You invoked September 11th more times in your rebuttal then Georgie did in his economic speech Monday. I hope, unlike him, you know gas IS rising above 4.00 a gallon, public schools are falling apart, our volunteer army is shrinking, vet’s are homeless, infrastructure is falling apart, rich get richer, we have the biggest federal debt deficit ever and so on. I won’t bore you with these sissy things but because of your “ILKY” conservative cocoon you may want to be privy to the harsh realities facing OUR people. Busy chasing boogieman in Iraq or setting up your GI Joes and Transformers to begin an Iran invasion can be tiresome, I know or rather assume. But we have both established our feeling on the "wars", best to stay out of that fox hole.
There is a great deal of inaccuracies regarding my position in your reply, but I will save the tit for tat when I feel more offended. I do want to broach 3 specific subjects that I thought would elevate the dialogue:1) I never have believed that there was a Manchurian Candidate type conspiracy in regards to 9/11. On the contrary I , like most Americans, gave Bush my 100% support. I looked to him (blindly) to lead us in the aftermath. I did however feel like the ball was dropped from Richard Clarke’s detailed transitional reporting. But, you cannot blame this on anyone but Al Qaeda. People change and my days of conspiracy dreaming ended when I found out Oliver Stone fabricated the movie JFK and Gore Vidal, with all his insider knowledge advised everyone it was pretty simple: The Mob Did It…and YES…it was ONE MAGIC BULLET!
2) John Kerry’s corpse has Karl Roves fingerprints all over it. Because he was weak and trying to play the election game “safe” is the reason he lost the democratic base. I backed him not because I didn’t agree with his issues (ending the war, SS policy, immigration) but because I went along with a man that lost his balls in Vietnam, Or rather his nuts were removed by Dick and Karl with a pick axe and a blow torch. Am I bitter about the way the election was handled? Yes. Am I embarrassed that it was our election to lose and we fucked it up? Yes. Do I think John Kerry would have made a good president? I don’t think we got an altogether clear picture. Thanks to the media and of course the evil doctor Rove.
There is an Arabic Proverb (thought you would like that):
When the angels present themselves, the devils abscond.
My dear Brother you mistook my political choices for political confusion. And my weakness is a by-product of our flawed 2 party “democratic?” system. You point out I supported Kerry, but you damn well know I had no choice. He failed to stand up to smears and muffed a few hail marys. He was an after thought in the post Howard Dean media tarnishing hit job. It was a kitchen sink strategy in a must win game for Republicans and he failed, yes embarrassingly, to rise to the occasion. Although it was very close. Hardly a landslide that repubs like to envision.
3) I understand that all parties go through varied phases of political cohesion. I also understand that you cannot be all things to all people. Bill Clinton made a career out of being a moderate and centrist. But in all fairness Bill ran on that. He believed the country was more center then partisan. How quickly he found out that is a dangerous place to operate your politics. But Bush ran on a right-wing compassionate conservative. In other words, he was conservative in politics, but open to social and economic policies that would improve America. Both of which, compassionate and conservative are lies. A torch bearer for conservatism that is setting fire to the party is a more accurate vision.
I know that Bush has had problems to deal with unlike any have in the last 30 years. I am not naïve in thinking that 9/11, Katrina and the War in Afghanistan were not going to have a negative impact on our society. But Bush, in the wake of these tragedies, had something that no other president as had in the last 30 years as well: Almost 100% support from every corner of this great country. In an unprecedented command of the American populace both democrats, republicans and independents were integrated through a heartbreaking disaster and willing to bond together despite there differences continue to heal the American soul. Not even Obama can drum up this kind of unified coalition.
Bush could have fulfilled his self diagnosed compassionate conservative role. But he didn’t. He became a rougue. A Neo-con with the help of those around him. There was so much promise.
Taking out the great costs of the war for “argument” sake is futile in examining his record. Remember FDR had WWII to contend with and he grew the Union State of America to a World Super Power, so I do not buy that 9/11 and the current wars prevent him from following the path of a true conservative. But I will concede the point. Even though he has run the federal debt to the largest it has ever been.
As stated by the Father of modern conservatism, William F Buckely:
“I think Mr. Bush faces a singular problem best defined, I think, as the absence of effective conservative ideology — with the result that he ended up being very extravagant in domestic spending, extremely tolerant of excesses by Congress. And in respect of foreign policy, incapable of bringing together such forces as apparently were necessary to conclude the Iraq challenge."
An Absence of Effective conservative ideology. Amen. The facts are the facts. Because of circumstances you cannot change your ideology. Bush has made the same mistakes as his Father in this regard: He was elected on a Reagan-esque, tax cutting platform but the White House veered to the left. President Bush has signed a bill to regulate political speech, issued protectionist taxes on imported steel and lumber, backed big-spending education and farm bills, endorsed massive entitlements for mental health and RX Drugs. In his first 2 years in office Bush presided over more government expansion then took place during Bill Clintons entire 8 years! It has been argued, in looking at his record, that he has betrayed every ideal American Conservatism has. Ryan you cannot change the fundementals of your beliefs and ideals within your party, even in crisis. Hell, especially in the wake of a tragedy, National emergency or a full blown WAR! That is the moment you search for the roots of what has made Republicans great. Not abandon them. The heart and soul of conservatism is FISCAL CONSERVATISM: the government should be responsible for how it spends money. The basic economic view has always been very simple: balance the budget, and quit deficit spending.
So no.... I do not believe you can take conservatism, and blame 9/11 or terrorism on "evolving" your party. History shows us that through worse things then 9/11, standing for your core values as a party can lift you to great heights.
The idea that Iraq somehow washes his sin’s of spending OUR money unwisely is incredible. A true Conservative would have found a way to pay for it, if it was necessary, and certainly would have made sure we wouldn’t take the brunt, that the responsibility would have been shared. Remember the oil was supposed to pay for it? Now were borrowing from China.....
John Quincy Adams:
"Wherever the standard of freedom shall be unfurled, there will [America's] heart, her benedictions, and her prayers be. But she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."
Pat Buchanan:
“It is remarkable how complacent Americans seem to be, as our freedoms are gradually restricted, and more and more power and wealth flow to Big Government to protect us from terrorists."
Those are 3 really big conservatives speaking truth to power Ryan….
I don’t fault you for standing by our president. I don’t fault you for agreeing with him, even when he is wrong. What I don’t agree with is the “War Party” that bush created is not to be confused with Conservatism or even Republican. It is truly Neocon.
I will post a seperate piece answering your questions and adressing Obama's patriotism.
But here is another topic I want to establish while we are laying the groundwork for this blog, and that is religion. I noticed it had ALWAYS been a really important topic for you. When Bush was running you consistently alternated your defense with fighting terrorist and being a good Christian…..So…..what do you make of McCain. Is this time different? (And please remember your argument with Kerry was he didn’t “really” practice his catholic faith….not going to work here either.)
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