tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post7617469017814049234..comments2023-09-11T08:58:24.710-06:00Comments on Reach Upward: The Jilted LoverScott Hinrichshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-41870166984254428942007-07-17T07:49:00.000-06:002007-07-17T07:49:00.000-06:00For conservatives, I suspect that it has more to d...For conservatives, I suspect that it has more to do with having a strong leader that hews to conservative ideals than it has to do with how ready the nation is for a revival of conservatism.<BR/><BR/>Frankly, G.W. Bush did not look like that kind of leader during the 2000 election. Rather, he looked like the GOP's best chance to win. So the relationship between Bush and conservatives was always a marriage of convenience. After 9/11/01, Bush seemed to take on a steel that conservatives found admirable. But the incompetence with which the war effort has been prosecuted has diminished much of this sentiment.<BR/><BR/>Conservatives are forever looking for another St. Ronald, the last successful model of a conservative president. (They conveniently gloss over the issues on which they seriously differed with Reagan.)<BR/><BR/>Reagan was a fluke. He was the more moderate and more likeable version of Goldwater. He forced the conservative movement into the forefront. He had to fight and beat the GOP power brokers to do it. Where is there another conservative that is willing to do that and is capable of successfully pulling it off?<BR/><BR/>Why do I say Reagan was a fluke? Consider this question. Who was the last successful conservative president prior to Reagan? We can look a long way back down the line without seeing one. Carter, Ford, Nixon, Johnson, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Truman, FDR, Hoover, Coolidge, Harding, Wilson, Taft, TR, McKinley.... None of them fill the bill. That pretty much covers the 20th Century.<BR/><BR/>Conservatives either need to find one of their own that is capable of stepping up to the plate, or they need to come to grips with reality.Scott Hinrichshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11831447472339880148noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10424035.post-34736984574165564062007-07-16T22:29:00.000-06:002007-07-16T22:29:00.000-06:00You make a good point that Bush has been consisten...You make a good point that Bush has been consistent whether we agree with him or not.<BR/><BR/>The question is, are conservatives turning their backs on him now because they really believe in their conservative principles, or just because they think the nation is ready for conservatism again.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com