Kerry: “Let’s Hold the President’s Feet to the Fire”

[kerrygoddess]

John Kerry to Introduce Line-Item Veto Proposal - “Let’s Hold the President’s Feet to the Fire”
March 6th, 2006 @ 1:18 pm

John Kerry has announced he will introduce a Line-Item Veto Proposal to help Bush out with his goal to “weed hometown projects from legislation passed by Congress.”

Below is a statement from John Kerry on President Bush’s call for a line-item veto. Kerry previously proposed a constitutional line-item veto that would allow the President to reduce pork barrel spending and save taxpayers billions of dollars. Under Kerry’s plan the President would identify wasteful items in spending and tax legislation and submit it to Congress to act on in an up-or-down vote.

“It’s no secret that President Bush and I don’t agree on much, but I fully support giving him the line-item veto. I’m going to introduce this legislation, Congress should immediately pass it, and I want to see President Bush use this veto pen to get tough on wasteful spending. Under this Republican-led House and Senate, pork barrel spending has gone through the roof. Nearly $30 billion a year is being spent on projects that have never even been debated. Billions of taxpayer dollars are being wasted on things like research to enhance the flavor of roasted peanuts and the infamous ‘bridge to nowhere.’ We have the largest deficit in American history, and the guys in charge are acting like teenagers with a new credit card.

“Let’s pass this line-item veto, and let’s hold the President’s feet to the fire to make sure that a White House that has never once vetoed anything starts vetoing the incomprehensible waste coming out of this Congress.”

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2151

[MH1]

1. Tee hee.

Got ahead of them, didn't he?

[politicasista]

2. Thanks n/t

[Mass]

3. Stupid GDers.

Of course, they do not get it. They dont understand that Bush does not want the line-veto item. He wants an excuse not to veto and not to stop deficit.

[politicasista]

4. Hate Blinky so much they want to throw him in the fire instead n/t

[Mass]

6. Not sure who these idiots hate more : Kerry or Bush

Amazing though. Du is getting back to what it was before the Alito filibuster. Posting anything about Kerry and the thread becomes full of attacks irrelated to the subject.

[Mass]

5. Important point

Kerry's plan would have a catch, though: The President's veto would then head to Congress for an up or down vote.

[MH1]

7. If any one wants to play whack-a-troll, the Raw Story item is

drawing a bunch of them.

http://rawstory.com/news/2006/Kerry_to_introduce_lineitem_veto_bill_0306.html

[Dr Ron]

9. It is pretty bad over there at Raw Story

Hopefully they all stay there as they have nothing meaningful to say.

[fedupinBushcountry]

12. I swear

Raw attracts the worse of the worst on both sides.

[TayTay]

8. This is friggin great.

Thank you Senator. I adore this move, it's fucking awesome. :rofl:

Okay Rethugs love to tell their adoring fauxbots that they are the party of fiscal responsibility and of 'smaller government.' We, as Dems, all know this is bullshit and these people are the biggest tax and spend bunch in American history. Yet, they still pretend that they care about budgets, which they don't.

This call their bluff. Imagine a line-item veto of Bush against the 'Bridge to nowhere' in Alaska. First of all, Bush pisses of Rep Don Young, Chairman of the House committee that proposed this. And he pisses off Sen. Murkowski and Stevens, cuz they love it when the feds spend money in Alaska. (Alaska now has the highest percentage return of federal dollars to taxes paid in the nation.) All those Rethugs are now pissed at Bush and can no longer think of any reason for why they are in Congress at all, since securing pork is the only reason they are they (well, that and making sure that nothing stops Big Business from pursuing their agenda.)

Okay, now Young gets mad and musters enough troops in Congress (50% + 1 is all it takes) to put the pork back in. There are Democrats on the floor during the debate. They simply get up and say, that $489 million dollars for the 'Bridge to Nowhere' would fund 689 (or so) Pell Grants to needy college students in my district. (Or it would fund XX number of microloans to small businesses in the Katrina-scarred Gulf area. Or whatever.) Republicans are being held accountable for what they do and the Rethugs are being forced to wallow in their own bullshit.

I adore this. Thank you Senator. I knew you were wicked smaht, but this is positively genius. Please play more real hardball, it looks good on you. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Okay, it's like a poker game. Who's bluffing now you Rethug friggin bastids? :rofl:

[_dynamicdems]

14. I couldn't agree more: this is an absolutely brilliant move by Sen. Kerry!

This is a "no win" situation for Bush. If this goes through, Bush is screwed no matter what he does! The PORK is all Republican pork: if he vetoes, Bush'll be lambasted by the Republicans. If he vetoes anything that helps people, Bush'll be lambasted by the public. If it doesn't go through, Kerry can cry foul and blame Republican big spending and corruption.

Kerry is calling their bluff while at the same time giving Bush enough rope to hang himself with. I'm beginning to wonder if JK was Hannible in a past life, elephants notwithstanding.

[karynnj]

16. Awesome and brilliant

and I love the in your face statement as well. The liklihood is that they will just bury it in a comittee and wait for Bush's bill - but if he can get enough people to sign on, I'd love to see McCain's face when he has to decide how to vote. Kerry's called their bluff.

I just hope that Reid and the other leaders see that this could really position the Democrats as the true fiscally sane people and rallies the Democrats behind it - even if it's Kerry's.

[ProSense]

17. OK!

:rofl:

[ginnyinWI]

10. it's a thing of beauty.

It calls them all out, and spells out a clear Dem alternative position at the same time! They'll dodge it and look bad.

Some Senators just react to events; others also work thoughtfully and creatively to make things better. :loveya:

[whometense]

24. Probably nobody but us serious

Kerry-watchers will get it, but I think this proposal really highlights his playful side. When I heard it my first reaction was a startled laugh. I agree with you: :loveya:

[fedupinBushcountry]

11. Gotcha

Bush to Propose Line-Item Veto Legislation

Mon Mar 6, 8:06 AM ET

WASHINGTON -
President Bush plans to send proposed legislation to Congress on Monday that would allow him to control spending by vetoing specific items in larger bills, a Bush administration official said.


The president, who has not vetoed any legislation during five years in office, asked Congress in his State of the Union address to give him line-item veto power.

snip>

Both Republican and Democratic presidents have sought the power to eliminate a single item in a spending or tax bill without killing the entire measure.

President Clinton got that wish in 1996, when the new reform-minded Republican majority in the House helped pass a line-item veto law.

Two years later, the Supreme Court declared the law unconstitutional because it violated the principle that Congress, and not the executive branch, holds the power of the purse.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/line_item_veto

[wisteria]

15. Delete

:eyes:

[wisteria]

13. "acting like teenagers with a new credit card" - I have one of them!

This is good and it could be a lot of fun to watch come about and get the Republicans at their own game.I can see any Democrats having a problem pushing this- it would be a win win situation, IMO.

[wisteria]

18. There is a post in GD-politics that mentions this -but Reid is against it.

I can't belive this. Why?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/07/politics/07spend.html

[Mass]

20. Reid and pork? What did you expect?

Probably the same thing for Byrd and Kennedy.

We have that each time a bill is offered that would help curb pork. Many Democrats oppose it. It would be more interesting to see where those Democrats who have said they want to curb pork will fall.

[karynnj]

21. Because many people in Congress, point to their ability

to bring money (aka pork) to their district or state. From all accounts, Kerry was never about getting pork for Massachusetts. The problem really does extent to both parties and at a local level it's lauded as bring jobs etc to the area and it makes the politicians more popular.

[kerrygoddess]

19. Use Your Former Opponent’s Proposals When You’re Slipping in the Polls

How to Use Your Former Opponent’s Proposals When You’re Slipping in the Polls
March 7th, 2006 @ 12:13 am

Earlier today, I reported that John Kerry is supporting Bush’s call for a line-item veto. The MSM has been jumping on the news from the White House today about Bush’s proposal and some have caught on to where the proposal may have originated…

AP News notes:

Kerry on board

Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who promoted a similar approach in his presidential campaign against Bush in 2004, immediately jumped on board.

And Reuters adds:

Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, who ran against Bush in the 2004, supported the line-item veto proposal, which mirrored one Kerry had previously proposed.

It must suck being a lame duck president with a low approval rate that keeps falling and have to try to gain support from your former opponent’s prosposals. I guess this could be deemed a bit of another Kerry was right moment, but who’s counting?


LINKS - http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2158

[MH1]

22. Also mentioned here (whitehouse.gov)

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/03/20060306-6.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
March 6, 2006

Press Briefing on the President's Line-Item Veto Legislation by OMB Director Josh Bolten
Via Conference Call

3:39 P.M. EST

.....

Similar legislation has drawn broad support in the past. And, in fact, Senator Kerry proposed as part of his campaign in 2004, essentially the kind of line-item veto authority that the President is proposing to the Congress today. (ed. note - but - but - but Democrats have no plans! Democrats have no ideas! :sarcasm: )

.....

Q I'm curious, Senator John Kerry has just put out a press release saying that he supports the item -- line-item veto, at least in concept, if not in the form of the bill that you're proposing. But have you folks been in touch with him, in terms of getting this thing -- getting a bipartisan package put together?

DIRECTOR BOLTEN: I don't know that we've been in touch with Senator Kerry's office directly. I believe, though, that the proposal that the President sent up today is entirely consistent with the proposal that Senator Kerry made during the 2004 campaign. I'm just looking here at something, at a little printout from their original campaign page, which says that under this proposal, the President, in signing a bill, could send back to Congress a list of specific spending items and tax expenditures he disapproves; new legislation rescinding any item on that list would be guaranteed an expedited up or down vote.

Yet almost NO news coverage I've heard mentions this...it is all "Bush has a new proposal to cut pork." Sigh.

[kerrygoddess]

29. I found quite a few references in the news

Many more than the two I posted.

[whometense]

23. Steve Gilliard gets it.

Kerry makes a funny

Let me explain why Kerry said this:

Because of the way Congress works, Bush would have to veto thousands of projects for GOP Congressmen which now sneak under the radar, and if he didn't, they could blame him directly.

Analysis of Missouri pig farming: should have been vetoed by the President. Northwest Salmon fisheries, should have been vetoed.

Then for an extra funny touch, Congress would imnmediately vote down the vetos, humiliating the President, and protecting their pork.

You have to realize Bush would want no part of this. Nor would the GOP majority. Thus Kerry was not proposing a gift, but a huge dose of poison with some syrup.

See, what Kerry is saying that Bush is full of shit and wants nothing like line-item vetos to deal with, but it sounds great to the GOP masses and gives the illusion of doing something.

[TayTay]

25. It was 'a funny'

really it was. And it will never, never, never pass. But I liked it a lot! :rofl:

[whometense]

26. Me too.

I thought it was hilarious. Unfortunately, most of the blogosphere appears to be seriously humor-deficient.

Skull 'n' Bones!!!!!!!!!!!!

:rofl:

[TayTay]

27. You know, I have this person I know who worked at Yale

She was in the Library for years and years until her books sold well enough to become a full-time writer. She has the Canonical List of Urban Legends about Yale, including S&B. I am going to write to her and ask for it. Then I can go through them one by one with someone who can tell me chapter and verse on this stuff. (And has pics of the place in question as well.) Sigh! I am tired of this bullshit.

[whometense]

28. That would be wonderful!

It would be just great to have something to shove in the faces of the idiots who keep spouting it like crazed parrots: "Awwk...skull'n'bones, skull'n'bones, awwk"

Found this wonderful response to another comment to Gilliard's post: http://www.haloscan.com/comments/stevenewsblog/114174524762722076/#341469

Anything Kerry says these days, I take with a grain of salt, because he's positioning himself to run again in 2008.

I keep reading this line of thought, dripping with bile, on most of the liberal blogs. Here is my question: what, exactly, is wrong with Kerry positioning himself to run for president in 2008?

Is there any politician with a national profile who isn't getting in position to run in 2008? Does this automatically make anything he or she says invalid because it could be part of a strategy to get the nomination in two years?

How about responding to the substance of the argument, which is that Kerry is trying to hold these so-called conservatives to their so-called principles. You believe in smaller government and lower spending, Mr. President? Prove it. You want to bring the deficit under control, Rep. Utterhack (R-Wingnut Nation)? Okay, give the thumbs-up to the president's thumbs-down on your $80 million Strom Thurmond Miscegenation Museum and Gift Shop.

There are no principles in the GOP, and Kerry is just trying to demonstrate that. Good for him, I say.

UncommonSense | Homepage | 03.07.06 - 10:56 am | #

[JI7]

30. HAHAHHAHA, dumb ass freepers think Kerry is supporting Bush on this

if only they could see it's BUSH who is opposed to it.