I'm seldom surprised by him, because he does act from conscience, and I pretty much know where he is coming from, and can usually guess what he will do next.
And I thank God he was the man in office on 911.
Still, I also disagree with him on a number of issues I consider important. I don't mind saying so. Thats the way it works. You support the most conservative guy you can find, and then you push him to keep him from going weak on you, and then you push him harder to keep him from making some awful mistake or other.
There's a big difference between conservatives pushing him to keep him from going soft, or making a huge mistake, versus the DNC Left savaging him for precisely doing the right thing. If we don't push back he doesn't have the political cover he needs to oppose the political Left. If we're making noise, he knows we'll be in his corner if he does the right thing, and he knows we'll make a lot of noise if he tries too hard to compromise with the baddies.
I think thats the way its supposed to work.
That is a huge distinction that is often lost on Bushbots.
Quite frankly, he should thank God that for historical purposes that he was the one in office on 9/11. If it han't happened, what would his track record have been at this juncture?
We likely wouldn't have gone into Afghanistan or Iraq where 80% of his political success has eminated from.
If consciences includes buddying up with longtime libs and dissenters of what makes America great, namely Ted Kennedy, then no thanks! Ted Kennedy is one of the greatest internal enemies that this nation has ever known.
‘Compromise was a dirty word to them and they wouldn’t face the fact that we couldn’t get all of what we wanted today. They wanted all or nothing and they wanted it all at once. If you don’t get it all, some said, don’t take anything.
‘I’d learned while negotiating union contracts that you seldom got everything you asked for. And I agreed with FDR, who said in 1933: ‘I have no expectations of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average.’
‘If you got seventy-five or eighty percent of what you were asking for, I say, you take it and fight for the rest later, and that’s what I told these radical conservatives who never got used to it.’
Unfortunately, the 75 or 80% that Bush has settled for are all the amenities. Meanwhile, lost in the negotiation appears to be the health and welfare of the nation at large making the "window dressing items" moot!
President Bush’s immigration policies have not changed materially since he was Governor of Texas.
Unfortunately the world has!
So do I and I don't mind your saying so either. Obviously that is the 25%!