THis is a standard Republican talking point that is not and never has been true.

First off, there is no weakly implied hatred of the man who calls himself President. In fact I despise the man because he has done more damage to America than even al-Qaeda has. He has bungled everything from protecting America to catching bin Laden to the economy to ethics to Katrina to upholding the Constitution. His failures are outweighed only by his arrogance. He is the worst, most corrupt and most incompetent man who has ever set foot in the White House.

But that is not why I am a Democrat. That is why I would never vote Republican these days, even when a Republican friend of mine of good integrity, ran for office. By the way, that Republican friend ALSO despises Bush and his whole family for much the same reason I do. So, like I say, you don't have to be a Democrat to have a strong revulsion towards Bush. He is a repulsive person and the fact that he is a Republican is why Republicans are doing their damnedest to deny they are Republicans. Here in NYC the boot-licking Cheney crony Vito Fossella, who has voted with the Republicans 92% of the time, has dropped "Republican" from his website and bills himself as "Independent." Why? Because in his district, which vote Republican most of the time, Bush has a below 30% approval rating. In a solid red district Bush is despised and the incumbent praying people forget he is a Republican.

Now, as to the Democrats, the truth is they have had far more vision and ideas than the Republicans since FDR. Some examples: Carter was warning against America's addiction to oil and it's implications on the rise of fundamentalist Islam back in the 1970's. It was the Republicans that had no vision and no ideas and stuck with oil addiction up to this day. Bush admitted America is addicted to oil some 30 years after Democrats had been pushing the idea of energy independence. Energy independence: that issue that Democrats have real proposals on that would a.) reduce the amount of our money that goes to propping up Middle Eastern dictators who support terrorists, b.) help reduce air pollution, c.) help to reduce global warming (another issue Democrats have been talking about a decade before Republicans) and d.) create AMERICAN jobs rather than Saudi jobs. Democrats have ALWAYS led on these issues and it has been Republicans that whine that we can't do it, America is too weak to become energy independent, we just have to kiss more Saudi ass and hope they don't raise prices too much. Back in the early 1990's I was reading scientific articles on how, for example, the Great Plains states could become major energy EXPORTERS based on existing wind power technology of that time. Yet Republicans TO THIS DAY say America is too backwards and weak to do what Democrats advise and other nations are already doing. The same series of articles covered energy efficiency, solar and other technologies, all of which we have failed to embrace DESPITE Democratic urging. Why? Because Republicans ALWAYS oppose it almost as a block saying oil is the only thing we can use and America can't progress into alternative energy. Democrats warned about the ozone hole before conservatives admitted it, warned about global warming before conservatives admitted it AND THEY OFFERED SOLUTIONS that Republicans ignored or outright denegrated. Had we embraced Democratic energy proposals back when Carter was President, we would be far better off today. Instead we remain addicted to oil because Republicans had no vision and no new ideas and were unwilling to even consider new ideas for the past 30 years.

Health care: Democrats have been the ONLY party to offer ideas here. Many were based on existing models that are successful elsewhere. Businesses are moving to Canada BECAUSE of the Canadian health care system. We are LOSING jobs because Republicans have failed to support Democratic ideas on reforming health care. This is another issue where Democrats have been sounding the alarm for decades...even before Hillary Clinton tried to take on the problem over Republican failure to even admit there was a problem. Republicans continue to deny that there is a health care problem even though we are losing jobs because of it and even though statistics show that the health outcomes of Americans (infant survival, chance of living past certain ages, etc.) rank far below many comparable economies and match more around the levels of Croatia and Portugal...I kid you not! It has only been Democrats who have consistently admitted the problem and offered ideas for reform.

Campaign finance reform: Largely opposed by Republicans, mostly supported by Democrats. Democrats routinely offer ideas and suggestions that are ignored by Republicans.

Fighting terrorism: Clinton was offering advice which led Republicans to exlaim that Clinton was "obsessed with al Qaeda." Well, in retrospect shouldn't Bush have read the memos and become just as obsessed? Clinton warned that al Qaeda would be the defining issue of Bush's presidency. Bush ignored him. Look at the result. Democrats have been advising reforms to international finance and banking that would block a large chunk of terrorist funding. All blocked by Bush and Republicans. Democrats wanted to go after al Qaeda during the Clinton administration. Republicans whined "wag the dog" and refused. Carter wanted to address the links between oil and terrorism. Blocked by Republicans and anything he got through was reversed by Reagan. In terms of Middle East peace the ONLY times progress was made was under Carter and Clinton. Those were the most intense times of negotiation. Under Carter it led to the landmark and Nobel Prize winning Camp David agreement that brought peace between Egypt and Israel including a return of land. It was a brilliant act of diplomacy taht included efforts by both Carter and Mondale. No comparable Middle East diplomacy has been done since. The closest was the Oslo agreement under Clinton. Nothing else comes even vaguely close.

Democrats have been saying our voting system has problems since 2000 and have been warning (not enough!) against the touchscreen machines from their first introduction. It is only in 2006 that a handful of conservatives, like former San Diego mayor Roger Hedgecock, have come on board and said that our elections need fixing and the touchscreen machines only make it worse. Democrats were ahead by at least 6 years.

So, Democrats have been listening to scientists about the ozone hole and global warming for decades before Republicans stopped denying the science. Democrats have been offering a variety of energy solutions for decades. Republicans still are behind in ideas here. Democrats have been working towards health care reform for decades. Republicans still largely deny the issue despite the loss of jobs to Canada and the health statistics that show we do worse than most industrialized Western nations. Democrats have been working sporadically on reforms to campaign finance and elections for a lot longer than Republicans. Democrats were warning against Muslim terrorism and wanting to go after it long before Republicans would...in fact Republicans were still training some of those future al-Qaeda terrorists while Democrats wanted to fight them. Democrats wanted to focus on al-Qaeda, not invade Iraq. Bush had to lie to get Democrats to support the invasion. Democrats have offered exit strategies. Bush has not.

Democrats are far from perfect, but shit, they have outdone Republicans on proposing solutions for decades. Republicans mainly run on a plea to return to those wonderful policies of the 1920's that worked so well then...until reality hit in the form of the Great Depression. Hell, Republicans still haven't even learned the lessons of the Great Depression, let alone any modern problems. So don't give me any crap about Republican ideas and Democratic lack of ideas. Democrats have consistently pushed America forward and Republicans dragged it backwards.