Roger L. Simon

Turning Right at Hollywood and Vine

The Perils of Coming Out Conservative in Tinseltown
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By Roger L Simon

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Barack Obama and his supporters are to be congratulated on a victory that is indeed historic.  I wish him and them (and us, of course) the best.

In the wake of this victory, I think it is time to take a look back at Bush (though he still will be President for 75 days).  We can dismiss Oliver Stone’s puerile neo-Freudian maundering, but an article today by Jeffrey Scott Shapiro in the WSJ seems apposite. Mr Shapiro concludes:

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can be when our president needed loyalty — a shameful display of arrogance and weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White House.

Mr. Shapiro is on to something.

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54 Comments, 54 Threads, 1 Trackbacks

  1. 1. David Thomson

    “Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not gone unnoticed by our enemies.”

    The American voters have done much worse than that. The majority of them have selected someone who tacitly, if not even expllicity, promises to weaken our country. Barack Obama does not believe in American exceptionalism. Once again, we are taking a vacation from history—and inevitably will pay an awful price. I said that Obama would be tested by America’s enemies long before Joe Biden. This will occur before the shabbily educated Obama is in office two months. He is not even close to being ready to handle the responsibilities of commander-in-chief.

  2. 2. luvstotango

    They’ll come for the Jews first.

  3. 3. labar

    Now sit back and witness the transformation of our pathetic MSM from “The World Hates Us” to the “Most Respected County Ever”.

    The partisan “liberal” hacks in our intel agencies will stop undermining the policies of the president with classified leaks and/or allowing its agents to write books that are critical of “The One”.

    The New York Times and Wapo will suddenly be show more concern about the consequences of exposing classified material to the public than they have since Clinton left office.

    Also look for a new “West Wing” type show to come out that shows the president taking on the complicated world, making the tough decisions and always comming out smelling like a rose, because it worked during the Clinton years didn’t it?

    Yes now the media will be carrying the water for the community organizer instead of “waterboarding” him at every breath he tries to take.

    It definitly “kumbayah time” for sure!

  4. 4. Nate Jensen

    I feel tonight like I did the night the Democrats took congress two years ago. I found myself wondering then, as I wonder now, how many more Americans will have to die because of such a public repudiation of the Bush administration’s brave decision to take our fight to the enemy. George W. Bush is a very courageous man who did not let the 2006 election deter him from winning the Iraq war, but that election clearly raised the price we had to pay to do so. The cost of victory in Iraq and in Afghanistan and in Pakistan and in the Horn of Africa and in all of Asia, Africa, Europe and in America just went up again. I fear by a great deal more this time. I have no doubt that we will prevail in the end as we always have but we will pay a fearful price.

  5. 5. Paul from Florida

    GW is stoic. He knows the drill. He’ll do fine. History will treat him well.

    Anyways.
    A billion dollars of Hope and Change( 600 mil overt, and matching MSM in kind donation) can make a lot of people feel warm and fuzzy. And who doesn’t like kittens and unicorns, and when exactly is that check coming Obama?

    We’ll see if the fatherless, motherless, no close friend Obama likes what Axelrod has gotten him. The toughest job in the world, with Senators that Cesar wouldn’t trade for.

    On the plus side, he throwns( and why shouldn’t he?) his typical grandmother, his Kenyan relations, Wright, Rezko, the Clintons( snicker ) under the Bus. He’s won big enough to throw everyone else under too. Pelosi and Dingy better be just right in how they crawl accross the Oval Office carpet.

    We got a trillion dollars of debt coming up in the budget, each year, for years. China is laying off 100 million. The world is flooded with paper promises from governments( cough, cough). And, if you don’t like script backed by the good faith of the worlds political class, can I offer you thirty times more bonds? You like bonds? Have we got some bonds for you! We got corporate bonds, municipal bonds, state bonds, Treasury bonds. We got bonds from all over. And, good prices too!

    It will be interesting.

  6. 6. Roy N

    If he is on to something then the obvious lesson is to not repeat the same mistake with the new president.

    But really, he isn’t on to anything. I am tired of this bleating that we can’t exercise our freedoms because it will make ‘our enemies think we are weak.’ However, I have a feeling that this is that last time the WSJ will make that particular argument. At least for the next four years .

  7. 7. David Thomson

    A Chauncey Gardner has been elected our nation’s leader. Barack Obama is an empty suit. This will be obvious to the middle of the road voters before his inauguration. They will suffer from buyer’s remorse by no later than the middle of December. Unfortunately, it will be too late.

  8. 8. Bob Shannon

    I supported John McCain and am very disappointed, but not surprised, at the outcome of the election. I am also fearful of the left turn this country will take. But putting that aside, the Obama campaign was masterful. Everything was organized down to not allowing Obama to speak extemporaneously to the muzzling of Joe Biden to the manipulation (capitulation?) of MSM. Who were the puppeteers pulling the strings?

  9. 9. Mareyel

    It will not be too long before Senator McCain thanks his lucky stars that he lost. The coming (?) economic issues will make a winner out of the loser and the loser wishing on a star.

    And it will not be too long before he will be faced with his first (ever) crisis of international proportion. It will either be a strike on the US or an Israeli/Iran dog fight.

    Then the next crisis will arrive…how to make good on all those promises. Which he cannot do, because he will have to work with the Senate and we know that the Dems will not have a super majority. How long before Lieberman finally turns the D into an R? What will happen when the sheeple wake up and discover The Light Bringer doesn’t walk on water?

    How will he handle inner city unrest?

    We live in interesting (and frightening) times. But the sun rose this morning and we will continue the fight.

  10. 10. David Thomson

    Shelby Steele’s thesis argued convincingly in his most recent book, A Bound Man: Why We are Excited about Obama and Why He Can’t Win, has not been disproved. The MSP (main stream propagandists) merely hid the Anointed One’s black radicalism from the middle of the road voters. They are still substantially ignorant about Rev. Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers, and the politically correct John McCain is the one primarily responsible for this ignorance. Last night’s results reminded me why I initially supported Rudy Giuliani and then gravitated towards Mitt Romney. I never supported McCain until it was obvious he had wrapped up the nomination. But in my wildest dreams—I never imagined that McCain was this politically correct! The guy truly blew a sure thing.

  11. 11. moultrie

    McCain was my last choice of the available R candidates but he deserves a little credit for trying. OTOH, McCain really was a pitifully weak candidate on the Economy and almost totally unable to maintain any coherent theme. His Amnesty/1st A/Gangof 14 Chickens were destined to come home to roost. I wish he would retire from the Senate but then AZ does have a Drat Gov.

  12. 12. jedrury

    Blame GE and Jeffrey Immelt and its sullied NBC name brand.
    Blame Brian Williams, and, of course, the Keith Obermanns, and the Chris Matthews and Rachel Maddows. But those are the easy ones.
    Blame Jim Lehrer and his crew of “inside the Beltway” cronies like Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff, and smarmy Mark Shields.
    Blame David Brooks, David Gergen and Peggy Noonan and all the supposed conservatives voices of sense and reason.
    The way to pay them back is to turn them off.
    Don’t watch ‘em, don’t buy ‘em and when you decide to possibly buy a GE product . . . just say “no.”

  13. 13. Jamie Irons

    I am trying to be hopeful.

    We were promised hope, right?

    They can’t take that away from us. Right?

    I truly believe I am the last person in my neck of the woods (the Napa Valley) to like, respect, and admire President Bush, a person with whom I went to college, and whom I despised at the time of his election.

    May God and history bless him, and our great country.

    Jamie Irons

  14. 14. Banjo

    Bush deserves History’s coming verdict that he was the most incompetent, blundering fool to serve in the White House since at least Jimmy Carter. He never used the veto, presiding over an increase in government and spending rivaled only by that other Texas buffoon LBJ.

  15. 15. Glenn

    I’m sure not the last word on the subject but people get exactly the government they deserve.

  16. 16. steveaz

    If the media and the Dem’s hadn’t been so successful at side-lining the Global War on Terror, McCain would have won.

    From the outset, the Dem’s knew that Bush’s GWOT, along with his tax cuts, would ‘dry-up’ all the tax revenues that they hoped to redistribute to their favored constituencies. So they worked overtime to delegitimize the war in the public’s mind. Global Warming, Bush’s supposed “lies,” and Abu Ghraib comprised the cloak they collectively draped over our war with militant Islam.

    But cloaks, draperies and fenestrations can’t keep this real war at bay for long. When Bush leaves office, so does the deterrence that his leadership has earned us. This will leave our our untested President, his Congress and their propagandists pliant, naked and under the spotlight!

  17. 17. davidingeorgia

    well, George W Bush was apparently worried about his “legacy” – or at least a lot of his die-hard supporters were (more worried about it than about helping McCain win for a lot of then, as far as I could tell)…well, congrats guys and President Bush…you have your legacy! His name is Barack Obama. I hope that keeps you feeling warm and fuzzy back on the ranch in Texas, and I hope I never hear you or see your face again.

  18. 18. steveaz

    Banjo,
    Bush did what every other war-time president has done: he purposefully acceded to the opposition’s funding requests IN ORDER TO get their support for the ongoing war.

    This single fact should tame the accusations thrown at Bush by both the Right and the Left. But, for some terrible reason, it doesn’t seem to make a dent.

    (Quid Pro Quo. Be sure to check the congressional record on this matter – it, not advocacy-media reports, is the official record of congress’ spending bills and the President’s negotiated responses to them during the early part of this war. Both branches compromised frequently during Bush’s terms.)

    “Damned if ya do, and damned if ya don’t:” Faced with this perceptions-trap, Bush simply kept his head down and fought the war successfully. History will record that ignoring frivolous, politicized media and the siren-song of media-mediated public approval ratings is the hallmark of an executive’s greatness – which, of course, redounds negatively to the media by extension.

    I sure hope President Elect Obama has the same fortitude.

  19. 19. Joe Schmoe

    Oh, come on. We need to acknowledge why we lost instead of pointing the finger at the media, etc. Times are tough for the average American. We’re not living in Hoovervilles and we are all very fortunate to live in the USA, a land of plenty. But it has gotten noticeably harder for the average person to make ends meet. The election was a response to that.

    I don’t think that higher taxes, government spending, or pretty much anything that the Dems have to offer represent a solution to this problem. I am not looking forward to the next four years.

    But the fact remains that there is a problem and the GOP had little or nothing to offer to the voters. The Dems had nothing but slogans — “Hope, Change” — and a bunch of lies about they’d fix everything and make all the pain go away. But at least they are offering SOME sort of alternative.

    Like you, I think the cure will be worse than the disease. But the fact remains that the GOP wasn’t offering a cure, or even frank talk. I would have loved it if McCain had opposed the bailout and said “I’m going to do nothing. The market needs to fix itself and last thing we need is more government intervention.” I also think that would not necessarily have hurt him politically; my belief is that in bad times people are looking for decisive leadership and don’t care what form it takes. But instead, McCain pandered and supported the bailout, offered to buy out people’s mortgages, etc.

    But it’s not just McCain — it’s too easy to make him the scapegoat. The housing bubble inflated for years and the GOP didn’t do a DAMN THING to stop it. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that an 800 square foot shotgun shack in Compton should not sell for $500,000 — but no one said anything. The Dems didn’t either; everyone is responsible. But the housing crash is probably the biggest economic event of our lifetimes and the GOP was out to lunch while it was happening.

    If the GOP were to take a hard line and say that the housing market isn’t the government’s business, I could respect that. But then I’d damn sure expect them to consistent and oppose the $700 billion bailout package, but they didn’t. They pandered.

    IMO the electorate bet on the wrong horse this time around. But we have to acknowledge that the economy has gotten worse. We need to offer real solutions — conservative solutions — instead of pandering.

    I personally would love to see the GOP take a hard line and preach against the evils of too much spending and too much personal (and national) debt. A lot of people are in debt and can relate to the fact that this does represent a real solution to their problems — life is a lot easier when you’re not in debt. This is the kind of thing that we need to do going forward. The economy is an issue and we need to acknowledge that.

  20. 20. jedrury

    Joe:

    You are wrong on the media; they fell in love – better words “lusted after” Obama from the day he came on the scene. If you had paid attention to the election process as it progressed you would have
    noticed the complaints for months. Your Wednesday morning post election quarterbacking of “don’t blame the media” is the silliness the liberal talking heads on NBC are doing right now.

    Otherwise, the reason McCain lost is one word: economy.

  21. 21. Promoguy

    Joe, I have to agree with you on all that you said. I was just talking to surprisingly another McCain supporter in a liberal restaurant yesterday and mentioned just everything you wrote. I knew the minute McCain said I’m putting my campaign on hold and there was a debate a couple days later a big mistake had been made.

    McCain could have shown leadership and said GOP this is not what we’re doing. Take your lumps but be a leader on the issues that are important to conservatives. I continually replayed for my liberal friends the hearings back in 2006ish on the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae hearings. After a few viewings I though where was the GOP yelling and screaming.

    I know it’s a cliche, but you can’t be Dem Lite when you’re fighting the Dems.

  22. 22. srlucado

    Mr. Shapiro is on to something.

    He is indeed, but Bush didn’t do a very good job of standing up for himself. He was stoic; he was purposeful; he was loyal to his causes – but he never made the case to the American public very well.

    I like Bush; when I met him in 1998 I was very impressed and thought he’d make a fine president – and he has. I’m proud to say I voted for him twice (plus when he ran for governor). But he’s too much of an introvert to be an effective communicator, at least not without working a lot harder at it (being an introvert myself, I appreciate this).

    During WWII, the clearest case of good against evil in modern history, the government undertook a massive and ongoing campaign to remind people of the importance of the war effort & their contribution to it. Many of the propaganda posters live on as icons.

    But in the war on terror, Bush wouldn’t even name the enemy, let alone cajole us into participating. No war bond drives; no “loose lips sink ships”; no sense of being at war at all. He let the brainless liberal media form the story, day by day, “grim milestone” by “grim milestone”.

    He not only had the right, he had the responsibility to help us understand and build enthusiasm for his projects, and he let it slip.

    Not entirely his fault, not by a long shot. But he was too passive for too long, and it hurt him – and the Republican Party along the way.

    Scott

  23. 23. AlanC

    George W Bush will be viewed historically as much better than he is viewed at present if in the future he can be mentioned at all. Remember the victors write the history.

    Bush was more conservative than his father BUT he was infected with the Rich Republican noblesse oblige virus that infects so many of the “bow tie” Repubs.
    He had way too much Rockefeller in him and way too little Reagan. He never understood the philosophical roots of limited government and his urge to compromise had no anchor to prevent him giving away the store. Even if he had the ability to communicate and used the soapbox I doubt it would have made a difference since he didn’t have the principals.

    I hope he has a nice secure overseas location ready because I fully expect show trials and war crimes tribunals to go after the Administration very soon after January. Combined with the coming attacks on free speech my worst fear is that we will see the beginning of the American tyrrany.

  24. 24. Joe Schmoe

    Come on, everyone knows that the media is biased. I don’t think they are really all that influential any more. People — even those who aren’t all that interested in politics — don’t regard the networks as wise and benevolent seers who are here to guide us, most people are aware that the media has its biases.

    And more importantly, a biased media is something that the GOP is ALWAYS going to have to contend with. I haven’t noticed the MSM embracing conservatives lately. There is no prospect that this will change in the future.

    If we want to enact conservative policies, we are going to have to get around the media. We’ll never be able to count on fair coverage from them, there is no point to bemoaning this.

    Have you not noticed the wave of foreclosures? The stock market bubble? Did you not see housing prices inflating to ridiculous levels? The GOP didn’t see any of these things either. Therein lies the problem.

    At least the Dems were talking about it and said SOMETHING, even if they offered nothing but BS.

    Interestingly, the one economic issue which the GOP did address explicitly — rising oil prices — proved very popular. “Drill, Baby, Drill” really helped us. People aren’t yearning for socialism, they know in their bones that free market capitalism is what benefits everyone the most in the long run. We just need to articulate that.

  25. 25. John Galt

    In some ways, I am relieved that The Messiah won. The next 4 years will be a rough ride, no matter who is in charge. It will be better to blame the disaster on the Democrats and their propaganda arm.

    McCain would have been lambasted for 4 years about the economy, and much of it would be deserved because he lacks solid free market principles.

    McCain would not have kept us as safe as GWB (bless his overly well-intentioned heart) because he would have given in too much to the lefties in order to get them to say a few nice things about him. He would also nominate mushy centrists to the SCOTUS, despite his promises. (Many of the worst liberal SCOTUS judges were nominated as mushy centrists by Republicans).

    Obama and the Democratic Congress will be a worse disaster than McCain, but we are strong and will survive. How much will the media cover for him? We will be back to Clinton-era movies about wonderful Presidents. Both the media and the Dems will lose credibility for the small minority of (classically) liberal minded independents, just as I did after 4 years of Jimmy Carter.

    There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Just make sure you avoid the train.

  26. 26. Aureliano

    I don’t think they are really all that influential any more. People — even those who aren’t all that interested in politics — don’t regard the networks as wise and benevolent seers who are here to guide us, most people are aware that the media has its biases.

    That is people’s reaction to what is presented by the networks and other TV shows.

    It does not, however, address what the media DOES NOT cover. This is their real power. If the networks had done detailed exposes on Black Liberation Theology, for instance — and clearly they would have done such exposes endlessly on McCain had he been a 20-year member of a racist, kooky church — Barack would not have made it through even the nomination process.

    There are hundreds of stories that were never even touched upon (or purposely removed quickly from the media docket once they inadvertently became issues that could not be ignored), and dozens that should have ruined Barack.

    How can you ignore a media story if it isn’t even being presented? How can you form an opinion on an issue when you don’t even know there’s an issue?

    The Democrat party is ENTIRELY a media-sustained entity. Wave a magic wand that removes television from the world and the party would collapse in a single election cycle.

    There are simply too many nitwits who get ALL their information from television and movies, and from other people who get all their information from television and movies.

    Which reminds me … does anybody have a demographic breakdown on who watches the most television, and when? I rather suspect a correlation between the TV Pod People and those who voted for Obama.

  27. 27. hope

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  28. 28. Peter G

    The drilling issue did work well for McCain but only when the price of oil was well over $100. Once the financial crisis hit, the price of oil plummeted, and along with foreign policy that winning issue was no longer an election issue. The expectation even among its opponents was that the bailout would temporarily halt the financial panic – it didn’t, and that was really the end of any chance McCain had, short of some foreign policy crisis arising in the last few weeks that would have brought that issue back into play.

  29. 29. Insufficiently Sensitive

    What will happen when the sheeple wake up and discover The Light Bringer doesn’t walk on water?

    How will he handle inner city unrest?

    That’s the job of the civilian “security corps”. With enormous taxpayer funding, they will simply co-opt the rioters and provide them with salaried positions as ‘community activists’ in every significant city in the country. We shall see them with nightsticks in their hands as we saw the NBBP thugs outside the Philadelphia polling place yesterday, claiming they were ‘security’. They shall instruct us in correct behavior.

    The housing bubble inflated for years and the GOP didn’t do a DAMN THING to stop it. You don’t have to be a genius to realize that an 800 square foot shotgun shack in Compton should not sell for $500,000 — but no one said anything.

    As a matter of fact, the Bush administration attempted about 20 times since 2001 to get Congress to increase oversight and regulation of the corrupt Fannie Mae with its securitized loser loans. John McCain even presented a bill to do so in 2005. All such efforts were shot down by the bloated Democrats who supported the disastrous Community Reinvestment Act – largely the cause of the whole housing bubble.

    You are wrong on the media; they fell in love – better words “lusted after” Obama from the day he came on the scene. If you had paid attention to the election process as it progressed you would have
    noticed the complaints for months.

    As a matter of fact, both Obama and the execrable Cindy Sheehan were media creations from the start, useful in the media hatefest against the Bush administration. Tools both of them. Obama is also a tool of Bill Ayers (anyone notice that the WaPo and New Yorker just ‘spontaneously’ interviewed Ayers yesterday, and it turns out that he’s been in constant contact as an Obama advisor all through the campaign). ‘Just a guy in my neighborhood’, indeed.

  30. 30. steveaz

    Guys,
    1. If the congress controls spending, then laying increased spending at Bush’s doorstep is a non-starter. And, the Congress controls spending. (Again, avoid unofficial sources: reference the Constitution instead.)

    2. RE the media, to not mention its role is to not understand our nation’s politics. It is like demanding that folks look only at the puppet and the theater, ignoring the puppeteer and his strings.

    It’s easy to understand media’s incentives for shriiness of late. When members of any committee lose a vote, such as when the congressional “Anti9-War” minority lacked the numbers to block the Congress’ passage of Bush’s Iraq War authorization, they always run to media.

    Media ‘for-pay” info-channels represent one of our nation’s generous licenses to any losing ‘minority:” in America, with her First Amendment and her lax slander laws, the press is a democracy’s losers’ natural refuge.

    Which needs to figure into any discussion of “politics,” because the synergy between the promiscuous, global media’s content and their paying minorities coupled with unlimited reserves of foreign donations has a proven ability to jolt and jerk our nation’s political discourse in decidedly “un-national” directions.

    Just sayin’ it should figure in is all. I don’t like blind spots.

  31. 31. cfbleachers

    Scott Shapiro makes an intriguing case and there is certainly merit in his discussions of hyperpartisanship.

    But make no mistake, the entrenched media and their cohorts of hyperpartisanship in academia, hollywood, and disguised leftist social engineering groups…have won an enormous battle. There is very little standing between them and an imposition of plans and ideology that portend a sea change in our political landscape.

    Their relentless attacks on President Bush and demonizing of him…and by “association”, all those who did not oppose him vehemently…worked.

    President Bush was not an eloquent speaker, nor was he an effective messenger for why those hyperpartisan attacks were not worthy of support. He knew the entrenched media was unfair and hyperpartisan against him and he went into “bunker” mode, dealing with them as little as possible. He addressed the country infrequently and seemed to move inward as his popularity was battered.

    Look, those who opposed him lacked any semblance of grace on too many occasions. Let’s not repeat that disgraceful behavior in the name of “payback”. It is beneath any man or woman of conscience to mirror disgraceful behavior as a lesson in why it shouldn’t have existed in the first instance.

    He is the elected leader of my country. We need to give him a clean slate upon which to write his legacy. It behooves us to watch closely what the sweep of power into the hands of Pelosi, Reid and Barney Frank gives them the impetus to try to enact.

    Vigilance without vengance, diligence without denigration, analysis without animosity should be the hallmarks of what we bring to help shape an Obama administration tenure.

    It certainly would be a refreshing change from the actions that we have rightly condemned. I have deep and grave concerns about what a runaway leftist government could do and the lasting, perhaps permanent damage that reckless and hyperpartisan legislation might impose. But, I will take those on a case by case basis as they arise. Because they are now completely out of my control to do otherwise.

    What I can control, is my own dignity, my own grace, my own honor and my own integrity. And I will not sully it for the momentary, fleeting and rather empty “rush” that “payback” might give. If I am to condemn behavior, I can’t do that by emulating it.

  32. 32. jedrury

    The assessment above that Bush was too much of a bow
    tie Republican is close to the truth. His refusal to go after and rebut in kind his attackers led to his cascading approval ratings. His stand on the surge was a profile in courage. But of course it will not be acknowledged by the MSM as the JFK phrase is coined and minted and strictly Democratic.

    The old phrase that you never attack the man who has all the ink is always repeated by the men who own the ink in the first place. McCain got mileage out of attacking the press and the MSM. There is a lot of resonance to “we all dislike the media” in the American electorate.

  33. As was mentioned above, Bush compromised repeatedly in order to prosecute the war in Iraq, specifically, and WoT in general. Congress (both parties) avoided standing in the way if they got to spend lots of money (which was flowing into D.C. because of the oft-maligned tax cuts). “History” isn’t unitary, so how history views Bush depends upon who’s writing what at what time and trying to make some point about the (future) “current circumstances”.

    Bush had trouble getting judges appointed. Obama’s will sail through a Democratic Senate. Obama’s 2001 interview may prove somewhat off. He thought that most changes cannot come via the judiciary. When Obama appoints very liberal, very young judges to life appointments, there’s gonna be a lot of changes over the years. I think the Dems will try to ram through as many judges as possible over the next two years in case they suffer losses in 2010. I think Obama will be trying to work fast and furious. I think smart Dems know they have a two year window to make a lot of mischief, some of which will be hard or impossible to change.

  34. 34. Pops in Vienna

    I know this is wishful thinking but….wouldn’t it be nice if this was a clever and devious scheme to hand an unfixable mess over to the Democrats?

    One of the previous commentators was correct. McCain wouldn’t have distinquished himself in doing what needs to be done. Maybe we’re better off letting Obama screw around with this for 4 years.

    We are in for some bad times.

    Hang tough!

  35. 35. Crusader

    cfbleachers: you can go on and on about “dignity and grace”, but the liberals just punched you and me in the mouth. We’re all with bloody mouths this morning and you don’t want to punch them back in the mouth?

  36. 36. Lightnin' Hopkins

    Bush is a good man. I’m proud to have voted for him. He will be considered an above average president for his steadfast committment to our national security, alone.

    The wider war we are engaged in will not cease to be because Obama occupies the Oval Office – indeed, it will now intensify. How will the new president handle the fire when it’s at his feet? I’m afraid we are all about to find out.

    “Experience teaches us that it is much easier to prevent an enemy from posting themselves than it is to dislodge them after they have got possession.”

    –George Washington

  37. 37. gumshoe

    “16. steveaz:

    If the media and the Dem’s hadn’t been so successful at side-lining the Global War on Terror, McCain would have won.

    From the outset, the Dem’s knew that Bush’s GWOT, along with his tax cuts, would ‘dry-up’ all the tax revenues that they hoped to redistribute to their favored constituencies. So they worked overtime to delegitimize the war in the public’s mind. Global Warming, Bush’s supposed “lies,” and Abu Ghraib comprised the cloak they collectively draped over our war with militant Islam.

    But cloaks, draperies and fenestrations can’t keep this real war at bay for long. When Bush leaves office, so does the deterrence that his leadership has earned us. This will leave our our untested President, his Congress and their propagandists pliant, naked and under the spotlight!”

    Barak may not be Muslim,
    but he might as well be.

    cries of “racism” are an easy cover for jihad,imo.

    Liberation Theology is *not* Christianity.
    Black Liberation Theology is *not* Christianity.
    And on top of that,all the *smart set* know Christianity is an illusion.

    moral relativism is not a harmless “go-along-to-get-along” phenomena..ideas and actions have consequences.

    we inhabit a secular world with very little in the way of spiritual discernment.

    Roger’s life-experience in Hollywood would very likely confirm it.

  38. 38. qwfwq

    A couple of thoughts about why this happened:

    1.) O! and his team were ruthless. They still are. They will be. Prepare to be shocked.

    2.) Much of the media is the product of our Left-wing university system: historically, politically and economically illiterate. They’re amoral. Their song is siren because they drink their own kool-aid.

    3.) A substantial percentage of our voting public is the product of our Left-wing university system: ditto. By 2012, this voting bloc will be even higher, assuring Leftism of even greater popularity.

    4.) The conservatives will not re-group, they will expire and/or go underground. The media will see to that. Speech laws will be enacted that will take away our freedom to dissent. This may be one of the last elections representing anything like a conservative or classical liberal idea. You’re living it now. The Dems are going to be sealing all the exits from now on. The damage will be incalculable.

    5.) Under ordinary circumstances, Bush would go down in history as a great president, but the new media is now able to re-write history in real time—and they will. Then they will destroy the evidence. Trying to keep tabs on the truth, as some in the new media have, is proving to be a full-time job–a non-paying full-time job. Most people will just give up, and we’ll all get a little crazier knowing that very little of what we see reported is true.

    6.)The public failed to realize that Bush was the first president of the Information Age. The media waged war on him. No one came to his aid. They vanquished him. In the future, few honorable politicians will be willing, or able, to stand up to such an onslaught. Most will be unable to pay the bill to fight unless they are helped by wealthy, powerful–and corrupting–interest groups such as those funded by George Soros. Let Mrs.Palin go back to
    her happy life; meaning is there. Politics is just not worth it.

    7.) We made a big mistake last night.

  39. 39. gumshoe

    “6.)The public failed to realize that Bush was the first president of the Information Age. The media waged war on him. No one came to his aid. They vanquished him. In the future, few honorable politicians will be willing, or able, to stand up to such an onslaught. Most will be unable to pay the bill to fight unless they are helped by wealthy, powerful–and corrupting–interest groups such as those funded by George Soros. Let Mrs.Palin go back to
    her happy life; meaning is there. Politics is just not worth it.”

    there;s a depth i this comment that we all ought to examine.

    well put,qwfwq.

    it looked iked politics-as-usual.
    but perceptions are not reality,imo.

    if they were,none of us would ever
    mistakenly jump to conclusions.

  40. 40. Gaffe Prices

    About bloody time, I say. I have been a loyal President Bush backer all along. but my support of President Bush pales in comparison to that of my wife. I have seen two other such articles, from Andrew Breitbart and Greg Sheridan. I want to continue to behave as President Bush has, which is not to stoop to the level that the left, the media, and Democratic strategists have plunged in order to satisfy some vague and unachievable form of retribution. The disgrace lies with the left, and them alone.

    Unfit for command. It is on their shoulders to restore their hopeless reputation. But Don’t Hold Your Breath. We will prevail in the arena of ideas. Our system of government is designed to survive the stress it will endure from these fools and Neophytes. Precisely because it is designed to be conservative. It has checks and balances that leftists do not respeckt. That system will still limit their success. Lets see what happens to them when they try to lead by fiat.

    History will judge us fairly. the history making position Ubamas so craved will have great responsibilities, and the reputation of his diversity will be on the line and for two years Democrats will no one else in congress with whoc to share the blame. No one except themselves and their already failed policies. But let them bear the responsibility for the tainted poisoned tactics by which the operate. Disappointment and banality awaits them. Ubamas is going to have to grow up soon, instead of spewing the cute rhetoric of ebullient children, that made him so popular with like minded adult children. CHANGE. Lets find out just what is so different about him.

  41. 41. Huan

    I am very fond of W. I think he has demonstrated both leadership and resolve. Many of his domestic policies I actually like (privatization of SS and even immigration, but these have aggravated his Republican base).

    My biggest complaint about W was his inability (or unwillingness) to explain to the American public the reasons for his actions, whether it be Iraq or the Bailout. And thus the public turn away from him because they did not get it, and did not feel he was sufficiently forthright.

    sad.
    for him.
    and for America.

  42. 42. SeanLA

    Joe Schmoe, Aureliano and others are scary wrong to discount the power of the media and what was done here by them.

    I live in LA by way of NY and Chicago, and those are big cities. Media influence is major in those cities, major. Everybody gets their information from the media, even those at NRO watch network MSM media all the time. I don’t know a single person not influenced by media, and in this case, the Obama media machine dominated, blocked, mocked and kicked the s**t out of conservatives and the Republican party.

    I disagree with CFbleachers:

    Whats needed is a major attack and alternative to the MSM, not little blogs like pajamas media and its little web cam. I’m talking about a real media takeover. Not like Fox presenting Jesse Jackson and O’Reilly being nice to Obama, I’m talking about getting someone like Gibson/Kuric on the Conservative side who will mock and make Obama or any democrat look like an idiot.
    Take their lead.
    Fight fire with fire.
    Conservatives took politeness to a gun fight!
    Conservatives need to attack not be polite.

    We need a conservative Soros. Isn’t there anybody out there in the conservative world like Soros? A billionaire willing to spend his money for a greater agenda? Soros and Obama are looking ahead, the long march, fellow traveler and all that.

    Pajamas Media needs to get a business plan together and look for the funding to rival ABC.

    Remember CNN started somewhere, in the mind of Ted Turner and he grew it to what it is now.

    Conservatives need to get on that agenda. CONSERVATIVES NEED MEDIA to rival and dominate the. Conservatives need to turn the address security check off on their contribution web sites.

    The only real way to fight propaganda is with better propaganda.

  43. 43. jedrury

    Where will the MSM do now that the great object of their bile
    has left the scene? Against whom, will the Obermanns and the Matthews and Moyers rant? They are not sustain their ratings without a hate object; Bush, Cheney; they will last as the object
    at least to February 1. The war is over, the troops are coming home. Can Keith do straight ? Highly doubtful. But after that it is anyone’s guess. Waxman may do his Hill shuffle for months but after that it gets pretty stale. But first, we will get months of Obamamania, his historic inauguration, his overcoming racism, hoops in the gym will replace jogging and biking as a presidential activity, Michelle as the new age “Jackie O.” Chicago style politics will infect the District. The Chicago mafia will take over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and Oprah in the White House, concerts on the Mall.

    There will be so much confetti on the air waves, the media will not sniff its first scandal ’til June. Without scandal, what will the MSM do?

  44. 44. Crusader

    Not my President. Not now, not ever.

  45. 45. Crusader

    Read “1984″ by George Orwell. In there is all you need to know about what is coming. You shall love Big Brother. Big Brother loves you.

  46. 46. gippergal

    It’s true that the mainstream media has failed to cover positive elements of Bush’s tenure: his record-breaking aid to Africa (and unlikely friendship with Bono!), his administration being the most diverse in history, and the fact that even Barbara Walters grudgingly acknowledged this past Sept. 11: that there has been no attack since.

    Americans cry loudly when they experience minimal pain, then forget the pain too quickly. Unfortunately, the archliberal illuminati already being set in place for the next administration will not help this trend.

    It strikes me that “bleeding heart liberals” never would’ve been able to stay on rations for years like the British did in WWII. Leftists confuse injustice with discomfort.

  47. 47. ic

    42. Huan: My biggest complaint about W was his inability (or unwillingness) to explain to the American public the reasons for his actions, …

    Remember the “Big 3″ refused to carry his address the nation speech? (I don’t remember which speech, but there was one.) 90% of American people supported him to take out Saddam, yet when things got tough, the MSM lied about “Bush lied”. They conveniently ignored the 550 metric tons of radioactive materials that were sent to Canada a couple of months ago. The liberals would rather release Gitmo jihadists to live amongst us if that hurt Bush.

    Bush has given up explaining a long time ago. He knows, like the Romans, the American people want a scapegoat, a scapegoat who is to be blamed for the ills of the world and is to be thrown over the cliff to atone for their sins and please the gods.

  48. 48. SeanLA

    hey gippergal,
    the MSM didn’t fail in anything. They were outrageously successful.

    we need a new network and the money behind it. Not like FOX that plays nice nice, but one that will trash and question and place doubt on O and his ilk every day in every way. At every and any step they make. Unlike the republicans, the democrats will sue, sue, sue. So the great part of the budget needs to be for lawyers, to defend and counter sue, because all the `slander’ will be provable. I will donate to that public network if anybody has the nerve to get it up.

  49. 49. gumshoe

    “44. jedrury:
    Where will the MSM do now that the great object of their bile
    has left the scene? Against whom, will the Obermanns and the Matthews and Moyers rant? They are not sustain their ratings without a hate object; Bush, Cheney; they will last as the object at least to February 1.

    jedury –
    you seem to have forgotten John Conyers previous attempts at impeachment hearings for Bush and Cheney.

    i can’t explain why i’m one of the few to mention it.
    seriously ugly stuff.
    great wag the dog material.

  50. 50. AlanC

    Gumshoe:

    I didn’t forget hence my statement in #23

    “I hope he has a nice secure overseas location ready because I fully expect show trials and war crimes tribunals to go after the Administration very soon after January.”

    Ugly? This will make Rosie O’donnell look like a super model.

  51. 51. Grouchy Old Fart

    This American never failed to stand by the President. He’s kept me and my family safe for 7+ years and I am grateful. He’s withstood the worst kind of belittlement and personal assault from his lessers for years without giving in to petty back and forth. Sometimes I wished he would have lashed out at the phonies who tore him down all the while knowing they would have done the same things he was doing if they were in his shoes. Someday his accomplishments will be recognized; freeing 45 million people from tyranny, 6 years of job growth and uninterrupted economic growth. I’m afraid we’ll have to suffer more terrorist attacks and more financial hardships than we could have imagined before the nation and the world comes to appreciate George W. Bush.

  52. 52. mae

    I agree with SeanLA. I apologize in advance for the rant.

    My husband dismisses the MSM, saying everybody knows the media are biased, thus nobody pays any attention to them. Wrong. So wrong. Fer Pete’s sake after choosing Mccain for the Republicans, they then went ahead and secured the election for Obama. Few saw it. Most people followed along like rats behind the Pied Piper.

    Many don’t – can’t – see the media bias that conservatives see. Perhaps, their world view is being reflected back to them. Or it could be that they are drinking the koolade. Either way.. Just last evening, I was being dressed down by a (less than tolerant) liberal friend. She demands that I either prove media bias or quit referring to it. So, exactly how does one prove the existence of bias when the listener believes the bias to be a reflection of the truth. Hmmm, more positive stories about O than big Mac, then it must be that O does, in fact, do more positive things and McCain does more negative things. I just laugh, because I ‘ll never open her eyes. And yet… and yet she tells me I have a closed mind. Ha.

    Somehow the media must be disarmed, disabled, exposed for their meglomania and destroyed. Hastening the decay of the media will be tough on the country, because, oddly, people seek comfort in traditional media.

    But traditional media need to be excised like the cancer they have become.

    The deranged media’s destruction of President Bush has been an inexcusably vile, dark and despicable chapter in US history. How dare anyone treat our nation’s sitting president with that disrespect? And contempt? How dare they? He is my nation’s sitting president. Not to mention, in the case of George Bush, a magnificent human being. (Oh, lord don’t even get me started on the members of the media’s unworthiness to pass judgement on President Bush, I can feel my blood pressure going up, up..) But I thought it was terrible when the media tore Clinton down. Yes, he had done wrong, but the media has no business destroying a president’s humanity. It degrades the members of the press and it degrades the consumers while degrading the target. Have the media no standards except destruction. Show respect to our president, dammit. If he has done something wrong, then there are procedures in place to remove him. But destroy him and render him unable to govern…THAT sounds dangerously close to the definition of high crimes and misdemeanors, to me.

    Media hatred and lies proceeded to then promote bitter divisions within the US between people of differing politics, using strict adherence to political correctness as their weapon.

    Unforgivable. Sickening.

  53. 53. steveaz

    Grouchy said,
    “[...] all the while knowing they would have done the same things he was doing if they were in his shoes.”

    That’s the final word on Bush, I think. Historians referencing official documents – not media products, will write about how closely Bush followed the Clinton/Gore “regime-change” battle-plan in Iraq, and how his first tries at creating a civil authority there using the now-maligned Garner/Bremer model simply put
    Al Gore’s cabinet’s planning into effect.

    It’s kinda sad, actually: the way grown-ups with TV ‘news’ and ‘comedy’ shows have behaved for the last eight years. They’ve all made a lot of money off of parodying Bush; they ought to be ashamed at themselves.

  54. Here’s what I wrote back in January:
    JANUARY 04, 2008

    IT’S ALL OVER BUT THE SHOUTING

    The idiotic Iowa caucuses have revealed enough so that Horsefeathers is now ready to call the 2008 election: Obama will easily beat Mc’Cain for the Presidency.
    Instead of worrying about the election, save time and energy; skip the next 9 mos of the media manufactured horse race. Instead get ready for a torrent of politically correct cant, and the replacement of neo-conservative utopianism by liberal utopianism. The neo-conservative faith in Democracy for all, with its accompanying fantastical belief that everyone craves freedom, will be replaced by the Liberal utopianism that believes all conflicts can be resolved using words and therapeutic empathy. When Islamic barbarism strikes again, we’ll deploy cadres of psychotherapists and lawyers to help the aggrieved Jihadis, driven to despair by the unfair distribution of wealth and power. Remember this, however, it might have been worse; it might have been President Hillary.

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