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Conservatives Aren't Crazy, They Just Want Their Turn

8 years of Bush didn't count

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 3, 2009 12:53 PM CST
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(Newser) – Don’t listen to the liberals telling you the right is crazy and going to heck in a handbasket. The reality is far simpler: “After 15 or 20 years of steady moderation, many conservatives think it might be time to give their ideas a try,” writes Jonah Goldberg of the Los Angeles Times. George W. Bush wasn’t a real conservative, he argues, but a “compassionate” one, meaning a free-spending moderate.

Bush oversaw the biggest education spending increase in history. He created the prescription drug benefit, the biggest new entitlement since the Great Society. He increased regulation with Sarbanes-Oxley. And oh yeah, he initiated the first bailouts and the TARP. Some of those may have been defensible moves, but they weren’t conservative ones. Then Republicans rolled out John McCain, another “unorthodox and inconsistent conservative.” Well, conservatives are sick of moderates, Goldberg writes. Sorry, Dede Scozzafava, they want real conservatives.

Former U.S. President George W. Bush waves upon his arrival at Narita International Airport in Narita near Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 for a two-day visit.
Former U.S. President George W. Bush waves upon his arrival at Narita International Airport in Narita near Tokyo, Japan, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009 for a two-day visit.   (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
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Conservatives have had to not only put up with a lot of moderation and ideological flexibility, we've had to endure nearly a decade of taunting from gargoyles insisting that the GOP is run by crazed radicals. - Jonah Goldberg

With Obama racing to transform America into a European welfare state fueled by terrifying deficit spending, this seems like a good moment to argue for limited government. - Jonah Goldberg

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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 59 comments
freethemall
Nov 4, 2009 12:55 PM CST
Well put.
yummines
Nov 4, 2009 12:45 PM CST
i understand Jayster, there are good conservatives and bad conservatives. shouldn't that be obvious that there are those who think clear on any political party? (when i mean think clear i mean uses logic, reasoning, and is consistent.) I'm just saying that those who voted for him and then are condemning him are hypocritical, not conservatives in general.
yummines
Nov 4, 2009 12:31 PM CST
makes sense, i didn't think you voted for Bush. However those who did and now are calling him "fake" are fake themselves. There are smart people on both sides and dumb people on both sides. so, Hypocrite: someone who voted for Bush and rejects him after someone tells him that it was Bush's fault the economy is bad after cheer-leading him on for his 8 year presidency.
Politics • Money • US

 
conservative • compassionate conservatism • conservative base • George W. Bush • Jonah Goldberg

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