This will make you feel GOOD!

[Grins]

From today's Wall St. Journal's right-wing "OpinionJournal". John (diddle the babysitter) Fund wrote a column today on conservatives outrage over Bush's excessive spending. Take a look at the responses!! Count how many say they are going to either not vote, or vote democratic.

<http://www.opinionjournal.com/diary/responses.html?article_id=110004605>
(You may have to register, but it's free.)

[JuniorPlankton]

1. Ahh, joy! n/t

[Tansy_Gold]

2. I dunno -- I don't feel good after reading such stupid remarks

The people who wrote those letters didn't seem to have a real grasp of the issues. They see * as somehow equal to a "liberal," rather than recognizing that his spending policies have no connection to the spending policies of an FDR, a Clinton, or even a Nixon, a Reagan, or a Bush I.

If these letter writers understood the issues, they would understand that it's the LACK of true campaign finance reform that has created many of the spending overages: special interests buy special treatment via unregulated campaign finance spending.

But what they also don't understand is that the deficit is not only a result of higher spending levels: the deficit wouldn't be nearly the problem it is if there hadn't been the three enormous and wealthy-biased tax cuts.

The simple bottom line is that if you just cut taxes, even the same rate of spending will increase the deficit.

But they don't seem to "get it," so i don't have much hope that they will suddenly decide to vote for a Dem.

[JuniorPlankton]

4. Tax cuts are not necessarily evil

But you shouldn't cut taxes when you have holes that big. The point is that * shouldn't spend more than he has.

[Grins]

6. I agree, and...

I think your comments are correct. But I think back to Rove (pretty sure it was him) saying that the 2000 election was so close because a lot of the Christian right didn't vote. Dubya may suffer the same fate in 2004, plus he may lose these very same people that responded to Fund's column.

My view is that Republican conservatives have a one-world view they want to see reflected in its entirety. Losing on any issue is enough to rouse their anger, and they take that anger out on any member that does not accept the totality of their worldview. Look at what they are doing to Arlen Specter. The rules of the Senate make it practically impossible to push any measure through without compromise, because it is divided 51-48-1. The right wing of the Republican Party is simply ideologically incapable of accepting the kind of compromises that must be made because of the transactional nature of our government. Since conservative Republicans reject compromise, they fail to take account of the broader national interest. The result is an administration whose domestic actions fail to uphold that broader public good; and the Republican administration becomes subservient to pressure groups.

The result is divided government. But, the problem is that an administration has to have its legislative programs moved forward or risk the voters, and that demands the compromise that Republican conservatives so despise. So, the only tool available to an administration intent on soothing those conservative hard feelings - is pork. Just ask Trent Lott. "Mr. Lott's main contribution so far as Senate leader has been to deliver pork to Mississippi." (The Wall Street Journal's Paul Gigot in 1998.)

"The right wing of the Republican Party is simply incapable of accepting the kind of compromises a Senate majority leader must make. Dole understood this before anyone. "Give (Trent Lott) a year up there, and people will say I was a right-winger," Dole reportedly told his friend, former Reagan aide Lyn Nofziger, according to an article in The American Prospect." (Noam Scheiber, The New Republic, Post date: 12.20.02)

The right wing hated Sen. Baker because he gave in on the Panama Canal, and set aside school prayer and abortion in favor of the President's economic agenda. That got Novak and Weyrich mad at him and they campaigned to get Dole in as Senate majority leader. Dole merely questioned whether the Senate would accept a House $245 billion tax cut and conservatives hated him for it, and Novak wanted Lott to replace him. In exchange for Daschle's promise to let appropriations bills move forward, Lott allowed Democrats to bring up 20 amendments to a soon-to-be-debated HMO reform bill, and conservatives went nuts.

Bitch as they might, the fact is they brought it all on themselves! The only way to shut these nuts up is to stuff their mouths with cash!

For another good article on this topic, see the NY Times editorial, "The New Republican", 28 Dec 03.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

3. Whoa!

He's toats, folks. The WSJ is one of the voices of his base.

[ArkDem]

5. Yes. The republicans are going to vote

for the democratic nominee this year.

[rockymountaindem]

7. I do feel good.

Thanks for calling that to my attention. I agree that some of their letters missed the point though, and I don't like them calling Bush a liberal. He's just irresponsible, and I resent being compared to him. Oh well, if that means they won't vote for him, all is forgiven.

[ElementaryPenguin]

8. Thanks! It certainly did do the trick!!

:bounce: