President George

Sometimes, my president makes it hard to be conservative. He does that because, as a conservative president, the public perceives him as my champion, and little by little, maybe more and more, he's becoming less of that. The latest spat over leaking classified information is making me rethink my support of the guy, not that it was ever overwhelming. I haven't gone off the deep end or anything, and it certainly doesn't change my views on issues, such as they are. For me to vote for someone else, I'd have to think someone else was a better choice. As much as my opinion of George is sinking, it still hasn't reached the depths of Teresa Heinz's kept man and his three purple hearts, or the inventor of the internet. The dubya has never been someone I liked. I just disliked him less than the competition, and in my view, that always has been setting the bar pretty low.

Now with all that qualification up front, it appears George Bush is now taking away the one quality I always gave him the benefit of the doubt with. I always thought the guy was honest. I know, some of you are laughing out loud at that, and you're entitled to your opinion. I also know I get real tired of hearing about how he lied to everyone about Iraq and weapons of mass destruction. The definition of a lie includes the assumption that you are saying something that isn't true and you know it. A lie is when Bill Clinton gets into my living room and says "I never had sex with that woman, Miss Lewinski", knowing full well his DNA is on her dress, and lining her esophagus. Being misinformed is when you say something that isn't true, based on information you believed, but wasn't true. Being misinformed and lying are not the same. I still contend that there isn't a Democrat out there that wasn't surprised when no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq. I think they were just as surprised as anyone else. It was just something they could use to their advantage, so they did. I think George and everyone else believed we'd find loads of them, and I think Saddam Hussien's actions leading up to the war supported that belief. So what I'm saying is, I give him a pass in the honesty department when it comes to Iraq.

I don't give him a pass with this current debacle. If it all holds true, and he got up and said he wanted the leak exposed, knowing full well he was to blame, he'll lose me. One of the things I need in a president is integrity. I don't need a genius. If the guy can surround himself with good people and be a good manager, he doesn't have to be mensa material. Ronald Regan proved that for me. I do need to know he's honest with me and I can believe what he tells me is the truth, based on the information he has. I need to know I'm getting his best effort to be straight with me. I need to know that and so do the heads of state in other countries. How can you broker deals and make promises in good faith, and expect people to believe you will hold up your end, and expect them to do the same, if you don't have that? Then, in my book, he becomes the same slime that makes up Bill Clinton, and yeah, that is setting the bar pretty low, as long as we're all working from the same definition of "is".