Reagan conservatives are NOT fond of Bush (and why would they be?)

Take, for example, former CIA analyst Larry Johnson. Johnson knew Valerie Plame back in the CIA. Last July, Johnson found himself wishing aloud that Senator Howard Baker was still in office and that at least some Republican "would stand up and call the ugly dog the ugly dog that it is." Johnson is a registered Republican and comes across as an old-school conservative, one who believes in restraint and keeping the government out of people's faces. So what's he got to say about Bush's meeting with Hu Jintao?
I'm not a hardened Cold Warrior who believes we should not deal with China. But, I am an old fashioned conservative who believes that the United States was supposed to offer an alternative model of government to the authoritarian nations, like China and the old Soviet Union.

***

Where are we today? A protester is forcibly removed from the White House grounds. The White House, a symbol of the American people, became a backdrop for the new authoritarianism of the Bush era. Rather than show the Chinese leader the beauty of tolerating dissent, Bush presided over the arrest of a woman who dared speak out against her country's leader. Bush furthered the insult to American democracy by apologizing to China's leader for the outburst.


Oh, I dunno, Larry. I'm sure Bush is hatching some plan to "liberate" the Chinese right now. He's all about making the world safe for democracy, right? Can't have Hu tossing all those nice Falun Gong folks in jail, can we?

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