Powerful evidence that Republican conservatives have learned NOTHING and must be kept out of power

(Note, February 21: this entry is also contradicted by Ron Paul’s 31 percent victory in the CPAC presidential straw poll. However, I do not see a move from worship of Bush to support for Paul, who speaks about America the way anti-American leftists do, as progress. Many at the conference apparently would agree, as, according to CNN, “The announcement of Paul’s win, a surprise victory unlikely to have a major impact on the 2012 proesidential contest, drew a volley of loud boos from the CPAC audience.”)

(Note, February 20: Steve R. argues that there is not as much support for Bush as the Washington Post article makes it appear. I hope he’s right. But I’ve been seing a lot of references to this “Miss me yet?” campaign lately, and not any indications that Republicans were rejecting its message. The Post article seemed to drive home the idea that longing for Bush was a predominant feeling at the CPAC conference.)

The item appears at the Washington Post website:

Michele Bachmann brings ‘miss me yet’ billboard to CPAC

George W. Bush is back—at CPAC, at least. Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann (R) got a big cheer Friday for putting up a picture of the former president with the caption “Miss me yet?”

“I like it too,” she proclaimed. The image first appeared mysteriously on a billboard in her state earlier this month. It turned out to be the work of a group of small business owners.

Shirts bearing the Bush image are also selling well online, according to the New York Daily News.

Conservatives at the annual event have been embracing the last administration in other ways. It’s a big change from 2009, when the recently retired Bush was barely mentioned.

Florida senatorial candidate Marco Rubio got an enthusiastic response when he called for renewing the Bush administration’s policy of putting terror suspects before military tribunals at Guantanamo.

“I am convinced that history will judge President Bush far more kindly,” former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney said Thursday.

And former vice president Dick Cheney was met with adoring applause when he made a surprise appearance Thursday. “A welcome like that is almost enough to make me want to run for office again,” he responded.

- end of initial entry -

Daniel S. writes:

While the Republicans can be congratulated in a limited manner for their opposition to Obama-care, they have shown again and again that they have learned nothing from the eight years that Bush ran this country into the ground. Most of their opposition to Barack Obama and the Democratic-dominated Congress is knee-jerk and shows little, if any, understanding of the dangers that face our nation and civilization. Take the whole “war on terror” that many in the GOP champion. It is easy to bash the craven cowardice and pandering that have characterized Obama’s response to jihad terrorism, but the Republicans have shown themselves incapable of anything more then taking easy pot shots at Obama, crude militarism, and demanding we return to the stopgap measures of George W. Bush. Almost all their policies relating to jihad terrorism are defensive in nature (Guantanamo Bay, military tribunals, etc) and do not address the wider stealth jihad against the West, nor does it address the fact that Western-based Muslim populations are filled with people that would do us harm. The standard neo-conservative line has been that we are fighting them “over there” (Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan) so we don’t have to fight them “over here”, but the fact is that our enemy is already here (Major Nidal Malik Hasan is proof of that) and the Republicans refuse to offer any rational immigration policy that would deal with this problem, or that of the Hispanic demographic time bomb.

I could go on and on, but I think you get the point. Suffice to say, the modern right-liberal Republicans are, whether they realize it or not, the handmaidens of the liberal-left agenda, just as the prophetic Russian author Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote long ago. The Republican deserved to be defeated in 2008, and I haven’t seen anything that shows that they don’t deserve to continue to be defeated.

February 20

Steve R. writes:

Notwithstanding Michelle Bachman’s special attraction to Bush, Republicans, and particularly CPAC attendees, think, to a large extent, that Bush was a disaster for Republicans. Thus support for ‘Miss me yet?’ should probably not be taken to mean that they want to return to the halcyon days of Bush. It seems to be designed simply for the purpose of enraging the Obamites, saying “We both know it’s so bad now, that even you Bush haters have to admit that Obama has been even worse”.

The same applies to that “adoring applause for Cheney”. CPAC members were not expressing a desire for things like a return to universalist adventurism. More likely they were showing their appreciation for the only politician to consistently and deeply get under Obama’s skin.

Steve continues:

This Post piece is actually very misleading.

It says that images of Bush are selling well but it fails to mention that the only item selling well is the comical shirt that is essentially ridiculing Obama. So even though this article implies it, it turns out that there has been no recent appreciation for Bush as might be shown by increased purchases of his paraphernalia.

To the Post, Rubio’s support for military tribunals in Guantanamo is framed as support for Bush’s agenda—rather than a sane idea that any right-minded American might have.

And finally, Cheney’s humor about running again is treated as though it might me more than just a joke.

Now that I’ve reread the article carefully, it is clear to me that every sentence is trying to create a link between the CPAC conference and Bush when none actually exists.

James N. writes:

I suspect that, given the desperate condition of the Democrats, that their water carriers would love to revive their magic Bush talisman.

To be sure, some Republicans and others just LOVE the fake cowboy hat and the “compassion”, but I doubt that it’s a movement.

February 21

Steve R. writes:

Agreed, on both your points in your 2/21 update, but I do think that Paul’s popularity just might increase because his principles are more in sync with the tea party than Palin or anyone else on the right. If by some chance that party really goes places it’s likely that he will too.

And by the way, a blogsite where the host instantly posts that facts contradict his analysis—what will they think of next?

LA replies:

To me, that’s just built into the nature of blogging.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at February 19, 2010 05:22 PM | Send