Say Anything Blog

It’s sad that so many lives are simply the pawns of this political chess game.  It seems that wins and losses in Washington don’t include a death count like it does in Iraq.

The battle needs to be fought over the pork.  There is a lot in this bill to fight over still and that needs to be brought out.

Rob, I dare to say he could have ignored a firm withdrawal date just as easily.  That portion of the legislation would have been unconstitutional in any case.

Justin, in my view, the real fight should be over entitlement spending; pork spending is a drop in the bucket in comparison.  As I see it, political capital shouldn’t be wasted on side projects, it just waters down what the main thrust in fiscal restraint should be.

The main complaint I have with pork is the corrupting influence of it, however, the same can be said times 10 of entitlement spending.  In some areas, it’s how the Democrats buy their votes.  How much more corrupting can you get than en masse purchasing of people’s votes?

Rob, I dare to say he could have ignored a firm withdrawal date just as easily.  That portion of the legislation would have been unconstitutional in any case.

Which is undoubtedly another reason why they made it non-binding.

The purpose of government shouldn’t be to do good, but simply to refrain from doing evil.

the real fight should be over entitlement spending; pork spending is a drop in the bucket in comparison.  As I see it, political capital shouldn’t be wasted on side projects, it just waters down what the main thrust in fiscal restraint should be.

I don’t see it as pork spending.  I see it as the glue that Nancy Pelosi used to hold together the single most important issue of the next year and a half. 

This isn’t really Bush’s problem, but the Iraq War spending is not what this fight is about.  Bush is going to get the money one way or another.  This is about backing the Dems into a corner and continuing to expose the rift in their party to the Soros base as well as to the moderate base.  Every single day that this drags on, individual Dem candidates have to fight those two competing groups.

The way things are, the Dems appear moderate, yet have appeased their far left base by claiming that they are forcing an end to the war.  They can’t have it both ways.  To campaign that they support the troops by funding them, but are ending the war by setting an admittedly non-binding withdrawl date.  Every single vote on the issue is valuable for 2006 because it sets up the “you voted for the war originally, why vote to get us out now” logic that was used effectively against Kerry.  This bill gives them an out when those questions start coming.  You veto it and force them to rewrite it and Bush comes out the victor and it puts the Dems on the record either for the war or against it and that is like herding cats, hence why Pelosi had to bribe them with pork.

Does Bush even know how to veto a bill, BTW?  I bet Rove had to get out the Constitution to remind him that he actually could veto bills.

sorry, for ‘08.  I think that ‘06 ship sailed a while ago.

Does Bush even know how to veto a bill, BTW?  I bet Rove had to get out the Constitution to remind him that he actually could veto bills.

Justin,

Good point!  It’s ironic that with all the heat Mr.Bush has taken from the Left over the years for being an Evangelical Christian, his would have been a far more successful presidency had he not been so damn nice to those who are his sworn enemies.  A little more conservatism and a bit less compassion would have served us all well.

“Capitalism is optimism monetized.”

Being nice to the Dems is like being nice to the terrorists; it just encourages them to be more aggressive.

If govt control of the economy were the way to go, the Soviet Union would be the richest, most powerful nation in the history of the world.

Thanks to Obama, America remains the only country where it is illegal to drill our own oil!