President Bush gave a rousing, inspiring speech. He said some truly great things. This is what I liked:
I believe the most solemn duty of the American president is to protect the American people. If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch.
Classic. I could barely contain my glee and admiration.
I am running for President with a clear and positive plan to build a safer world and a more hopeful America. I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives…
Liberals seem not to understand that giving handouts, provoking class envy and racial hostility is not the way to help people help themselves.
Another drag on our economy is the current tax code, which is a complicated mess — filled with special interest loopholes, saddling our people with more than six billion hours of paperwork and headache every year. The American people deserve — and our economic future demands — a simpler, fairer, pro-growth system. In a new term, I will lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code.
I say junk it and start all over, or at least amend the 16th amendment.
[I]‘ve met many workers and small business owners who have told me they are worried they cannot afford health care. More than half of the uninsured are small business employees and their families. In a new term, we must allow small firms to join together to purchase insurance at the discounts available to big companies. We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts…
There is a reason why people vote for Republicans when they start making money. Business-friendly as opposed to the big-business-is-evil mantra is what you want to hear when you’re turning a profit. We should be encouraging a broad range of people to start their own businesses rather than spewing all that tripe about “corporate evil” and insinuating that “profit” is an expletive. I direct my comments to billionairess Teresa Heinz Kerry’s second husband, who is currently living off the money of her first husband.
I have met too many good doctors, especially ob-gyn , who are being forced out of practice because of the high cost of lawsuits. To make health care more affordable and accessible, we must pass medical liability reform now. And in all we do to improve health care in America, we will make sure that health decisions are made by doctors and patients, not by bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.
I hope John “Tom Cruise with a mole” Edwards was listening.
And so on and so forth.
I was also a little disappointed with the speech. Too “big government”, too “compassionate” and too little conservatism. This is what I did not like:
I believe we have a moral responsibility to honor America’s seniors — so I brought Republicans and Democrats together to strengthen Medicare. Now seniors are getting immediate help buying medicine. Soon every senior will be able to get prescription drug coverage and nothing will hold us back.
According to the Ten Commandments, we are supposed to honor our parents. Part of honoring is taking care of them. But Bush’s comment goes back to what I said about the government’s role, biblically speaking.
Do Americans in general have a “moral responsibility” to take care of other people’s parents? In the Christian church, believers are supposed to care for true widows and orphans, but I don’t remember reading anything about those outside the church. Maybe I overlooked or misread it. I’m only human.
The story of America is the story of expanding liberty: an ever-widening circle, constantly growing to reach further and include more. Our nation’s founding commitment is still our deepest commitment: In our world, and here at home, we will extend the frontiers of freedom.
Again, this harkens back to my comments on illegal ‘immigration.” This is a sore point with me, and I wish I knew what Bush has in mind with this amnesty-for-aliens scheme. Eek. I don’t want to get into that one again! It wore me out.
In this time of change, government must take the side of working families. In a new term, we will change outdated labor laws to offer comp time and flex time. Our laws should never stand in the way of a more family friendly workplace.
This is a controversial topic for me. As a single woman with no children, I think it’s unfair that a married/unmarried woman with children can get flex time, but I can’t. If these sort of policies are implemented, they should be allowed for all workers. Besides, women with small kids need to be at home, anyway. Uh, oh. Did I say that? Must be the new medication.
By raising performance in our high schools, and expanding Pell grants for low and middle income families…America’s children must also have a healthy start in life. In a new term, we will lead an aggressive effort to enroll millions of poor children who are eligible but not signed up for the government’s health insurance programs…
Do you see a pattern emerging about what I didn’t like about the president’s speech? Noble sentiments, Mr. Bush, but somebody has to pay for all this stuff. Now if the government had its own money, which is doesn’t…
Bush waxed eloquent about doing this and providing that. I winced every time he promised something that had to do with my income. I wanted to hear an anti-big government speech. George Bush is hard on terror (kind of) and soft on domestic issues. But I still thank God that a Bible-believing man who pledged to take out terror is the Oval Office.
Other commentary: Robert Novak, Outside the Beltway, One Hand Clapping, Michelle Malkin, Blogs for Bush, HobbsOnline, The Hunter’s Herald and VodkaPundit (others will be added as I find them).
Stay tuned for my electrifying commentary on the “speech” given by the elitist John Kerry. Electrified by Kerry? Maybe I’ll re-think that part.
Update (6:03 p.m.): It’s been brought to my attention that this post title may be confusing. I had a few ideas in my head, but when I started writing, other ideas took over. Alternate post title:
“George Bush: The Big Government, Compassionate-Even-If-It-Kills-Us, Tough On Terror (Sort Of), Texas Swagger-Walking Man I’m Voting For Anyway.”
