Thread: How President Bush Destroyed the Republican Party

Originally Posted by 2lane

Bush is so bad people are nostalgic for Hoover.

If Hoover had a populace that expected roadside service in Hurricane conditions, free health care and a risk free existence, he never would have made it through a single term...

1. The divide between traditional and Neo Conservativism. President Bush came to office as a uniter, but not only has he violently divided liberals and conservatives, he has divided his own party between traditional and neo conservatives. President Bush set the tone for the Republican Congress, which went in the opposite direction of the Gingrich Republicans, and spending was out of control. They made Democrats look like fiscal conservatives. President Bush and the Republican Congress put forth an entitlement program for seniors that the Democrats would have been called commie-pinko-leftists for proposing. But, Bush needed to shut up the Seniors for the 2004 election. It worked. The AARP was not to be found.

Pretty much all the Republicans, besides a few notable exceptions, have gone along with spending us into oblivion for years now. Bush really didn't change anything. Reagan was hardly a paragon of fiscal responsibility.

2. Principled Leadership. President Reagan may go down in history as an inspiration president, but if he does, it is only because he said what he meant and he meant what he said. Many Democrats at the time supported Reagan, because Reagan was acting from principle and not politics. Even politicians are inspired by that kind of courage. President Bush is the opposite of that. Bush says one thing and does another. Then he tells the Democrats to shove it any time they dissent. President Bush showed no signs of willingness to cooperate with Democrats and was indignant, it seems, that Democrats wanted some say in the direction of our nation. But Bush and Rove brilliantly lead a campaign that forced Democrats to either get on board or be labeled anti-American. The resentment this has fostered within the Democratic Party is going to last for years. They want revenge.

Can't blame Bush for the fact that he just took advantage of Congress' timidity. They weren't elected to sit back and led the president take the country for a ride.

4. Neo-Conservativism and Globalism. Global Corporate Socialism, which is the cooperation of international and national governments with international banks and corporations to direct and manufacture the global economy, has been Bush's foremost policy outside of his war on Iraq. This means that President Bush has used the wealth of the United States to foster and support the growth of emerging capitalist nations, providing cheaper labor for corporations and cheaper goods for people all across the globe. What the NeoCons did not anticipate was that this would lead to widespread over population and that we lacked the natural resources to support that massive increase in population. Now prices are soaring. People are rioting int he third world and struggling in the first.

It's Trotskyite internationalism reborn.

Originally Posted by Blueneck

Actually that's not true. While harping endlessly on Soviet Communism and using "freedom" endlessly in his speeches, he sat silently while the first imports from Communist China began, and was the frist to declare a "War on Drugs" and appoint a "Drug Czar".

He also did not bring back prayer to schools or end abortion. In fact, I don't recall him ever even trying. He too, left the US government farther in debt than he found it. He did add many cool, slick, anti-government one-liners to the lexicon.

Morning in America was a slogan, nothing more.

What's wrong with imports from China?

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

What's wrong with imports from China?

Nothing if you aren't constantly harping on the evils of Communism.

1. President Bush turned the Republican Party over to the Neo-Conservatives while using the evangelicals and the fiscal conservatives to solidify the party. Evangelicals have lost a lot of clout in the Party. Fiscal Conservatives have been treated like absolute shit by the Administration. The Neo-Conservatives have bashed those conservatives that took a stand against the Neo-Con Amnesty bill.

2. President Bush destroyed the US's reputation in the world, not with the strength of his leadership, but by the utter lack of leadership. It's not that we need to French, or the Russians, or the Germans to sign off on our wars or our foreign policy. It's that if we cannot get their support, then we need to stand up in front of the rest of the world and say, "Well, this is why we're right and they are wrong", instead of sayings issuing outbursts of "You're with us or against us!".

3. President Bush showed no leadership for the Party. The Republican politicians in Congress did what all politicians in Congress do. Serve their districts, their states, and the special interests that support their campaigns for reelection. It is the job of the President to put their veto foot down on out of control spending. It is also the job of the President to set the tone for his own Parties behavior. Bush did neither of these things. Instead, he used the Congress to pass legislation that would make it more likely for him to get reelected himself. Why? So that he could continue the Iraq War and see it to completion. Now he says, we'll be there for God knows how long? Fine job.

4. President Bush didn't open doors to acquire Democrat support for his political platform. He shut the Democrats out of the government. Told them to go suck an egg. And now Democrats are showing up at the polls and ousting Republicans from the Congress. Why? To punish Bush and the arrogance of the Neo-Con controlled GOP. Are the Neocons getting the message? I think not. When you begin losing power, you can't blame the media and the ignorance of the people. You have to look at why the people who are showing up in droves to vote you out of office are doing so.

My hope is that Obama will do for the Democrats what the Bush family has done for the Republicans. From what I've seen he will. Go Barry go!