Originally posted by spgoode:
A true conservative like George Will gets what many people don't....Bush is not a conservative he's a neoconservative. Cutting taxes is not enough to call yourself conservative, you also have to limit the growth of government. Bush's administration has increased non-military government spending more than any previous admin. From the dept. of homeland security to the bloated farm bill, Bush has not used a single veto to reign in the spend happy congress.

Here's Will's most recent column criticizing Bush and a quote from it. Go George(Will).

"Leave aside the question of who or what failed before 9/11. But who lost his or her job because the president's 2003 State of the Union address gave currency to a fraud ? the story of Iraq attempting to buy uranium in Niger? Or because the primary and only sufficient reason for waging pre-emptive war ? weapons of mass destruction ? was largely spurious? Or because of postwar planning, from failure to anticipate the initial looting to today's insufficient force levels, has been botched? Failures are multiplying because of choices for which no one seems accountable."

http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/national/will/story/9255644p-10180764c.html



What you do NOT see Will saying is vote for Kerry. If Bush is not conservative enough for you, he is VASTLY more so that John Kerry. This is the PRACTICAL choice we face in 6 months. No "perfect" conservative ideal is going to be on the ballot but the guy with the most liberal record is.

As much as I generally respect George Will, I think he is suffering from typical American "It must be fixed right now" syndrome. The Iraq plan is being cut from new cloth....molded along the way. No real precident because the war on terror as it is a new style a war that will likely be the main way wars are fought in the 21st century.

I think the initial tactical plan was teriffic (far fewer casualties than ANYONE predicted)..but in part that is because we did not fully procecute the Sunni triangle. This was a mistake IMO to not shake down Fallujia in the beginning as so many of what would have been EARLY casualties are now LATE casualities. We have made mistakes in not securing arms stockpiles, in not better sealing the borders from invaders, in not taking better advantage/control of the media, and obviously, in running the prison camps. I do think this should be investigated and if ness, accountablity assigned. Which may go to Rumsfeld. However some (not all) of this is hindsight, I think we have been adjusting tactics along the way...and this is needed in any war. Note the recent tactic changes in Fallujia and Karbolla...seems to be working better. We are adapting...but we hold our ground. I believe we will succeed because our enemy is still under the impression that we lack the will to fight. This is Bush's strength...the utter will to prevail. This is CRITICAL.

The reason to invade (beyond enforcing resolutions, WMD, eliminating a great mass murderer) was JUST made much clearer here folks. The Jordanian Al-Zarkowi that either beheaded or lead the murderers of that unfortunate young man has for years run a terrorist TRAINING camp in North Iraq with full knowlege of Iraq intelligence. He was training men to do what you saw on the TV!! AND the men that killed hundreds in Madrid with chemical weapons (perhaps even from Sadam's stockpiles) and re-shaped an ELECTION..same training camp, same leader. THIS WAS GOING ON IN IRAQ BEFORE 9/11! He was not running camps in Jordon because they do not sponser or tolerate terrorist camps. Iraq DID tolerate these camps. But those camps are now GONE and Al-Zarkowi has a multimillion dollar bouty on his head. And democracy or no, Bush will never tolerate this type of training in Iraq again, nor will he in Libya or Afganistan. Iran and Syria are on notice too.. And even N. Africa and SE Asia we are acting covertly to block Al Queda as they seek to retreat from middle east with 2/3 of the leadership captured or dead.

So conservative, neoconservative, whatever...Bush is getting the job done in a way Kerry NEVER will/would. This superceeds all other priorities for right now..so if Bush gives away some more of my money I amy not like it but I'm going to suck it up and deal..And I will not be joining the naysayers that whip up into a panic "regeime change" frenzy every new headline in the New York Times. Bad news for the country seems to lift there spirits every time..

1999 Amazon Green SVT Contour (#554/2760) "People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." -Soren Kierkegaard (as posted by Jato)