Republican National Convention

[dojoboy]

Originally posted by Agathon
Bush is a failure because all right wing fundamentalists are failures in this regard: they do not understand that state spending can be a source of increased efficiency in many areas of the economy (although not all).

What do you want him to spend money on? Remember of course, he can't endorse a check. Congress controls the money. If Democrats feel Bush has failed, they're ignoring the fact that their Democratic Party representatives (Sentate & House) have failed. Bush needs some of their votes.

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by Agathon
they do not understand that state spending can be a source of increased efficiency in many areas of the economy (although not all).

He said "state spending" and "increased efficiency" in the same sentence and meant it.

[AnnC]

Best editorial

Of those I've read, this is my favorite editorial about the Republican Convention:

Consistently Inconsistent
Los Angeles Times
September 3, 2004


"I am running for president with a clear and positive plan to build a safer world and a more hopeful America," President Bush said Thursday night. His well-written speech would have been more convincing if he had not actually been president for the last four years.

In 2000, George W. Bush ran for president promising a "humble" foreign policy and warning against ambitions to remake other countries, let alone the world.

On domestic concerns, Bush '04 does sound a lot like Bush '00. The contrast is with what Bush actually did, or didn't do, in the years between. He also sounded a lot like a Democrat. "I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy," he said, using a term we heard a lot four years ago and not much since, until this week. "Government should help people improve their lives," Bush said, promising to "transform" health insurance, pension plans and worker training, among other things.

Consistency is an undervalued virtue in our political culture: consistency between what you said before and what you say now, between what you say and what you do, between what you say and the truth, even what you say from one sentence to the next. The praise and prizes these days go to skilled self-reinvention for the needs of the moment, also known as spin.

Democrats do it, but Republicans do it better. One night GOP speakers are attack dogs, the next night they're kinder and gentler. Their platform feeds raw meat to the hard right, while their moderates take the stage and fan out to TV interviews, reassuring swing voters that they don't really mean it. Was Franklin D. Roosevelt a Republican? You might think so, given how often his name was invoked. Well, whatever.

The convention's lowest moment may have been New York Gov. George E. Pataki's suggestion that the Clinton administration is to blame for 9/11 because it ignored the evidence and ducked the fight against terrorism. We don't recall Pataki or Bush warning of this danger, if it was so obvious.

Sen. Zell Miller's vile keynote address will be cherished forever by connoisseurs of live-for-the-moment rhetoric. It was, of course, full of technically true lies (John Kerry, as senator, voted to kill various weapons systems; the same ones that Dick Cheney, as secretary of Defense, also tried to kill, and so on). But the speech reached its transcendent moment when this Democratic senator stood before thousands of Republicans baying for the defeat of a Vietnam War veteran by a man who chose to defend Texas instead, after weeks in which attacks by Republicans on Kerry's Vietnam service dominated the news. Miller praised "the American soldier." He condemned those who would allow national security to become an issue in "partisan politics." And Madison Square Garden cheered because he was referring to the Democrats! We guess you had to be there.

http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-ed-bush3sep03,1,6565422.story?coll=la-news-comment

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb
He said "state spending" and "increased efficiency" in the same sentence and meant it.

State spending increases demand for goods and services. Increased demand utilizes resources that were not previously utilized.

[PLATO]

Originally posted by Kidicious


State spending increases demand for goods and services. Increased demand utilizes resources that were not previously utilized.

Kid, I'm sure you meant State "deficit" spending. The State spending current revenues actually stimulates the demand for goods and services less than if the money had been left in the private sector. Deficit spending does indeed increase that demand as it is adding money to the economy that would otherwise not be there at all.

[DinoDoc]

Die thread!

[Verto]

I have crossed the threshold.

[The Mad Monk]

...with DinoDoc...

[DinoDoc]

He's my new *****.

[Drake Tungsten]

God bless you two. May you have a happy life together.

[DinoDoc]

I'm just glad we'll never be able to get married. It cuts down on the BS when I dump him.

[Drake Tungsten]

[Fake Boris]

Originally posted by GhengisFarb

He said "state spending" and "increased efficiency" in the same sentence and meant it.

America is the country where healthcare spending by % of GDP is the highest, but yet the accessibility and quality of the services is not even in the top 10.

[The diplomat]

Re: Best editorial

Originally posted by AnnC
In 2000, George W. Bush ran for president promising a "humble" foreign policy and warning against ambitions to remake other countries, let alone the world.

I think a president has the right to change his mind when such a dramatic event like 9-11 occurs. Before 9-11, a humble foreign policy seemed appropriate. After 9-11, it was not. The world changed. When the world changes, your foreign policy has to change too to match. What was Bush suppose to do, say "My fellow Americans, the humble foreign policy I promised is not appropriate anymore because of the events of 9-11, but I'll keep that flawed policy anyway because I promised"?

[The Mad Monk]

As I recall, Bush started his term by making moves to become more open and friendly with Mexico.