"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
>
> At 01:14 PM 1/1/01 -0800, Doug wrote:
> >He campaigned as a conservative in the primaries and as a moderate in the
> >general election.
>
> A moderate? Really?
>
> I seem to recall him campaigning on a huge tax cut, appointing justices
> like Scalia and Thomas, and privitizing Social Security?
>
> Oh I get it..... Bush is only a reactionary conservative when you're
> campaigning against him - once he's in office he's suddenly supposed to be
> a moderate.
>
<sarcasm> OK John, have it your way, he campaigned as a reactionary
conservative in the general election and a flaming fascist in the primaries.
</sarcasm>
In either case he moved considerably to the left once his nomination was
assured.
> And according to many on this list, he _is_ moderate.
>
> I think those opinions are in error, if they exist. The most I've seen is
> that Bush is no Alan Keyes, but he's no Arlen Specter either.
>
You can take that up with those that were arguing that he was a moderate.
> >They are conservative appointments where they can do the most "damage".
> If he
> >had appointed a conservative Secretary of State, few people would object. He
> >appointed moderates to positions where their moderation is of little
> >consequence.
>
> I am glad that you consider the Environmental Protection Agency, the State
> Dept., and Treasury Dept.
> to be of little consequence. Remind me not to vote for you.......
Great job of twisting my words, John. I'm sure most of the list understood
what I meant, but for you, I will explain. Colin Powel is a moderate
republican that is in favor of choice and affirmative action. As Secretary of
State those opinions are of little consequence as he won't be dealing with
those issues.
>
> >Considering that roughly a third of the populace questions the legitimacy of
> >his administration (myself included) I think it would have served the country
> >better to make less controversial appointments. Not that I expected him to.
>
> Yeah, two "controversial" conservatives out of fourteen, Bush is really
> pushing the envelope here...... Bush made no bones during the campaign
> that he was pro-life and skeptical of governmental environmental
> regulation...... it seems irrational to expect him to do a 180 just because
> the election was close.
I said I didn't expect him to, only that under the circumstances that that's
what I thought he should have done to help gain the confidence of that large
segment of the population that is skeptical of his legitimacy due to the very
unique cicumstances of his "election".
Doug
Crieky, he's grumpy!
