January 15, 2003
MISTER UNDERESTIMATED:
Fortunes of a president hard to read at midterm (David M. Shribman, 1/14/2003, Boston Globe)[T]he remarkable thing about the Bush administration is that it is on the offensive, not on the defensive. Last week it rolled out an economic plan with a public-relations strategy that may have no precedent in Washington, where dramatic plans are typically leaked and then clipped back. This time the administration leaked dramatic plans - the call for a reduction in taxation of stock dividends is one of the things GOP politicians always talk about but never dare actually put to paper - and then came out with a proposal (for the elimination of those taxes altogether) that was even more dramatic than the leaks.The maneuver was breathtaking in its audacity - but unmistakable in its meaning. Which is this: The White House is playing a form of political hardball not seen in this city since, well, the Nixon years. It was, for example, Nixon who took the country off the gold standard, and Nixon who imposed wage and price controls (cameo role: Donald H. Rumsfeld), and Nixon who created the opening to China. It was Bush who took every Republican's fondest tax dream and proposed it as policy.
One assumes he must take the Globe, and yet Brother Murtaugh keeps asking why conservatives support George W. Bush? Posted by Orrin Judd at January 15, 2003 1:40 PM
Again, tax cuts for the rich are not sufficient evidence of a serious commitment to conservatism.
Posted by: Charlie Murtaugh at January 15, 2003 1:58 PMHa!
Pickering, Owens, Free Trade agreements, war with Iraq, massive tax cuts....
What more do you want?
CM -
What Orrin said, plus partial birth abortion, stem cells / cloning, faith based initiatives, affirmative action, ... Bush believes in a strong, proud, confident nation that defends itself against foreign threats.
He called out Iraq, Iran, and North Korea as an "axis of evil", making him the exact opposite of Jimmy Carter.
If all these things don't define him as a conservative, I don't know does. Let me know the next time anybody but a conservative issues a bold challenge like "axis of evil", that changes the world, like Reagan's "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!".
The phrase "tax cuts for the rich" is tired, and redundant, since all tax cuts necessarily benefit the rich more, due to the rich paying the vast majority of the taxes in the first place.
A more accurate phrasing would be "tax cuts that result in taking less of everybody's money, thereby slowing the out-of-control growth of big government". Not too catchy, I know, but I'm just saying.
Free trade was embraced more heartily by Clinton than Bush. We still may well not attack Iraq -- see Derbyshire
's piece today. His judiciary appointments may or may not go through; like his anti-affy action stuff, they depend on his willingness to speak forcefully in spite of the queasiness of his allies. Ditto partial birth abortion. And by the way, I support
Bush's position on all these issues -- or should I say, the position that you claim Bush holds. I'm less enthusiastic about tax cuts (I say cut gov't spending first, then taxes), but that seems to be Job One for Mr. Bush.
"We still may well not attack"
"may or may not go through"
"the queasiness of his allies"
For the past decade or so, far too many conservatives have seen their so-called leaders do nothing using these same sort of weasel words. They'd start out saying they wanted only half-a-loaf, and seemed relieved when they managed to get anything at all out of the political process.
What's refreshing is we are seeing someone starting the process from something other than a compromise. Which means that, yes, we may not get all of what we want, but we've actually got a chance to get a good part of it. It's a start, and can be used as a foundationto get a little more following the next election.
Finally, it's a relief to actually see some Republicans start to behave like a theirs is the party in power, rather than as a bunch of timid caretakers waiting to hand the government back to its rightful owners following the next election.