In a scathing attack entitled
GOP Must Go, The American Conservative (a magazine founded by Pat Buchanan) calls for voters to repudiate George Bush by voting for Democrats.
It should surprise few readers that we think a vote that is seen--in America and the world at large--as a decisive "No" vote on the Bush presidency is the best outcome. We need not dwell on George W. Bush's failed effort to jam a poorly disguised amnesty for illegal aliens through Congress or the assaults on the Constitution carried out under the pretext of fighting terrorism or his administration's endorsement of torture. Faced on Sept. 11, 2001 with a great challenge, President Bush made little effort to understand who had attacked us and why--thus ignoring the prerequisite for crafting an effective response. He seemingly did not want to find out, and he had staffed his national-security team with people who either did not want to know or were committed to a prefabricated answer.
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There may be little Americans can do to atone for this presidency, which will stain our country's reputation for a long time. But the process of recovering our good name must begin somewhere, and the logical place is in the voting booth this Nov. 7. If we are fortunate, we can produce a result that is seen--in Washington, in Peoria, and in world capitals from Prague to Kuala Lumpur--as a repudiation of George W. Bush and the war of aggression he launched against Iraq.
While some may see this as rats jumping off a sinking ship, I'm not so sure. It's no surprise that paleo-conservatives like Pat Buchanan would oppose Bush's imperialist agenda. But it's one thing to oppose policy and another thing entirely to urge conservatives to vote for Democrats.
This is a call for Americans to kick out the GOP appeasers who have abetted George Bush's attack on our democracy. It's an acknowledgment that leaving the GOP in charge would threaten not only our standing in the world, but our existence as a democratic republic. It refutes the GOP as the standard-bearer of conservatism in America.
On Nov. 7, the world will be watching as we go to the polls, seeking to ascertain whether the American people have the wisdom to try to correct a disastrous course. Posterity will note too if their collective decision is one that captured the attention of historians--that of a people voting, again and again, to endorse a leader taking a country in a catastrophic direction. The choice is in our hands.