Don't Forget that George W. Bush was Anything but a Limited Government Conservative
by the Left Coast Rebel
As bad as thing are under Obama, many in the limited government movement have tucked away old wounds of conservative betrayal and are now waxing fondly over George W. Bush.
This tells me two different things -
a). Just how bad Obama actually is. Essentially juxtaposed to anyone this side of....well any president looks good compared to the man. Carter looks like a great president in comparison.
b). People that should know better sure have short memories. I can think of dozens of reasons why I don't feel an ounce of "Miss My Yet" emotion.
Michelle Malkin has been blogging for far longer than I have. She covered the historic betrayal of limited government principles that Bush ushered in. Here's just a few:
Malkin's list doesn't even include other travesties such as the trillion dollar + Medicare prescription drug program, ballooning the Department of Education, refusal to enforce border policy, silence on Ramos and Compeon, mismanaged wars....and a general growth in the federal government that one would have to look back to the 1960s and Lyndon Johnson to replicate.Bush then oversaw the $85 billion bailout of AIG and prepared the $25 billion auto bailout. In October, the Republicans swallowed the Bush crap sandwich and blindly bowed to naked emperor Paulson, and John McCain proposed a $300 billion mortgage bailout that dwarfed Obama’s campaign proposal.
As he rode into the sunset in December 2008 after pre-socializing the economy for Barack Obama, Bush wrote his own epitaph, which was one of the items on my list of things I don’t miss about Bush.
Reminder:
1) joined with open-borders progressives McCain and Kennedy to try to force shamnesty down our throats;
2) massively expanded the federal role in education;
3) championed the Medicare prescription drug entitlement using phony math;
4) kowtowed to the jihadi-enabling Saudis;
5) stocked DHS with incompetents and cronies;
6) pushed Hillarycare for housing;
7) enabled turncoat Arlen Specter;
8. nominated crony Harriet Myers to the Supreme Court;
9) pre-socialized the economy for Obama by embracing TARP, the auto bailouts, the AIG bailout, and in his own words:
Don't fall for it, conservatives. Bush was no fiscal conservative and don't you dare let the republican party push another "compassionate conservative" (another Reagan legacy betrayal in and of itself) to grab the nomination in 2012.
Nothing short of the future of the nation is at stake and another big government, socialism-co-opting republican president will be the nail in the coffin of America.
List other Bush betrayals in the comments and I will put them up here....
Cross posted to LCR.
Bush was no fiscal conservative, the record is clear... In spite of what the liberal progressives would have the nation believe.
ReplyDeleteAll things are relative I suppose.
Indeed, Les, one of the biggest lies out there that keeps being said today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with every word, but it's within Hannity or anyone else's right to have the man on his show.
ReplyDeleteDespite his shortcomings, I believe Bush to be an honest and sincere man as politicians go, and there is no reason to shun him as if he were the Hitler the left made him out to be.
He has kept a respectful silence as every has trashed him, and now he is out with a book trying to vindicate himself and rehabilitate his image.
God bless him. He is more progressive in many ways than conservative, and I share your disdain for many of his policies, but he's not Satan.
If it were possible, I would throw my hat into the running for President in 2012. However, I am neither lawyer, millionaire, politician, or puppet. So my chances are slim to none.
ReplyDeleteBut wouldn't it be grand to see a real Conservative Libertarian Constitutionalist come onto the scene and shake up the status quo?
LCR, I am not a GOP shill, and I agree mostly with your views on Bush. I say "mostly" simply because I have not researched Bush as thoroughly as you have, so I cannot chime in with 100% familiarity.
I simply look at the WH today and shake my head in disbelief. Bush was not awesome. But he is not President any longer. TARP was a travesty. Obama and his (former, ahem)Congress make TARP look like pocket change in comparison.
Is it too much to ask for proper governance? Is it too much to ask for the government to keep the hell out of my life other than to deliver my mail, fix my highways, and keep our borders secure and maintain a strong military? I don't need rulers. I don't need kings or despots. I need those who can govern.
Governance issues should be handled by our elected officials. Moral issues should be handled by society. States should have sovereignty. The Constitution should be esteemed and obeyed by all. Is that too much to ask?
Okay, rant is off. Thanks for listening!
Donald in Bethel, CT
Don... You said;
ReplyDelete"If it were possible, I would throw my hat into the running for President in 2012. However, I am neither lawyer, millionaire..."
Ah, my friend therein lies the heart of the problem. It requires fabulous amounts of money to run for president and many presidents are first attorneys. Neither money nor have a law degree necessarily makes one competent to govern.
What is also true is that most campaigns are financed not by the personal wealth of the individual running. Rather they are financed by individual donations and the donations of the interest groups that heavily support their candidacy. The same is true for most Senatorial and Congressional candidates.
The bottom line is most politicians and candidates sell their souls to someone or some interest group long before they are elected.
Sad but unfortunately true. As a side note even the founding fathers, with all their genius, were not completely above the concerns of the interests of their social class.
Today we have a unique special interest that is doing as much to destroy they middle class as the modern progressive is doing. It's called Corporate America, or Corporatism.
Ron Paul gets it and Ralph Nader gets it. Not many else seem to.
As I have stated... as the middle class goes so goes America.
Just sayin...
Hannity's nothing but a shameless partisan. Bush put 2 wars and an expensive prescription drug benefit onto a credit card. But, because he had an R in front of his name, Hannity continues to give him a pass. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteWill - Yes it is unbelievable. Bush was indeed a progressive big spender. He just didn't spend where the progressives would have had him spend so therefore he must be a conservative.... Again unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteBush was a profligate big spender. And any every way he spent on the taxpayer dime. Present and future.
Little difference from Obama.