Since I became a member of Liberty Post dot org, I have been an unabashed supporter of the President, and generally the GOP, with an emphasis on conservative points of view. Anyone thats bothered to read my posts over the years knows this. Many have read my point of view on multiple websites since 1999 or so. Since the President's Second Inaugural, I've been routinely disappointed in his performance on a wide variety of issues. Those of you that can actually remain 'objective' have seen this. Pity there aren't more of you to be honest in this forum, but thats another rant for another time.
Here's my view, and why I will not be supporting any Republican come November.
(Yes, its really Badeye, and yes I'm DEAD SERIOUS).
First off, Dubya.
Where has the man that stood in the rubble of the World Trade Center gone? The man who rallied our nation, left or right, conservative or liberal, all races, all religious viewpoint with "I can hear you...the whole world can hear you...and very soon those that brought these buildings down will hear from us all!"
Where did he go? Since his Second Inaugural, its become apparent to me he simply isn't listening, not even bothering to try. I appreciate not 'leading by the polls'. Hell, I expect that from My President no matter which party is in the Whitehouse. But that only applies to 'overnight' polling, maybe even monthly polling. Not a fully 18 months. How can I continue to support this President, that I voted for, and damn sure fought for in these forums, when he is obviously no longer listening to those with my viewpoint on border security? On federal spending? How is it he failed to win the debate for Social Security Reform, and blanched from making public the obvious, that those elected officials opposed to SS Reform had opted out of the program, are all multi millionaires in their own right, and will never require Social Security to put food on the table late in their lives?
How is it my President has choosen to fight a world war, which I understand all to well is the challenge our generation must face head on as the famous so called 'greatest generation' did in the last recently concluded century...but not secure our borders? How can he look me in the eye in a prime time address, tell me 'the borders are out of control' and here we are five months later with nothing worth mentioning being done about it?
How is it my President, who rallied us all at the WTC in the wake of 9/11, failed to react appropriately when notified Katrina was going to destroy approximately 90,000 square miles of Gulf Coast, including a major US city - New Orleans? Who told him 'stay on vacation'? Who told him to go to a fund raiser in San Diego?
Why is my President conducting himself as Commander in Chief as a 'disconnected' LBJ? Baghdad should be a "Green Zone", completely and totally by now. If it requires we send an entire division currently stateside to Baghdad, go house to house, and kill every last terrorist, insurrectionist, and that punk al Sadr, so be it. We cannot afford to lose the fight for a free Iraq. If we do, Iran takes control of the entire oil rich Gulf, becoming an even bigger threat than Saddam would have in 1991 had we not blown his ass out of Kuwait.
How is it my President hasn't veto'd a single spending bill, in particular the last one which featured 31,000 plus 'earmarks'?
Where did the guy in the rubble of the World Trade Center go?
The Republican House
How is it the Republican House leadership has come to this? 31,000 plus earmarks. A Republican House Speaker that thinks congress members are Above The Law? And over a freaking DEMOCRAT to boot? WHAT?!!!! Will somebody please, please, PLEASE tell me when Dennis Hastert lost his MIND? And his ethical, moral, compass?
Which now brings me to Rob Portman, and this is related to my President as well. Rob Portman was a great Representative for the Second District here in Ohio. My district. He's been taken and tossed into an abyss known as "US trade representative". He should have been in the primary this past spring to replace my idiot Senator Mike Dewine (see below). And now? I have Jean 'Not remotely ready for Prime Time' Schimdt, who almost lost a sold Republican district to a leftwingnut ambulance chaser named Paul Hackett. Last years Ned Lamont in other words.
The Republican Senate
I live in Ohio, as most of you know. My two Senators are allegedly Republicans. The one who says he will retire upon the end of his current term, Senator George Voinovich, CRIED over a United Nations Ambassador appointee? And then blocked him, helping the leftwingnuts on the Democrats side of the aisle? Voinovich also helped to keep the "Bush tax cuts' from becoming permanent, and has generally been an ongoing embarrassment to my State. He spent last week sleeping in the "Voinovich Barn' at the Ohio State Fair from what I understand (I'm not making that up). Then there is Mikey DeWine, an example of what happens when a person elected to office begins to think he's Entitled to hold the office. Besides his membership in the 'Gang of Fourteen' (the moment I decided I would never, ever, vote for him again) he's a gun grabber, and likes taxes. He's mean spirited to those ON HIS SIDE, and friendly to those that want his party to be destroyed, not just a 'minority'. His son is even worse, btw.
Then we have Arlen Spector, Olympia Snowe, Lincoln Chaffee, and yes, the guy I distrust even more than those three, John McCain. Add to it Ted Stevens, who thinks putting on a juvenile comic book theme'd tie ENTITLES HIM to spend 250 Million Dollars on a 'bridge to no where', and I've lost all faith in that oh so exclusive 'club of one hundred'. Frist? Puleese. Billions were required to bribe him to overthrown Trent Lott's spineless Majority Leader tenure, the money going to a continent that despises America, and is dying due to gross, ingrained, ignorance - Africa. No amount of money will stop whats going to take place there as it relates to AIDS over the next decade.
The GOP in Ohio
Ohio is a perfect political storm now. Lets begin at the top, shall we?
My Governor is Bob "Tax Em!' Taft. When he ran the first time, he pledged to sign a Concealed Weapons Law if he won. Result? He veto'd CCW TWICE. He finally signed off when it became clear he might not be reelected, but the law is written in such a way most of us, including myself, don't bother applying, choosing instead to "conceal carry' without registration as the situation dictates. He ran on 'fiscal responsible government' but increased the State budget even in the face of deficits. He ran on a campaign of 'no new taxes', then raised or created 115 new taxes on small businesses like the one I own here in Ohio. He oversaw a crony's theft of millions of dolalrs via the 'Coingate scandal'. He oversaw the BWC scandal. Then he plea bargained away a dozen indictments, including a felony, to a guilty plea to four misdemeanor charges, and refused to resign. At the same time, he's done everything he could to destroy one of the few remaining trustworthy Republicans in Ohio, Ken Blackwell. He allowed (yes allowed) his state AG James Petro to run the most overtly racist, hate filled primary campaign advertisements I've ever seen. Bob Taft's own gross mismanagement here in Ohio almost produced a John Kerry Presidency. In short, today I'm required to be 'thankful' his damage wasn't Worse. And when I was ready to open another small business, I did it in TEXAS, not Ohio. Nobody in their right mind would open a 'new business' here as things stand.
So, where does this leave me, a long time Independent Conservative voter heading into the mid terms?
I have concluded that we must risk Democrats controlling the House, and possibly the Senate, for the two remaining years of the Bush Presidency. I won't vote for any Democrat come fall going to Washington DC. I just can't do that. But I have come to the point where I realize the GOP leadership at the Federal and State level as it relates to me must be gutted, completely and totally.
When proponents for 'my side' are reduced to saying "Don't wake up the day after the election to hear "Speaker Elect Nancy Pelosi, Senate Elect Majority Leader Harry Reid" sorry, thats not a Reason to Vote Republican. Its AN EXCUSE.
I've never made 'excuses' for what I am in these forums. I'm damn proud of who I am, what I am, what I believe, and how I conduct myself personally, professionally, and publicly.
I've never lied in these forums.
I'm not about to start now.
I will not support the Republican Party come November. My President that I voted for twice, proudly, and defend completely for six years in these forums isn't listening to me, or anyone I know to be blunt. Fine, Dubya, go the last two years alone. Last time I felt this way, I ended up voting for Ross Perot in 92. You might recall that race...since you've become your father in his only term as President from where I sit. Disconnnected from those of us that put you in the Whitehouse in the first place.
Perhaps my President needs Nancy Pelosi stopping every Whitehouse policy dead in its trackes. Perhaps my President needs to live with John Conyers issuing subpeona's by the truck load, and then beginning Impeachment Proceedings. Maybe then MY PRESIDENT will snap the hell out of it, and listen to me. And those like me, that hired him TWICE. Defended him against all comers, day after day after day.
Perhaps, but sadly...I doubt it. I suspect he'll blame me and 'mine' in the end.
