Well, there’s another one.
In this message, MeanJoe expresses total disgust at George W. Bush, his lying administration, and the so-called “Republicans” who have betrayed their conservative ideals and have driven him to vote for Kerry in November.
He’s not the only conservative Doper to take this tack – SimonX has been railing against the Bush Administration for months, and ExecutiveJesus is facing his own disillusionment in this thread.
(Oops, hit reply too soon)
So, who else is there? Where are the less-than-rabidly-conservative conservatives who are mad as hell at where their candidate and/or their party has taken them? I’m curious as to whether this is an isolated phenomenon, or the start of a growing trend, hence this thread. Consider this a combination survey, rant-fest, and soul-baring session, for whatever reasons you wish.
(I’d have posted this in IMHO, but the BBQ Pit allows folks to give full vent to their feelings without restraint)
Somewhere, Reeder is weeping hot tears of frustration that he couldn’t start this thread.
Wow, I have inspired a thread. sniff This is a big day for me. 
I would say “renounce” is rather strong, I am not resigning my membership in the Grand Ole Party. (They have an amazing credit card “points” program for GOP members through their Halliburton branded Visa.) I am refusing to support the current administration with my vote as I do strongly feel President Bush and cohorts have abandoned some of the principles to which I found common ground with the GOP.
Disgust. Disgust, yea, that word is a good start. It does not express my feelings strongly enough however I will avoid another profanity laced tirade on the subject. blush Think of the children, please.
Not that I have this much faith but I really do hope it is a growing trend vs. an isolated phenomenon. Unfortunately, among the few conservative friends/acquaintances I know here in the really real world, I am a bit of the exception. 
MeanJoe
I have known some people who have reached that conclusion. The “neocon” movement has isolated some traditional conservatives, including my parents. Traditionally, Republicans were more about fiscal responsibility. They were sometimes reluctant to social change, but would make change at a smooth, steady pace. I find it somewhat ironic that the last truly fiscally responsible Republican president was Dwight Eisenhower. I find it a bit ironic that a Democratic president was able to balance the budget, although I know well that Clinton had a lot of help from many Republican congressmen. I think George Sr. wanted to be as well, and may have pulled it off if he had won a second term (although I think Jimmy Carter may have had fiscal successes if he had won a 2nd term). If Richard Nixon was still around, he may be accused of being a liberal in today’s political climate.
As I get older, I do identify more with the “old school” conservatives, but the new Republican coalition, especially their alliance with the religious right, does not appeal to me.
I am completely disgusted with the current neocons. They want to grow the government as much or more than the liberals, just in other areas. They have also abandoned fiscal responsibility. They way they are sucking up to the religious right is another turn off for me. I will not vote for Bush, and most likely I will not vote for any republicans this time out. I feel that the current Republican party does not want me, so I will not vote for their candidates!
The current crowd (GWB and his sycophantic followers) are really undermining my voting for the enemy of my enemy / lesser of two evils strategy.
The conservative columnist, William Safire, for whom I have great respect (though I disagree with him half the time) bolted over George Sr.'s reelection and endorsed Clinton. He was fed up with the way Sr. wasn’t do anything to deal with the recession.
See? THESE are the guys/girls I can get along with, the ones that don’t want to spend any of my money and will gladly stay out of my bedroom.
The conservative columnist, William Safire, for whom I have great respect (though I disagree with him half the time) bolted over George H.'s (the dad’s) reelection and endorsed Clinton. He was fed up with the way H. wasn’t do anything to deal with the recession.
We’ve been seing conservative minds (Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, and Bill Safire) deliver some scathing criticisms of George W. in the past year. And even more so recently. The lack of WMD, the huge spending increases, the huge deficit, the lack of global leadership, the continuing mess in Iraq, and the loss of jobs have the hawks and fiscal conservatives very upset. Only the moral/religious neocons are still keeping the party line… publicly.
Sure, Safire regretted backing Clinton after eight years of him, and that might prevent him from bolting from W. But if W. doesn’t get his act together, and if Kerry is able to get across the ability to be a moderate Democrat (fiscally and globally) like Clinton. Then look for large scale jumping of ship.
Peace.
<HUMMING>
Kum-bye-Yah M’Lord… Kum-bye-Yah.
</HUMMING>
Yesssss Lawd, the lion! I said yesssss Lawd the lion shall lie DOWN with the lamb. Can I get a Hallelujah?
Heh… okay, maybe that is only funny to me the way I hear it in my own head.
MeanJoe
And boy, wouldn’t that be a nice change of pace? Not that I would expect that, of course, but man, wouldn’t it be nice if I didn’t have to go week to week not knowing whether I’ll be deployed or not?
Kerry gets my vote for a myriad of reasons, but believe me, I’ll do it holding my nose. Maybe if Kerry could actually make up his mind on anything I’d be a bit more comfortable voting for him, but Bush has already made up his mind and I don’t like a lot of what’s in it.
Well I haven’t jumped ship yet, but I admit it’s certainly been a taxing year…
I honestly don’t know who will get my vote come November. I just can’t see myself ever voting for a liberal candidate, but the current administration seems hell-bent on pushing me away. What’s an Astroboy to do?
Issues that I think Bush has let me down on (and I post these just for your information… NOT to open debate about them! I’ll ask that no one use these to hijack this thread, please.):
*The deficit.
*Same-sex marriage. (Oy! Way to drop the ball there, Georgie!!)
*Illegal immigration.
*Employment; specifically open jobs worth having… (if anyone sees one they don’t need, please let me know!).
I’d be tempted to write-in my own name on the ballot, but I’m deathly afraid that I’d WIN! Talk about a job not worth having!
I’m a conservative, small-c. That means I don’t like radical change… I hold the opinion that optimal social change comes incrementally.
I DEFINITELY believe that changing BACK, reverting back to what Neocons apparently yearn for - the '50s, at the latest - is more hasty and poorly thought-out than any PETA rally or Greenpeace attack.
Kick Bushie out? I won’t cry tears. Don’t think Kerry is a better alternative… the guy basically copied Bush’s itinerary, translated it into French, then German, than Russian, and then back into English to make it look different.
Someone call me when a REAL alternative appears.
I’m fiscally conservative, so I offer a half-hearted renunciation.
You assume too much. You’re assuming that he has anything at all in there, or that he even has a mind.
Robin
Actually, we are now in a realignment process. There are a lot of the Demo version of MeanJoe who are going the other way, too. These things happen every so often in US history. Sometimes an old party dies and forms a new party because of it, but that hasn’t happened in a while. Truth be told, it’s been coming for a while.
The last really big one was Roosevelt forming the classic Democrat coalition of poor urban whites (i.e., union men), blacks, and so forth, with the liberal upper-crust New England elite that still dominate the party.
Actually, the Dixiecrats were pretty big, weren’t they? If the Libertarian Party were not so politically incompetent, it would make hay of times like these.
I’m a hardcore conservative who has renounced any and all support for GWB, but the last thing that’s going to drive me to is a vote for Kerry. Let’s see, we could have 4 more years of horrendous budget deficits and unethical uses of our military to invade and conquer foreign countries, or… 4 more years of horrendous budget deficits and higher taxes, plus the first steps toward a Soviet health care system. Third party candidate, here I come.
There seems to be a lot of confusion around here about what exactly a neoconservative is. Specifically, many people are conflating neoconservatives with Christian conservatives. While it’s true that the current administration is heavily influenced by neocons and that it panders to the “religious right”, the two are quite different. (Here’s a decent introduction to the various “branches” of conservatism.) Many Bush detractors who are saying “I’m just a plain old unadulterated capital-C conservative” seem to think that that implies fiscal conservatism only. In reality, the “founders” of conservatism (Russell Kirk, James Burnham, and the original National Review crew) would today probably be considered Religious Right, and would disagree with the neocons on many issues.
Well, of course.
I agree wholeheartedly with the “realignment theory.” Just ask yourself who are the types who despise Bush, or more importantly, what has Bush done to make these types angry.
Libertarians: This group is pissed off because he is spending like a drunken sailor and he is curbing social rights. He is the anti-libertarian. Libertarians could go with other conservatives but not GWB.
Rockefeller conservatives or “paleoconservatives.” These guys I respect, if for nothing more than that they didn’t consider politics as a game of deciet and destruction rather than a game of trying to lower deficits and lower the size of the government.
It turns out that the Republican party has realized that supporters are supporters no matter how you shake it. It matters not if they do it for logical, semi-logical, or purely emotional grounds. They would rather dump some of the logical people (because really who finds Bush’s actions of late logical) and gain some of the scared folks (terra! terra! terra! gays! fags! queers!)
Okay and about the idea that there are a lot of Democrats going to GWB, that is true. From the polls I have seen it is around 11 percent of Republicans going to Kerry and 5 percent Dems going to GWB. You know if GWB had not invaded Iraq and not cut taxes so much, then he would smooooooooothly sail into reelection. The first tax cuts were fine, but the last one? That was excessive. At this point he could advance his agenda on just about anything to wherever he wanted to. Boy am I glad he screwed up! Bush has been severly discredited through lies about WMDs.
The point is: because GWB is such an awful leader we have this influx of sick-to-the-stomach Republicans. They don’t really like Democrats at all because they have been trained to not like them. And don’t get offended, I used to be a Republican once too, so I know. I turned on GWB around August 2002 because of Iraq. But they can’t vote for Bush. If jon kerree (misspelling deliberate) wins in November, which Republican would you vote for in 2008?
What about Senator McCain? Doesn’t he represent what most of the Can’t-vote-for-Bush Republicans stand for?
Also what’s REALLY interesting is what John McCain is saying about Kerry lately. McCain first said he’d consider a VP nomination from Kerry before denying it, but not on ideological grounds. Now McCain goes against the Rove talking points! Someone wrote about this on Kos in the comments, but I believe it may be what’s going on as well. Maybe McCain realizes that there is going to be a meltdown in the GOP soon and he wants to position himself to be the leader of it. McCain has stupmed for Bush a few times, but I still think he’s pissed about SC. Furthermore there is another intersting connection. John Weaver, who was a McCain aide in 2000, also plays an interesing role. He was a good friend of McCain who recently became his close friend after he nearly died from cancer. Whats even more interesting is that he has a vendetta with Karl Rove because he blackballed him from GOP politics after he won in 2000. They were old rivals in Texas politics. It is truely an interesting story.
So the question to all goopers is…would you be happy with a McCain GOP if you lost this election?