How has Bush failed to show the US true conservatism?

[Graeblyn]

Originally posted by anthson
McCain is a moderate and moderates get swing votes and swing votes win national elections. I'm not voting for McCain, though. The man will do way too much harm to the conservative movement. Better to have a liberal president for four years in order to pave way for a true conservative that can show the voters what conservatism is all about. In the four-year microcosm, yes, McCain would be better than any liberal running for office right now, but I'm looking at a bigger picture.

I have heard/read this kind of sentiment from other conservatives as well. I have absolutely no opinion whatsoever on the subject of McCain's role in the GOP , given I am neither a Republican nor conservative, but I am genuinely curious, as Bush seems rather thoroughly conservative to me. That raises a question in my mind, which is the title of this thread.

[Blog]

Gov spending and CFR I guess. I can't really think of anything else offhand.

[anthson]

He's backed big-spending farm and education bills, endorsed massive new entitlements for mental health care and prescription drugs, signed campaign finance law that effectively limits political free speech, surmounted the largest mass of federal debt of any president before him, and reneged on his promise to partially privatize social security. This is all without mentioning how massively he's grown the size of government and its involvement in our lives in the name of national security.

But being un-conservative isn't just displayed in what one does. Bush's largest folly has been in what he hasn't done. To be a true conservative, you at least have to champion a few things effectively. Bonus points if you get them passed:

• Create tax vouchers that let parents choose which schools their children attend.
• Lower gasoline prices by increasing production capacity through reduced environmental restrictions and red tape.
• Drill ANWR like a fucking dentist.
• Pull government out of its quasi-socialist involvements in the medical industry.
• Allow businesses that make bad choices, like airlines and banks, to FAIL because of those choices.
• Implement and perpetuate a flat, fair tax.
• Legalize all drugs (debatable conservative point, but I sure think it is one).

I could come up with lots more if I thought about it for longer. Bush is basically a big fat pile of FAIL. He's hardly done anything to make America a more conservative nation policy-wise. I have seen compelling arguments that Clinton was more conservative than bush, although I have to admit those arguments hold water only because of the Contract with America.

[Gaviani]

I'm only posting to say something I only have the chance to say about once a year:

Anthson is correct.

George Bush is a conservative the same way I'm a Muslim woman: not at all.

[Savaric]

*Gives Anthson round of applause*

Then what camp does Bush fall in, if he is not conservative?

[anthson]

He falls in the ineffective camp. Bush probably has a few conservative values, probably wants to be conservative, but in the end he lacks the dedication and moral fiber to make the hard choices being conservative requires. You can't be a conservative with one thumb up your ass and the other in the air trying to see which way the wind's blowing.

[anthson]

As if you needed more proof:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

[Aristotle]

Every time I see this thread, I read through the title and this happens:

"How has Bush failed"

And I start to chuckle right there. How has Bush *not* failed? I then start to worry that if someone only reads that far, the forum's server will crash.

When I think of all the political capital he had after 9/11 and the 80%+ public support, it just makes me sad to think about what he failed to do with it.

He could have fixed, at least partially, our huge Social Security problem through partial privatization. Not only would that have helped SS, but it would have been a huge boon to the economy when all that money got invested in American businesses.

There was a time where he talked about making our space program a priority. That never happened. The technological breakthroughs that we lost out of are impossible to imagine.

Those are just two examples.

It is a real shame for someone to do so little with 8 years in office and various periods of time where he had a lot of public support. For the most part, our economy has been strong and thus opportunities were there. He just failed to seize them.