Hard truths come home to roost at the GOP

Re “Recant, then rethink,” Opinion, Sept. 23

Indeed, the ideals of the GOP have shifted radically in the last 25 years. But most conservative voters are more likely to see President Bush as an incompetent leader than to reexamine their core values.

Bush’s policies are an extension of Ronald Reagan’s: deficit spending, hawkish foreign policy and deregulation in favor of corporate interests. The Bush administration has simply taken these principles to an extreme, with disastrous effects. But conservative ideologues will never question these principles because Reagan is the messiah of the modern conservative movement. Any change will come from rank-and-file voters who have begun to realize that these policies run counter to the public good.

JOHN WOLFENDEN

Sherman Oaks

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So many Republicans are now waking up to the fact that they have sacrificed principles for power? Pity they didn’t realize sooner what a poor bargain they were really getting.

ROBERT SCOTT

Los Angeles