[RJCogburn]

Sorry, Bushbots, but the writer is a conservative.....

To be sure, Bush's budgets have had to account for Sept. 11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But even when defense spending is excluded, discretionary spending has soared by nearly 21 percent in Bush's first three years. In Clinton's first triennium, nondefense discretionary spending declined slightly. If their budgets were all you had to go by, you might peg Bush for the Democrat and Clinton for the Republican.

Yes, I am more and more thinking about sitting out 04.

[sirchtruth]

RJ you and others who bash Bush because of this just don't get it! Bush came in as a "Compassionate Conservative." In alot of people's minds that has to do with Gov't giving. Bush may have started off like this, but that does not mean he would have ended up a spender.

911 puts the cabosh on all of it! (period!)

Bushes number One issue now and it will remain, is to protect us from terroist, and try to end any semblance of them.

I'm sorry, but that cost!

[joesnuffy]

Hey it's only paper....easy Al will can print more..and as long as we can buy cheap goods from China at least and we gets low interest loans to buy the stuff we cant afford so at least we can "feel" like we're rich cause we got lots of stuff...
For everything else there are credit cards

[sakic]

It's different when "they" do it.

[Drango]

9-11 or not, I don't understand how the NEA and the NIH come out of the House with budget increases? Are Hastert and Delay sleeping?

And while these increases are insignificant in terms of the total picture, they are highly symbolic of a budget process that isn't working.

[Agamemnon]

Yes, I am more and more thinking about sitting out 04.

...as you probably did in '92 also. I guess I can thank the likes of you for the first Clinton victory, then.

From what I've seen in many of your postings to FR, you appear to be a memeber of the perpetually malcontented, nominally conservative wing, which have a habit of making the good the victim of the perfect.

Amazing that you have survived the circular firing squad this long.

[ishmac]

All I can say is, Bush better deliver on Supreme Court and other judicial nominees. Otherwise the base will be lukewarm as it was in 2000 (specifically evangelicals, many of whom sat out in 2000).

[DoctorMichael]

Bush has been great on foreign policy. He was left with numerous messes by the Klintoon that have to be attended to. He also pushed for tax cuts. I WILL vote for him again.

However, the passing of the Ted Kennedy Education Bill in the face of a Republican Congress AND a Republican President was unconcionable. Furthermore, the lack of any coherent offensive to get the judiciary logjam untangled is extremely disappointing. The Pubbies, quite literally, don't want 'to lose any sleep' over the matter. Whimps and posers.

Also, the absence of ANY immigration policy and the continued flood of illegals over our southern border in the face of possible terrorism is a glaring inconsistency, IMHO.

Now.........Pork, pork, pork and more pork. THIS is disgusting!

The communists inhabiting the so-called Democratic party scare the crap out of me..........but I'm rapidly losing my patience.

[DoctorMichael]

Oh yes...........AND the drug-giveaway program.

[Eternal_Bear]

If there is a war going on, why not drastically reduce domestic spending? I don't get it. Where is the conservatism?

[nonliberal]

Be prepared to get flamed. Bush is sacrosanct to many on this site and Freepers musn't cricicize He Who Walks On Water.

Here, have some Kool-Aid.

[Lazamataz]

Pointing out the truth will get you savaged by BushBots.

Good luck.

[dfrussell]

And this "orgy of spending" is precisely what is turning a lot of fiscal conservatives off with President Bush and company.

Yes, people will make excuses for him, but that is what they are: excuses.

There is nothing "conservative" about the pork coming from D.C., "compassionate" or otherwise.

[Consort]

Yes, I am more and more thinking about sitting out 04.

Spoken like a true anti-Bushbutt.

[dr_who_2]

Don't sit it out. Vote Libertarian or Constitution party. Just don't give the Republican pollsters any cause to claim that you don't exist.

[Cultural Jihad]

Yes, I am more and more thinking about sitting out 04.

Conservatives don't need or want the votes of those flakey ideologues who think public schools should be looted and burned to the ground anyway.

[GatekeeperBookman]

Having just admonished the editors of The New American for gratuitous Bush Bashing, I also now heave a stone. My blind-fold in place, I am ready for the Administrator's firing squad. I am sure the fans of our good & decent President will pick up the stone & place it over my grave.

Mr.Bush ( the very mistaken but good, the decent, the defender of us & the NWO ) is so off track from supposed conservative principles of smaller, less intrusive & cheaper government- as to deserve whatever vile reaction we deliver.

The 'Farm Bill' set new records of government largesse-put every prior government farm stipend & the Roman Corn Laws to shame.

The 15 Billions ( for 'aids' help ) thrown down the sewer of Caribbean & African dictatorships is amazing-beyond any comprehension, save as purchase of favor from the tyrants to counter Chinese influence in these regions.

The vast, new not-so free drug plan for anyone surviving to a certain age is bigger than any LBJ Great Society plan-& Mr. Bush the good demands we do this!

The relatively small, but very stupid, plan to pay government counselors to admonish freshly minted unmarried parents to be wed caused such as Dr. James Dobson ( Focus on the Family ) to loose all sense over the public airwaves. In a flash, sadly, it became, "Focus on the Money". A lesson the Catholic Church learned long ago.

The vast, incalculable fortunes now poured out through our hospitals & schools boggles the mind ( what palaces we construct where the foreigner's child may be 'baby sat', stay ignorant of English & the very principles of our society ). One is hard pressed to get one's mind around what our border states & now the interior, spend to feed, clothe, medicate & miss-educate the criminal alien's child.

Save for the Hitlary running against him, Mr. Bush-the good, the decent, the compassionate, the stalwart defender ( of us & the NWO ) is through. Funny, IMHO, that only SHE might save him! Wow! The Ol' Gunny Sergeant calls out, "AHTENSHUN! CUNSPRACY AFOOT! Covers-Tin Foil Hats-IUNPLACE!"

He has wadded deep into the socialist quicksand-helpless, we are dragged along to drown with him, knowing what he has done.

[hosepipe]

Takeing notes...
Lets see, democrats will blithefully vote for even a traitor. A proven fact, just as long he/she has a "D" by the name is the issue...

BUT... Republicans are more descerning and require some real beef in their hamburger and judge a tree by its fruit. Also, when you can "Read their lips(no new taxes)", you can count on honesty, truth, and the American way, or at least the psuedo-American way.

Upon cursory observations those 900+ FBI files (read blackmail) in "someones computer(s)" on elected and un-elected officals might have some major impact in D.C. politics -OR- someones playing BAD GUY(Clinton), GOOD GUY(Bush) with the voters(you and I)... and are laughing at us as I write this. Not to speak of the fact that GW Bush highly resembles Alfred E. Neuman(Madd Mag).

I will vote for Bush again since I have no other choice, but I really really don't like it. Dole then Bush Sr. then Bush Jr., is the BEST the republican party has to offer is incredulous in the extreme. Did I say incredulous.. Ah! good. Not that I know what incredulous means, heck, I'm a republican..

[dasein64]

What all this seems to boil down to is that Republicans should return to the losing position of saving money for the RATS to spend. The angry postings against Bush replicate the heated arguments I heard from persons who considered themselves true blue conservatives and voted for Ross Perot, thus puting the Clinton RATS in power. Then there are those who sit out elections so they can remain martyrs for the cause of---??. The appointment of right thinking supreme court justices trumps every objection to George Bush thus far put forth by any of you. That will be the real test for the Bush administration and the most far reaching.

[jordan8]

Bush is a profligate spender, but he really isn't much different from all Republican presidents since the 60s. Culture and politics is so dominated by television that you are really left with a East German-like system of pretend political opposition, filled with nice upper-class men like Bush who believe they should rule because they are the better sort of people, and, like CEOs who jump from company to company, don't care what they rule as long as they are players. It is SYSTEMATIC.

[Major Matt Mason]

I would say that the fault can be spread around between Bush and the Congressional Republicans. Bush hasn't done much to stop the nutty amounts of spending taking place, but the Congressional Republicans- the Senate, in particlular - have fully embraced the Democrat style of over-spending.

Bush has been good on foreign policy, but, with regards to his domestic policy, he needs to take into account that conservatives outnumber moderates in the party. He will not be re-elected if conservatives sit on their hands, which is a good possibility right now. Conservatives won't get their way on everything, of course, but Bush and the Republicans aren't even making a token effort right now to keep conservatives happy.

What I would really like to see happen is for Bush to dispense of his use of the term "compassionate conservative". It is insulting to conservatives because it implies that conservatives lack compassion (which is definitely not true), while the use of the term is nothing more than a cover to spend taxpayer dollars irresponsibly. Bush is clearly not a conservative, so he shouldn't be using the term to describe himself.

Hopefully there will be no more Bush family members running on the GOP presidential ticket- two is enough.