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Worrying About "W"
CFP ^ | April 26, 2005 | Alan Caruba

Posted on 04/26/2005 11:12:30 AM PDT by MikeEdwards

A lot of thoughtful conservatives are having serious second thoughts about George W. Bush. His failure to act upon core values of fiscal conservatism and sovereignty is a growing concern.

Donations to conservative organizations and think tanks are in sharp decline. A lot of conservatives have decided to stop giving financial support because they are losing faith in the ability of these groups to have any effect on administration policies.

Bush has an engaging personality, but he’s not running for office anymore. He is already a very lame duck.

In concert with Republican party leaders in Congress, the White House has been unable to get its judicial appointments approved and the fight over John Bolton’s appointment as UN ambassador suggests the party lacks unity on Capitol Hill. Bolton has been confirmed four times for previous positions. Unless the GOP can unite to overcome the obstructionism of the Democrats, it bodes ill for the party.

If conservatives stay home for the 2006 elections, power can shift to the Democrats.

People are increasingly worried about the huge budget deficit created by a President and a Congress that have been on a spending binge. The national debt has increased by $2.16 billion every day since September 30, 2004. It is now a cliché that Bush has not vetoed a single spending bill while in office. New "entitlements" added to Medicare for prescriptions will add still more to the rising tide of national debt. It is not "if" the economy will reach a tipping point this accumulated debt cannot be paid, but when.

Compounding fears is the appearance of an increasingly shaky economy that includes rising inflation and major corporations like General Motors in trouble. Wall Street is experiencing early tremors that forecast a bear market. . . . .

(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...


TOPICS: Government
KEYWORDS: bush43; caruba; conservative; conservativism; debt; deficit; fiscal; rinos; term2
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To: cowboyway
I smell fear in the MSM and the Democrat Party. The power is slipping from them. Three months into the second term and "he's a lame duck"? Please. I sense they see it becoming worse for them down the road and are going all over the place talking about how Republican's here and conservatives there are wavering in an attempt to break things up a little. Only the future will tell. I have a feeling that in the next six months were all going to see a more aggressive and productive GOP.
21 posted on 04/26/2005 11:27:27 AM PDT by rip033
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To: Iron Matron



It's Because whenever someone wants to do something about the borders, Liberals call "racism!"

So the Republican party is going to make us scream for border security. We have to SCREAM FOR IT!


22 posted on 04/26/2005 11:27:49 AM PDT by LauraleeBraswell ( We must stand behind TOM DELAY!)
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To: smokeman

Yes you're right, I remember reading it also, but I can't remember where.


23 posted on 04/26/2005 11:27:55 AM PDT by moose2004 (You Can Run But You Can't Hide!)
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To: smokeman
I saw the same article. I just now did a search for it but couldn't find it.

As I recall, the article attributed the high numbers to grassroots.

24 posted on 04/26/2005 11:28:51 AM PDT by Ben Ficklin
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To: MikeEdwards

I will continue to support the GOP because I fear far more the alternative.


25 posted on 04/26/2005 11:29:38 AM PDT by BonnieJ
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To: MikeEdwards

Anyone remember "Let Reagan be Reagan" back in the 80's? Porous borders, deficit (social, not defense) spending, tax increases (TEFRA), amnesty for illegals, spongy response to Soviet moves in Poland, death of Marines and pullout from Beirut - all were issues back then.

Not saying the issues aren't serious now, and acknowledging that dems had control of congress during the 80's, but perspective is always helpful.


26 posted on 04/26/2005 11:31:18 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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I'm just surprised that anything by Alan Caruba is allowed to stay up here.


27 posted on 04/26/2005 11:32:19 AM PDT by real saxophonist (Jane Fonda might as well make her gravestone a urinal. Semper Fi)
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To: West Coast Conservative

You've got that right


28 posted on 04/26/2005 11:33:42 AM PDT by mel
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To: superiorslots

"Yes both deficits were there when he started but if you look at he charts they have both skyrocketed under his pesidency." um i do believe you mean presidency
and although i agree up to a point we must remember that oh gee lets see ... THERE IS A WAR WE NEED TO FIGHT
gee that has nothing to do with increased spending
granted he has made some other increases i do not agree with but some slack should be given due to the war on terror


29 posted on 04/26/2005 11:34:23 AM PDT by DM1
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To: MikeEdwards

Canada Free Press......


30 posted on 04/26/2005 11:36:22 AM PDT by b4its2late (Place your clothes and weapons where you can find them in the dark!)
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To: DM1

"THERE IS A WAR WE NEED TO FIGHT"

Really?, you'd think GWB would have the common sense or gonads or both, to secure our borders then.


31 posted on 04/26/2005 11:38:13 AM PDT by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
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To: superiorslots

"That being said Bush needs to secure the borders,"

Isn't it clear by now he's against that?

"stop his out of control spending and get both deficits in control."

He has always been for increased deficits and spending.

"He better stop making the WOT his prime area"

It's the only area he's got good poll numbers on.

"and focus on jobs,"

He thinks we need massive amounts of illegal aliens.

"healthcare etc."

He's for increasing the profits of drug companies, given his ban on "Canadian" drugs, and we have a free trade treaty with Canada so "safety" is made the pretext to the ban. But it's a weak argument so the corporate interests that write his legislation won't make that mistake again. CAFTA, a supposed free-trade treaty has one explicit reservation: drugs.

Medicaid/are is a great problem but those who receive the money, HMO's, doctors, etc. give a lot in campaign contributions to have caps not imposed and to dodge regulations. The prescription drug benefit plan was written by the industry to contain provisions that competitive bulk discounts could not be sought by the government.

It's a lost case. Focus on your representatives in 2006.


32 posted on 04/26/2005 11:38:13 AM PDT by Shermy
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To: superiorslots

Everyone acts like Reagan was a fierce proponent of strict immigration laws. I don't know how old you are but do you recall Reagan's amnesty for illegals? Reagan democrats are going nowhere.


33 posted on 04/26/2005 11:38:26 AM PDT by slowhand520
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To: superiorslots
Yes both deficits were there when he started but if you look at he charts they have both skyrocketed under his pesidency.

IIRC, the same thing was said of Reagan. I know for a fact it was said of him while he was Gov. of Calif. It was said, however, only by his opponents.

34 posted on 04/26/2005 11:38:32 AM PDT by CAluvdubya (Don't let them Bork Bolton!)
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To: MikeEdwards
Thanks for your Grit advice.
35 posted on 04/26/2005 11:39:09 AM PDT by Mike Darancette (Mesocons for Rice '08)
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To: MikeEdwards
Yep, the RNC is digging it's own grave right now. A couple of easy and obvious steps they could do to regain the respect of the conservative electorate:

Seal the borders

Enforce our immigration laws (= deport every single illegal alien)

pass the PRESIDENT's energy legislation

and act like the RNC is in the majority we gave them last election

36 posted on 04/26/2005 11:39:49 AM PDT by DTogo (U.S. out of the U.N. & U.N out of the U.S.)
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To: MattinNJ
I understand I am not a sizeable donor

That's me. I've only donated twice in my life and that was to Pres. Bush in 2004. What you wrote pretty much sizes up what I told an RNC solicitor yesterday on the phone. He told me what I told him they are hearing all the time from other Republicans.

I was very excited that President Bush won in November and that the Senate increased their seats but they have been a huge letdown since. They have let the Dems dictate the show ever since.

The Republicans (especially the ones in the senate) are a bunch of eunuchs. I can't get excited or enthused about any of them really. They need to quit with the "my good friend across the aisle, Senator so and so" crap. We have no friends across the aisle. 99% of them are ruthless cut throat bastards and their policies are going to completely destroy this country. All I've seen from the Republicans is rolling over. Why do I need to send more money so they can do more of that? Unless someone gets some testosterone injections or some unknown wonderful, charismatic, truly conservative Republican comes out of the woodwork, 2006 and 2008 aren't going to be good years.

37 posted on 04/26/2005 11:40:08 AM PDT by beaversmom
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To: newsgatherer

Tht's exactly the response I've been giving for several years to the RINO Party here in CA.


38 posted on 04/26/2005 11:40:08 AM PDT by Bernard Marx (Don't make the mistake of interpreting my Civility as Servility)
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To: MikeEdwards
Donations to conservative organizations and think tanks are in sharp decline.

Yep.

It's called the Not.One.Dime campaign.

To hell with Frist, to hell with Thune, and to hell with the GOP if they wait until the session is half-over before finding their spine or other significant parts of their anatomy. The GOP campaigned on judicial nominations as the second-highest priority for the Senate, and the electorate rewarded them with a healthy gain of four seats, remarkable for an election in which the incumbent president won by a tight margin. After spending a record amount of money on supporting Republican candidates, the electorate has sat back and watched as the Democrats, led by Harry Reid, have uncorked one lunatic manuever after another: challenging Ohio's slate of electors, holding up Condoleezza Rice's nomination while people like Mark Dayton outright call her a liar, and attempting to extort the White House into giving up its Constitutional assignment of nominating the judges the President sees fit for Senate approval.

What has this bunch of Republican milquetoasts done? Nothing.

Why? Apparently, they've changed their priorities since the election. No longer are judicial nominations the leading priority. In fact, they've done everything they can to backpedal from the frightening spectre of Harry Reid, for Pete's sake. Now they claim that they want to pass as much legislation as they can before the vote on nominations comes up ... meaning that the judges are actually the lowest priority for Frist and his band of merry cowards.

News flash: if we can't reverse the generations-long trend of increasing judicial activism, the act of passing legislation will eventually be rendered meaningless. The judges, as we have seen, will simply continue to legislate from the bench, ignoring Congress and the Executive and transforming us from a representative democracy to a secular mullahcracy, where lifetime appointments in black robes make all the decisions for us.

That's what the Republicans warned about when they campaigned in 2002 and 2004. Now it's time to step up and do something about it -- but despite their greater numbers and a clear signal from the electorate that rejects obstructionists (see Tom Daschle's enforced retirement), the GOP suddenly quails at the thought of taking action.

I have been a loyal member of the GOP since I cast my first vote. I have worked campaigns and championed candidates well before I ever posted anything on my blog at CQ. However, with the defection of John McCain and the lack of any real response from party leadership on the issue, I have to take a stand and demand either action or accountability -- and this is the time to do it.

Not. One. Dime. The next time Ken Mehlman sends you a request for money, that's the message he needs to get back. We ponied up in 2004, and in 2002, and in 2000. The GOP not only has not delivered, its current leadership won't even try. Frist and Rick Santorum claim they don't have the votes. Balderdash -- they don't have the leadership to get the votes. I'm not going to fund or support people who won't try to win, especially when the issue is so important.

Not. One. Dime. We're not in an election year, so this makes it easy for the Republicans to get this message to party leaders. No balls, no Blue Chips, boys. I don't mean just for the Senate, either. I mean for the entire Republican party. Feeding a fever may be good medicine, but feeding a failure only makes it last longer. Perhaps hunger will work where courage has so obviously failed.

Not. One. Dime. And when a vote does come, those Republicans who wind up supporting the minority's extortion over the majority in defiance of the Constitution will never see another dime from me -- but their opponents will, at every level of contest. Honestly, with Republicans like these in the Senate, we may as well have Democrats.

Not. One. Dime. If Bill Frist can't lead the GOP, then let's get rid of him now and find someone with the stomach for it. As long as he dithers, he'll never see a dime out of me for any election. Kay Bailey Hutchinson would have more guts and could pull the troops in line better; maybe we should give her a try as Majority Leader for a while.

It's time to send a real message to the Republicans about their priorities and their lack of leadership. This fight has been brewing for months, and it should have already been resolved by now. If they can't hack it, then we will find -- and fund -- the leaders who can.

The thing the authors don't understand that this is a temporary phenomenon - it will end just as soon as the Senate GOP leadership gets off the pot and confirms Bush's nominees.

39 posted on 04/26/2005 11:40:14 AM PDT by jdege
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To: LauraleeBraswell
Not only are do we have to "scream for it", but we have to show Bush how it can be done effectively.

Things are so backwards these days, that I am relying on the MSM to educate the general population to the perils of ILLEGAL immigration.

I don't know what will become of this country in three years? Bush has let me down.

sw

40 posted on 04/26/2005 11:41:30 AM PDT by spectre (Spectre's wife (Arkansas...where playing Bingo is breaking the law, but Illegals are welcome.)
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