Is Bush a fiscal conservative?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I don't see how anyone could possibly argue that he is.

[© tweed]

No

[freedomburns]

No way Bush is a Conservative.  He is something else.  Conservatives believe in fiscal responsibility, small govenment, less social entitlement programs and a restrictive monetary policy.

I don't want to hear anything about how we are at war and how that necessitates budget deficits.

Bush is a reactionary war-mongerer who is bankrupting this country's future by involving us in poorly reasoned escapades in tangential countries while virtually ignoring the real threat.  Everyone agrees that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.  We should have been hunting down Al Qaida for the past three years, not getting bogged down in a deadly side-show that is now a breeding ground for more terrorists.  Now our children will be paying for this war and it's effects for generations.

[MODU]

Sorry FreedomBurns.  There is more sides of conservatism than that.  Someone on another thread had a fairly decent breakout of conservatism.

Budget deficits have less to do with the war on terrorism than it does with the US being in a recession.  Governments generates deficits during periods of poor economic conditions, which Bush received when he took over.

The media and the DNC are the ones who push the ideology that Iraq was directly related to 9/11.  Iraq is an integral part of the war on terror, and the war on terror is more than just a war on al Qaeda/the taliban.  We have been hunting down al Qaeda, even with the French, for the last 3 years.

As far as Bush being my favorite, no, he isn't.

[Lunar]

Also, Bush is a conservative running for reelection, so things like education, social security, and prescription drugs always need more money being pumped into them every year.  Maybe he would be a fiscal conservative in another context, but his presidency has not been fiscally conservative.

[The Duke]

Bush is not a fsical conservatie.  He has been very willing to spend moeny on social programs.  He opposes the reinstatement of paygo rules, too.  That said, he did cut taxes and has essentially adopted Reagan's position on the deficit.

[opebo]

No way Bush is a Conservative.  He is something else.  Conservatives believe in fiscal responsibility, small govenment, less social entitlement programs and a restrictive monetary policy.

I don't want to hear anything about how we are at war and how that necessitates budget deficits.

Bush is a reactionary war-mongerer who is bankrupting this country's future by involving us in poorly reasoned escapades in tangential countries while virtually ignoring the real threat.  Everyone agrees that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.  We should have been hunting down Al Qaida for the past three years, not getting bogged down in a deadly side-show that is now a breeding ground for more terrorists.  Now our children will be paying for this war and it's effects for generations.

The war is a minor expense compared to transfer payments and other entitlements.

[specific_name]

If Bush was a fiscal conservative then I would consider voting for him. Kerry would be even worse, if he's ever elected.

[English]

No way, Bush is the worst kind. He spends money like it's going out of fashion and sticks his nose into everyone's business.
He's authoritarian.

[khirkhib]

no it's worse, he's a neo-con

[millwx]

Sorry FreedomBurns.  There is more sides of conservatism than that.  Someone on another thread had a fairly decent breakout of conservatism.

MODU, I know you're not giving a glowing endorsement of Bush's fiscal conservativeness, but you completely miss the notion that govt spending might have something to do with deficits.  Govt spending under Bush has increased... dramatically.  And the Iraq war, war on terror, and 9/11 cannot be blamed.  Discretionary spending has gone up.  Much of the spending from these wars is not in the discretionary spending.

Bush isn't even a social conservative in the old fashioned sense.  On the social side "conservative" used to mean pro-civil rights, but anti-entitlement.  Bush has spoken out in favor of affirmative action (after some political pressure).  Meanwhile, since the injection of the religious right into the Republican party in the late '60s and early '70s most Republicans, including Bush, oppose the hot button civil rights of the day that have religion undertones.  While I'll admit that it's partly how you define "conservative", in my book Bush isn't even socially conservative.  Socially right wing?  Yes.  Conservative?  No.

Sorry for the diatribe.  I just get infuriated by this whole discussion.  If you look at the old fashioned Republican party... from Abraham Lincoln, to the party that championed civil rights in the 60s... the current party doesn't resemble this at all.  And why does it anger me so?  Because folks like myself who hold to the true conservative premise are left out in the cold with no representation... and it's largely because the Republican party has been hijacked by special interests and the religious right.

Anyway, enough of my tirade.  Point is, Bush is in no way conservative.  On any front.  In any way shape or form.  "English" is right... he's Authoritarian.  Sadly, most of the Rep party supports this platform.  That's just frightening.  And it's one of the reasons I'd rather vote for a liberal schmuck like Kerry, who I can't stand (and I lived in Massachusetts for 21 years... I'm intimately familiar with Kerry), than Fuhrer Bush.

[khirkhib]

millwx

I hope for your sake and the sake of the country that the traditional conservatives are able to retake control over the Republican Party.  The neo-cons are pushing a lot of moderates into active liberals.  The face of the country is changing.

[MODU]

The nature of politics always changes.  I think it was the fact that the last two elections showed both parties crowding the middle, they weren't able to identifify themselves apart, so they pushed towards the extremes.  The reverse happened back in the late 70s and early 80s, where they went from their extremes towards the middle.  

[millwx]

I hope for your sake and the sake of the country that the traditional conservatives are able to retake control over the Republican Party.  The neo-cons are pushing a lot of moderates into active liberals.  The face of the country is changing.

I've given up hope.  The true conservatives (referred to as "moderates" in the current era's perverted logic) are losing ground.  People like Snowe and Chaffee are laughed at "liberals" within their party.  They are not gaining traction.  They are being marginalized.  Some just get frustrated and leave, like Jeffords.  And most Republicans of today, when Jeffords left, cheered because they got rid of him.  Pathetic.

The only party espousing traditional GOP values is the Libertarian Party.  Sadly, rabid pro-gun people have run to the Libertarian party.  Many of them are more socially right-wing (I've even seen it among "Libertarian" members even on this forum).  Check out the Libertarian platform.  It is very "live and let live", if not left-wing (but non-entitlement) in its social platform.  Now, it stands the risk of being hijacked by the right wing as well.  I pray it doesn't.  It might give me a "political home".  But I never see the Republicans recovering from thier "disease".  I left the Republican party two years ago, and I can never foresee returning.  Regardless of their holier-than-thou big-tent professing, I guarantee you I'd not be welcome.  They are not interested in a reasonable discussion of ideas.  Follow their "liberal right-wing" platform to the letter or get out.

[A18]

Um, what? Jeffords is supposed to be the shining example of a true GOPer?

No, Bush is not a fiscal conservative. But anyone who thinks Snowe and Chaffee are the "real conservatives" should be shot.