From: Gary Britt 

I didn't think you were having a go at me, I was just confused I guess.  I
thought you were implying I thought voting for Bush was a mistake.  I
don't, I just regret not having had a real conservative to support in 2000
and 2004.

On Rumsfeld, it was a slow process to realize that Harriet Miers and
Katrina weren't just isolated lapses.  It took the revealed incompetence of
republican leadership in congress that came to a head over the last 2
years, Harriet Miers, Katrina, and then Immigration Reform to realize once
and for all that their was a real permanent competence problem that flows
from the President himself in the executive branch and flows from
republican congressional and party leadership outside the executive branch.
 After that realization comes home its a lot easier to look at Rumsfeld and
think his heart was in the right place but his execution was incompetent. 
However, now that one realizes the President himself is incompetent its
difficult to know for sure how much of Rumsfeld's apparent incompetence was
enforced on him from the top down.

Gary

John Beckett wrote:
> Gary Britt  wrote in message
> news::
>> Also, I don't know what mistake to which you refer below.  I haven't
>> admitted any mistake of mine in this thread.
> in
> Sorry for any confusion. In this thread, I am not having a go at you.
>
> To explain: You made this comment re GWB:
>> He just fucks up a lot due to his incompetence and his deaf eared
>> arrogance and inability to get competent people around him
>
> I am trying to express my puzzlement at the party loyalty shown in the
> last couple of years by GOP supporters (when it would be rare to hear
> public comments such as yours above).
>
> Loyalty is good, and a certain number of mistakes by a party one supports
> should be overlooked. But after a point, continuing to express blind
> loyalty looks silly, and doesn't do the party any good.
>
> The "mistakes" I was referring to were those of the GWB
government that
> have disappointed you.
>
> In particular, I could never understand why there weren't more Republican
> supporters who would publicly argue against Rumsfeld, before his final
> decline.
>
> John
>

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