You conservatives may well want to distance yourselves from Bush now that he’s as popular as a smelly, dead fish, but all of the rest of us remember how he was your savior and best buddy in the months and years after 911. Nobody’s buying it.
It used to be a conservative meme.
Bush’s legacy also includes faith-based programs, support for creationism, opposition to abortion, wealth for the wealthy, and a ton of other conservative positions. You can’t just hand-wave that away.
Um, no. He ran as a “compassionate conservative” whom the hard right was somewhat suspicious of day one. He was accepted because he was deemed electable, which was what mattered after Clinton.
I’m not handwaving away his conservative policies; I’m pointing out that he also had liberal & moderate ones too. Ergo, he was not hard right, uber-conservative etc.
He was a moderate conservative. An incompetent, arrogant and unpopular one, but moderate nonetheless.
While I agree with you in terms of his policies, the fact is that conservatives overwhelming supported him almost to the bitter end. That implies an endorsement of his policies by conservatives, which negates the “true Scotsman” argument.
And Nixon had the EPA, detente and opening of relations with China.
That makes Eisenhower the last Real Conservative®, correct?
The first time I saw Nancy Reagan on TV I said to myself, “I can’t put my finger on it but there is something unclean about that woman. And no way is she drug-free! Look at her eyes!” I’ve always had a deep visceral hatred of her that I cannot explain; fortunately, the Pit does not require it.