Posted on 08/25/2002 12:50:21 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Recently, I did an interview with Focus on the Family in which I stated that pro-family conservatives are not motivated to vote in the upcoming elections in November 2002. While I stand by that statement - because it is true - I was contacted by a high level White House staffer who pointed out all the reasons he believes that pro-family conservatives should be motivated to get out there and support President Bush. Taken together, it is a pretty impressive list. I will mention some of the items on his list, but by no means all of them, for purposes of discussion.
First there is the passage of the tax cut and the effort to make it permanent. Then, there is the nomination of excellent judges and the defense of those nominees who are encountering opposition for partisan purposes. President Bush rejected the International Criminal Court. He got us out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, and thus paved the way for a missile defense system. The Ashcroft Justice Department, directed by the President, opposed partial birth abortion in the Ohio case and opposed euthanasia in the Oregon case.
The President opposed human cloning and has pushed for the right legislation in the Congress to ban it. The President opposed taxpayer-funded embryonic stem cell research. The Justice Department has supported the correct view of the Second Amendment.
The President has pushed for energy independence. He signed the parsonage tax credit bill and the Born Alive Infant Protection bill, during which, at the signing ceremony, the President made the strongest pro-life statement coming out of the Oval Office in a couple of decades.
The President signed the Child Custody Protection Act. In the Prenatal Health Insurance Bill, he insisted that the definition of eligibility include the fetus. In the House he pushed for a welfare reform bill where marriage, work and the family are central.
The President rejected the United Nations Rights of the Child Treaty. He rejected funding for the United Nations Population Fund. He raised abstinence education funding to a record $300 million.
In addition, the President has praised single sex schools, highlighted the Boy Scouts, and condemned the Ninth Circuit Court's ruling removing "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.
My White House friend says that the whole demeanor and atmosphere in his place of work has changed. He is right about that. No more pot smoking, condom swinging, late night liaisons with teeny-boppers at the White House. It is a dignified place to work once again.
Now, in fairness, all of this has to be weighed against the sight of the president and Teddy Kennedy working together to pass the budget-busting education bill that threw out vouchers on day one. And there are liberal holdovers at the Justice Department and others departments pursuing policies that should be rejected by a conservative administration. Moreover, the administration seems to have a weakness toward homosexuals. Not only have there been a number of high level appointments, but the Justice Department, under the leadership of one of the heroes of the religious right, had a so called Gay Pride event. The President signed into law the so-called campaign reform law which has hurt the ability of every pro-family organization to explain to the voters the records of the Members of Congress or the positions of the challenger candidates. Then there is the huge agriculture subsidy bill that undoes most of the excellent "Freedom to Farm" reform effort of 1996, with most of the money going to big farm conglomerates, doing little for the family farm.
And now the Department of Health and Human Services has ruled that the government can share medical records with employers and insurance companies without your consent. And HHS is pushing a plan to deal with 9/11 type medical emergencies that all but does away with any remaining states' rights.
Again, I could go on. You will have to determine which list means the most to you.
But of the many good things the president has done, almost no one knows about them. I was speaking with some Midwest grass roots activists, who pride themselves on knowing what is going on. I read them the list from the White House staff member. They were shocked. They had heard of only about a quarter of the items mentioned. If folks like this haven't heard the good news, it is a lead pipe cinch that folks in the precincts know less.
If the Bush Administration expects to motivate voters for this fall, it had better learn to tell its story, short and sweet. One way that might be done would be for the president to cut a series of radio spots to be played in states where the stakes are high.
But what the heck, my advice on such things is never followed anyway.
Well it's Sunday so let's remind you again of the list you call so "limited" that you can't remember it.
1. Tax Cuts (never would've happened under Gore)
2. Rejected KYOTO Treaty (never would've happened under Gore)
3. Refused to sign on to U.N. Crimes Court (Gore would've signed it)
4. Stopped federal funding of abortions (Gore would've tripled it)
5. Continued support for faith based initiatives
6. The war on TERROR - Taking it to the enemy (Gore would've done a "Clinton" and maybe sent a few missles)
7. Total ban on human cloning (Gore would've asked to be cloned)
8. GWB killed the Left-Wing ABA's role in vetting federal judges for Congress.
9.GWB repealed OSHA's new ergonomic regulations that were about to put every home-based business in America out of commission.
10. GWB killed federal funding of foreign "family planning" activities.
There's more.....
I do not think this record will spur mostly apolitical conservatives to come to the polls in November.
This is about as comprehensive as your memory of Bush's conservative accomplishments.
Contrary to your claims, Bush polls higher among conservatives than any other group.
Yes, we do. But we're not going to get it by sniping at the President. If we want a conservative agenda put into place, there have to be conservative folks in Congress to shepherd the ideas and vote for the funding for them. In order to get that Congress, we're going to have to put aside the divisions and elect Repubs. Not all will be conservative Repubs., but having a Repub. majority in both houses will increase GREATLY the possibility of the Pres. getting the conservative parts of his agenda passed.
If these apolitical conservatives pout, stay home and don't vote, then they shouldn't complain afterwards if the Dems win and things REALLY go badly for this country because they will have no one but THEMSELVES to blame!
Being on FR for the past year and a half has opened my eyes to how self-absorbed some so-called 'real' conservatives are. If people don't see things their way to the letter on their pet issue, they are castigated and called names.
You can't stick together and get something accomplished if you are stuck on your own narrow ideology. It's self-defeating, and it's disgusting.
If there is any good thing to say about RATS, it is the fact that they are loyal to each other.
Since becoming a Pubbie, I have been dismayed at how we eat our own. Perhaps some have forgotten what this nation was like during the last administration. If they would just think about that, they might not cling to their one issue politics as much and realize that life with a Gore or Hillary administration would be the end of this nation as we know it.
There is absolutely nothing morally wrong with using adult stem cells. We can obtain adult stem cells from our own blood and fat.
President Bush compromised when he allowed scientists to use federal funds on embryo stem cell lines already in existence.
Embryonic stem cell research kills the embryo in the process and therefore is morally wrong and not theraputic as some would claim either.
Don't forget to tell us where the Kool-Aid is.
Hey man, if you can't accept the train wreck that is coming that isn't my problem.
The facts is that Bush was elected in 2000 and had both the House and Senate in Republican hands. Unfortunately, on the first Wed. of November of 2002 were going to see the Dem's totally in control of both houses of Congress. It will be Senor Bush's fault since he failed to mobilize his base. The Dem's base will be out voting strongly for the Dems and the Rep's base will stay home. Why? Because Bush governed as a LIBERAL. It was Bush who served up the Kool-aid my friend. Deal with it.
He is the leader of the gop and for the most part, the party follows his lead.
I cannot support the direction the gop has chosen to go.
Since we're "at war", you feel that it is ok for the gop lead congress to pass spending bills that waste more of our money than at any other time in history?
The education bill and farm bill alone are reason enough to say "No More!".
Both were gleefully signed by gwb who claimed to be conservative.
I really don't believe that you do, I think you're just a good American sticking up for your guy. Thats a good thing.
I can't sccept it any longer.
What President ever satisfied you on abortion?
What President ever satisfied you as a compassionate person?
You may call what President Bush has done 'paltry crumbs,' but your head must be in the sand if you don't recognize the monumental shift that he has begun making in the morality and sense of responsibility needed in this country to bring it back to righteousness.
I don't call revitalizing the military and renewing a love of country and service to country 'paltry.'
I don't call stopping the murder of abortion 'accidents' who survive, and giving an unborn baby full rights as a human being 'paltry.'
You're are doomed to be miserable for the rest of your life, because no progress toward what is right and good will ever be anything to you but 'paltry crumbs.'
Yes, and it was a 'compromise' that ended the murder of millions of unborn babies. I call that victory.
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