ZOT! Can there be a serious challenge to Bush in the GOP primaries?

John Buchanan is a journalist and magazine writer based in Miami Beach ^ | november 29, 2003 | john buchanan

[Republican Challenger]

I am a nationally published journalist who has been drafted to challenge George W. Bush in the Republican Presidential primaries, beginning in New Hampshire on January 27. My aim is to prompt legitimate debate and genuine new ideas, but I start with a question:

HAS GEORGE W. BUSH BETRAYED TRADITIONAL GOP VALUES?

He has failed in his promise to control spending. Nondefense spending has skyrocketed under Bush. The Congressional Budget Office reported that for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2003, nondefense spending rose 7% – nearly double the 4% discretionary spending caps Bush promised to enforce (Source: Washington Times). Since Bush took office, nondefense spending has leapt 13% -- 21% if spending on the war on terrorism is included. “My impression of Bush,” says Chris Edwards, director of fiscal policy at the libertarian Cato Institute, “is that I’ve never seen him give a speech in which he says government is too big and we need to cut costs.”

He has failed in his promise to keep America strong. Under Bush, U.S. foreign policy and international esteem have reached historic lows. After spending hundreds of billions of dollars since 9/11, the Bush administration has failed to catch Osama bin Laden, failed to find Saddam Hussein, failed to defeat Al Qaeda, and failed to stabilize Iraq after an invasion that his own Pentagon policy adviser, Richard Perle, now admits was “illegal.” As a result, the geopolitical balance of power has been jolted, traditional allies have been severely alienated, and as a result, the European Union – led by Great Britain – is now conducting secret talks about the formation of an EU military force outside NATO.

He has failed in his promise to be a “compassionate conservative.” Perhaps never before has a U.S. President so divided the country, according to a recent Time cover story. Despite Bush’s promise to be “a uniter, not a divider,” he has turned Republican against Democrat, rich against poor, Christian against Muslim. He has eroded our civil liberties and Constitutional rights in the name of “national security” and aided and abetted a corporate elite class in the theft of the Republican Party and the two-century-old values that made it the Party of Lincoln. “Corporations have been enthroned,” Lincoln said presciently before he died. “…An era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power will endeavor to prolong its reign by working on the prejudices of the people…until wealth is aggregated in a few hands…and the Republic is destroyed.” Under Bush, Lincoln’s ominous – and accurate – prediction might find its final manifestation unless he and the “neo-con” corporate juggernaut are stopped.

DO YOU AGREE? Please let me know your thoughts. There will be more to come from me, including a detailed platform and agenda for ending the corporate reign in this country, shrinking the federal bureaucracy, and restoring Constitutional freedoms to pre-9/11 levels. Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to your comments and questions.

[Bonaparte]

"Cleanup in Aisle 1 please"

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store."

[Revolting cat!]

If we can't have a Pat, let's settle for a John, huh?

[Republican Challenger]

Maine Magazine, which I founded in 1976, with money from the heir to the Miller Beer fortune, and published the first issue of in December 1976. I published Stephen King's first major short story, the first fiction in 25 years by the author of M*A*S*H, and almost won a National Magazine Award -- at 26. I sold it to Downeast (the historic "competitor" for which I'd written before launching Maine). I was also the founding managing editor of The Woodenboat, a unique magazine that is still sold all over the world.
Thanks for asking.

[Gumption]

Ohhhh, class warfare is your angle. I see now.

[eddie willers]

Therefore, I trust you will be open-minded in the days ahead.

We'll let other decide who is more credible.

Bush ‘Nazi’ Smear Unworthy of Critics by Joe Conason

Trust me....if there was any there there, Ole Joe would have found it.
It must have killed him to write this.

I peg you for a LaRouche nutcase.

I'm telling Queen Elizabeth on you.

[Torie]

Alas your ideas are NOT new. And even if they were, some new ideas are bad ideas, in fact most of them are. Separating in an intelligent way the wheat from the chaff in the pile of detritus as to what is offered up as "new" is the essence of intelligent conservatism. Some have more of a talent at doing that than others.

[Republican Challenger]

No offense -- and please take this in the spirit it is offered -- but you are mistaken. The facts are that the war on terror is a mirage, designed to generate private sector "defense" and "homeland security" contractors like Halliburton, Bechtel, Wackenhut and many others. It is the #1 issue of my campaign -- and I have irrefutable facts to support my position. I trust you will at least be open-minded to the facts, as they are generally hard to contradict with any lasting effect, in my long experience as a journalist. Please stay tuned.

[Preech1]

Please do not tell me you're a Mainer too...we already have too many RINO's here...

[dcwusmc]

Fair enough. I do think his platform, as much as I have seen so far, is much farther to the left than I could ever contemplate. Actually, Dubya is farther to the left than I can live with. So anyone farther than him is really out of there for me.

[RepubMommy]

Is this a crank call?

Can we hang up now?

[eddie willers]

I published Stephen King's first major short story

Would that be Gents, Juggs, or Cavalier Magazine?

[My Favorite Headache]

All you...

[Republican Challenger]

Incorrect, sir. In fact, my journalism career launched me into this, at the request of another noted citizen and former newspaper publisher and journalist, Mr. McConnell, who is neither Republican nor Democrat, liberal or conservative. He is a legend, whose friends included 39 Nobel laureates, including Edward Teller. How can you dismiss that based on YOUR ideology? That is frightening to me, to be honest. I have NEW IDEAS for sale. How can that not be good for America and political discourse?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

A "Don't Miss This" ping. : )

[RepubMommy]

LOS ANGELES, CA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 10/22/2003 -- "I have been actively campaigning against the incumbent George W. Bush since July, 2003, when it became apparent that there was no opposition to his re-election.

You would think he would get the hint.

[Torie]

Have you ever tried to maintain a "woodenboat?"

[DefCon]

Didn't we go 50/50 for a lid one time back in college?
Didn't you go by the street name of "rooster"?
I'm almost sure it was you.
He sure did sound like you.
You would remember me as "catfish".