With the scores of drug dealers his son has pardoned, with comments like this I now have to wonder if Daddy hasn’t taken up smoking something that smells funny. Oh, if he does run it better be as a Democrat. At least we also finally have an example of how much in contempt this family holds us.
And this isn’t about the faux “legacy” issue–it’s about honesty and competence. We’ve had a Fake Conservative drive this country into a wall at 80 miles an hour. Now people think this is what conservatives do. George W. Bush is a Faith-based liberal, using that faith to hoodwink authentic conservatives. Every Bush is the same. Huckabee is also of this ilk. Romney is very, very close. Right now the only Authentic Conservative (who also happens to be a person of faith) is Sarah Palin. But she can’t do the job alone.
We have a lot of work to do, and a great deal of that work for the next 4 years is finding authentic, independent conservatives to lead this country.
Obviously some of you may see this differently and I have a tiny feeling you’ll be chiming in. I’m curious to find out where the village is at on this one. Jeb and Caroline may require a poll. Stay tuned.
Perfectly put. I didn’t see the interview with daddy Bush, but I’ve completely had it with the Bushes.
Also, spot on re: Huckabee, Romney and Palin. Couldn’t have put it better myself!
As far as National Defense and Homeland Security goes, W Rocks. The President has access to information we don’t. I look forward to reading about it in 50 years. Though, I wonder what compromises he’s had to make with the libtards to get his National Defense policies through Congress.
The Bush brand is less than popular at the moment, and most likely won’t be for a long time. Jeb could be the reincarnation of Ronald Regan and still find it difficult, if not impossible to get elected. I don’t dislike Jeb, but the thought of him running for president doesn’t send a shiver up my leg.
… and yes, I know how to spell Reagan! (proof reading IS our friend!)
I agree – Sarah Palin is all we have right now. I think Fred Thompson was the real deal but no one else seemed to agree.
What about Congressman Paul Ryan in Wisconsin?
You are spot on, Tammy. The Bushes have not only fooled conservatives but they’ve fooled liberals as well. All of my liberal friends believe that W. is some kind of hawk and that is only partly due to the war and 9/11. They see his religiosity as further proof of his “conservative cred”.
I agree that there has to be a consensus reached as to what a conservative identity is. It will be a huge mistake if the decision is to purge anyone who doesn’t goose-step along with religious politics. Faith should shape us individually and guide us in our personal lives. It cannot be the litmus test of conservatism and how we govern. Conservatism must be about small government, strong defense, personal freedom and responsibility.
So, what will happen if we DO find a real conservative to run? The Republican party will want no part of them.
They will seek the same old same old, and their issues will remain mandatory “voluntary” prayer in the schools, and railing about the homosexual agenda. This keeps their base the same as Democrat promises of bigger welfare checks keeps blacks and “hispanics”.
Good luck.
Jeb wouldn’t make it at this stage. We still have raging, foaming at the mouth moonbats flopping around with the office of the president seal stamped on their collective arses. When reality hits them with a nerfbat in the groin, maybe then but I seriously doubt it. With O man, I am hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.
I give kudos to Bush for our security but F- for most of everything else.
Compassionate Conservative
Hmm. Let’s break that down! Compassionate use of taxpayer money is Liberalism defined. It’s just the same old confusion too many of us have about charity which is voluntary and taxpayer funded endeavors which are not voluntary. Paying taxes is when your money and property are conscripted by the government. That and the feather bedding by politicians and other corruptions are the flip side to every compassionate act of government. It’s just that simple.
It’s just plain hard to resist “compassionate spending.” In the old expression “bleeding heart Liberal” who really bleeds? It’s the taxpayers and ultimately the engines of the economy who bleed. While we may willingly bleed for many causes, forced bleeding killed many a patient in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Compassionate Conservative.
Can you say oxymoron?
Hmm. I’m afraid I’ll have to disagree this time. The current President Bush did not fool anyone. He did not lie about his beliefs, indeed, he generally tried to act on them, including such reliably conservative issues as tax relief, stem cells and abortion, among others. I don’t recall him ever claiming to be a doctrinaire conservative. Yes, he did a number of things that would certainly bring joy to liberals, but to suggest that he has misrepresented himself or betrayed conservatism assumes facts not in evidence and ultimately, not available.
We do indeed need a true conservative, or at least someone more consistently in line with genuine conservative belief (and that was not, by the way, John McCain) as the next Republican candidate, but I’m at a loss to suggest just who that might be at the moment. Let’s keep our fingers crossed, and I suspect that after a few years of Obama, America might be ready to elect anything that even smells conservative.
Fool me with one Bush – shame on you.
Fool me with a second Bush – shame on me.
Fool me with a third Bush – AAAAAAGH!
I truly believe that we have to get behind Sarah Palin if there is any hope of rescuing the Conservative movement. I am not talking about the religious right who has hijacked the Republican party and quashed the true political essence of Conservatism and delivered a negative perspective for our movement in the eye of everyday America. I have defended George W. Bush for the last time and want no more of THIS family representing our Country.
Completely. Unacceptable.
Damn near, if not everything in Washington D.C.
Conservatives were always more eager to claim G.W. as one of us than he was in declaring himself as such. In 2000, it wasn’t just Bush’s stand on abortion that made us think he was a conservative. There were many conservative appointments to his cabinet—Ashcroft as Attorney General; Tommy Thompson who overhauled Wisconsin’s welfare system to HHS; Gale Norton, an advocate against federal regulation of land use to Interior. We had reason to confidently expect a conservative tilt. There was nothing liberal in Bush’s response to 9/11.
I got into a lot of trouble right here on this blog back about two years ago for calling Bush a failure. Somebody even called me a liberal for attacking him. He was a decent man everyone kept saying. Most conservatives didn’t start discrediting his conservative credentials until his failure was obvious. Now we all practically hate him.
He was never a Reaganite. Anyone who thought that was fooling himself based on wishful thinking. The problem with Bush is not so much his ideological moorings as his mediocrity and incompetence. The weight of the office, the magnitude of events, the momentum of Republican spending in Congress were too much for this man. He was overwhelmed and under talented. He could have had the shiniest conservative credentials possible and he would still be a failure.
I think Jeb is more capable and talented although also not a Reaganite. I think we’d be better off today if Jeb were the retiring President instead of his brother.
I couldn’t agree more, Pat S. Perfectly articulated. Though, I am inclined to divvy up his 8 years as POTUS into two categories: A) Keeping the US safe after 9/11… SUCCESS, B) Everything else – pretty much limp, lame, and MEDIOCRE.
And I am reserving the word FAILURE for him if he fails to pardon Ramos and Campeon.
Unfortunately, I too was starving for a POTUS that brought dignity and morals back to the white house. GB seemed tailor made for those of us who are more family oriented and private with our intimacies. It all came down for me when he got up and referred to the minutemen as vigilantes (which just gave the ACLU license to harass) I just don’t see how that applies to an 80yo woman in a lawn chair with bino’s. That’s when I new I had been duped and I assure you it will not happen again
I agree with every word you said Tammy.
I wouldn’t even consider voting for another Bush. Not even for a second.
Neither defending nor attacking, there is another category which gets little press, no thanks to GWB. That category is the transportation revolution. Bush has been quietly funding research into all kinds of alternative methods to our current internal combustion engine. During the Bush years the US Army has been ordering up the design and construction of exotic high performance hybrid and alternate energy vehicles. NASA too. There are many spin offs into private industry. The technology is advancing to a point where we will see mass production cars that run on 100 mpg in the next year or so. The cars are already here and working. They need some engineering to ensure reliability and cost efficiency. Through US Army patronage Bush has helped it along.
BTW his Crawford, TX ranch house is off the utility grid, free standing and self sufficient. In this area he leads by example. Of course he’s rich, powerful and has access to the best talent. He’s just been very quiet about it.
He’s been face to face with our enemies in Saudi Arabia, Russia and in the US (green) Congress and, he knows we must achieve energy self sufficiency. In this area he has funded our development as a nation.
In this area I salute him.
Tammy,– Spot on!
Bush is the return of the well bred country club Republican. They are just as socialist as the liberal Democrats. They want many of the same things as the libs. They want government to be big, and business to be big too. They want a regulatory scheme that will prevent small businesses from prospering too much. (They would be fine if we all had land line, dial phones, and one massive phone company.) They like a tax scheme that protects accumulated wealth, while preventing the average guy from ever becoming wealthy.
Reagan came along and screwed everything up for them. He brought along a faction that the country clubbers hate: evangelical christians. It worked for Reagan, because he was a moral person, but not a moralist. He paid a few tokens to the christian right, but all-in-all, he had great support, without having to go on a moral crusade.
Enter the NEOCON. My definition: a former liberal, that sees the fact that a welfare state is not what they want for their children. Unfortunately, neocons don’t beleive in personal liberty, small government and individual responsibility either. They believe that the state should control everything in such a way that insures everyone will adhere to their high morals, such as their misguided remembrances of the 50’s. They will pass their laws to end abortion, pornography, violent movies, violent video games, distateful comic books, and so on. The list will grow exponentially once it gets rolling. To paraphrase H.L. Menkin, Neocons live in constant mortal fear that someone out there may acually be enjoying themself.
Now we’ve got a real mess. The evangelicals want moralists, business wants big business, real conservatives want low taxes and small, less intrusive government (good luck with that). The last election showed Rebuplicans that you can’t run as liberal-lite, because liberals can always out lib you.
If Republicans want to recapure the conservatives among us, they need to drop the moralist rhetoric, start acting as physcal conservatives, disband the Homeland security department, dump the Education department, drop farm subsidies, and Oil subsidies.
As good a governor as Jeb Bush was, I’ll never vote for him for POTUS.
NO! Romney, Huckabee, McCain, Graham.
YES! Newt Gingrich, Ron Paul.
I’m a Floridian and Jeb Bush was a good governor and a welcome relief from the corrupt, southern democrat, good-old-boy Lawton Chiles.
However, I’m suffering from BWD (Bush Weariness Syndrome). Optimistic at first, I’ve soured on W these past years and that makes it hard to trust Jeb. I’m leery of false conservatives now.
If Jeb runs for the Senate, he’s really going to have to impress me. He’s been a governor, which means he’s used to getting things done: not exactly the banner of congress. He may flounder in the senate because of this, or worse, become another John McCain. Dud.
It could also bring out the best in him, like we saw in Florida. Dynamo.
Even if he lights the place up, it’s hard for me to trust another Bush.
I was SO optimistic about GW, and SO very disappointed. He was not conservative and he placed us in an unbelievable debt position. I don’t know with whom to place my trust anymore. Small government is the only answer, and now we head toward the exact opposite position. I am from Toledo Ohio which has been run by Democrats for 40 years.
We suffer with a very incompetent Mayor and City council who believe that more government is better. Conservative views are few in this town.