George W. Bush Tells Jeb to ‘Run,’

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• I just don't think the Republicans are going to be able to out-Democrat the Democrats. Haven't the Republicans tried to appeal to the middle with Romney and McCain the past two election cycles? If gay marriage comes in, will they leave me alone as a Christian who won't go along with the program? I don't think so. They don't leave Christians alone in Canada or Europe. If the government is aleady trying to force Christian educational institutions and businesses to provide abortifacient drugs, what's to stop them from trying something similar in regard to gay marriage? Sorry, I don't believe they'll stop with gay marriage. I think the true agenda is to silence dissent. If the Republicans go mushy moderate they'll lose too many voters who think there's more to life than money, that culture also matters. I saw a bit of G.W. Bush speaking today, and he at one point basically said that a country is only great when the character of its people is great. I thought it was a subtle slap at Obama and the Clintons. For candidates we need leaders and effective communicators, not surrenders. Weren't Republicans also being told to surrender before the 1980 election?

• Barbara Bush says what the rest of the country is thinking: "We've had enough Bushes. It's not just four families, or whatever."

  Hear hear!

• Respect the Constitution, and I will vote for you. It's that simple.

  • It really is that simple but the ideal candidate will convince everyone else also to respect it.

    • A communicator. Like Reagan. But who the hell is this person?

      • Scott Walker. Maybe not yet but let's see how he develops? He has been tested already. He knows first hand what the leftist media is capable of doing to someone.

• honestly I think it would probably do the country a lot of good if he ran - because then at that point, most republicans will realize that their voice doesnt matter one iota to the old guard of the GOP, they will select their man regardless of what the people want, just like they did with mitt romney, mccain, bob dole, you name it.

  I would honestly welcome the complete destruction of the republican party, because then we'd get to build a new party from the ground up and make its leaders stick to principles.

  I just hope the country makes it through without having to go through all 9 circles of 1984 first.

  • Thank you for that! I was trying to get that point across last evening. I have not voted for the candidate of my choosing for decades now thanks to the ridiculous primary process and the lack of respect the republican party has for its base. I had tried to stay loyal to that party until Bush 2000. I had stayed blindly loyal until 1992. After that it has been a selection of the lesser of two evils, never a good candidate for the office. This country is far too great for games of such a childish nature! It just seems that with such a large population we should be able to come up with something better to choose from.

• All we need in Washington is people who support fiscal sanity and national security. Illegal immigration is a national security issue, gun control is a personal freedom and national security issue, but gay marriage and all the other meaningless bullshit means nothing.

  I am against abortion except in rare cases like insest or rape, but if a woman wants to act like a slut then kill her baby who cares? As long as the taxpayers don't have to pay for it. If you want to be a junkie I think we taxpayers should give you all the dope you want. The sooner you OD the sooner you will quit being a pimple on the ass of humanity and it will be cheaper in the long run.

  Marriage is a union of a man and woman but if gays want a civil union let them have it. If some goofy old rich woman can leave her cats her millions then Boy George should be able to leave his life savings to his Girl Bill.

  Issues like this are what is keeping sane, fiscally conservative candidates out of office. Everybody is so worried about the side issues, looking at the forest without seeing the trees, that we end up with fools like McCain running for the Presidency. Romney lost because he was so worried about abortion or gay marriage he lost sight of the important things like fiscal sanity and national security. If you really think about it you would see that the loons in Washingtoon have no business sticking their nose into social problems. They need to let local folks take care of local problems while they concentrate of what they are elected to do. Spend our money wisely and keep our nation secure.

  • Very well said.

• We don't have to upend social norms, but we have to temper certain stances in order to make us more attractive to a bigger demographic. When we trot out people like Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum as viable candidates the middle (where we have to make inroads) aren't going to take us seriously. To a large majority of many different demographics, they are the boogymen who want to turn America into a theocracy. Our side does better in areas like the ecomony, defense, and staying the hell out of people's lives. That's where we need to focus (abortion being a particulary tough issue, but recent polling shows conservatives are gaining here. Why? Because unlike drugs and gay marriage, there are actual victims as the Gosnell trail shows. Unfortunately, candidates who stay stupid shit like "legitimate rape" can erase those gains in a heartbeat as we learned last November). With the liberal media already against us, we have got to be smarter, and more temperate in getting our message across. Let the liberal whack jobs sink themselves instead of coming across so reactionary. If we're truly going to be the party of freedom, we have to mean it in spite of the butthurt the far far Christian right may feel. Let's face it, should 2016 come down to Hilary or Santorum, we're going to lose again and may even lose the House this time. I don't know about anyone else, but I'd rather lose a couple battles than the entire freaking war.

  • Again, mostly agree. Both Santorum and Bachman make me uncomfortable but I am absolutely positive that neither will ever ever be nominated for president by any party. Like I said, the right (conservatives) need a leader. One who can communicate, like Reagan did, across the media clutter. One who actually has core convictions that mirror what we want....strong defense, free market system made healthy, small government, maximum individual liberty, immigration issues handled properly, sound currency, etc. That person has yet to emerge. I hope it is a governor who actually has had some real executive experience. The Congress is a terrible place to find presidents, IMO. It will happen thought. I am sure of that.

• Sometimes I feel like we're our own worst emeny. Our biggest problem is that our side is fractured and the liberals are way more united. I know a lot of you are going to disagree with me, but times are changing on a lot of social issues and even Rush agrees, the genie's not going back in the bottle. We have to let some of those go. Even the most conservative polls show stances like anti weed and anti gay rights are losing popularity really quickly. We need to decide what's more important. Do we want to keep butting into the marriage issue and alienate not only gays and lesbians, but also their reatives and friends (keep in mind, about 70 percent of Republicans under 30 support gay marriage and the majority of them also support legalisation of pot. These young people are not only the future of the party, but also the most swayable). Or do we want to make the economy and national defense our main issue and attract the middle of the road voters (topics that we wipe the floor with liberals on). I know a lot of people don't like Portman or Kirk or Murkowski, but let's face it, we're losing the culture wars at lightning speed and the only way to turn this around is to regroup and refocus on what's really important. Harden our stance on economics, defense, and border security, and take a more common sense approach on social issues that don't really have an effect on the vast majority of people's lives anyway. Or just admit Ron Paul was cheated because Romney and IBM stole all his gold and Cheetos (that was a joke btw)

  • I mostly agree with you. Although I do think the right needs to maintain a very firm stance on abortion. Especially in light of Gosnell's chamber of horrors and his murder trial. Drugs? Yep, prohibition doesn't work. It is inconsistent for conservatives to fight like crazy to preserve the 2d Amendment using the same argument that the left uses to legalize pot. The same applies the other way around. Gay marriage? Well, let's keep the religious component out of it but if two men or women want to merge their property and establish one household with the same rights as opposite sex couples, then let's do it. I don't think we have to upend traditional societal norms though. A few tweaks to the tax code can level the inequality. All that being said, secular humanism, PC, and the left's predilection toward moral equivalency are destroying this country from within. This site is full of articles that demonstrate this. The right has got to find an effective communicator to counter the left and its effort to remake the USA into a barely functioning intolerant social democracy.

• Can't the conservative party find one fucking conservative in a population of 300 million. WTF, I'll run then. I don't have the education but I'm a damn sight more loyal to my party and its beliefs than any part of the Bush dynasty has been! Damn, this country is in such a mess and those leading it just don't seem to see it. It's all just a fun game to them while the populace needs pinch every penny and a trip to visit Grandma needs to be saved up for. Fuck all these bastards.

• AREN"T there any Republicans who have the balls to run for office? Damn GW was a liberal - hell, we've had nothing but liberals ever since Clinton was elected. I'm ready for an American to be President of the United States. Screw the libtards and RINOs.

  • "DITTO!!!" :-)

• If Jeb Bush runs for office I'm done the Republican Party. The two previous Bush's have done more harm to Capitalism & liberty than any Liptard. Jeb Bush = third party. Ditto Rkae, this is a Constitutional Republic not a Monarchy.