I'm going to divide this post into two pieces. First off I have to reply to Mr. Andy Baker. I can see that he is a conservative. However I think we should all question whether Bush is a conservative in the true what republicans are supposed to stand for sense, which seems to be the view Mr. Baker shares. What have republicans typically stood for? Small government, less government intervention in peoples lives, and fiscal conservativeness.
Okay 1) Small Government - Mr. Baker says that he is for small government and so he will vote for President Bush. However President Bush's administration and congress is responsible for creating the largest government bureaucracy EVER, the Homeland Security Department.
2) Less government intervention in people's lives - The patriot act. Here is a law that allows the government to look into the lives of average Americans, you or eye, in ways we never dreamed would be possible. They can wiretap my internet connection and phone, search my home (without my knowledge), and obtain a list of the library books I read. All of this mind you can be done without and judicial oversight through a
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=13246&c=206]"National Security Letter."[/url] Essentially the FBI drafts up one of these letters and away they go.
3) Fiscally Conservative - The national deficit has skyrocketed under Bush. When Clinton left office the government was projecting surpluses!! Now we are looking at the largest federal deficit in American history. Even the GAO is raising red flags. So much more fiscal conservatives.
I would suggest that the republican part has abandoned their traditional platform and morphed into something new and frankly alarming. Deficit spending is good, spying on Americans is good, and more bureaucracy is good. These doesn't sound like the type of republicans that Mr. Baker seems to be longing form.