Conservative Criticisms

Conservative Forum on Bush (linked from Roman's Weblog).


"...The first speaker, former Reagan aide Bruce Bartlett. Author of the new book Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, Bartlett called the administration "unconscionable," "irresponsible," "vindictive" and "inept." ...speaker No. 2, conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan. Author of the forthcoming The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How to Get It Back, called Bush "reckless" and "a socialist," and accused him of betraying "almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for.""

"Nor was moderator [Cato Institute vice president David] Boaz a voice of moderation. He blamed Bush for "a 48 percent increase in spending in just six years," a "federalization of public schools" and "the biggest entitlement since LBJ."

"True, the small-government libertarians represented by Cato have always been the odd men out of the Bush coalition. But the standing-room-only forum yesterday, where just a single questioner offered even a tepid defense of the president, underscored some deep disillusionment among conservatives over Bush's big-spending answer to Medicare and Hurricane Katrina, his vast claims of executive power, and his handling of postwar Iraq."

No real surprise that conservatives are "disillusioned" with Bush; it's been quite clear for a while that GEORGE BUSH IS NOT A CONSERVATIVE. I'm baffled that people have failed to notice this.

And he absolutely, completely, totally isn't a "small-government conservative libertarian." Isn't, never was, never will be a "small-government" anything.

"Betraying almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for." Yep, that's about it.