The American Spectator

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Crestfallen Conservatives

9.20.05 @ 12:01AM

BAD CALL CONSERVATISM
Re: The Prowler's That Sinking Feeling:

The problem with the Social Security reform is that it was poorly formulated from the start. It wasn't going anywhere long before Katrina blew into the Gulf Coast.

Making the tax cuts permanent is going to require a deft realignment of the budget, with the White House insisting that every dollar of hurricane relief for New Orleans be matched by a dollar cut from the pork deposits in the energy and highway bills or elsewhere.

But you folks at the Spectator really ought not to be holding the egg carton for the lunatics at the New York Times and Newsweek. It's unseemly.
-- Martin McPhillips

One thing a person can count on from the conservatives: they call, "We are finished," before half the races are called.

How many times has the President come through? Conservatives want it this way. Give us all we want, but don't spend any money. How simple.

How he manages to stay positive is beyond me, he has no real support from the conservatives, they love to follow the lemmings over the cliff when the liberals get what they think is going to destroy him forever. To see them go leaping off the cliff once again is really a sick sight to see.

WHAT?! He has not solved the SS program yet? Has any other president ever tried? Has he solved the immigration problem yet? Has any other president ever tried? Has he got the perfect person as Chief Justice, well, yes, he has. Oh, right now he has to solve the worldwide problem of the avian flu. Each and every columnist can now tell him exactly what to do, how to do it, when to do it, talk about doing it, and think the columnist is terribly brilliant.

He is one man, guys, not ten. He has done nothing but work from the day he became president. Oh, he goes to the ranch, but the truth is he is still working.... Did you know he and his mother have been going about giving out the message to seniors on the SS program to let them know they will not lose any money? They do this on the weekends and make it fun!

Katrina and the war in Iraq and Afghanistan are still hard work for him, but as long as the conservatives stay positive they will both be a success. If the people do not look around to see the real news from Iraq and read the e-mails of the soldiers and the pride they have in the job they are doing, they run scared and need reassurance every two days.

The left liberals will continue to try and destroy him and if that happens, what are the conservatives left with? Dick Cheney is wonderful, but the energy level of the president is needed.... I believe the worst thing that could happen is the left coming into power at this time. Having sold their position to MoveOn and other very leftist groups, who will really run America?
-- Carole

Well, I guess conservative pundits have officially turned on President Bush, not that many have shown much support during this whole Katrina mess anyway. I thought I was reading a MSM article full of anti-Bush negativism and lots of quotes from unnamed sources. That's alright, since I'll still put my money on President Bush -- it's still possible for him to have a successful second term. The Democrats and the liberal MSM have been "misunderestimating" President Bush for years so now perhaps his so called conservative friends are doing the same.
-- unsigned

The problem with the "Prowler" is that it is too caught up on "Capitol Hill gossip" and Congressional staffers wishing to see their quotes make news. The unnamed administration source sounds more like a reporter for the NYT than part of the team. Maybe the years of constant attacks have taken their toll on the fainthearted career bureaucrats, but it appears the President is not fazed in the least. Accomplishments? I seem to recall a few: a successful War on Terror, complete with two liberated and transformed countries in Iraq and Afghanistan (sorry NYT and the rest of the media elite -- I don't buy your nonsense on this subject). How about the fact that Bush has leveled the liberal agenda and some liberal media elites along the way? Then try the fact that Bush is about to rescue the Supreme Court, (with a conservative woman) from 40 years of liberal corruption to 40 years of the return to "original intent." This single accomplishment will enshrine his legacy, as the Supreme Court has become the last best hope for untenable liberalism. U.N. reform, permanent tax cuts, Social Security reform, and the estate tax are all items pushed down the field by Bush, despite an entire reluctant political class on his back. If they don't get it done, Congress is to blame, not Bush. Mistakes? You bet. I can name a few -- we all can. But perhaps if you pundits accented the positive rather than conventional wisdom, you all might enjoy life a bit more. Just a thought.
-- A. DiPentima

You guys gotta remember how the news cycles work in Washington. Congress has a shorter memory than the public at large. I officially refute the Prowler's overall pessimism and say Bush will probably be as pro-active this term as he was in the first. Disasters are flukes, but profligate spending has never been a special occasion or circumstance of events. We'll probably get the tax-cuts, a decent Judge on SCOTUS, but I'll grant you that Social Security may survive in all its glory as an anti-matter escrow account. So buck up and get with the program.
-- P. Aaron Jones
Huntington Woods, Michigan

In reference to "Dead Agenda" I have to tell you it really ticks me off that the Republicans are such gutless, chicken manure cowards that eight months into the President's second term they are whining about a dead agenda. Why can't they get off their butts and get to work on Social Security reform and permanent tax cuts? Do they remember winning the last election? Do they remember all of us who voted for them, expecting just a modicum of determination to carry through the reforms they espoused and we wanted? What will it take to put some spine in these people? Why won't they fight for what they know is right? Just because we had a devastating hurricane with attendant yowls of hate for Mr. Bush from the press and Democrats doesn't mean the world stopped turning. Look at the good news. The Coasties saved thousands around New Orleans. The war (remember it's a war, not a cakewalk) in Iraq, contrary to accepted opinion, is going well. Afghanistan just held another successful election. The best way to help economic recovery on the Gulf is to do more of what's already worked -- cut taxes. It stimulates the economy, creates jobs, and most wonderful of all, creates greater revenue. Social Security reform is a must -- if I was in my 20s again I'd storm Congress demanding it. Republicans -- stop worrying about getting re-elected and get to work.
-- W.G. Wheatley

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