Ah! How much simpler life is in a pinko nation like mine where government is seen as an expression of the community rather then evil incarnate, where we give aid to the needy because its the right thing to do, and where we don’t have to listen to this type of claptrap.
Most conservatives supported the Iraq war. Conservatism != isolationism, outside of perhaps the Pat Buchanans of the world – i.e., the completely irrelevant elements of the conservative movement. By staking out this position, you are aligning yourself with the Ralph Naders of the world – a defensible position, sure, but hardly a “conservative” one. **
That’s a structural problem that no one’s really been able to surmount. Not even Ronald Reagan. Would you say Reagan wasn’t “conservative?” **
National security is a big deal to conservatives. This was so during the Cold War and it is so today in the war on terror. One can argue about the efficacy and tradeoffs involved in any given measure, but those are wonkish type arguments that don’t fit under broad ideological labels. **
He does? That must explain the massive UN coalition of troops used in Iraq… :rolleyes: **
Politics is the art of the possible. Bush has said he supported extending the AWB, true, but it is likely that the extension legislation will fail to get out of Congress. In this way, Bush is making a play for moderate voters while ensuring that gun owners actually get what they want. It’s smart politics. I think the worst you can say is that the Bush White House is willing to play political games for electoral gains, which is true of all politicians – those that don’t generally don’t stay politicians for very long. **
Reagan gave us deficits, too. So what?
And although the political climate post-Enron has killed it, candidate Bush proposed a significant change to the Social Security system: private accounts for taxpayers. That is a decidedly conservative idea, giving individuals, rather than the government, control over their retirement savings.
(As an aside, what kind of conservative likes our social securty system? That’s a holdover from FDR. Most conservatives would like to scrap or at least radically restructure the whole damn system. I’m questioning your conservative bona fides.) **
Again, this is a structural problem endemic to entrenched bureaucracy. Reagan couldn’t do it. Gingrich couldn’t do it. Why do you expect more from Bush? **
What are you, some kind of liberal hippie? We should be drillin’ in ANWR, for cryin’ out loud. **
This is simply stupid and misinformed. Bush has done more for NMD than any president since Reagan dreamt it up. If you’ll recall, Bush backed us out of the ABM treaty specifically for the purpose of testing a NMD system, and has accellerated testing of that system. **
What do Christian voters want that Bush isn’t providing? He appointed John Ashcroft largely to appease the Christian right. He split the difference on stem-cell research. What exactly did you have in mind? **
While I agree that illegal immigration should be clamped down on, opposition to immigration in general is hardly a necessary component of a conservative stance. Free market conservatives (like me) tend to not be bothered by that, because in the long run it enriches us all. **
Such as…what? What do you want him to do? **
Perhaps you missed that whole steel tarriffs imbroglio. And perhaps you’ll notice it was conservatives who shrieked the loudest when it happened.
Conservatives generally favor free markets. They oppose protectionism, because it stifles economic growth. **
You must not get out much. Read any journal of conservative thought. Or hell, just hang out in GD and listen to the conservative posters here.
It was the liberal wing of the Democratic party that shrieked the loudest when welfare reform passed in the mid-90s, which in part made it harder to live on welfare in perpetuity. That was a proposal largely championed by conservatives and denounced by liberals.
I’m having a hard time finding any shrieking, and at least one liberal described it thusly:
Clinton Says He’ll Sign Welfare Reform Bill
I think you are exaggerating liberal oppostion to this bipartisan bill.
Not hardly, Fear Itself. Signing the welfare reform bill was a masterstroke of cooption by Bill Clinton. On that issue, he was a moderate, and he deserves credit for making it into law.
But the chief opposition to the welfare reform bill came from the Ted Kennedy wing of the Democratic party. Liberal commentary on the bill painted a picture of droves of poor children cast aside to the streets. Charles Rangel’s comments were typical, as were analyses such as this one from NOW. The 23 senators that voted against the act were all Democrats, and the overwhelming number of “no” votes in the House came from the Democratic party; in both cases, those Democrats largely came from the leftist side of their party.
So I think my description is accurate. Republicans and moderate Democrats favored the reform. Liberal Dems did not.