Posted on 11/20/2008 1:40:22 PM PST by jmikes20
Over the last 8 years, did George W. Bush help or hurt our party? We did see 2 electoral wins, and the first majority win since his dad trounced Dukakis. He helped keep a Democrat out of the White House for 8 years, and stave off out and out John Kerry liberalism, who is probably more liberal than Barack Hussein Obama. however, we got trounced pretty badly on November 4, all across the board, even in Governor's mansions, where Dems managed to do well in 2002. The Dems ranks grew over the '90's, going from 43% of the vote steadily up to 52% of the vote now. He kept us from losing Appalachia, which was starting to go for Clinton stronger than his predecessors. (With the matter of Ross Perot, while most agree he took from conservatives, I'm starting to believe Clinton might still have won 1992, given Bush I's poor approvals in 1992, and if enough Perot voters would have stayed home without him, Bush would still have lost. Clinton did solidify CA, IL, MI, NJ, CT, VT, ME, DE, and PA securely into the Democrat column, even after Perot was gone. Perot was also an abortionist, anti-family, and protectionist, but none the less, may have took from our demographics). Will conservatism survive, now that the brand his been so tarnished by incompetence? Will people see the achievements once the Messiah Hussein sees Iraq succeed, and us come back? One thing President Bush did was to put marriage on the table, which may well be the death knell for the Dems if Prop 8 managed to pass in the most liberal Democrat of Democrat states, California. Bush also kept Texas from even reverting Dem, as Gore, Kerry, and Obama won fewer counties there than Clinton, who won some in northern Texas. Do you think George Bush will have helped our party, or hurt it?
2001 - 2003 helped. 2003 - 2008 - hurt.
That being said, George Bush operated under hostile circumstances in Washington, media and even his own party! On the other side, he killed our party when he began to push citizenship to illegals. Once he began to make deals with the dems, some in our party followed him off the cliff
So Yes, George Bush has hurt us in a major way. His tin ear toward the conservative side of the party was a killer. I honesty believe he is a man of integrity, it's just that many of us felt betrayed by his policies and willingness to sign expensive budgets.
Lets ditch the RINO’s and go back to our core beliefs.
Probably the 4th (possibly third) worst president in our history.
Spending has increased every year since 1968. Revenues dropped precipitously in beginning in 2001. Any guess why?
That wasn’t the question.
this picture is poignant. Bush 41 let Clinton into office, which killed us in the Northeast first and foremost. Dems have won every state north of DC on the east coast ever since Bill Clinton in 1992(minus NH in 2000), and we have never recovered California, Illinois, and Michigan either. Ohio and Florida are battlegrounds, going Republican heavily in elections before 1992. 1992 may have been a realigning election which came to full fruition in 2008. Bush 41 began the trend by catering to Congress, and barely governing. he didn’t do shit on the domestic front, which killed us. He ignored health care and jobs, all of which have conservative solutions.
Why did Bush even win the nomination in 1988, other than his machine? Jack Kemp may have been better, as he was more Reagan than Bush ever was. He sponsored the tax cuts, which Bush called voodoo economics. He was in Congress, which would have let him rail heavily against the other side. it would have prevented W.
Well said!
tax cuts for the middle class may have saved us. I’m a strong believer in supply side, but when you give too much to the top bracket, you risk losing too much money, and too many votes. I think the problem is we let our hatred of Clinton control us into taking things a little too far.
Bush didn’t do squat to protect us. He just lucked out.
That’s lunacy, denial or both.
well given how badly Katrina was handled, how do we know another terror attack wouldn’t have been as devastating. Bush wasted too much on useless depts like “homeland security,” and Iraq. hatred for our great land has only increased under his term. Peace thru strength should have been his path.
But we do know that you favor socialism to garner votes.
I know you won't mind if I say screw that to that.
“Katrina sunk the Titanic(in this sense.) “
Yes, the perception from our wonderful media helped this quite a bit. I live not far from this area and know the incompetence of the local gov’t. It’s apalling!! The mayor did very little to help the situation and went against proper procedures. Then, what does N.O. do to help themselves?! WELL, they re-elected him.
We know because there have been many attacks thwarted by folks working for Bush. Have you been asleep for 8 years?
Bush wasted too much on useless depts like “homeland security,” and Iraq.
Saddam Hussein gave sanctuary to the worst of the worst terrorists. Abu Nidal, Abu Abbas, Abu Zarqawi. These are American killing scum that no other state would let in to their borders. At the same time Hussein was buying yellowcake when and where he could. After 9/11 any POTUS who let that situation just simmer until it boiled over would be guilty of treason in my opinion. But I'm curious, does it matter to you when states give sanctuary to scum who murder Americans confined to wheelchairs?
hatred for our great land has only increased under his term.
Now I know you're a liberal piece of shit. Get lost.
tax cuts are NOT socialism. I’m not for more government programs, which is what the Democrat party is for. I think the rich should have gotten tax cuts, just not as much. We do need votes, and we have been a conservative country, but there is a way to not turn off voters we need to keep Hussein out of the White House.
I do applaud him on no attacks during his term. But Reagan would not have invaded iraq. He didn’t invade the Soviet Union. We should have had an arms war to beat Iraq and Iran. I think he’s been good on Iran during his term. I’m no liberal. I just think Bush tried with good intentions, but didn’t quite do the job. With regard to America around the world, and Mitt Romney was concerned about it during the primaries.
Where is the link to the article?
http://www.mittromney.com/confronting-radical-jihad THIS IS THE REAL PLAN we should have followed.
Hurt!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.