrat president sent a $2.13 trillion budget to Congress?
• Would you have stood for a Democrat saying "No!" to arming airline pilots?
• What would your reaction have been if a Democrat had pushed for the federalization of airport security?
• Are you willing to stand by and let the Bush administration cater to the environmentalists on the global warming issue?
• What do you think about Bush's call for a Patient's Bill of Rights?
• What one thing has Bush done that sets him apart from the Democrats?
• It's been a year-and-a-half since Bush took office. When do we start to see a decrease in the size and scope of government? For that matter, when do we start to see even a remote indication that this administration will think about doing anything to try to limit the federal government?
This list is by no means exhaustive, but I would really be interested in some answers. Perhaps it would help shed some light on the mindset of modern compassionate conservatives.
The fact that a Republican president is governing like a Democrat isn't surprising. What's amazing to me is that there are a few select Bush supporters out there who cannot—or will not—utter one word of criticism against their president for any reason. In their minds this man is the epitome of conservatism, and to question his actions would be to question their own beliefs and cause them to wonder why they supported him in the first place.
The way I see it there can only be two explanations for this: 1) these people really and truly believe in what Bush is doing, or 2) they do not wish to face up to the real reason they voted for him — he was simply a slightly more palatable choice than Al Gore.
Well I'm a registered Republican and have been all my life.
By dividing consrvatives the democrats will had an open door.
You can't have it both ways. The "Die-Hard Bush Supporters" keep telling us that we don't matter. To take our votes and go. They say we might amount to all of .1% of all the votes the GOP gets. And they are probably right, so "dividing conservatives" is not really the issue, is it? But if the democRATS can use illegal cash to influence (using their mass media) the 70% democRATS and undecided voters ... if democRATS can influence elections through outright voter fraud (like they did in several contests last time) ... if they know they will not even get investigated when they do it (like the last several elections), then they will STEAL the next election buying and creating as many votes as needed.
No one has to act like a cheerleader, just don't destroy what little access we have to the WH .
But those trying to silence all dissent and comment ARE acting like cheerleaders. And if our dissent on this forum makes the WH uncomfortable, then GOOD. They should be uncomfortable with the notion of ignoring serious crimes just because they deem it politically expedient.
I still have faith he might come around next term.
Why? All the reasons given for ignoring the crimes now ... the WOT ... getting moderate support ... etc ... will all remain. Only then it will look a lot more suspicious for the WH to begin investigations.
But why attack the only - admittedly weak - wedge conservatives have and give fodder to the socialists?
Frankly, I'm less worried about "socialists" than those that would ignore the laws that safeguard our election process and system of decision making. Simple economics will take care of socialists provided those socialists don't gain control of a government where the laws don't matter anymore.
How is your criticism of Bush any different than any democrats?
Everything the dems have tried to bring down Bush's poll numbers has failed....so now they will try to peel Bush away from his base.
We are only defeating ourselves with all this infighting.....bet you the DU crowd is eating this up tonight!
"Ronald Reagan was in my judgment the greatest president of the 20th century...
Now I agree with Pat. Reagan - perfect no, the greatest yes.
But, just to show how pathetic some of the perpetually un-happy whiners are, I am going to research all of the gripes these same folks were saying about Reagan at the end of his second term.
Believe it not, through threads such as this we may be influencing 100000's of potential voters ... the lurkers who read these threads and the people they talk to. We may be influencing some in government who stop by to feel the pulse of their "supporters". We might even influence some in the media who to reading what is written on this forum. Or are you a "cynic"? :)
Is everything just fine when everyone agrees with you but when there is disagreement you want to leave?
I am tired of the continual sniping and trashing of my President and those of us that support him. If this is what conservatives are all about, then I am not Conservative --
You are now understanding what the Clinton supporters felt.
You are supporting a president who's actions do NOT conform to Conservative thought. Maybe if you and others would start by admitting that Bush is much closer to a Moderate than a Conservative mush of the heat would dissipate. Half the argument is whether or not Bush is a Conservative.
I am just a flat out a Republican who happens to consider Taking Back the Senate and Keeping the House as my #1 priority.
Even that statement goes agains the grain of the forum. This isn't a Pro-Republican come-hell-or-high-water forum, but one to advance Conservative ideas. Constitution first, not party first.
What do you have if you gain the world and lose your soul, I think is what some famous teacher once said.
During the Civil War, rights like Habeous Corpus and others were suspended by Lincoln. Critics said it was the end of Democracy. They were wrong.
During the Second World War, the same thing. The critics said the same thing. They were wrong.
Nothing as drastic as occurred then is going on now and the critics are bringing the curtain down on Democracy once again. I'm willing to bet they're wrong, again. And if I'm wrong, well I still have my guns. And there's still the ACLU. They're idiots, but they can be useful idiots.
"People like myself" have not rolled over to expose our necks to the boot of totalitarianism. But neither are we running around like chickens with our heads cut off proclaiming the end of the world. Reports of the Republics demise are a bit premature at this point.
"My way or the highway." If these whiners sit on their hands in the 2004 election, it will probably mean Bush loses 0.0013% of the votes he got in 2000. They are a pimple on the bum of the body politic.
I'm guessing it would look something like you.
I get your point, but that group is so utterly beneath us that why would you give them parity. I care as much what they think as I care what a bunch of homeless winos in the Bronx think.
Don't think so highly of yourself. See the final comment in Post 229.
Then there are CINO moderates.
Do you really want to digress into name calling? I think we can do better.
aH yES, tHE gOOD oLD dAYS on fREErEPUBLIC ..sure do miss them..
With such a defeatist, unappeasable attitude, we might be better off just to let them have the "conservative" moniker and just be plain old Republicans, a word I happen to admire.
They way they are going, the word "conservative" is never going to mean anything except mean and nasty anyway.
Hysterical that GWB is dared questioned?
Actually you know what would make us "perpetual gripers" happy? If we could get a president who would simply do no harm. No one expects utopia.
If congress and the president would just stop trying to fix every little thing with a new law, a new agency, a new program. Just stop growing,intruding, taxing. Just stop! That would make us happy. Congress should be in session no more than 1 month a year and please, they need to follow the constitution.
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