Tuesday, December 16, 2008

President Bush, the free market, and the media

I've been fairly supportive of President Bush. I have disagreed strongly with some of his stances, such as the one on immigration, but overall I've thought he got a bad rap when it came to the way the media treated him. I give him credit for many things, primarily keeping us safe which I believe is the President's number one priority.

The way he and his cohorts have handled the economy is one where he and I part ways. In an interview with CNN he admitted he had abandoned free market principles to keep the economy from completely tanking (my paraphrase). I believe our country was founded on free market principles and that under no circumstances should we abandon those values. We have embarked on a slippery slope towards socialism and I believe Obama is standing at the bottom of the slope with his arms wide open.

We are headed for a different kind of trouble and we will look back on 2008 as the year our way of life collapsed.

In reading the article below (thanks Drudge Report and Michelle Malkin, Michelle being first to mention this one!), I noted that when they quoted President Bush they quoted him completely, including the gaps, the lapses that permeate his speech. I bring it up simply to contrast the way he is portrayed versus the way the press quotes uh, uh, Obama, uh. They don't include his hesitations, his skipping of words or his flaws. With President Bush they seem to highlight the flaws. Maybe I'm being over sensitive on this one, but I would be we won't be hearing skits on Saturday Night Live dissing' Obama.


US President George W. Bush is pictured at the White House i...
US President George W. Bush said in an interview Tuesday he was forced to sacrifice free market principles to save the economy from "collapse."
"I've abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system," Bush told CNN television, saying he had made the decision "to make sure the economy doesn't collapse."
Bush's comments reflect an extraordinary departure from his longtime advocacy for an unfettered free market, as his administration has orchestrated unprecedented government intervention in the face of a dire financial crisis.
"I am sorry we're having to do it," Bush said.
But Bush said government action was necessary to ease the effects of the crisis, offering perhaps his most dire assessment yet of the country's economy.
"I feel a sense of obligation to my successor to make sure there is not a, you know, a huge economic crisis. Look, we're in a crisis now. I mean, this is -- we're in a huge recession, but I don't want to make it even worse." ...

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