"Under his administration, the national debt has gone up a stunning 24 percent, to $7 trillion. A chief reason for that increase is that Bush has enthusiastically promoted an explosion in government spending. In 2004, federal government outlays are expected to exceed $2.3 trillion, which is $500 billion more than in 2000. At nearly $500 billion, the budget deficit is close to 4.5 percent of gross domestic product, the sort of ratio usually seen in developing countries that are about to implode. Contrary to the White House's absurd projections, private economists expect annual deficits of between $400 billion and $600 billion over the next 10 years."

As we come down the home stretch of this campaign, Republicans should look to Bush and soberly assess where he stands on the issues that define the Party:

* Fiscal responsibility
* Limited power of government over citizens
* Federalism
* Realistic foreign policy in the tradition of Dulles, Kissinger, Baker and Bush senior
* “Good government” and limitations of abuse of power by legislators and the executive branch
* Aggrandizement of American influence in the world
* Free trade

Its whole purpose being the acquisition of raw power through any means necessary, the discrete "conservative movement" and its dealings can at times be extremely disorienting. The proliferation of Newspeak as a political propaganda strategy by the American right, in particular, has created a milieu in which up is down, wrong is right and ignorance is strength.

At times, is seems as if factuality has no real basis. Truth has no objective value; it is instead a mutable thing, readily manipulated through repetition of propaganda talking points.