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Ex-President Bush says attacks on McCain "unfair"
Reuters (via Drudge) ^ | 2/18/08 | By Jason Szep

Posted on 02/18/2008 9:31:33 AM PST by meandog

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Former President George H.W. Bush urged disgruntled conservatives on Monday to rally around John McCain, calling their criticism of the Republican presidential front-runner "grossly unfair."

The father of President George W. Bush said he was annoyed by attacks within the conservative wing of the Republican Party against the Arizona senator, the all-but-certain Republican nominee to face Democrats in November election.

Many conservatives distrust McCain because of his moderate views on illegal immigration and campaign finance reform and for having originally voted against President Bush's tax cuts. Persuading them all to vote for McCain in November will be a central challenge.

"His character was forged in the crucible of war. His commitment to America is beyond any doubt," the 41st U.S. president, flanked by his wife Barbara, told a joint news conference with McCain in a Houston airport hanger.

"You know, if you've been around the track you hear these criticisms and I think they are grossly unfair. He's got a ... sound conservative record but he's not above reaching out to the other side," he said.

"So I hear these criticisms and Barbara knows I get a little bit annoyed about them frankly," he said, calling them "absurd."

The elder Bush said even former President Ronald Reagan, an icon of the conservative movement, faced attacks from the right wing of the party, citing several quotations from diaries written by Reagan in his early years in office.

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


TOPICS: Extended News; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; bush41; bushlackey; deathofthegop; liarbush; mccain; mccainunfit; nobush3; nomorebushes; nowaymccain; nwo; rinobush; rinomccain; saynotornc
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To: meandog

Former President Bush is right. The attacks on Senator McCain are unfair. He’s not a liberal, as has been so unfairly portrayed by some disgruntled people on the right.


41 posted on 02/18/2008 9:50:28 AM PST by No Dems 2004 (No Dems in 2008 either)
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To: meandog

Former President George H.W. Bush: Read my lips, McCain is a conservative.


42 posted on 02/18/2008 9:51:04 AM PST by dragnet2
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To: Travis McGee

43 posted on 02/18/2008 9:51:38 AM PST by bmwcyle (I am the watchman on the tower sounding the alarm.)
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To: HappyinAZ
That may, or may not be so. But if you'll examine the source of the HTML in my last posting, you'll notice a tracking pixel, and I'm watching exactly who is taking note of this particular thread....at least the first page of it. :-) It's very interesting stuff! I'd share it with you if you weren't a McCain supporter. :-)
44 posted on 02/18/2008 9:52:53 AM PST by hiredhand (Check my "about" page. I'm the Prophet of Doom!)
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To: Incorrigible

I haven’t noticed McCain trying to get anything from conservatives.


45 posted on 02/18/2008 9:53:47 AM PST by donna (Before they gave us McCain, they tried to give us Rudy.)
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To: All
If Bush thinks the criticism is unfair, just wait until he sees the electoral map on election night.


46 posted on 02/18/2008 9:54:51 AM PST by j_k_l
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To: meandog

Yup that changed my mind. /s


47 posted on 02/18/2008 9:55:39 AM PST by mad_as_he$$ (John McCain - The Manchurian Candidate? http://www.usvetdsp.com/manchuan.htm)
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To: dinoparty

Rush is already right. We just want to hear if he thinks like us.
He just quoted Bush 41s “Reagan’s VOODOO economics”, lolol. He said he respects 41, is part of some golfing thing 41 has. He is trying not to rip him. I guess I’ll think that Rush sometimes plays golf with 41. Is that okay with you??????????????


48 posted on 02/18/2008 9:55:58 AM PST by libbylu (Ann and I will be campaigning for Hill. MITTen.)
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To: dinoparty

YOU DO WANT US TO MIMIC YOUR OPINION RIGHT?????????????
I do the ipod thing, and channel rush while asleep, lololol...


49 posted on 02/18/2008 9:56:50 AM PST by libbylu (Ann and I will be campaigning for Hill. MITTen.)
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To: bmwcyle

LOL That is great.

This is the same reactionary crowd of talkradio malcontents who either opposed conservative Fred Thompson, or did very little to promote conservative candidates like Duncan Hunter. Instead, many backed the liberal candidates Giuliani and Romney.

Today, conservatives are left with no good choices.


50 posted on 02/18/2008 9:57:00 AM PST by Reagan Man (McCain Wants My Conservative Vote --- EARN IT or NO DEAL !!!)
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To: squidly

Well, Reagan did give us amnesty. He was not above making mistakes. In fact, at a conservative conference a Rep Congressman said it was the #1 mistake of Reagan’s presidency - he was talking about immigration and came with a very law-and-order approach to the problem.

But then GHWB made mistakes of his own, and we all know his #1 mistake - raising taxes with the Democrats.
In fact, almost every mistake the Republicans have made have been due to poor compromises with Democrats.

GHWB’s endorsement only makes the dilemma starker, as it is more of less saying - “this guy can be conservative and still reach out to the other side.” Sure he can, just like you Bush41. McCain is a champion of bipartisan nanny-statism. I think the party needs to ‘unite and move forward’ as McCain says, but unite and more forward while holding to a conservative pro-freedom agenda.

“One of McCain’s top challenges is placating conservative activists in his party while continuing to attract moderate Republicans drawn to his positions on immigration, torture and global climate change.”
“We as a party must unite and move forward and attract not only members of our own party but independents and the so-called Reagan Democrats,” McCain told the news conference after the elder Bush endorsed him.”

... Here’s a thought: Have an “Anti-illegal-immigration pro-immigration-enforcement pro-sovereignty conservatives for McCain” group. Make it explicit that part of his coalition has to be from these people.

I oppose McCain on illegal immigration. I will vote McCain in November. If everyone who opposes McCain on immigration though did not support him, he’d lose to Obama in a landslide. To me that would be worse. But we need to salvage from McCain something much much better than a weak promise to ‘secure the border’ before he redoes amnesty.

This fact should be sobering to McCain and he should and must reach out to conservatives if he wants to effect this unity.


51 posted on 02/18/2008 9:57:50 AM PST by WOSG (The 4-fold path to save America - Think right, act right, speak right, vote right!)
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To: dinoparty
I suppose Reagan was a RINO for having Bush as a VP, then?

and for signing the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

52 posted on 02/18/2008 9:59:42 AM PST by Dixie Yooper (Ephesians 6:11)
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To: donna

It’s been through intermediaries like Bob Dole!


53 posted on 02/18/2008 9:59:50 AM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: No Dems 2004

He has VERY liberal views on some things. VERY LIBERAL.
I will never vote for one who calls me racist/bigot/nativist.


54 posted on 02/18/2008 10:00:32 AM PST by libbylu (Ann and I will be campaigning for Hill. MITTen.)
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To: meandog

They can’t challenge the critics on the substance of the criticisms. This is why no McCain backers even show up in threads like this one anymore. They realize that they will be put on the spot and will have nothing substantive with which to defend McCain.


55 posted on 02/18/2008 10:01:02 AM PST by Perchant
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To: j_k_l

I remember a map of blue with only Minnesota as a “red” state.

So sad...


56 posted on 02/18/2008 10:01:53 AM PST by Incorrigible (If I lead, follow me; If I pause, push me; If I retreat, kill me.)
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To: McGruff
Does the Republican party have a death wish?

The GOP has a Socialism wish.
57 posted on 02/18/2008 10:02:35 AM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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To: Perchant
They can’t challenge the critics on the substance of the criticisms. This is why no McCain backers even show up in threads like this one anymore. They realize that they will be put on the spot and will have nothing substantive with which to defend McCain.

They show up, but there are NOT many...and they just get the crap beat out of them, and digress to insults out of frustration. But they don't have a lot of fight left in them, and they give NO good reasons to support the turd. They can see what's coming...especially since we keep telling them.
58 posted on 02/18/2008 10:03:44 AM PST by hiredhand (Check my "about" page. I'm the Prophet of Doom!)
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To: meandog
He's got a ... sound conservative record but he's not above reaching out to the other side," he said.

Reaching out across to the other side is fine and dandy - when the other side also happens to be on the right side, or when you think you can draw them to the right side (for up to and including the rhetorical bowl of soup). Screwing over the right side by giving the wrong side 50%+ of what they want is the wrong kind of bipartisanship. History is clear - when it comes to politics, "consensus" is a dirty word.

59 posted on 02/18/2008 10:04:47 AM PST by M203M4 (True Universal Suffrage: Pets of dead illegal-immigrant felons voting Democrat (twice))
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To: TSchmereL
I am asking myself the same question about Conservatives who would allow Barack Obama to become the next president rather than vote for John McCain.

You should be asking yourself why the GOP would endorse a Socialist knowing Conservatives will never accept or support McCain.
60 posted on 02/18/2008 10:05:05 AM PST by Man50D (Fair Tax, you earn it, you keep it!)
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