GOP is in 'deep funk' over Bush spending

[Judi Lynn]

GOP is in 'deep funk' over Bush spending
Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Sunday, March 12, 2006

Washington -- The Republican rebellion that President Bush smacked into with the Dubai ports deal was the tip of an iceberg of Republican discontent that is much deeper and more dangerous to the White House than a talk radio tempest over Arabs running U.S. ports.

A Republican pushback on Capitol Hill and smoldering conservative dissatisfaction have already killed not just the ports deal but key elements of Bush's domestic agenda, and threaten GOP control of Congress if unhappy conservatives sit out the November midterm elections.

The apostasy in some quarters runs to heretofore unthinkable depths.

"If I had a choice and Bush were running today against (Democratic President) Bill Clinton, I'd vote for Bill Clinton," said Bruce Bartlett, a former Reagan administration Treasury Department official whose book, "Impostor: How George Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy," is making the rounds of conservative think tanks and talk shows. "He was clearly a much better president in a great many ways that matter to me."
(snip)

A Democratic takeover of either the House or the Senate would expose Republicans to a nightmare scenario: loss of control over policymaking and relentless congressional investigations of the White House that would consume the rest of Bush's presidency and damage Republican presidential prospects in 2008.
(snip/...)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/03/12/MNG9BHMUFU1.DTL

(We can always hope!)

[saltpoint]

1. Spending isn't evil in and of itself, but folks prefer that money go for

useful things.

The billions sqaundered on the Iraq assault have brought the Bush administration to the point where a sure-footed majority of voters now oppose the war and believe it was ill-advised initially and badly managed since inception.

Republicans used to boast of their conservative budget-conciousness. They can't bellow about it anymore after this administration.

[MrTriumph]

2. $435 million Pork Barrel Project in Ft. Worth, TX

Rep. Kay Granger not only wants $435 million for her pork barrel "Trinity Uptown" project, she gets her son J.D. hired at $100,000+ to oversee it!

Maybe the Democrats in Congress should stop playing footsie with Republicans in promoting the pork for their home districts and publicly target for defeat unworthy projects.

[kurth]

3. Good read. Thanks!

[Skittles]

4. bush never had to worry about money his entire miserable life

he has no concept of money or fiscal discipline; he has always gotten what he wanted and he continues to do so now, only at taxpayer expense

[shrike]

5. Cry me a river, guys

Remember when he was God's chosen one? Wasn't so long ago, was it?

Progressives like me have been speaking out again the Anointed One for years. We were traitors, but now that you're speaking out, you're patriots.

[Lefty48197]

6. They've forgotten their own game plan

Don't they remember that the've been trying to bankrupt the nation for decades, in order to eliminate federal programs? Bush should be their hero.

[susu369]

7. Deep funk, indeed

Ides of March just ahead:

Debt ceiling rising to $9 trillion

By MARY DEIBEL
Scripps Howard News Service
10-MAR-06

WASHINGTON -- Raising the U.S. debt limit once provoked government shutdowns and roiled financial markets, but no more: Congress and President Bush are preparing to raise the debt ceiling to just under $9 trillion next week with little public notice.

Here, in Q&A format, is a look at the issue:

Q: What is the national debt?

A: It's the difference between what government spends and collects in taxes, fees and other revenues. The Treasury covers the debt by auctioning $20 billion or more a week in U.S. bonds, bills and notes as older federal securities come due.

==snip==

Q: What happens if the United States defaults?

A: That fear rattled markets in the 1990s, when the Republican Congress shut the government rather than approve President Bill Clinton's debt-limit requests, and when lawmakers threatened to impeach Clinton Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin for borrowing from federal-employee pension plans to cover the shortfall.

Today, the Bush administration has tapped federal retirement funds to avoid default so far this month. But there's no talk of federal shutdowns or impeachment now, with Congress consumed by Iraq, Iran and disapproval of the Dubai ports deal.

"There doesn't seem to be the same brinksmanship as there was in the past," says economist Catherine Mann of the Institute for International Economics. "There IS a brinksmanship going on, but it has to do with nationalities _ particular nationalities."

full story:
http://www.shns.com/shns/g_index2.cfm?action=detail&pk=DEBTLIMIT-03-10-06

[cliss]

8. Keep in mind, folks,

these people do not think like we do. I mean Bush, Snow job, Rumsfailed, Cheney and the rest of them.

EVERY DAY that they get to walk in to the White House, they are a SUCCESS. It means that they get to ruin, bankrupt, destroy this country just like they did the day before.

There is no pride, no hurt feelings, no honor, no learning curve. As long as they are not pulled out of the White House grabbing onto the moulding, THEY ARE A SUCCESS.