Thank you for your follow-up and I concur. But know this: I have a very real though minor part of Bush's legacy and an interest in keeping it secured. Unlike the current contest where beyond a few hundred lost to Fred Thompson's support, in Bush's legacy I have a stake in his election for both terms (2000 and 2004) with thousands of hours in donated time to his campaigns and financial contributions far beyond what I should have sacrificed for my lowly station in life. I worry it not simply because there has not been a single decision the current administration has made that met with my disagreement and my record of his support here in BS P&CE has been to that administration's strong defense countless times. Suffice to say I am keeping it on track. The efforts Bush has made toward both pro-life causes and stabilizing social security formed the foundation of subsequent effort. The two conservative SCOTUS judges he appointed, including the Chief Justice, will one day overturn Roe v. Wade. Further, the unique privatization efforts he suggested on social security will be one day pursued, since there is no other way but private to sustain social security. The system is bankrupt and no public bailout is possible. Social security can only be saved, in its current form, privately, as Bush suggested. In war as in chess it is not necessary terminate your entire opposition but prevent his leader's movement; checkmate if you would like an analogy. So too, in war it is not necessary to kill the opposition general. Ronald Reagan did not win the Cold War by hanging Gorbachev and our success in the Civil War and World War II were not won exclusively by bringing Jefferson Davis to Fort Monroe or Adolph Hitler to his ashes in the Berlin Chancellery. We are winning the War on Terror by eliminating jihad cells worldwide and marginalizing Osama bin Laden in a cave. Whether he is caught or uncaught is not determinate on us winning this war nor is it impotent in our battle. If Osama is caught today you think these jihad cats worldwide will suddenly poke their heads up and say sorry man... it was all a joke? Wars are fluid. Things happen unexpected in war. The Rumsfeld strategy may be shown to have overlooked obvious issues today yet we benefit from hindsight that was not apparent then. I do not hold these issues against our President since he, like any successful leader, trusted his subordinates within the Armed Forces; lessons learned going forward make such occupation a success today that has overcome any difficulty we have had before. The current administration has proposed and implemented greater Border Patrol funding, a more robust immigrant programs to support agriculture support, and tougher fines for companies that hire illegal aliens. I fail to see amnesty in anything the administration has touched. Conversely, the border fence that was to be Congress' single responsibility remains unbuilt; that should be the target of your scorn here. Bush has kept this nation safe; elect him Leader of the World if you want the entire world kept secure from Islamic fundamentals. Let me know directly what part of the Patriot Act directly affected you personally and denied you or your family a single Constitutional freedom. Do I hear crickets? Your security is expensive. We never had a real war against an Islamofascist menace. Building that security contributed toward the deficit. So too, growing foreign credit is crippling our investment. Both issues: Islamic Terror and Foreign Credit, where line items on the Bubba Agenda that were not addressed so they cascaded over to the Bush Administration. Bush will take responsibility for the first and admit that we may be in debt for some time for our national security; blame that on Al Qaeda. As for the second, talk to Bubba. So you wonder if I'm going to loose sleep if we pull some terrorist's fingernails in order to secure the safety of Americans? My only real consideration here is whether we can make commercials of such harsh interrogations and show them during the Superbowl as how we handle those that would dare oppose us. We had a prior president that fought a war for his total term in office and lost every battle during the first two and half years of that war. Both Houses of Congress wanted him impeached. Total fatalities of that war were approximately 600,000 or more and I doubt there was a single American that fully supported all his decisions during that war. Yet today this president gets primo space on the National Mall and our nickels. I am not at all worried about George W. Bush's legacy; besides the other end of the National Mall has some useless house we can tear down for GWB memorial space....
So where do politics end and hero worship begin? Your detailed response gives the reader of your post insight into your thoughts, but it also reveals some tremendous transgressions from reality. Clearly, fascism appeals to you. It is obvious that to you, anyone can be declared an enemy of the state and subjected to such stuff. No more checks and balances, no more humanity. Just trash running things. You hate our freedoms, you hate people, and you hate our form of government. Yet you worship W, even though there were over 6,000,000 abortions during his term.
Guys ITN is a fraud, he is not real, he makes shit up...this post proves it...he jumped the shark a while back...he ran out of material and resorts to posts like this.. I wish the powers that be in big Soccer would send us someone better to keep discussions lively
I agree with you a lot more than you think. It seems many times you read my name at the top of the post and start reacting before you have even read the rest.
There is an aversion to Patriotism among those opposed to the Act; that much is true danny! Insofar as irony, I have never found anyone in the nation that has been impacted by the Act in any way though most make the assumption over and over!
The vast majority of our freedoms, especially those that are used in the judicial system, exist in the hope that we never have to use them. Frankly, the idea that most people are unaffected by a lack of a particular freedom is quite concerning, despite the fact that I may never need it.
Thomas Jefferson said "dissent is the greatest form of patriotism". GWB essentially acuses dissenters of hating America.
ITN--Let me know directly what part of the Patriot Act directly affected you personally and denied you or your family a single Constitutional freedom. Do I hear crickets? To receive an answer to your question will require defeating telecom immunity and entering the discovery phase of the civil suits. Only then will it be possible to have the primary sources necessary. I assume, therefore, that, needing to know this, you oppose telecom immunity.