Conservatives are not stupid---they are wrong!

This is a great article, which is worth a full read. It makes a point that is not only worth making, but perhaps essential if they is to be any hope of turning this country back from the moral abyss and road to fascism it is on:

(Via Rockridge Institute)

Progressives have fallen into a trap. Emboldened by President Bush's plummeting approval ratings, progressives increasingly point to Bush's "failures" and label him and his administration as incompetent. For example, Nancy Pelosi said "The situation in Iraq and the reckless economic policies in the United States speak to one issue for me, and that is the competence of our leader." Self-satisfying as this criticism may be, it misses the bigger point. Bush's disasters (Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit) are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according to plan, that is at fault. Bush will not be running again, but other conservatives will. His governing philosophy is theirs as well. We should be putting the onus where it belongs, on all conservative office holders and candidates who would lead us off the same cliff.

(SNIP)

he idea that Bush is incompetent is a curious one. Consider the following (incomplete) list of major initiatives the Bush administration, with a loyal conservative Congress, has accomplished:

Centralizing power within the executive branch to an unprecedented degree

Starting two major wars, one started with questionable intelligence and in a manner with which the military disagreed

Placing on the Supreme Court two far-right justices, and stacking the lower federal courts with many more

Cutting taxes during wartime, an unprecedented event

Passing a number of controversial bills such as the PATRIOT Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, the Medicare Drug bill, the Bankruptcy bill and a number of massive tax cuts

Rolling back and refusing to enforce a host of basic regulatory protections

Appointing industry officials to oversee regulatory agencies

Establishing a greater role for religion through faith-based initiatives

Passing Orwellian-titled legislation assaulting the environment — “The Healthy Forests Act” and the “Clear Skies Initiative” — to deforest public lands, and put more pollution in our skies

Winning re-election and solidifying his party’s grip on Congress

These aren’t signs of incompetence. As should be painfully clear, the Bush administration has been overwhelmingly competent in advancing its conservative vision. It has been all too effective in achieving its goals by determinedly pursuing a conservative philosophy.

The point here is that to get this country back, we need to stop buying into the "Bush is dumb" myth and start opposing the policies he and his administration have been very successful in implimenting. I can't believe Democrats like Clinton and Feinstein pushing this asinine flag burning amendment, while the real issues of this country are virtually unaddressed. Wake up, you fools! While you try to figure out how to beat the Republicans at their own game (which you will never do), you are selling us out and betraying the values which really are what our country is about.

Go read the whole article. No excerpts can do it justice.