TheAgitator.com
“Me Too, Pal”
Friday, December 5th, 2003Seems the White House isn’t content with merely growing government at rates unseen since the New Deal, it has also decided to take political repercussions against those few principled Republicans who are putting up some resistance.
Well-placed sources said Bush hung up on freshman Rep. Tom Feeney after Feeney said he couldnâ??t support the Medicare bill. The House passed it by only two votes after Hastert kept the roll-call vote open for an unprecedented stretch of nearly three hours in the middle of the night.Feeney, a former Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives whom many see as a rising star in the party, reportedly told Bush: â??I came here to cut entitlements, not grow them.â?
Sources said Bush shot back, â??Me too, pal,â? and hung up the phone…
…Republican aides said conservatives who voted against the bill, including Reps. Mike Pence (Ind.), John Culberson (Texas), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Roscoe Bartlett (Md.) and Jim Ryun (Kan.), would suffer for their votes against the Medicare bill.
Leadership aides said those members â??can expect to remain on the back benchâ? in the months ahead.
These are the folks who ought to be getting promoted.
I shot Mike Pence an email thanking him for voting against it. It’s easy to stand up to your enemies, but much harder to stand up to your friends.
My congressman John Culberson actually defied the leadership! He always seemed, in those times I spoke to him, to be a decent guy.
And there are so many who just love GWB. Even so-called republican hard cores. I think they only have their pet issues for which they love GWB’s stance. The real issues that they should be upset–or at least mildly interested in–don’t get hardly a nod of understanding.
Exactly what party IS Bush in?
I read a Krugman piece that says Bush is trying to kill entitlements by adding to them while cutting taxes. Eventually, the costs will grow so large that we either raise taxes to an unrealistic level or severely cut entitlements. Cuts will be the most likely solution.
Maybe Bush IS an evil genius.
An evil genius, or doing what Reagan tried to do. Spending the government to death is not a new idea. It is, however, a terrible one, the price for which the youngest among us will end up paying.
Oh, and you can really trust what Paul Krugman writes too!
Mark my words. The Dollar will collapse before the people vote to eliminate their entitlements. It’s not a game worth playing.
yeah, and Gray Davis tried that too and didn’t work too well.
Principled Republicans
Radley Balko runs one of my favorite blogs. Here’s his interesting post on the childish response of Bush and some Republican leaders to conservatives who stood up to them over the new Medicare expansion….
The Associated Press this morning also reported that the GOP threatened retiring Michigan Rep. Nick Smith (R), whose son is seeking his congressional seat. If he voted yes, they’d give money to the campaign. If he voted no, they’d support another candidate.
Chuck Hagel, a Nebraska Republican, noted that since W took office, federal spending has soared 21%.
What’s worse: tax-and-spend liberals or charge-it-and-spend conservatives?
Charge-it-and-spend conservatives. That’s very funny.
Who was that mystery sloganeer?
Jeff Flake is the best congressman out there.
It is sad when you ache for more normal times when you knew what the republicans were up to.
I can’t speak for others, but I do intend to reward people who voted against the Medicare bill. Specifically, the only reason I’m still registered Republican is so that I can vote for Toomey (who voted against the Medicare bill in the house) over Arlen Specter (who voted for it in the Senate) in next year’s Pennsylvania Republican Senate primary.
My Yellow-Dog Democrat father-in-law called me ‘dysfunctional’ and ‘in need of therapy’ this morning because of my meso-lib leanings.
Now this.
Pass the bottle; I’m starting Christmas early.
Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL): Small Governmentâ??s New Shining Star?
Radley posts on an interesting turn of events in Washington â?? a number of Republicans actually voting on principle. While most of them lemminged behind Bush and the party leadership by enacting the largest new entitlement in my lifetime, a…
Isn’t this how the Soviet Union lost the Cold War? :-(
I laughed SO hard.
So when the deficit becomes unsustainable, do you think it will be easier to raise taxes or cut spending?
My bet would probably be on raising taxes; polls seem to actually support the idea.
“These are the folks who ought to be getting promoted.”
One gets promoted by doing the people’s business.
“One gets promoted by doing the people’s business.”
Why is it that republicrats all think that the government spending our money is a good thing? Props to the few that stood up and defied the system. With how financially screwed up this country is right now, we don’t need more “business”, we need restraint.
“Why is it that republicrats all think that the government spending our money is a good thing? ”
Because it gets them re-elected, obviously.
The hard fact of the matter is that the vast majority of the US (or any other nation-state) population opposes virtually all the libertarian positions on issues currently being publically contended. No amount of strategic voting or lobbying or primary votes against crappy incumbents or angry blog posts will change this at all.
The vultures always give in to the herd. Always.
John Kennedy: Because it gets them re-elected, obviously.
Ohh Mr. Kennedy, obviously they are just â??anglingâ? for benefits.
A practice I thought you wholeheartedly endorsed???
“Ohh Mr. Kennedy, obviously they are just â??anglingâ? for benefits.
A practice I thought you wholeheartedly endorsed???”
You misunderstood my position and I’ve concluded you lack either the competence or the inclination to understand it. I gave you as much of my time as I’m inclined to for now.
Yes, perhaps you had better “Look away” before you are confronted with the absurd contradictions in your worldview.
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