Posted on 02/22/2004 8:05:00 PM PST by FairOpinion
WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - The White House has been reaching out to conservative groups to quell a rebellion over government spending and budget deficits, hoping to shore up President George W. Bush's political base in an election year.
Conservative leaders who have taken part in private White House meetings in recent weeks said on Friday officials have promised to all but freeze non-defense spending, and assured them Bush will follow through on his threat to veto major highway legislation if Congress refuses to scale it back.
The price tag on a six-year highway and transportation bill stalled in the House of Representatives is $375 billion while a Senate highway bill calls for spending $318 billion. The White House has proposed a $256 billion measure.
"Bush has been very attentive to the critique from the right," said Stephen Moore, president of the Club for Growth, a politically powerful conservative group -- offering tentative praise where once he talked openly of a brewing rebellion.
But if the White House does not follow through, said Heritage Foundation vice president for government relations, Michael Franc, "all bets are off."
"This is not something you can address with a handshake, a pat on the back and an invitation to the White House. You address it by actions," he added.
The White House is used to being attacked by Democrats, but it came as something of a shock when fellow Republicans broke ranks over growth in government spending, hurting Bush at a time when his job approval numbers were already falling.
Conservatives from the Cato Institute criticized the president for overseeing a nearly 25 percent surge in spending over the last three years -- the fastest pace since the Johnson administration of the mid-1960s.
Others singled out his failure to lay out concrete plans to reduce the federal budget deficit, projected at a record $521 billion this year. Even some of Bush's Republican allies in the House warned of a backlash against his budget priorities.
In what one administration official called a "concerted effort," senior White House officials have been meeting with Republicans in Congress to smooth over their differences.
Joel Kaplan, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, has been meeting with conservative groups, an aide said. The effort may be paying off.
"Stung by a lot of the criticism from the right, Bush is going to be steadfast about sticking to his spending targets," said Moore, who warned in January that a rebellion among conservatives was brewing.
Now Moore says, "They clearly are trying to reach out. I think the complaints of conservatives have been heeded."
Heritage analyst Brian Riedl once described the mood of conservatives as "angry."
Now Riedl says, "I think the White House is definitely moving in the right direction," though he added, "There's a lot of work ahead of them."
William Niskanen, the chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute who advised former President Ronald Reagan, said he has personally not seen much of an outreach effort. "We'll have to see" what the White House does, he said.
I didn't conveniently omitted anything .. we were discussing YOUR posts to her
But hey thanks for telling me that I spin things
but I'm afraid you're going to need to do a bit better than that.
Does this mean I'm dismissed again?
And it is just this sort of attitude, although coming from the Republican party leaders, that puts my vote for Bush in extreme jeopardy.
No, you were discussing my posts to her. Lest you forget, let me recount the discussion so far:
1. You threw out some blatantly false accusations.
2. I provided evidence to the contrary.
3.You distorted the facts in a desperate attempt to deny the obvious.
But hey thanks for telling me that I spin things
I'm sure you were well aware of what you're doing already, but you're quite welcome.
Fortunately the GOP leadership is quickly coming around. Too bad the same can't be said of some of these clowns on this site.
I hope it's in time. Vetoing or letting the AWB will go a long way towards mending fences.
Too bad the same can't be said of some of these clowns on this site.
I'm no longer going to comment on them. I've said my piece, and I'll trust the intelligence of people to figure out what is true.
True .. and then you responded .. hench my point of saying we
See .. I can play this stupid game too ..
While we appease, appease and appease.
Hence we live in a Godless nation which embraces abortion and homosexuality
Image from ACU: 
Let's see if I have this right. You make completely unfounded accusations, and then when I defend myself against your malicious assaults that somehow legitimizes them by becoming a dialogue? That's absurd.
You may be able to pass off this brand of nonsense with some posters, but your disingenuous behavior is obvious to me. Don't expect it to go unanswered.
Who is Todd? Could you be more specific please.
"And it is just this sort of attitude, although coming from the Republican party leaders, that puts my vote for Bush in extreme jeopardy."
Amen bro.
The kamikaze RINOs continue doing their best to pretend the holy (R) supercedes the wishes of its base -- true conservatism. It is they who "cry" because WE won't whore in the name of power over principle.
Once the polls in late October are 49%-47%, Kerry, the panic will set in, suddenly and magically the "base's" @ss will be kissed.
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