Republicans respecting our president?

Thanks, I think you've made one of the most valuable contributions to the discussion of politics and underlined what makes America Great. Unlike in a monarchy, you do not owe alliance to a person or an office but to the nation. While Democrates and Republicans may have disagreements, by and large everyone remains loyal to the idea of being American and i think this is what should ultimately matter. Of course, it's always best if a President makes the special effort to reach out to the guys from the party that did not vote for him - good to make sure that you stand united as a nation.

Thanks X. I agree that it is our duty to question our leaders. The problem I have is that some on here (I am sure you know who they are) have defended our current president even though he has been one of the most destructive presidents in our history. I am not attacking people that question our leadership, I am just reminding people that told us that we need to support our president in a time of war or you are unpatriotic, I will be watching to see how they "support" our new president during Bush's war. I consider that to be fair, wouldn't you say?

Do you feel that there was also only a small number of Republicans who did everything they could to undermine President Clinton during his eight years in office? I know we have different opinions about both of our last two Presidents so we're going to have to agree to disagree somewhat here, but I think you have to admit Clinton took as much crap from the right as Bush did from the left. At least he sure did from where I sat! Annie

The crap Clinton got didn't even begin to approach the treatment of Bush. The bulk of the attacks on Clinton were the result of Lewinsky and Whitewater. Obviously you will always have people like Limbaugh, who from day one of the Clinton administration started each show with "American held hostage X days remaining", but the majority gave him a fair shake. Bush didn't even step foot in the white house before liberals started blaming him for the recession which started months before he took office. You yourself were still bashing him over the 2000 election as recently as 2008.

Taskr, actually is started when republicans spend hundred of millions of dollars to investigate Bill Clinton for getting up in the morning (Which I believe we should investigate Bush for many different reason). There were many more news organizations (including FOX news, and it's host) that attack the patroitism of Americans who didn't support the Bush lies. The vast majority of Democrats voted for the Bush war in Iraq, and Afghanistan, they also supported many of his tax cuts, and bugets in fund the war. What I would say to your question about supporting the president is if you say that we should support our president because he is the president, they if you attack Barack Obama for doing the same things Bush did, then you are a hypocrite. There is no doubt that republicans will attack Obama (they already have started) no matter how good of a job he does (remember Bill Clinton?). Bush had a chance to united the country after 9/11 and decided to divide us more than we ever have. You say that I am blindly following Obama, and his broken promises. Yet, have attacked George W. Bush for not being a uniter, he actually has the second worse approval rating, and was nothing but a divider. Did you attack him for breaking his promise of ending Nation Building as a foreign policy of the United States? We currently are taking on the largest Nation Building since world war II. Yet, Taskr has remained silent.

I think many "average" Republicans, meaning those who are not politicians or members of the media, are like you. However, I don't think it's a myth that we were TOLD that by politicians and pundits on TV, especially early in the Iraq War. Annie

Thanks for your response. For the last eight years I have opposed many of the presidents actions, and supported some of them. But, I can not tell you how many times my patroitism was questions because I questioned (and has proven correct many times) the acitons of this president. Our founding fathers wanted the people to question their leaders actions, but this administration has fought that at every turn. When ever the American people have questioned them, they have gone to court to block the people from finding out the truth. I agree that we as Americans should support our president, but we shouldn't blindly follow them. We should always question what our government is doing, especially when they change laws to restrict our freedoms. I was shocked to hear that you say that you scream bloody murder when congress passes laws that step on your constitutional rights. President Bush's patriot act was stepped on your constitutional rights more than any other act passed in the last 50 years. Did you scream bloody murder when this was passed? I did. I do not expect Barack Obama to do anything like the patriot act (we might get lucky and we will repeal it), but if he does I will opose it as well.

I screamed bloody murder and then some. I still am.I am hoping they will repeal it. I have been in contact with my elected officials about it several times over the years sense it passed. Obama said would repeal it and I hope he keeps that promise. If not, I will keep up the preasure on my elected officials about it. If enough of us do it they will repeal it.

Thanks for your response. I agree it is sad that we have two different Americans. You are correct that both sides think they are ALWAYS right (some even brag that they are right, and they are wrong, end of discussion), it is sad that we don't have compromise anymore. It is sad that we have people that put party ahead of the country, and the people they work for. The hard part about having a president "actually act appropriately while in office" is what you consider appropriate. I am sure you can go back and look at every presidents record and find something you might find "inappropriate". Our founding fathers wanted the American people to rule the country, they didn't want another King. This is why many said that it is the job of the people to question the government. If we don't question our leaders: Who will?

In my mind, the first step to "act appropriately" is to not take away my freedoms. I am young, but I am not blind to everything occuring in the political realm. The main reason why I began to despise Bush was because he took away so many civil rights. One being the right to habeus corpus (among others, mind you). All in the name of "defending the people" when in reality we are not in need of "defending", as we are in a war where we are the offenders. Except for the attack on the World Trade Centers, nothing has really occurred on our soil. Running an offensive campaign is not the best defense, or minimally should not be deemed a "defensive" strategy. The next step is to continue to give civil rights to all people. One thing I also despised about Bush and ultimately Republicans in general was the fact that they constantly put religion before their polices. In the case of homosexuals, they deserve the civil right to marry. They are being persecuted under law. It is ridiculous. They are not harming anyone, and allowing them to marry doesn't mean everyone has to personally support them; but they deserve the right to do as they wish. What the government does to them is borderline slavery. I would hope Obama, coming from an African American background, sees this.

Thanks for your response. I agree that the country is in a bad situation and everyone needs to work together to help the country. Obama has already had meetings with republicans, and some conservatives, receiving as many options as possible to make the right decisions.

BS! Our country did NOT get respect after 9/11, we got the world's pity. The press and the Democrats waited until Bush made a decision, then went after him like a rabid hyena. I still remember Democrats asking "can we take our flags down now?" and "how long do we have to support Bush?" The DNC, the press and that fat waste of human flesh Michael Moore all used 9/11 to their advantage as skillfully as the terrorists flew the jets into the towers.

Now that is BS Para, The AMERICAN people (not the world) were united in going after Bin Laden, they started to lose faith when Bush and the communist wing of the republican party (other wise known as the Cheney gang), used the patriot act to get rid of everything they never liked in the constitution. When they wanted to invade Iraq, saying they had something to do with 9/11, yet never provided any proof (Cheney still says they didn, but has never provided any proof), it showed us that Bush was going off the deep end. If Bill Clinton would have done that, right wing republicans would have pushed for an independant investigation into the proof of what the administration claims(remember when Clinton when after Bin Laden, and republicans attacked. I wonder if they republicans supported this action, 9/11 would have happened?).

Para, Bush could have united this country after 9/11, he chose to divide us, and this is why many Americans (including republicans) didn't unite behind him. I was behind Bush after 9/11, I was happy when we went into Afghanistan, but I didn't agree with Iraq. I also didn't agree with the patriot act, I felt this was an idea of the far right to get to information they could use to win elections in the future. I see that you have forgot about the irrational hatred heaped on Prs. Clinton. I know eight years is a long time ago (well really about four, seeing how he was being blamed for everything that happened in Bush's first term).

LOL, like they supported Clinton when he bombed Afghanistan in 1998? But, that Bin Laden guy he was going after wasn't worth spending millions of dollars on trying to kill him.