'Whatever It Takes'
Is Bush's big spending a bridge to nowhere?
Thursday, September 22, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
George W. Bush, after five years in the presidency, does not intend to get
sucker-punched by the Democrats over race and poverty. That was the driving
force behind his Katrina speech last week. He is not going to play the part
of the cranky accountant--"But where's the money going to come
from?"--while the Democrats, in the middle of a national tragedy, swan
around saying "Republicans don't care about black people," and "They're
always tightwads with the poor."
In his Katrina policy the president is telling Democrats, "You can't
possibly outspend me. Go ahead, try. By the time this is over Dennis
Kucinich will be crying uncle, Bernie Sanders will be screaming about pork."
That's what's behind Mr. Bush's huge, comforting and boondogglish plan to
spend $200 billion or $100 billion or whatever--"whatever it takes"--on
Katrina's aftermath. And, I suppose, tomorrow's hurricane aftermath.
George W. Bush is a big spender. He has never vetoed a spending bill. When
Congress serves up a big slab of fat, crackling pork, Mr. Bush responds
with one big question: Got any barbecue sauce? The great Bush spending
spree is about an arguably shrewd but ultimately unhelpful reading of
history, domestic politics, Iraq and, I believe, vanity.
This, I believe, is the administration's shrewd if unhel
[Homestead] Big spending, Bush style. But is it conservatism?,
Gene GeRue, 09/26/2005