Hello:

Back in the distant past, if the Democrats stood up for their values like the Republicans are standing up for theirs now, we NEVER would have invaded Iraq, the government wouldn't be spying on us, there'd be NO Gitmo, and George Bush might have had a successful presidency.

I don't agree, of course, on the positions the Republicans are taking.. But they sure are noisy about it, and they sure didn't cave like the Dem's did.

If the Dem's stood up, the policies that thwarted George Bush's presidency WOULDN'T have happened, and I'll betcha there'd be Republican president today.

No?

excon

Good point, excon.

One of the things that has been hurting the GOP for years is the fact that too many Republicans have been "moderate" in their views... by which I mean they have caved in on the most important issues, ei: abortion, illegal immigration, national security. They have NOT stuck to their principals, instead taking what they saw as a populist position that would garner the most votes.

It failed.

Liberals would rather vote for a real Democrat candidate than an erzatz one. And conservatives would rather vote for a real Republican than an erzatz one. Moderating their opinions simply told voters from both parties that these are people who can't stick to an ideal. So they voted for someone else.

The problem with the Republicans in 2006 and 2008 was not that they were too conservative in their views. It was that they weren't conservative enough, and compromised their values. In every case where a strong conservative candidate ran on conservative principals, those candidates won. It was the so-called "moderate Republicans" who tried to be populists that lost their seats.

So you are correct, excon. It is better to stick to your values and ideals, regardless of how disagreeable they may seem to the mainstream, rather than cave on your ideals and take a "moderate" position, and be thought of as a wimp on principals.

Elliot

The President is in Camp Victory Iraq today to affirm that the US troops are there to stay until there is a stable Iraq. Sounds a heck of a lot like President Bush' Iraq policy. In fact ;you could say it's "stay the course" .

The Dems spy on us (Elliot pointed out echelon ) . President Bush authorized spying on the enemy .

Quote:

---

'A lady had been to a school play the night before, and her son was in the school play and she thought he did a——a lousy job. Next morning, she was talking on the telephone to her friend, and she said to her friend something like this, 'Oh, Danny really bombed last night,' just like that. The computer spit that conversation out. The analyst that was looking at it was not too sure about what the conversation w——was referring to, so erring on the side of caution, he listed that lady and her phone number in the database as a possible terrorist.'
'This is not urban legend you're talking about. This actually happened?'

'Factual. Absolutely fact. No legend here.'

---

Transcript of 60 Minutes on Echelon

The Dems stood for their policies .They retreated under the cover of political opposition when the wind changed.

I don't know, ex, after 9/11 the Dems sounded just like Republicans. In 2004 they sounded like anti-war liberals and in 2006 they silenced their loudmouths and ran a stealth, Trojan horse campaign so who the heck knows what "Democratic values" are?

The Repubs weren't much better, though, they quit sounding and acting like conservatives and that was their downfall.

Obama and Congress ARE acting like liberals now and that's going to be their downfall, too.

Steve