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To: ek_hornbeck
Just as it would cause you to re-examine your position if you if you found that Nancy Pelosi agreed with your stance on a political matter,

Adolf Hitler agreed with you and me in opposing Communism and wanting to wage war against it. Should I re-examine my anti-Communism because a vile individual also happened to oppose it?

I don't see Cheney or Halliburton as a NAZI or a Communist, so this agument is lost on me.  It does pretty much tell me where your head is at on this issue, and I'm not implicating anything unsavory.  You're revealing how vilely you see Cheney, and I think it's vastly overwrought.

Okay, then you can't see any difference between those who maneuvered so as to not take part in a failed war effort, but still remained positive about the effort our troops were involved in, and those who went to Canada to avoid taking part and spit on the troops who did fight in that effort after slipping back across the border in time to do so?

I fail to see anything honorable in the "do as I say, not as I do" mindset (see my post above). In fact, those who opposed the war and tried to avoid service (or became disillusioned after being drafted) are at least not hypocrites. The same can't be said for those who support the war as long as others make the sacrifice. Do you really see nothing wrong with somebody who wants to see YOUR sons on the frontlines while refusing to do the same himself or with members of his own family?

Advocating for good policy at any point in your life isn't contingent on what you did previously in your life.

When I was young, I drove like a reckless fool, and broke some other laws as well.  Should I now be silent on the subject of unsafe driving and other infractions of the law?  Am I a hipocrite, or am I simply trying to do the right thing?

I consider Cheney to be an honorable man.

Fundamentally, this is where we'll have to agree to disagree. You see angels that just aren't there.

I'm not sure that I do.  I don't see any angels.  I do see some people who did things they thought appropriate, but weren't.  In some instances I see things they did that they clearly should have known better than to do or try.  I haven't seen you list anything specific up to here that you think Cheney should be charged with.  So it seems to me it's more like you're seeing demons that just aren't there.

You were correct to say that the Bush administration isn't the worst we've had. Thanks to Obama, you're right. However, I can safely say that the Bush administration was certainly the worst Republican administration we've had, and a notch worse than many Democrats at that. Where you see misguided but decent people, I see just another gallery of cronies, crooks and morons, perhaps no worse than many other politicians, but certainly no better.

Did I say the Bush administration wasn't the worst we've had?  I may have.  I agree with that, but I'm not a fan of the Bush administration.  Even concerning the war I have defended, I'm not sure he did the best he could have.  And once you've covered that aspect of his administration, there are legions of issues that are fair game.  I don't like being put in this position, because it's something I never wanted to have to admit, but I'd say Bush actually did a worse job than Carter with the nation he was handed.  There are some aspects of his administration that are startlingly bad.  Job's grew by 0.83% under Bush.  Tradtionally it should have been around 15 to 15.5% growth in eight years.  Look at the economy he handed off.

Wow.  Even Carter didn't sink us to the degree Bush did, and Carter literally did his best to do it.  I give him an A for that effort.

At first, I did see Bush as misguided but decent.  I had to toss in the towel on that one.  There's no way I can pass all he did off simply on ignorance.  This wasn't a Cheney administration.  I'm not able to tarnish him on the record.  Do we look back at Carter's V. P. and blame him?  No.

With that ending comment about no worse or no better, I think we're much closer in our overall thoughts.  I still don't fixate on Cheney the way you have.  I do not see him as the evil Darth Vader of the Bush administration.

Ideologically I have had to part ways with him.  It's a shame he took the wrong fork in the road years ago, and he has drifted so far from Conservatism.  That's my take on him.


225 posted on 07/23/2013 11:13:02 AM PDT by DoughtyOne (Kill the bill... Begin enforcing our current laws, signed by President Ronald Reagan.)
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To: DoughtyOne
I don't see Cheney or Halliburton as a NAZI or a Communist, so this agument is lost on me.

I didn't say that he was, nor is Pelosi Stalin. I was making an argument based on an analogy. The point is, because somebody vile hates someone or something, it isn't a good enough reason for me to stop hating that someone or something.

Advocating for good policy at any point in your life isn't contingent on what you did previously in your life. When I was young, I drove like a reckless fool, and broke some other laws as well. Should I now be silent on the subject of unsafe driving and other infractions of the law? Am I a hipocrite, or am I simply trying to do the right thing?

Bad analogy. You now admit that you were a fool to drive recklessly. Did Cheney ever express regret for avoiding the draft? Did he ever come out and say "I was a hypocritical coward who used my connections to avoid risking my life while advocating a war where those without the same connections would have to risk theres?" Now, if all you're saying is that Cheney isn't unique in this regard, I'll agree, but that doesn't make it any better.

And once you've covered that aspect of his administration, there are legions of issues that are fair game. I don't like being put in this position, because it's something I never wanted to have to admit, but I'd say Bush actually did a worse job than Carter with the nation he was handed. There are some aspects of his administration that are startlingly bad. Job's grew by 0.83% under Bush. Tradtionally it should have been around 15 to 15.5% growth in eight years. Look at the economy he handed off.

No argument there. Most of the bad policies that we're dealing with now under Obama are just the logical extrapolation of things that got rolling under the last administration: amnesty for illegals, TARP (morphing into a "stimulus package" and bailout), the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance, etc.

Frankly, because the Bush administration was attacked by despicable people like Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, there was a knee-jerk tendency by many on the right to defend it, even when the criticisms came from the libertarian/Constitutionalist Right. With some perspective, people are starting to see that a lot of the previous administration's policies weren't so different from those advocated by a Pelosi or a Clinton after all.

This wasn't a Cheney administration. I'm not able to tarnish him on the record.

Well, there's a good case to be made that Cheney was put on board because daddy thought that Junior wasn't up to all the heavy lifting that the job required.

226 posted on 07/23/2013 11:26:36 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
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