Did you just pop in from an alternate universe? Or are you on a revisionist history kick?

Bush just sat around in Texas and did what the party bosses told him. “Reaching out” is easy when there aren’t really any liberals.

In the White House he tried taking 50 weeks of vacation a year until 9/11 and then found himself so far over his head that he basically went “tilt” and Cheney ran things, and there was nothing resembling an olve branch anywhere to be seen.

At this point in Bush’s term it’s way, way, too late for any reconciliation. There will be nothing coming out of Congress that Bush will sign. We’re in a holding pattern until January 21st, regardless of who wins the election. One thing we’re certain of, Bush will NOT win in November.

I think the desire to have people work together stems from an emotional need rather then specific agenda. If Mac would say “I serve 4 years and not sign anything more comming out of this congress” that would be fine for me.

“It’s the internet, ACTivist, or I’d have put my right foot aside your left cheek for that one. How DARE you assign MY values as less important than yours. But, that’s what the Far Right does.”

Far right? When you are willing to “compromise” your freedoms away then you give up your core values. Never said my values were more important or different then yours. Don’t know how you came to that conclusion. I do know that when you start compromising on your freedoms that they are slowly eroded away until you look back and say “what happened?”

It isn’t a new direction we need. It is an old direction that got lost thru change and is now morphed into a monster. People will embrace old ideas as new because they haven’t been around for awhile. I want the old ideas back. The ones that worked and strenghtened our country. They should never have been let go of but, if you have been around for awhile, happened under someones banner of “change”. As I have always said; don’t change for changes’ sake. If it works, don’t fix it-perfect it.

As far as the foot-and-cheek comment, yeh, it is the internet. Best to know who and what you are talking about.

This is not an issue of compromise, or maturity. It is an issue of never taking anything for granted again. The Republican party under Bush lost its base in 2006. Thy still have not figured it out yet.

They lost conservatives. They alienated the security hawks, they lost the law and order types, they lost the budget hawks and the federalists. This is not a 80% of my view aligns with candidate X thing. The percentage of agreement is less than that, and it is a question of how will the candidate implement the policy. Bush has shown that he is not to be trusted with regard to the border. The justice department arrests border patrolmen who are doing their job, and has ceased the formally routine inspection of worker green cards. Our current front runner does not appear to be disposed to do any better.

The current front runner is flawed in his formulation of both security and budget. Not controlling the border negates bombing the h*ll out of someone in a cave in some Stan in Asia. Vetoing earmarks will not stop the erosion of our tax base, and the inflationary effects of free health care for illegals, free education for illegals and childcare now, and etc ….

Thumbing your nose at the EXISTING immigration law is not humane. Thumbing your nose at existing law is not conservative. Thumbing your nose at existing law corrupts the social fiber. It ain’t all relative.

This is a question of both principal and not giving the benefit of the doubt. Republicans do not deserve being given the benefit of the doubt on anything anymore. The Reagan era is over.

We THOUGHT Bush was a conservative. You can imagine our shock when we discovered yet another politician had lied to get elected.

I am a recovering republican that has his tail between his knees right now. I say take down the labels, right wing, left wing, radical, liberal and let’s all meet in the middle.

This country which I (and 4 others in my immediate family) have fought and died for did so to represent ALL, not just a few. So please, erase the past mistakes, let’s start fresh, otherwise I don’t know why in Gods creation I and many went to war…

PLEASE wake up…. change is needed!

It’s the internet, ACTivist, or I’d have put my right foot aside your left cheek for that one. How DARE you assign MY values as less important than yours. But, that’s what the Far Right does.
They are now showing all of regular America what spoiled children act like when they do not get their way. I do not know how many years you’ve co-existed in society, but life is compromise.If you don’t meet in the middle, you complicate your own life.
I have principles, and they guide me. When there is a conflict, I refuse to march over someone else to keep them.I do try to stay along the path to my principles, but I also visit reality quite often. THAT is something that’s severely lacking in crackpots like you.

Twenty two years in the Army taught me that hope is neither a tactic nor a strategy and is a very dangerous thing to base your plans on.

And to echo others, what sort of change is he proposing?

Tax rates are relatively low by historical standars. Will he propose that they be increased on the wealthy? Who exactly are the wealthy?

The current education system cranks out unacceptable levels of functional illiterates. What sort of change does he propose? Does he have the strength to take on the NEA and the educaton bureaucacy?

Despite the reforms of the 90s, the welfare system is a disgrace and perpetuates the Great Society plantation system that has all but destroyed the black family as well as a significant percentage of white families. What changes does he plan on implementing to change it?

Etc.,etc.

Speaking of change is sounds nice in a political campaign, what I want to know are the specifics of this “change” that everyone is supposedly demanding, how much it will cost, and who is going to pay for it.