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He asked Bush several times about why he lowers taxes during war, yet calls himself a fiscal conservative. Bush repeatedly answered, "I lowered taxes so as to stimulate the economy." Russert asked if Bush would consider keeping taxes at a steady rate till the deficit went away, and Bush evaded the question.
Why didn't Russert ask this follow up question: "Keeping the enormous deficit and debt in mind, if the economy were strong again, would you consider raising taxes again?"
This would put Bush in a nasty position, because he would never say that taxes should be raised (that's sinful to him) but if he answered "no," it would be apparent that his plan is to cut taxes no matter what, which is of course unrealistic looking at the deficit.
The other question should have been, "Well, Mr. President, you say you've lowered taxes to benefit the economy, and yet we're in the middle of war and because of these two things the government is spiraling into the red. Aren't you trying to have your pretzel and eat it too?"
Okay, Russert would say cake, not pretzel. But still...
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