Bush boxed in his congressional foes

Los Angeles Times ^ | Dec. 21, 2007 | Janet Hook

[Gator113]

As my dad used to say, “No guts, no glory.”

Followed up by my mom saying, “This too shall pass.”

[Popman]

This "thumping" the dims have been getting is a mess made by themselves.

The mandate they claim to have is not a "card blanc" mandate, they basically have failed to realize politics is still a compromise game. They still have to work with the opposition party and not treat them like serfs.

Just because they don't stand up to their own fringe loons and kooks contingency and make good policy for the entire country, they blame and vilify Bush for political reasons

Screw them all. I hope Bush wears out his veto pen, it's about time he found it

[Parley Baer]

According to the msm and the dimocRATS Bush is stupid. If so what does that say for them? Hahahahaha.

[tomnbeverly]

I think you really need to digest the entire context of what the Republican Congress had to deal with in the budget...

Inherited Recession,
World Comm, Enron collapse
911
GWOT

Any one of those things could have had this country on its knees in the midst of a serious Depression if a President had not acted. i.e., A Democrat would have asked the country to feel the pain and shoulder the burden by raising taxes, creating more bureaucracy and government programs and forcing citizens to ration... feel the pain.... In fact some of them even complain in their campaign stumps that Bush has not demanded more of average Americans... So on the economy even though yes I agree there was probably some excess spending Bush gets an A+ for the what it could have been like but its not scenarios... Same for his handling of the Islamic Fundamentalists war on America A+.... The only criticism he gets from me is that he allowed the Democrats and the media to create a misperception that we were losing in Iraq... Mostly due to poor communications skills.....

[ME-262]

I’ve always thought Bush is a good president, however he did let the republican congress spend like drunken sailors, His amnesty plan would have compromised our rule of law, and most of what is wrong with DC is still going on with business as usual. I know one man can only do so much, but I do believe that if Bush were running for a third term I’d still be voting for Fred Thompson in the primary.

[UCANSEE2]

“All during President Bush’s term I’ve watched the democrats behave in way’s that I never dreamed I’d see full grown men and women behave.”

You mean acting like little spoiled brats who don’t get their way?

[moose2004]

History will speak well of Bush’s determination, will and doggedness in fighting the WOT (of which Iraq is a big part of)), and for saying no to federally funded embryonic stem cell research. History will probably be critical of his spend happy ways up until the Repubs’ “thumping” in 06’.

[UCANSEE2]

Never mind.

What an *ss I am. I didn’t read the second line of your post.

[The Pack Knight]

I understand that, but none of those events explain things like No Child Left Behind or the Medicare Prescription Drug handout, which was the largest entitlement expansion in American history.

And believe me, I'm not trying to bash the President here. Things certainly could have been worse, and he was certainly better than the alternative.

That doesn't excuse the fact that the President and the 107th-109th Congresses blew an historic opportunity to rein in runaway pork and entitlements spending. They did grave damage to the Republican Party's reputation as the party of less government and responsible spending.

The lesson for the future is that we need to look at our elected representatives and remind them of why they were sent to Washington in the first place. It does us no good to send people with 'R's behind their names when they betray the principles that party affiliation is supposed to stand for.

[fightinJAG]

Dubya always has been and always will be the man.

I recall watching him give a speech once. A man in the room who wasn’t always a Bush fan listened intently. Then he commented something like, “You may not like him, but in time of crisis, he’s the man you want in charge.”

[rb22982]

He’s better than the two alternatives we had no doubt, but there has been plenty wrong than just single issues. For starters: his new entitlement spending, not sending in 400,000 ground troops to Iraq to start with and then taking so long to fix the problems there, illegal immigration, failing to stand up to global warming crap—in fact embracing it now, and pushing home ownership regardless which is leading to the subprime crises for starters. I’d give his presidency a C+ so far which of course is more preferable to an F or F-

[EGPWS]

I know one man can only do so much,...

Yes, and a man with conviction performs his duties much better than a man without conviction.

[Southack]

"As good as this president has been, he has been just as bad on border security. It is a point most of us has noted." - WesternPacific

One wonders if you've been shouting so much about "the border" that you haven't heard the progress that's been made...

Fewer Crossing Border Due To National Guard And Drones

Illegal immigration drops sharply along US-Mexico border

Once easy, Illegal Immigration Now Risky:President Bush Builds 12 ft Tall Steel Fence Along Mexican Border From The Pacific Into Arizona, Plus Around Major Populated Areas In Arizona and Texas

Illegals Deported By The Planeload Now

"The president cited a 66 percent increase in border-security funding since he took office, along with a 42 percent increase in interior-enforcement spending and a total of 6 million illegal aliens caught and returned home." http://www.washingtontimes.com/functions/print.php?StoryID=20060326-123457-5749r

DHS Announces CBP Border Patrol Agent Deployment Schedule
Washington, D.C. – Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced today the fiscal year 2006 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol agent deployment schedule. In a significant increase in personnel, an additional 1,700 CBP Border Patrol agents will be assigned to the southwest border.
http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/press_releases/archives/2005_press_releases/0122005/12072005.xml

[tcrlaf]

I can’t get any libs to explain to me how a “Chimp”, or a “Monkey”, or a “Gannon-pole smoking Cokehead” keeps defeating the Super-Smmart Media Messiahs of the Democratic Party.

Anyone help me out on this???

[EGPWS]

For starters:

Have you lost vision or are you just egging?

The USA attacked brutally with success for the second time and under Dubya's watch we are recovering financially with flying colors without ANY retries of attacks.

I question whether I should even ask for some of what you are smoking....

[cajungirl]

I think the pubs always workbest in congress when in the minority. They squander their majority trying to act like dems and get reelected.

[Monkey Face]

...Just imagine if we end up with a Democrat president in 2008...

*shudder*

Then we need to get busy and get out the voters. Let's hope the Democrats spew sufficiently scary dogmas during the next nine months to talk themselves out of the race. ;o]

[EGPWS]

I think the pubs always workbest in congress when in the minority. They squander their majority trying to act like dems and get reelected.

That's the politician in them not the conservative in them.

[cajungirl]

Right. And I think the politician in them frequently silences the conservative in them.

[karnage]

Agree 100%. Such fortitude is rare, and admirable.