Bush calls out Congress

Today's post was inspired by the AP article, "Bush takes Democrats to task on budget bills."

I will comment on some of the quotes in this article, and then illustrate why the entire situation should be frustrating to all Americans, regardless of where their loyalties lie.


The article begins:

"Democrats are failing in their responsibility to make tough decisions and spend the people's money wisely," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

I will agree that the Congress has failed to make tough decisions, but who are YOU to pass judgement on spending money wisely??? I forget exactly how much our nation debt is right now.

The White House has said the failure of a broad immigration overhaul was proof that Democratic-controlled Capitol Hill cannot take on major issues.

This claim is extremely poorly thought out. To be honest, it may be outright stupid. To begin with, the immigration bill proposed last month was terrible. It would have created an extremely unfair, expensive, and ineffective immigration system (yes, I actually read the bill). That aside, it was the Republicans in Congress that defeated it, members of your own conservative base.

"Democrats have a chance to prove they are for open and transparent government by working to complete each spending bill independently and on time," Bush said.

I agree. I was disappointed that a vast majority of the House and Senate refused to release their earmark projects for CNN when asked (Ron Paul was the only Presidential candidate to comply). There needs to be more transparency in Congress. HOWEVER, if my trust in Congress is a 73 out of 100, my trust in YOUR branch of government is about a 7 out of 100.
Transparent is one of the things your office is not. You began your presidency by lying to the Ameican people about findings in intelligence reports. That was a big lie that has cost over 3,000 American lives. Since then, your presidency has been cloaked in secrecy - missing documents, ignored subpoenas, and the continued refusal to adequately justify or stand accountable for your actions.

The president said Democrats are embracing "the failed tax-and-spend policies of the past." Republican lawmakers have pledged to support him and sustain any vetoes. "No nation has ever taxed and spent its way to prosperity," Bush said. "And I have made it clear that I will veto any attempt to take America down this road."

Taxing and spending won't get us anywhere, but cutting taxes and spending will get us exactly where it has: here and now, with trillions of dollars in debt. You cut income taxes that overwhelmingly favor the rich, and then you spend like mad on a foreign war. In economics, there is a saying: there is no free lunch. Well, it's free if you dine and dash, like you will do in early 2009. You are like a third generation heir, who inherits 5 million dollars and turns it into a 5 billion dollar debt for his children to inheret, leaving them poor and penniless. The only way to get rid of debt is to tax and cut spending. We have to have more coming in than we have going out. It's a common sense principle, which means you either have no common sense, or you have a blatant disregard for the well-being of this nation. The fact that you would lecture ANYONE on economic policy is absurd.

Bush said the evidence that the once listless economy is regaining energy is a result of his insistence on lowering taxes and spending.

That's obvious. You know what else is obvious? It will come crashing down on us at some point. I could take out a $150,000 loan and buy a Porshe, but if I don't have the money to make payments on the loan, it get's taken away and my credit is destroyed. We are only prospering because we are living off of loans. Eventually we will have to pay those loans back. By the way, lowering taxes and cutting spending would be fine, but only DOMESTIC spending has been cut. Military spending has been inflated to an incredible degree.

(the full article can be found at CNN Online)




It's no shock to most that the White House does not understand the situation abroad. They do not understand the enemy we are fighting, or the history that lies behind the conflicts in the Middle East. This is largely a reason for our failures there. However, I am shocked by the degree to which the Bush administration misunderstands our political situation here. His comments are either poorly thought out, intentionally misleading, or he truly is dilusional. He has NOT cut spending. To the contrary, he he has put us into the greatest debt our nation has ever seen, even when corrected for inflation. His claim is so far off, one has to wonder how he has remained in office (I often do). He often pretends that he is above politics. Without nailing his administration down as one of the most single-minded and politicized in recent memory, politics is a necessary and inherent part of our system; it is inescapable. Politics is about the struggle for power and our system was designed to have this struggle, at least between the separate branches of government. The president should be reminded that though the branches are separate and in constant struggle, they were created and meant to remain equal.