[Diddle E. Squat]

It looks like he's trying to rub our noses in it. What utter stupidity.

Yeah, Bush woke up this morning and asked himself, "How can I anger the base some more?"

C'mon, think it through. Like it or not, his reelection may very well be decided by the moderate female vote in states like PA. This increase is about taking away one of the daggers the Dems always wield each election, the mantra that the GOP is going to kill this program and that program. Killing the arts is one of the issues they always throw out, and like it or not, it is popular with many moderates, esp. Northeast female moderates(think Philly suburbs), CA, FL, etc. So for what amounts to peanuts compared to the actual budget, he defuses that arguments, showing that he is 'safe' and not 'extreme'. We may need a swing of only 5-10,000 votes may be the deciding margin in as many as a dozen states, just like in 2000.

Ask yourself this, which costs more, $15-20 million extra funds for the arts, or billions more drained from the health system if tort reform is not passed? $15-20 million for the arts, or billions more in expanded welfare/medical/other entitlements if the USSC upholds a ruling that x group is entitled to new service? Is it worth $15-20 million to prevent runaway fed judges from successfully implementing an invented constitutional right to gay marriage?

Giving an extra $15-20 million to the NEA in a close election year is hardly the death of conservatism, but allowing a Dem to win and again attempt to institutionalize vote fraud schemes and other forms of corruption will do far more damage to the cause of conservatism.

If one is rushing to an important deal-closing presentation with a potential jackpot client, is it wise to skip the toll booth and be late from traveling the slower back roads, just because one is philosophically against tolls? Politics is a strategy that involves compromise. There are far bigger battles to fight right now than the NEA issue.

[TheAngryClam]

You assume that those changes will be made under Bush.

They won't.

He's a liberal.

[rwfromkansas]

If Bush thinks tossing some bucks at an organization nobody knows about, an event which WILL HAVE NO PROMINENCE WHATSOVER IN THE MINDS OF THE VOTERS COME NOVEMBER, will somehow win over the sheep suburban women, he must be dumber than a box of rocks.

[inchworm]

Wisely put, But only in the NEA case. I don't think this kinda strategy can be applied to CFR, Medicare entitlements, and his idiotic illegal immigrant proposal.
All of which will be costing us dearly.

[over3Owithabrain]

I don't know if you've noticed - but Bush still gets beat up every day on the education issue. This after playing kissy-face with Ted Kennedy and signing a $$$ whopper of an education bill. So now we have a Democrat budget on education and guess what - the Dems still have the education issue to bludgeon Bush with. Now they can add big deficits to the list too. In addition, moves like this do nothing but dishearten at least a portion of his base. There is no political or electoral gain from this NEA giveaway, just like there isn't with CFR, immigration, etc. Bush apparently just likes to spend our money.

[NittanyLion]

C'mon, think it through. Like it or not, his reelection may very well be decided by the moderate female vote in states like PA. This increase is about taking away one of the daggers the Dems always wield each election, the mantra that the GOP is going to kill this program and that program. Killing the arts is one of the issues they always throw out, and like it or not, it is popular with many moderates, esp. Northeast female moderates(think Philly suburbs), CA, FL, etc.

Utter nonsense. I've lived in the Philly suburbs, and the NEA just doesn't resonate outside of the tiny Mainline corridor.

So for what amounts to peanuts compared to the actual budget, he defuses that arguments, showing that he is 'safe' and not 'extreme'. We may need a swing of only 5-10,000 votes may be the deciding margin in as many as a dozen states, just like in 2000.

Bush will destroy any democrat in the field. It's disingenuous to suggest this issue will swing any voters, or even to suggest it'll be necessary come November.