Don't Let Them Do This, Again

You don't let your opposition make, or guide your decisions in any confrontation, political, or not.

I'm probably as tired of politics as anyone for today. Obviously some aren't, as would be power players in the Republican establishment are already positioning themselves for where they might go next, partly through Newsweek - here and here. h/t Hot Air. Evidently there are excuses and demons some feel the need to make.

Without being overly critical for now, the Right and center-Right should try and learn at least one important lesson from this campaign.

In great part, the mainstream media and inside the beltway types picked our candidate this year. They were fascinated with McCain and consistently pointed out how he was the one Republican who might have a chance to win - blah, blah, blah.

NEVER let your opposition pick your candidate, or tell you what the majority of voters and especially Republican voters think.

Liberals usually lose elctions because of the way they think. The more the Right buys their conventional wisdom, or starts thinking like them, the more we will start looking and acting like losers - just like them.

Comments

[Bob]

You being the guy who made the truly horrible comment about Obama putting a pillow over his (now deceased) grandmother's face, let me just say what a pleasure it was to read over your election night posts with a sense of schadenfreude as McCain's defeat slowly sank in for you. You, like apparently many McCain supporters, were so caught up in your party's divisive ideology that you couldn't even show respect for Obama's family or even his own humanity during what must have been a personal tragedy for him. As you spend the next four years wondering what went wrong, maybe you could ponder the price you and your side paid for such arrogance and disrespect. I can't help but think that if McCain had showed the decency and magnanimity throughout the campaign that he showed in his concession speech, the election might have been closer and the country would have been better served.

[mary]

Essentially my reaction of not voting was the reaction that everyone else seemed to have. The media did a very good job of convincing republicans that it was futile to even cast a vote and McCain did a good job of throwing the election by not caring to court his "base".

The moment for me when I realized that McCain was exactly who I thought he was was when he talked so much in the debate about fighting earmarks and then he voted for the bailout bill. The dems fought a wonderful psychological war, they duped the republicans who thought till the very end that they had it all covered. What is truly frightening is that this wasn't just two men running for the presidency, this was a finely tuned, finely crafted effort from the dems to get somebody, anybody elected president. You get the feeling they poured over polls and picked the brains of the American people, trying to figure out the kind of candidate they needed to craft to win that presidency and then they implemented that strategy and were successful. I honestly believe that McCain voted for Obama and just forgot to tell Sarah Palin. Until Sarah Palin came along I would not have voted for McCain. I voted for McCain because of Sarah Palin and I think I am not alone. She is, more than anything, responsible for the independents who voted for McCain. Notice how the dems went after her as though she were the presidential candidate as she was the one who they perceived as the threat. They never took McCain seriously because he never took himself seriously. I wonder how all those Mitt Romney folks feel after they were told we wouldn't elect a mormon or the Guiliani folks who had to deal with people bringing up a comedy skit where he wore a dress. Or the Huckabee folk who didn't want a minister as president.

95% of blacks voted for BO. To me that is another kind of racism. I would never vote for someone simply because of their skin color but they felt they could and they did. I find myself wondering what that says about our country and in what direction we are moving.

One comment I have heard a lot today from people who voted for BO but weren't sure about their vote. They have said "well, the president doesn't have that much power anymore". Several foks have said this in groups. Interesting comment and I'm trying to figure out what they mean.

[North Dallas Thirty]

"You, like apparently many McCain supporters, were so caught up in your party's divisive ideology that you couldn't even show respect for Obama's family or even his own humanity during what must have been a personal tragedy for him."

Ah, the irony.

"I don't blame the cynicsm - I mean look - you have a VP pick who's hiding her medical records so we don't find out her white trash ho of a daughter is the one who actually had the retard baby - and then there's McCain - the guy who sold out his country for a free ride in the Hanoi Hilton - I mean this guy can't brush his own hair or his own teeth - I wonder if junkie-thief Cindy wipes his asss?"

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2008/10/bull.html#comment-136273607

Or how about:

"Dan, could you do the world a favor?

Sometime after Obama wins the Presidency and you decide to kill yourself, would you please videotape it and post it somewhere. There are many who would enjoy watching that."

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2008/10/bull.html#comment-136300067

Or how about:

"You people display borderline retarded mental capacity along with your extreme paranoia. So, by extension, does about half of our country."

And then there's:

"You should be shot or otherwise made dead. Hoe someone helps you out with that."

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2008/10/bull.html#comment-136324823

But we can't forget:

"What a shame it would be if someone off'ed you. A shot to the head or a pillow over the face. Fuck you, Dan."

http://www.riehlworldview.com/carnivorous_conservative/2008/10/bull.html#comment-136325225

[templar knight]

Wow, Bob, just wow! I'm sure you've been to the sewers at Kos and DU giving the minions who post there the same speech. You know, about decency and respect.

[DANNY]

WE GOTTA END CROSSOVER PRIMARY VOTING - THIUS IS WHY MCCAIN WON.

GOP/RNC MUST TELL STATES: NO CROSSOVER VOTING OR YOUR PRIMARY WILL BE SCHEDULED LATE.

[mark l.]

"Without being overly critical for now, the Right and center-Right should try and learn at least one important lesson from this campaign."

I would argue that the republican party lost on one issue.

The bailout. when mccain failed to distinguish himself from bush, dems, big govt he affirmed to the fiscal conservatives that he wasn't their guy.

122 million voters in 04.
we are sitting on 118 million total, which should still increase, but not enough to make the election of any historic significance beyond any other.

on the current numbers, which will change very modestly, we are looking at less than 7% increase in democratic vote. There are two sides to argue the increase. Obama increased voter turnout almost exclusively among minorities, or he managed to draw bush 04 voters. If the former case applies, obama did little to change anyone's mind about democrats. If it is the latter, it diminshes the idea that he brought in any new voters-they didn't vote for a democratic candidate, they voted for the minority candidate.

mccain?
he lost 6 million 04 votes, or roughly 10%.

When the gop does get its act together, fiscal conservatism is at the heart of their argument, and it remains a winner.

mccain didn't lose because he was a republican, he lost becuase he wasn't a republican.

[Totally Heterosexual Conservative]

"losers - just like them."

Wait, you mean losers of Indiana, Ohio, PA, VA, Colorado, NM, NV, Iowa, NH, FL?

"You get the feeling they poured over polls and picked the brains of the American people, trying to figure out the kind of candidate they needed to craft to win that presidency and then they implemented that strategy and were successful.

Wow, what a zany idea, Mary. This your first election?

"95% of blacks voted for BO. To me that is another kind of racism. I would never vote for someone simply because of their skin color but they felt they could and they did."

How the fuck do you know that black folks voted for Obama simply because of his skin color?

Seriously, I hope you idiots are put in charge of Conservatism 2.0.

[Jim]

Let's just make one thing clear:

This was nothing short of a landslide victory; A mandate for reform.

Continuing, it is concise rejection of Reganomics and its ilk.

Bush, Rove, and the Republican Congress, were the BEST thing that EVER happened to the Democratic party. Their ineptitude cast a CLEAR CONTRAST on the difference that the ruling party, and economic policy can make.

The Good Lord works in mysterious ways, and I thank GOD for these people, for without them, we would never have seen the Light from the Dark.

8 YEARS OF Barack Hussain Obama!

[JustOneMan]

its becoming very clear...first Obamas Grand Mammy mysteriously dies and kept on ice ...then two "Men in Black" are seen at a Phildelphia polling booth and now Michael Crichton suddenly dies...its all becoming very clear....

[mark l.]

"This was nothing short of a landslide victory; A mandate for reform.
Continuing, it is concise rejection of Reganomics and its ilk."

yep. currently it obama has 1.03 times the mandate that bush got in 2004.

reaganomics is a basic element of every modern country. high marginal rates keep your country from growing. If you'd take the time to look at Reagan dropping the top marginal rate from 80% to 30% and the number of major countries that followed suit in the five year period after, you might realize that it was, and remains, one of the most significant changes in the way all countries govern and tax.

We are at the point of quibbling when we are arguing over 36% or 39% and portray it as the end of reaganomics.

democrat=economic illiterate.

bill richardson? cut taxes to increase growth as governor.
bill clinton? dropped the capital gains rate for the purpose of increasing revenue.

despite your niavete, many moderate democrats are doing it, they just don't call it reaganomics.

[the asset]

ok, dan.

if it's time for a brand new start, let's start here. it's time for you to ban/block the left-wing trolls that lurk on this site. you know the ones: these jackoffs add nothing to the debate; their moronic posts obviously come straight from DNC headquarters; and whenever they hold still long enough to get pinned down on any issue, they just throw a bomb ("laura bush killed that guy!") and run away like the bitches they are. why allow them here? why would you let cockroaches infest your picnic?

if there's work to be done, let's do it in a clean place. why invite the drooling liberal jackoffs in to make a mess of the day's work?

[Worst President Ever]

"mccain didn't lose because he was a republican, he lost becuase he wasn't a republican."

I see the quality of Mark's analysis hasn't improved any - tell me again why all those polls are wrong?

[mary]

"How the fuck do you know that black folks voted for Obama simply because of his skin color?

Seriously, I hope you idiots are put in charge of Conservatism 2.0.

Posted by: Totally Heterosexual Conservative | Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 04:43 PM"

Because they have been honestly saying so all day and all last night and, so have many other folks. Guess you aren't paying attention.

BTW, I am not a conservative. I am an independent. That means that I think for myself and that no party has drawn me into their ranks. and I am not an idiot. At least until January 20 I can still express my observations. thank God for that.

[anon]

The McCain campaign just wasn't that good, it was terrible by modern Republican standards. Letting Palin sit down for hours at a time with the networks and then letting them edit the footage and trickle it out for maximum effect was idiotic in the extreme. The whole Palin candidacy was handled miserably from start to finish. They implemented a tactic: kill Obama's bounce instead of a well thought out strategy for dealing with Palin and related issues. Dumb.

I believe McCain suspending his campaign was done out of country first conviction but if so, he should have stuck with it...doing it on the heels of having said the economy was sound and then being in DC for a day or so and then leaving again made him look flighty. Another very bad tactic in need of a strategy.

But, if the party thinks going back to the DeLay's and the Huckabees is going to win back the WH or Congress, you're dead wrong. Republicans need to stop emphasizing wedge issues and start rebuidling the Reagan coalition, and that means there is room in the tent for fiscal conservatives who are socially moderate.

[mark l.]

while I'll watch the inaugration and smile.

Obama will be taking the handoff from the two term, unimpeached, George W. Bush.

He won Iraq, while fighting the dems, the press, and his generals. Obama getting the football? to portray it as anything but a success in the time of obama's presidency would be recieved poorly. The public has already chalked it up in the win column, and given obama's penchant for taking credit, where it is less than due, I can't help but thin he'll be speaking very glowingly about the outcome.

Bush will be smiling the biggest grin he has had in years, knowing that he made it. Can't say I won't be smiling too.

Yes, his time is done, but thinking of all the time and effort the dems put into getting him, particularly the blogs, to no avail maes me laugh. You have probably spent 1000 hours of the past few years...for what? You have wasted your life for nothing. Bush clubbed you guys like a seal.

wpe-the 5 million votes you picked up...did they vote for the dem brand or for the single candidate? Deluding yourself into thinking that dems are on the rise is like the opening act for the Who looking out across the mob and thining that the people came for them. You didn't add anything to your base. Obama won't be on the ballot in 2010, only his issues. Will these people come out and vote those? we'll find out.

[mark l.]

"it's time for you to ban/block the left-wing trolls that lurk on this site"

just put a pic of a grinning george bush at the top of the page...

it falls under the similar theme of playing classical music in certian areas to keep teenagers from congregating.
on bad days you may have to go with a cheney pic.

[Worst President Ever]

"Deluding yourself into thinking that dems are on the rise..."

No delusion necessary, the numbers prove it. More representatives, more senators, and a Democratic takeover of the White House. Democrats run the - period. Only an idiot could look at those results and claim the Dems aren't "on the rise".

[mark l.]

can't wait to see the messiah work his magic in afghansitan.

we have lost 256 soldiers there, this year alone. It has been increasing, every year, over the past 4 years.
obama has said he is sending 10k more troops. once he is the guy who is escalating our involvement, it becomes his war.

logic would dictate walking away, consistent with his personal beliefs. unfortunately, europe has forces there as well, and obama wouldn't want to hurt our standing in the eu community. The irony is that it is so unwinnable, that no one will be in charge of what were doing there, because no one wants the responsiblity it entails.

i take that back, about wanting responsibility, biden will become the defacto commander in chief if needed for issues regarding afghanistan. god help our troops.

[mark l.]

Only an idiot=Worst President Ever...

wpe-think of the 3000 plus hours you have spent chasing after bush, lie quixote after a windmill...

3000 hours would be the amount of time awake you would consume in a half year in prison.
bush was you jailor, and you got the broomstick at least once a week.

I'll forgive your manic posts, I know you have gone thru a lot. sucker.

[Bob]

You know, I reconsidered. Appealing for decency and fairness when dealing with wing nuts is a waste of time. The more you guys wallow in hateful bigotry and self-delusion about how great your values and your party are, the better it is for our side. Just keep being your a**hole selves and the Democrats could be the majority party from here on out.

[mark l.]

"Mr Obama still achieved an overwhelming victory because he attracted 95 per cent of the black vote and two thirds of Hispanic and Asian voters.

Black and ethnic minority voters accounted for 26 per cent of all votes cast in the election. As recently as 2000, they made up just 19 per cent of voters."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/uselection2008/barackobama/3386869/Barack-Obama-victory-shows-changing-make-up-of-US-electorate.html

2004
.19(122)=23.18 million.

2008
.26(121)=31.46 million.

so let me see if I understand this, wpe...

8.3 million more minority voters, even assuming they voted by the 2/3 margin from hispanics and ignoring the 95/5 split in african americans...
accounts for 5.5 million of the vote total for obama.

aside from minorites, obama actually lost votes 63-5.5=58.5 million. kerry got 59 million.

tales of gotv in the burbs? wasn't even as good as 04.

I'll repeat the question asked earlier, did they vote for the party or the minority candidate? I don't resent their choices, as I would prefer a white candidate, all things be almost equal.

[Jim]

Either way you slice it, NO OTHER PRESIDENT HAS EVER RECEIVED THIS MANY VOTES.

This is BREAKTHROUGH statement from the people in America, Denouncing the Republican agenda.

You callously subtract the minority vote as if you have a point, and your point is well taken. You think that minorities are less equal, it's too bad for you that the polls don't think so.

As a White Man, I denounce your doctrine, and you will see a new age in America, and if you don't like it, well then you don't have to live in America do you?

I suggest you open your mind and heart, because this age will not end in 4 years, nor will it end in 8.

The people have spoken. No more will fear lead our hearts.

[mark l.]

"This is BREAKTHROUGH statement from the people in America, Denouncing the Republican agenda."

yawn...

if you mae it a refrendum on politics in general, you detract from the personal acheivements of obama.
It appears even I am more willing to give obama credit than you, a supporter of obama.

if obama and dems were equally special, they'd have gotten more votes.
pick one, and give them all the credit for a 7% increase...

[Bilby]

Jim, thanks for that fact free, race guilt laden outburst. Gah

[Bilby]

Jim supports Obama because by doing so he "proves" he's not racist.

[Dan Riehl]

"going back to the DeLay's and the Huckabees "

I'm certainly not suggesting that. Much of those tactics put me off. The Right to Life issue should still be important. But it needs to be carried from a rational perspective. Judges shouldn't make our desicions, tax dollars should go to support abortion, Rie v Wade is simply bad law and the issue should reside with the states.

It should be part of the platform and we shouldn't shy away from touting it. But it has to framed as a political question, ultimately. Politics and morality make strange bedfellows if positioned unwisely, as the GOP often has.

[Dan Riehl]

"shouldn't" go toward suppporting abortion, I meant.

[Jim]

"It appears even I am more willing to give obama credit than you, a supporter of obama."

In what manner? You think that since I equate his Victory as a Mandate from the people, it detracts from the Leadership Obama has shown? No, I don't believe so. Obama made it clear that this change is from America, and for America. It so happens that He is the right man, at the right time, on the right side. He is an amazing unifier and leader so far, and I expect nothing less of him in the years to come.

As for proving that I am not a racist, well, that is just ridiculous. My best friend when I was a child, was a Mexican, when I was a preteen, A Jamaican, and when I was a teen, a Korean, and it would be hard for me to name a 'Best' friend now that I have so many, but what what proves that I am not a racist; Is the fact that I treat everyone as a human. Not the fact that I voted for Obama.

This election is a clear bellwether, ringing in the demise of the failed policies and leadership this country has had for many years. Oh yes and It is also a stunning landslide for an articulate Leader, the likes of which we haven't seen in decades. Without Obama, this wouldn't have been possible.

True Leadership. . . Wow, what a concept.

[Todd]

"reaganomics is a basic element of every modern country. high marginal rates keep your country from growing. If you'd take the time to look at Reagan dropping the top marginal rate from 80% to 30% and the number of major countries that followed suit in the five year period after, you might realize that it was, and remains, one of the most significant changes in the way all countries govern and tax.

We are at the point of quibbling when we are arguing over 36% or 39% and portray it as the end of reaganomics.

democrat=economic illiterate.

bill richardson? cut taxes to increase growth as governor.
bill clinton? dropped the capital gains rate for the purpose of increasing revenue.

despite your niavete, many moderate democrats are doing it, they just don't call it reaganomics.

Posted by: mark l. | Wednesday, November 05, 2008 at 05:48 PM "

Well, what is it about the Republican Party during the past 28 years when it's been in power that Reagonomics has been accompanied by massively high deficits? Why can other countries, or states, or Canadian provinces, or Bill Clinton's 8 years cut taxes, grow the economy and balance budgets? I think in George W. Bush's case a good deal of it is that he is a completely inept leader who was incapable of governing pragmatically. But, what about the 12 years of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush? Why couldn't they grow the economy through tax cuts and avoid those budget deficits which prior to 1980 never existed on such a grand scale?

[Todd]

"ok, dan.
if it's time for a brand new start, let's start here. it's time for you to ban/block the left-wing trolls that lurk on this site. you know the ones: these jackoffs add nothing to the debate; their moronic posts obviously come straight from DNC headquarters; and whenever they hold still long enough to get pinned down on any issue, they just throw a bomb ("laura bush killed that guy!") and run away like the bitches they are. why allow them here? why would you let cockroaches infest your picnic?

if there's work to be done, let's do it in a clean place. why invite the drooling liberal jackoffs in to make a mess of the day's work?"
-------------------------------

So, you want Dan's blog to become like the old Soviet Union? Just censor all the people who disagree with you? You don't advocate freedom of speech? You don't agree with the United States Constitution?
What kind of American are you?

[Todd]

"In great part, the mainstream media and inside the beltway types picked our candidate this year. They were fascinated with McCain and consistently pointed out how he was the one Republican who might have a chance to win - blah, blah, blah.

NEVER let your opposition pick your candidate, or tell you what the majority of voters and especially Republican voters think."

Just curious who you think would have been the Republican nominee had the base made their pick? I'm guessing it would have been Huckabee. And, if so, why would Huckabee have done any better than McCain if all he really appealed to was the evangelical base? Governor of a small state, evangelical, no foreign policy experience, not a major intellectual. Mike Huckabee was a male version of Sarah Palin, without the mania following.

[the asset]

todd: in re your laughably juvenile snarky response-lite ("do you want to be just like the soviet union?") to my proposal that riehl rid this blog of the micro-brained, intellectually dishonest left-wing scum such as, apparently, yourself, that have made it all but unreadable ....

how shall i put this? oh, yes: fuck you.

since you so (mendaciously) proclaim your allegiance to "the united states constitution", i'm sure you won't mind this vigorous excercise of MY sacred, holy, 1st amendment rights.

riehl - no need to yell at me for f-bombage. i'm gone. won't be back, if ever, until you fumigate the place. adios.

[mary]

It is very interesting how people can proclaim to "not be racist" yet have their words betray them in discussing Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin. People may not be "racist" but they certainly have their biases.

dan, one of my black friends said that he actually heard someone say that BO is not a descendant of slaves. This prompted a lively discussion among my friends at happy hour about the reason people voted for him and what they expect. Ironically a lot of people are furious with GWB. They feel in his second term he "turned into a liberal and totally blew the budget." It is interesting how people say, because of GWB's second term,maybe we won't be electing presidents to second terms for fear that they will "change their agendas and not tell the people". Had never even thought of this angle till it was discussed tonight.

I did learn that most people with whom I spoke voted for McCain so BO "would not have a landslide." Not because they thought McCain was the best guy for the job. Or, they voted for McCain because "there was just something about BO that didn't resonate with me". Most people didn't think Sarah Palin was "so bad". the idea of having someone who was a Washington outsider was, in fact, very appealing. Several people pointed out that "BO started out like that" but they "are concerned that he will still be beholden to contributors whether they were lobbyists or not".

[North Dallas Thirty]

"So, you want Dan's blog to become like the old Soviet Union? Just censor all the people who disagree with you? You don't advocate freedom of speech? You don't agree with the United States Constitution?"

Wasn't it Barack Obama that ran screaming to the Department of Justice demanding that people who funded advertisements against him be prosecuted and punished?

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0808/Obama_camp_Prosecute_Simmons.html

Wasn't it Barack Obama who put together goon squads of county prosecutors and sheriffs to prosecute and punish anyone who dared to criticize him publicly?

http://campaignspot.nationalreview.com/post/?q=ZmZmZDg3NjkzMTk3OGZiMjc0YjVhOWUyY2I5YjY1ZTE=

If Barack Obama can prosecute and punish anyone who dares to speak out against him, I see no reason why Riehl can't enforce the same against Barack Obama supporters, especially ones who do nothing here other than fling insults and attack others.

[Philip McDaniel]

"How the fuck do you know that black folks voted for Obama simply because of his skin color?"
Because a majority of them said so, moron.

[Philip McDaniel]

“Bush clubbed you guys like a seal.” Great line, Mark; wish I’d thought of it! The lefties don’t want to hear it, but George W. Bush will go down in history much like Harry Truman did: despised and not much liked at first but steadily more appreciated over time when the implications of what he accomplished is understood. It takes time and historical perspective to analyze correctly a president’s tenure. Witness Jimmy Carter for example.

[seekeronos]

"--- Witness Jimmy Carter for example. ---"

And the same shall be said for President-Elect Obama, in the due course of time.

And my two cents on Obama/the Dem pickups in Congress:

It is not so much a socialist revolution where the masses have embraced the "messiah" or his socialist ideals solely on their own merits, but simply because he was the inverse of that lightning rod of all things considered bad by all liberals - Bush.

Rather, I think it reflects a rejection of McCain by Republican voters (that he was rejected by most Democrats goes without saying).

I think a good many GOP'ers stayed home Tuesday night, or cast votes for Bob Barr of Chuck Baldwin (as I would have, had he made the NY State ballot).

We GOP'ers missed our boat by not nominating any of a number of good men (Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, in that order) and then "sweetening" the deal with Sarah Palin (God bless her, a wonderful woman, but still currently woefully unprepared to be POTUS or VP).

Dr. Ron Paul, much like Obama, also had the ear of the rest of the world (I remember talking to Germans and French who were hoping that Dr. Paul would win his party's nomination)... as well as having a common sense, constitutional grasp of how our government should do things, and the will to do them right, even in the face of strident opposition.

Mitt Romney, though I might not agree with his flip-flops in the past, is otherwise a highly successful businessman and an accomplished leader, along with a very firm moral compass.

There is room yet for hope, even after we eat our appointed portion of crow, and the bread of affliction, and the water of bitterness.

We need to understand that this election is not a referendum that socialism is our great cure (for it has never worked very *and* for very long, in the places where it has taken root... it is a referendum on a very terrible mistake we as a party have made in endorsing and moving the NEO-conservative agenda.

[Todd]

"todd: in re your laughably juvenile snarky response-lite ("do you want to be just like the soviet union?") to my proposal that riehl rid this blog of the micro-brained, intellectually dishonest left-wing scum such as, apparently, yourself, that have made it all but unreadable ....

how shall i put this? oh, yes: fuck you.

since you so (mendaciously) proclaim your allegiance to "the united states constitution", i'm sure you won't mind this vigorous excercise of MY sacred, holy, 1st amendment rights.

riehl - no need to yell at me for f-bombage. i'm gone. won't be back, if ever, until you fumigate the place. adios.

Posted by: the asset | Thursday, November 06, 2008 at 12:03 AM"
------------------------

I don't mind. I can give as good as I get. Go fuck yourself, too, the asset. I support your freedom of speech and mine, too.

Now back to a more civil discourse, please.

[Todd]

"The lefties don’t want to hear it, but George W. Bush will go down in history much like Harry Truman did: despised and not much liked at first but steadily more appreciated over time when the implications of what he accomplished is understood. It takes time and historical perspective to analyze correctly a president’s tenure. Witness Jimmy Carter for example."

Time will tell on that. Another thing that George W. Bush will go down in history for is making the Republican Party so hated that it suffered landslide election defeats in consecutive elections of 2006 (congressional and senate) and 2008 (president, congressional and senate). That's the first time that happened since 1930 and 1932. The last President responsible for that happening was Herbert Hoover. George W. Bush and Herbert Hoover deserve each other.