George W, Bush--Dissident

Natan Sharansky in the WSJ on GWB:

That is why President George W. Bush is such an exception. He is a man fired by a deep belief in the universal appeal of freedom, its transformative power, and its critical connection to international peace and stability. Even the fiercest critics of these ideas would surely admit that Mr. Bush has championed them both before and after his re-election, both when he was riding high in the polls and now that his popularity has plummeted, when criticism has come from longstanding opponents and from erstwhile supporters.

With a dogged determination that any dissident can appreciate, Mr. Bush, faced with overwhelming opposition, stands his ideological ground, motivated in large measure by what appears to be a refusal to countenance moral failure.

Speaking for myself, I've admired the way that Mr. Bush has weathered every political storm--especially the war in Iraq--and sticks to his principles. Unlike Bill Clinton who would change his thinking based on Dick Morris' latest poll numbers, W. set a vision for reshaping a region that has been given lip service by every administration back to Eisenhower and is doing everything in his power to see that vision through. Have there been mistakes? Yes. Is it succeeding? Yes again, you just don't read about it in the daily paper.

Some would call that rigidity or other less kind words, I call it principle; Natan Sharansky compares him to a dissident.

It makes the idiot I dissected here look even more shameful for comparing Gitmo to a gulag when Mr. Sharansky lived for thirteen years in a real one.