Republicans and Conservatives Only...

[Gail Simone]

Do you feel that the Bush administration has made any mistakes or bad decisions of any kind, and if so, what were they?

Gail

[matterconsumer]

[busts into thread] I'll continue to maintain that the Republican party made a serious mistake by supporting Bush as a candidate. Should have never been president.

All one has to do is listen to Bush. He can barely make it past a sentence or two coherently.

He should have never accepted the nomination.

And he's been a bigger spender that would put the typical Democrat to shame.

[Briareos]

Not a big fan of his immigration program. And He's horrible on spending.

[Sabrinaset]

The three main problems I have with him are his inability to control spending, his non-attentiveness to illegal immigration, and his insistence that working with the Democrats will actually work, which is foolish. I don't recall a bad word he's said about them, and yet you never hear anything civil coming from the Dems at all. He should have realized a long time ago that his "I'm a uniter, not a divider" policy won't work if the other side doesn't WANT to be united. Probably a big tactical mistake, and I haven't a clue why he's still banging his head against a wall like that unless he's into pain.

I still haven't figured out if I agree or disagree on his stance regarding stem-cell research and cloning. I think I mildly disagree.

Matterconsumer, you're a conservative? You posted on the Liberal side of this question...okay, which are you?

I'm kinda thinking you won't get too many responses on this thread, Gail. Most of the Conservatives left YABS awhile back after being compared to Nazis and bigots 24/7. Heck, just listening to Rush is enough to be accused of planting crosses on yards.

EDIT TO ADD: Yeah, Matter, looks like you just wanted to complain about W on two threads. Tsk tsk.

What I find mildly amusing is that so far, all two of the conservatives here have actually managed to stay on topic, while the Liberal side...well, you asked for what good they did, and half of them are using it to make MORE Bush slams, or at best, VERY backhanded compliments.

[titanfan]

Do you feel that the Bush administration has made any mistakes or bad decisions of any kind, and if so, what were they?

I'm going by "mistakes" rather than things I disagree with. I don't agree with a lot of his decisions, but it would be hard to argue that they were all political mistakes.

Off the top of my head:

- Too much of a spendthrift. Economically, it's like having a Democrat in office!
- Poor Marketing/Education of his new Social Security plan to the general public.
- Harriet Miers fiasco
- Basically is going to kill the NASA Science Program, even though that's the one department in NASA that has actually been the most productive.

I think he's handled the media poorly. I consider myself a "moderate" Republican, and I think his policies this term have actually been more moderate. But you'd never know it because he's still kow-towing to the far right in the media. (Which seems to piss them off when his policies aren't as extreme as they'd like)

[Indefatigable]

Yup, spends too much.

[Weetomuncher]

Well, I'm a Conservative of the British type and I feel that Bush's support of Tony Blair has been disgusting. He practically ignored Michael Howard before the last election and seemed to support Blair. This was disgusting behaviour against his supposed Conservative allies before an election we were heading into with a possibility of causing major damage to Blair's majority even if we weren't going to win that time. I think the only reason he supported Blair is he knew that a strong willed Conservative government wouldn't have been on the choke-chain that Labour were.

Bush seemed to dilly-dally about Iraq as well. I feel that state leaders need to have a yay or nay approach to major issues.

I don't know why the Bush-Blair pact kept keeping up the WMD issue (even though I believe Iraq still had minor capabilities in this field) when they knew Iraqi military power had been severely diminished in the years previous.

The issue should have been overthrowing the Ba'athist regime and returning to civilian government as quickly as possible rather than appearing to many as being an oppressive foreign power.

Bush doesn't seem to have the reigns of his government departments either and many of them seem to go off in opposite directions at times.

Science and technology funding is important to the progress of any nation and agencies like NASA have been allowed to fall apart at the seams. Surely a nation like the US can afford to run a decent space programme in this day and age?

[Spackling Compound]

I'm kinda thinking you won't get too many responses on this thread, Gail. Most of the Conservatives left YABS awhile back after being compared to Nazis and bigots 24/7. Heck, just listening to Rush is enough to be accused of planting crosses on yards.


I remember the crapstorm when W was re-elected. The official YABS opinion was that if you voted for Bush, you hated gays.
It was a good fight for a while but went nowhere.
I've stopped posting on YABS as much as I used to due to the political ugliness. Gail will say to keep politics on the political thread but often be the first one to post a political thread. Her board, her rules.

I wonder what people would have said if you posted that you voted for W, Sab. Perhaps you're a self-hating lesbian?

[MacQuarrie]

Do you feel that the Bush administration has made any mistakes or bad decisions of any kind, and if so, what were they?

Gail
In a nutshell, they are politically tone-deaf. They are utterly incapable of phrasing their policies in a way that appeals to anyone who isn't already a solid supporter.

I'll leave it to others to catalog the many examples of corruption and stupidity. Their biggest failing was being unable to win over the undecided or convince the skeptical of anything.

[cactusmaac]

Well, I'm a Conservative of the British type and I feel that Bush's support of Tony Blair has been disgusting. He practically ignored Michael Howard before the last election and seemed to support Blair. This was disgusting behaviour against his supposed Conservative allies before an election we were heading into with a possibility of causing major damage to Blair's majority even if we weren't going to win that time. I think the only reason he supported Blair is he knew that a strong willed Conservative government wouldn't have been on the choke-chain that Labour were.


Blair supported him on Iraq. Howard didn't. There's no obligation to support someobody out of nostalgia.

Bush's failings:

1. A number of things could have\should have been done differently in terms of the occupation. However some of them could only have been really appreciated in hindsight.

2. Commmunication. Conservatives get what he's saying and like it. He's not a Great Communicator though and that's really hindered approval of things like Social Security privatisation and guest worker programs. Plus he doesn't seem to work well with Democrats on issues which could do with bipartisan approval. And the flap about Miers' and DPW would not have happened if he had better personal contact with GOP members and supporters.

3. In terms of spending, Bush isn't as bad as he seems particularly since he's been consistently making tax cuts. When Ronald Reagan left office in 1988 the tax burden was 18.1% of GDP to pay for a federal government that spent 21.2% of GDP. In 2004, Bush had lowered the tax burden to 16.3% of GDP-- a level last reached in 1959--to pay for a government that spent 19.8% of GDP.

Still there could be more commitment to smaller government and privatisation, although that's not easy given the political climate which calls for more governement support for health, education, welfare for the aged etc.

[Lester C.]

Their blunders are why I consider myself a conservative in my ideology and heart but a disenfranchised Republican in terms of who I’m going to vote for in the elections this year. I am upset that my former party has supported this administration in its decisions to severely curtail our civil liberties while increasing our national debt to a near nine trillion dollars. This administration has turned its back on our philosophy which focuses on empowerment, liberty, and opportunity of the individual to become better than he or she ever thought possible and I not going to reconcile with those I deem responsible. I’m going to do my best to make sure that they are all out of a job and there is a changing of the guard.

[Sabrinaset]

I remember the crapstorm when W was re-elected. The official YABS opinion was that if you voted for Bush, you hated gays.
It was a good fight for a while but went nowhere.
I've stopped posting on YABS as much as I used to due to the political ugliness. Gail will say to keep politics on the political thread but often be the first one to post a political thread. Her board, her rules.

I wonder what people would have said if you posted that you voted for W, Sab. Perhaps you're a self-hating lesbian?

Nah, I'm a self-hating Lebian Simulcrum.

Someday, I'll tell YABS why I am what I am, because yeah, I'm full of contradictions...a Gun-loving Conservative Bisexual Future Surgeon, but for the moment, let's just say that one bad day when I was 12 led me to be what I am now, and leave it at that. I obliquely told Gail, and for now, I'll leave it there.

[sixstringguild]

1. Crazy spending
2. His views on immigration
3. Putting the wrong guy in charge of FEMA prior to the Katrina. I'm referring to the guy who quit when the crap hit the fan.

[Tad Sivana]

The Bush junta has parted ways with the conservative mainstream to become a radical right reactionary administration.
They are the administration of big government; expanding government control over 'moral' issues, telling you how to live your life and trying to take decisions away from the family.
They are the administration of big spending; expanding the national debt to the greatest levels ever. They have cut taxes that did not need to be cut and in the process of demolishing important and functional federal structures in the name of cost-cutting while funding an ill-concieved and rampantly incompetent foreign adventure in the Middle East. It is the greatest outlay of our national treasure in history and it's going toward an ill-defined goal of 'war on terror' while the needs of american citizens are ignored.
They are an administration of big lies. Their statements to the press and the public are at odds with the facts. When George W. talks in his press conferences about his frustration with 'government' that messed up the situation in New Orleans, he sounds like he's still running for office. But it's HIS government.
They are an administration of incompetence. Giant undertakings without proper planning. Full-scale implementation of 'think-tank' concepts of governance without consulatation with experts. Appointments made on the basis of party hackery instead of qualifications and experience. Is it any wonder FEMA is now a shell?
Finally they are an adminstration of buck-passers. No vetos, no firings, no personal responsibility taken for mistakes or errors.
As a conservative, I reject George Bush's philosophy...he's a reactionary and a radical, NOT a true conservative.
History will neither forgive nor whitewash the record of this administration and America will be paying for it's lazy arrogance for many, many years.

[titanfan]

As a conservative, I reject George Bush's philosophy...he's a reactionary and a radical, NOT a true conservative.

This gets a big:

X

from me. Total agreement.

[Buzz Dixon]

Spending, soft on illegal immigration (we don't mind 'em coming in, we just wanna know who and where they are and if they're paying into the system when they work), too trusting of his staff.

Afghanistan and Iraq were good moves in my view, but it will be at least a decade before we know if the current post-invasion policy is working on not. However, a bad post-invasion policy is far superior to any post-non-invasion policiy...

[Theophilus]

His record on immigration fascinates me. He's done more in his relationship with Vicente Fox to progressively eliminate border control than any previous president.

His loyalty to cabinet members is both a virtue and a vice. He won't drop political liabilties..and he won't allow fresh blood when it's sorely needed. Most conservatives have supported Rumsfeld's quiet resignation for quite some time...

Lastly, he's too slow to respond to critics. By the time he gets his message out it's too late. He relies too much on supporters, which is almost understandable given that speech isn't his strength. Still, his campaign to defend his policies should have kicked into gear a long time ago.

That being said, I voted for him twice and I don't regret it.

[Samurai]

His record on immigration fascinates me. He's done more in his relationship with Vicente Fox to progressively eliminate border control than any previous president.

His loyalty to cabinet members is both a virtue and a vice. He won't drop political liabilties..and he won't allow fresh blood when it's sorely needed. Most conservatives have supported Rumsfeld's quiet resignation for quite some time...

Lastly, he's too slow to respond to critics. By the time he gets his message out it's too late. He relies too much on supporters, which is almost understandable given that speech isn't his strength. Still, his campaign to defend his policies should have kicked into gear a long time ago.

That being said, I voted for him twice and I don't regret it.
Ditto. ;)

[Phoney Bone]

Spend, spend, spend. He loves to spend that money. All of his proposed programs sound great, but where's the revenue going to come from?

He ran both times as a conservative (which is why he won) yet governs as a moderate, just like his father. It's the "whimp" gene, I guess, when dealing with the opposition.

He hasn't been tough enough on illegal immigration.

And how dare he stay so physically fit! I'm outraged!!!

[JeffreyWKramer]

I'm not a Republican, or a member of any party. I loathe political parties. That said, my politics tend to be strongly traditional-libertarian. You know, what the GOP was about back before it became the party of cultural conservatives and greed-is-good.

Libertarian conservatives are all for the following:
- Limited government. Bush gets an F there. He's done more to expand the government, and the power of government, than anyone since FDR.

- Fiscal conservatism. If an F- was possible, Bush would get that in this area. He's as fiscally conservative as a teenager on crack with a stolen credit card.

- Civil liberties. You know, the Bill of Rights, the stuff the Founding Fathers fought for? Can't get any more conservative than that. Bush gets a glaring F here, both for his expansion of government powers (see above) and also for completely bogus behavior such as using government muscle to keep protesters away from his appearances, and doing supposed "town meetings" where the only members of the "town" that are allowed are those who support him. Nope, can't have any tough questions at any of those press events. Kinda ironic, Americans are dying to give free speech to Iraqis when we have a President who has such disdain for the concept.

Overall - he's a loser.

[superion]

I'll repeat the main two items that seem to have been mentioned most often:

1. Soft on illegal immigration.

2. The Deficit (which is a combination of his spending and tax policies).

3. The war in Iraq.