How did I miss this on Friday!!!!!!

[bottomofthehill]

Doug's apology


AN APOLOGY FROM A BUSH VOTER



By Doug McIntyre

Host, McIntyre in the Morning

Talk Radio 790 KABC

There’s nothing harder in public life than admitting you’re wrong. By the way, admitting you’re wrong can be even tougher in private life. If you don’t believe me, just ask Bill Clinton or Charlie Sheen. But when you go out on the limb in public, it’s out there where everyone can see it, or in my case, hear it.

So, I’m saying today, I was wrong to have voted for George W. Bush. In historic terms, I believe George W. Bush is the worst two-term President in the history of the country. Worse than Grant. I also believe a case can be made that he’s the worst President, period

In 2000, I was a McCain guy. I wasn’t sure about the Texas Governor. He had name recognition and a lot of money behind him, but other than that? What? Still, I was sick of all the Clinton shenanigans and the thought of President Gore was… unthinkable. So, GWB became my guy.

For the first few months he was just flubbing along like most new Presidents, no great shakes, but no disasters either. He cut taxes and I like tax cuts.

Then September 11th happened. September 11th changed everything for me, like it did for so many of you. After September 11th, all the intramural idiocy of American politics stopped being funny. We had been attacked by a vicious and determined enemy and it was time for all of us to row in the same direction.

And we did for the blink of an eye. I believed the President when he said we were going to hunt down Bin Laden and all those responsible for the 9-11 murders. I believed President Bush when he said we would go after the terrorists and the nations that harbored them.

More at link:

http://www.kabc.com/home.asp


EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5 PARAGRAPHS
FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE AND PROVIDE A LINK
TO THE SOURCE PER DU RULES.

[eleny]

1. He talked about the Dems being equally corrupt

I'm not buying the "equally" part. That washes out the apology in my book.

[ChiciB1]

5. I Don't Say That The Democrats Are Equally Corrupt... BUT I WILL

say that they are INEPT! The part about a THIRD party is something I'm hearing from more and more people. And I'm a very "active" person when it comes to politics! I talk to people ALL THE TIME!

Most agree with me that we are simply going to have to rise up and make our voices heard! We have been sold down the river for far too long!

Some How Some Way, we are going to have to HIT the streets! Make it a Revolution Of The People, By The People, For The People. Just let them know that We've Had Enough of what they've been giving us!! Which is almost NOTHING!!

Unless Democrats start DOING something, 2006 is not even an option! Too many people are sick of all of them! So many think the Democrats in Congress are nothing more than WIMPS!

I worked this past week-end to get signatures for paper ballots here in my county and I heard this same statement from far too many people!! They're sick of Bush, but they want an alternative but don't see one! Most I talked to are ANTI-Hillary too!

[eleny]

8. A thrid party will get us bupkus

No, I take that back. It will get us Republicans in office. No thanks.

[ChiciB1]

13. I Agree... But Tell Me HOW We Are Going To Keep Them

OUT of office if we can't get our representatives to DO SOMETHING!! The SAME people are going to be re-elected... STILL REPUKES!

Gerrymandering is going to be a HUGE problem to BEGIN with!

[eleny]

16. The polls reflect that W and Repukes are losing part of their base

Gerrymandering is losing its ability to give them their desired results. We have to keep doing what we're doing. Lots of different things are converging. Keep the faith and the Party and then change our Party to what we want it to be. I will not vote third party and that's that.

I've had my say and am now moving on from this thread. Thanks for the dialog.

[badgerpup]

26. So...how do we actually get the 'Herd o' Cats' third party organized?

What's the main message? Who's got name recognition, integrity, and enough charisma to get the needed attention and pull?
Right now, sometimes I think the only thing the Democratic Party has going for them is that they AREN'T the Republican Party.

[AnneD]

29. I have thought for some time that we should..

do away with the electoral college and tighten up the recording of the electoral process. The one with the majority of votes wins.

[Old and In the Way]

7. He's on the road to recovery, but he has a ways to go.

It's a joke to think Gore wouldn't defend this country. Clinton was not afraid to use the military when he saw a compelling and potentially destabilising war brewing in Kosovo. Gore wouldn't have probably gone into Afghanistan because they were taking terror seriously. 9/11 wouldn't have happened on his watch. Why did it happen? That's the question he needs to ask himself. Who shitcanned the Hart-Rudman report?

For a media person, he seems pretty naive about how the broadcast media is stacked against Democrats. Yeah, we have some bad apples, but we are not corrupt at the core. A Party that has people like Dean, Feingold, Kerry, Durgin, and Cleland is the Party I'm proud to be associated with.

[ComerPerro]

20. That's what every Republican says

"Oh, no, I agree, Bush is lousy and I regret voting for him. But the Democrats are just as bad, and Kerry wouldn't have been any better."

[ChiciB1]

2. Well I Missed It Too...

Thanks for posting this!

I have a few people I want to send it to.

[Coexist]

3. Just wow. KnR

[inthebrain]

4. I could offer up that this means nothing

Perhaps another attempt to prop up MCain. Perhaps it also vindication. It also could lead the supporters further down a diasatrous path that we've all been down before, dipping in Republican pools for votes!!!!

Yet, there is something to this that speaks of vindication. It's a great example of what happens when you take a hit on an issue in the short run for big gains in the long run!!!!!

That's why promising voters impeachment is so important at this juncture.

As far as support for Bush amongst his base. it doesnt matter. He's not running again!!!! One thing is certain is that Republicans are doing this with their eye on 2008. My biggest fear is that Democrats get so hung up on this idiot that they become distracted with him as Conservatives did with Clinton.

[genieroze]

6. Presidential failures. James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, Jimmy Carter?

Carter??????, what about Nixon, Harding, and Hoover. Typical Republican, I'm surprised he didn't bring up Clinton with Monica's blue dress. Too much, too little too late a-hole.

[rfranklin]

11. He did bring it up....

"Clinton's shenanigans..."

It is just an attempt to hold the rotting fish that is the Bush junta at an arm's length...

[proud2BlibKansan]

9. And many more are sure to follow

[William Seger]

10. Thank you, Mr. McIntyre, and by the way....

... fuck you. Al Gore is a good and decent man, and so is John Kerry, and either one would have made a fine President. Sounds like you may be getting better, but your head is still full of Republican-generated shit.

Edit: Oh, yeah, forgot about the Carter crack. Fuck you again.

[grace0418]

12. "Fuck you." LOL! My thoughts exactly!

Here is my response from the other thread about this same subject...

"I'm glad he sees the light about Bush, I really am. Now we just need that other 31% to wake the fuck up. But if he's so aware of how badly bungled the Katrina aftermath was, then he should also be aware of how Al Gore was an *INCREDIBLE* leader during that disaster. He was a leader when he didn't have to be, when there were no photographers, pollsters or pundits around. He had nothing to gain by pitching in and helping when he could've written a check to the Red Cross and made a few pointed remarks about the incompetency of Bu$hCo. No one would've thought ill of him if that's all he did. But he stepped up and got A LOT done (without government support, without state and federal agencies, without the powers of office). He just rolled up his sleeves and he made a fucking difference. If the tables were turned would Bush have done anything? LOL! He did nothing to help and he was in charge of the fucking country!

What difference has Bush ever made? Or should I say, what positive change has Bush ever made? Every single thing he touches, whether it's domestic or foreign policy, health care, education, the environment, the economy, is worse off for his attention.

Sorry, I really appreciate the author admitting his error. But I did not appreciate the little snipes at Gore. Clearly if he could be so wrong about Bush (so utterly, completely, glaringly wrong), isn't it also possible he's wrong about Gore?"

[hfojvt]

14. except that Democrats offer lots of alternatives

Plus he may not like Al Gore, maybe Gore isn't great, but "Greatness is always rare, but is basic competence and simple honesty too much to ask?"

Gore had much more than basic competence and simple honesty.

Democrats have offered alternatives to all of the policies he decrys, and they have been voted down by the other party. As bad as Bush is, this fellow seems to let the Republican Congress off the hook when they are the chief enablers.

[Amonester]

15. Better late than never (although predictable), but I take offense...

... with the following:

"Tragically, the Democrats have allowed crackpots, leftists and demagogic cowards to snipe from the sidelines while taking no responsibility for anything. In fairness, I don’t believe a Democrat president would have gone into Iraq. Unfortunately, I don’t know if President Gore would have gone into Afghanistan. And that’s one of the many problems with the Democrats."

Now, IMHO, I believe President Gore would have PREVENTED 9/11 from even happening, because he's a REAL "hard-worker" FOR the People, not a POS bullshitter for fake photo-ops like pResident Bu$h is...

But hey, wingnut one day, wingnut everyday (it seems...).

Yeah. President Gore would have read the August 6, 2001 PDB, and he would have ACTED upon it, which would have LED him and his Democratic aides to find out about all things Moussaoui (sp?), Able Danger, and all that crap, so the PNAC's gangsters' wished-for "New Pearl Harbor" would NOT have happened, and almost 3,000 civilians, and Firefighters, (PLUS thousands of Iraqis AND National Guards WOULD STILL BE IN THIS WORLD TODAY).

but hey, wingnut$ one day, wingnut$ every day. :grr:

P.S.: not to mention Global Warming would diminish and this world would have had a chance to get "greener."

:hangover:

[Johonny]

17. Well the Afganistan war

has gone so well. I can see why he'd not want to miss out in that. Anyways what crackpot, leftist or demagogic coward is currently in a leadership position in the Democratic party? I mean he can't even name one. He's fighting against the invisible liberal ghosts of rightwing propaganda. Right wingers have spent so much time creating mythical liberal stances that they can't even remember what liberals actually stand for.

Tragically, the Democrats have allowed crackpots, leftists and demagogic cowards to snipe from the sidelines while taking no responsibility for anything.

[DrDebug]

18. "paper-mache patriots"

That's a good one to remember. I'm going use that one day...

[ComerPerro]

19. Here's a liberal saying "tough shit, moron"

Yeah, you regret it now. But you know what?

This stuff you cite? It had been going on before 2004, when you voted for him AGAIN!

And then, this guy has the nerve to insert in the new Mantra of the Republican party:

Bush is bad, but the Democrats are worse and Kerry wouldn't have been any better.


To me, that is the battle cry of someone who doesn't want to wake up, and never will...

[Amonester]

23. Even if I don't believe a word he spouts (or types), I saw that line:

"January 7th, 2004 speech on immigration, his first trial balloon on his guest worker scheme, was a deal breaker for me. I couldn’t and didn’t vote for him in 2004. And I’m glad I didn’t."

So, even if it's true, that brainwashed "moran" was "part of the problem" since Nov. 2000...

Never mind if "We the People" TOLD HIM SO.

[glitch]

21. One step at a time. The first one's the hardest and hallelu he's made that

He's got a ways to go though.

[magellan]

22. Bush** was never "up", Dougie

Except in a drug-induced fashion. He was a disaster from the start. 9/11 merely saved his neck and made him politically viable with people like you who needed a savior. He still relies on that, proves it nearly every time he opens his mouth by reminding us all how 9/11 changed everything. He did it again today while peddling Hayden to us. Manipulation. Fear.

9/11 sure did change everything. But it wasn't without the help of a bunch of ignorant anti-democratic Republican wussies like you who spent the last five years cheering Bush** on while he took a long dump on the Constitution and the rule of law. Waving the US flag like that made it okay.

So now you feel the gravity of evidence. (Which only proves how thick you are; the big boulders have been hitting you on the head for at least a year.) And here you come a crawlin', just like we knew you would. Mostly because your wallet's being pinched and your agenda hasn't been carried out successfully. You give excuses for your votes for Bush** and STILL trash the Left based on assumptions -- I see you are not truly contrite. Just trying to stay ahead of the wave.

"You were right, I was wrong."

TOO LATE. WRONG FOCUS.

Here's a quarter. Go call someone who cares. Or better yet, save it. Because as badly as your man Bush** has damaged this country, you're going to need every penny you've got.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

24. "the thought of President Gore was… unthinkable" Where do these

guys get this stuff? What could they possibly be afraid of Gore doing? Sighing when they say stupid shit?
Sigh...

[BrklynLiberal]

25. Too little, too late. Damage done.

:grr:

[Bake]

27. Hey Doug: next time, just stay home.

And by the way, a great big "fuck you." And the horse you rode in on. The Democrats have their difficulties, but to equate them (i.e., MY party) with the Pukes, well, all I can say is "fuck you, Dougie."

Bake

[welshTerrier2]

28. i wish i could make this point better to my Dem friends

some of us "way out there on the left" raise issues about corporate abuse of our democratic institutions as part of our core message ... our focus is less on corruption (i.e. stealing taxpayer money) and more on an undemocratic influence on legislation and policy ...

the point i wish i could make more effectively is that these so-called lefty views are neither left, center or right at all ... this article in the OP from a conservative talk show exemplifies that this is really an American issue and should not be perceived as left vs. right ... that is ultimately the bankruptcy of current Democratic Party political strategy ... we should not be "moving to the center to win over moderate republicans"; we should be fighting like hell for redemocratizing our country ...

the alienation so many feel is that the two major parties are wrestling for control over the bow and the fiddle while Rome continues to burn ... we are in big trouble in this country and too much of what passes for real discourse and real solutions is little more than inter-party squabbling ...

in my view, the best values and the best policies will lead to the best politics; right now, Democrats still seem to be afraid of their own shadows ... we've already thoroughly demonstrated we will not win if we remain too cautious ...