[Reagan Man]

>>>> .... never expected that he would work to fix the problem. He ran as a big government "compassionate conservative" in 2000 and has been delivering the goods.

I don't remember Bush running as a big government Republican. Compassionate conervative, yes.

"Gore offers an old and tired approach. He offers a new federal spending program to nearly every voting bloc. He expands entitlements, without reforms to sustain them. 285 new or expanded programs, and $2 trillion more in new spending. Spending without discipline, spending without priorities, and spending without an end. Al Gore’s massive spending would mean slower growth and higher taxes. And it could mean an end to this nation’s prosperity."

---- George W.Bush, Speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota Nov 1, 2000

Cut national debt by $2T in 10 years; leave $1.2T in debt

"President Bush’s budget plan will seek to put the nation on a course to pay off $2 trillion of the national debt over the next 10 years, leaving $1.2 trillion of debt at the end of that period. After several years of bipartisan consensus about the desirability of extinguishing as much debt as quickly as possible, with the goal of bringing it to zero in a decade or a little longer, Bush will say that bringing it below $1.2 trillion in that period, much less wiping it out entirely, will be all but impossible."

The debt ceiling was just raised to $9-trilion, up from $5.7-trillion when Bush took office.

[rob777]

I don't remember Bush running as a big government Republican. Compassionate conervative, yes.

"Gore offers an old and tired approach. He offers a new federal spending program to nearly every voting bloc. He expands entitlements, without reforms to sustain them. 285 new or expanded programs, and $2 trillion more in new spending. Spending without discipline, spending without priorities, and spending without an end. Al Gore’s massive spending would mean slower growth and higher taxes. And it could mean an end to this nation’s prosperity."

---- George W.Bush, Speech in Minneapolis, Minnesota Nov 1, 2000






The term "Compassionate Conservative" was coined to distance himself from the limited government conservatives who came up with the "Contract With America". They proposed the elimination several departments of the federal government. The GOP Platform had called for the elimination of the federal Department of Education, among other departments, since Reagan. Though Reagan was not successful in implementing such an agenda, at least he remained committed to it in principle. The Class of 1994 almost pulled it off. When Bush ran in the 2000 primaries, he abandoned such a commitment even in principle. His campaign pushed for the removal of planks calling for the elimination of the federal Dept. of Ed. from the GOP Platform. In fact, he campaigned on increasing federal spending on education.

Like Clinton, Bush had his own "triangulation" strategy. He put himself in the middle of the "extremes" represented by Al Gore and the GOP Class of 1994. While he brought Al Gore to task for his spending plans, Bush's own plans differed only in degree, not in principle.

Given that he starts out in principle as accepting a slimmed down version of the big government agenda and came to Washington D.C. with a desire to be a "Uniter not a Divider", is it any wonder that we are up to our eyeballs in runaway spending? As a "Uniter" he constantly is splitting the difference between a call for bigger government and a call for MUCH BIGGER government.