Political Muse For Monday

The reason Bush and buddies are so clueless is that they are eaten up with corporate arrogance and avarice. They possess a stunning sense of entitlement, leading them to treat our government as their private plaything. What they need is to have a good kindergarten teacher assigned to refresh each of them on the basics of playground ethics. – Jim Hightower

This morning as I went through my email I noted Robert Novak’s column. Rushed as I was I felt what he had to say was important, so I left myself a note to get back to it. Here’s what Novak had to say…

Bush plans to veto the homeland security appropriations bill nearing final passage, followed by vetoes of eight more money bills sent him by the Democratic-controlled Congress.

That constitutes a veto onslaught of historic proportions from a president who did not reject a single bill during his first term. Of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal 2008, only three will be signed by the president in the form shaped by the House. What’s more, Bush correctly claimed that he has the House votes needed to sustain these vetoes. The unpopular president is taking the offensive on fiscal responsibility. After bowing to Republican demands on earmarks, Democratic leaders face a battle of the budget.

Source: Robert D. Novak – Bush’s Veto Strategy – washingtonpost.com

My thoughts on this are that here we have Republican’s shutting down the government again. When will they learn, to quote G.W. Bush…”Elections matter”. We had one, it mattered. We are going to have another here shortly. Who thinks that America is going to believe that George Bush went this long and didn’t have a veto only to now start vetoing spending bills. What do they think in the White House? That if they manage to not fund the government we’ll call of the next election for lack of funds…Yea, right. George your done, stick a fork in it. America is headed for a change in direction and every time you try a stunt like this you make the majority of the voters sure that turning you and your party out is the only smart thing to do…

(Rep. Jeb) Hensarling collected signatures last week of 147 House Republicans, one more than needed, pledging to sustain money-bill vetoes, and the number is growing.

Shall we watch and see how many of them come back after their next election? Veto a bill because it raises pay! Come on…And he wanted to veto the funding for Veterans because Congress felt like they deserved more help after they served their country…

(Hensarling) advised the White House against a veto because it would be overridden thanks to support for veterans — setting a bad example for the future.

I really hate to break it to the President, but, no matter what his Budget Director may think, it wasn’t the lack of fiscal responsibility that cost them their majority. Vetoing spending bills is not going to get it back…But, hey, go for it. The Democrats need all the help they can get to elect an even greater majority for the next session of Congress.