It looks like the left can just sit back and watch the right rip Bush - 'the socialist' - to shreds. All I want to know is what took them so long?
Thanks to Dana Milbank at the WaPo for this gem of a story that truly makes my day.
The first speaker at the forum held by the Cato Institute was, "former Reagan aide Bruce Bartlett. Author of the new book 'Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy,' Bartlett called the administration 'unconscionable,' 'irresponsible,' 'vindictive' and 'inept.'"
The second speaker was conservative blogger Andrew Sullivan. "Author of the forthcoming 'The Conservative Soul: How We Lost It; How to Get It Back,' Sullivan called Bush 'reckless' and 'a socialist,' and accused him of betraying 'almost every principle conservatism has ever stood for.'"
The moderator, Boaz, "blamed Bush for 'a 48 percent increase in spending in just six years,' a 'federalization of public schools' and 'the biggest entitlement since LBJ.'"
Only one questioner at the standing room only forum offered a defense of Bush, and it was a "tepid" defense.
Bartlett said, "many fellow conservatives don't know about the 'quite dreadful' traits of the administration, such as the absence of 'anybody who does any serious analysis' on policy issues."
Sullivan said, "The entire intellectual game has been given away by the Republican president. He's a socialist in so many respects, a Christian socialist."
Bartlett said, "Richard Nixon 'is the model for everything Bush is doing.'"
Sullivan said, "He is not a responsible human being; he is a phenomenally reckless human being."
The Cato Institute invited members of the Bush Administration to attend the think tank's conservative forum on the subject of Bush. None came.
Photo seen at Talkleft
Bush Cheney Empire Cato Institute Andrew Sullivan Bruce Bartlett Impeach Bush Miserable Failure
