IS IT ALL RIGHT TO START CALLING GEORGE BUSH DUMB AGAIN?….OR ARE ONLY REPUBLICANS ALLOWED TO DO THAT?….Via Hesiod, this is the best story I’ve seen yet about George Bush’s inexplicable denunciation of his own party for sending him a spending a bill that failed to contain sufficient anti-terrorism spending because he himself hadn’t asked for it. It’s hard to pick the best quote, but how about this one:
Congressional Republicans say they now know Bush will undercut them if it serves his best political interest.
Or this one:
“If the president wanted the money, he should have asked for it. He never did,” a senior House GOP leadership aide said Thursday. “I wonder if he remembers which party controls Congress.”
Maybe this one?
“That was an incredibly stupid thing for the White House to do,” a senior House GOP aide complained Thursday.
Then there’s Hesiod’s favorite:
“What do you want me to do, call the President a liar? George Bush may screw his party. I don’t!” [House Speaker Dennis] Hastert is reported to have said.
Decisions, decisions….
Oh, and that was just what the Republicans were saying. Tom Daschle said this:
“Incredibly, the president is now blaming others for the budget he himself insisted on,” said Minority Leader Thomas A. Daschle (D-S.D.).
Democrats said they were introducing a bill to provide $5 billion more for emergency response preparedness — the same package that Republicans, at White House insistence, refused to add to the omnibus spending bill enacted earlier this year.
“No more blaming others, no more delay,” Daschle said.
Jeez, he was nicer about it than Bush’s own party members. So what do you think is the best explanation? Was it (a) Bush forgot what party he belonged to? (b) He forgot which party Congress belonged to? (c) He figured no one would notice? Or (d) He thought he was talking about the UN and Karl Rove didn’t warn him in time?
Can’t you just wait to see how National Review will try to spin this as somehow the Democrats’ fault?
UPDATE: Jesse Berney over at Wage Slave Journal has more about the Bush administration’s puzzling history of not supporting anti-terrorism funding. And while you’re there, be sure to check out the George Bush Scorecard of Evil.
