GOP ready to take the reins
Posted on 01/05/2003 4:24:26 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
GOP ready to take the reins
01/05/2003
CRAWFORD, Texas - Welcome to the brave new Republican world.
President Bush and a GOP-led Congress will converge on Washington this week to confront an age of anxiety, one layered with pessimism over the economy, terrorism, and confrontations with Iraq and North Korea.
And Democrats, with little chance to enact an agenda of their own, are reminding Mr. Bush and Republicans of the perils of getting what you asked for. They plan to hold the GOP majority that Mr. Bush fought so hard to win responsible for anything that goes wrong.
"I see it as a very sort of uncertain, risky period for the Republicans, for the Congress, and for the country," said Thomas Mann, who studies Congress for The Brookings Institution, a nonpartisan think tank in Washington.
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Still, Mr. Bush and his aides expressed optimism about the coming year, predicting that it will be a safer and more prosperous one.
"My job is to protect the American people and work to create confidence in our economy so that people can find work," the president said this week.
If the White House has its way, Congress will approve new tax cuts and spending, totaling perhaps up to $600 billion, that they think will juice the economy; confirm more conservative judges; increase government help for faith-based charities; boost education spending; create a prescription drug program for senior citizens while revamping Medicare; and restrict what the president calls "frivolous lawsuits."
Mr. Bush and his aides also face foreign-policy tensions. They aim to disarm Iraq's Saddam Hussein, even if that means going to war; they hope diplomatic pressure will persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear program; and they seek more progress in the war on terrorism, including the death or capture of top terrorist leaders, particularly Sept. 11 mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Democrats' plans
Democrats plan to counter with a push for payroll tax cuts and other programs they say will benefit the middle class and the jobless, arguing that the Bush approach favors the wealthy. The minority party also blames the GOP for letting unemployment benefits lapse at the end of last year, and restoring those benefits is one of the top goals for both parties in the new Congress.
"Democrats will be focusing on middle-class taxpayers, people who will actually need the money and will spend the money right away," said Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas. "We're not going to be bashful on many of these issues."
Democrats will also push what they consider a more generous prescription drug plan, saying the GOP version favors pharmaceutical companies. They said the Republican attack on "frivolous lawsuits" would limit the public's ability to challenge big companies in court.
Mr. Bush's opponents in the Senate say too many of the judges he has nominated take too narrow a view of civil rights and abortion rights. That sets the stage for what many see as the biggest political fight of the year, to fill an expected vacancy or two on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Challenges to Bush
Mr. Bush also faces increasing political challenges over the war on terrorism, foreign policy, and homeland security, especially from Democrats who are beginning to organize campaigns to topple him in the 2004 election.
"The work of fighting the war on terrorism and strengthening homeland security is critical, it is far from finished, and Democrats intend to push the Bush administration to see that it is accelerated," Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said Saturday in the party's weekly radio address.
While the budding presidential race will attract increasing attention this year, Mr. Bush said that is the least of his worries: "I've got a lot on my agenda and a lot on my platter."
Mr. Bush continues to enjoy strong public support, reflected in approval ratings that have stayed over 60 percent since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. That popularity propelled Republicans to victory in the November elections, as the GOP increased its majority in the House and took back control of the Senate.
Now Republicans have to produce. And they know it.
"The president asked for a Republican Congress - the American public has given it to him," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas. "Now we have to move forward."
The Republicans have a congressional majority, but not an overwhelming one. They have 229 House members to the Democrats' 204, with one independent who often votes with the Democrats and one vacancy.
The Senate, which is more difficult to manage because of its parliamentary rules, is even closer. The Republicans hold 51 seats, while Democrats can count on 48 members plus independent James Jeffords of Vermont. Democrats can easily block action with a filibuster that would require 60 votes to break, which will force Republicans to make some compromises.
Mr. Bush and his aides believe they can build on the achievements of the last Congress, including a major tax cut, an education bill, and creation of a Department of Homeland Security.
"Even though both chambers have a majority of Republicans, it still will require everybody working in a bipartisan way," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan. "If there's one thing we learned from the elections, it's that voters want us to work together to get things done."
All in all, however, Republicans said they would rather be in the majority, and most analysts said that's the best position to be in.
"There are some opportunities here," said Norman Ornstein, a congressional analyst with the American Enterprise Institute, a nonpartisan think tank. "But it's going to be much harder to blame the Democrats if things go bad here."
Handling the unknown
Perhaps the biggest test for Mr. Bush and the Republicans will be how they handle the unknown.
Mr. Hussein has vowed to fight any American-led invasion. The potential loss of life - not to mention the possibility that Mr. Hussein might use chemical or biological weapons - could dramatically change the political landscape in Washington.
So could North Korean insistence on developing the potential for nuclear weapons, creating the possibility of military action in a different part of the world.
Of course, analysts said, if Mr. Hussein is deposed, North Korea re-admits nuclear inspectors, and Mr. bin Laden is caught or killed, then Mr. Bush's hand is strengthened as he heads closer to a re-election year.
And, much as the last Congress' agenda was radically redefined by the Sept. 11 attacks, this one would be altered by another large-scale terrorist attack on American soil. Other overseas developments, such as renewed tensions between nuclear powers India and Pakistan or more intense violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, could also affect domestic politics.
The American political world also has its share of surprises. Just a few weeks ago, Republicans were riding high off their election success when controversy erupted over comments by their Senate leader, Trent Lott of Mississippi, that were seen as racially insensitive.
Mr. Lott stepped down after the outcry over his praise for Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign of 1948, clearing the way for Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to be the majority leader.
Some Democrats, though, have served notice that they do not plan to let the Lott matter drop. They plan to push a civil rights package that includes laws against hate crimes and a ban on racial profiling.
Civil rights organizations are also pushing the Bush administration to support affirmative action in a major college-admissions case pending before the Supreme Court.
Possible pitfalls
The Republicans did enjoy congressional supremacy two years ago, however briefly, when a 50-50 Senate featured Vice President Dick Cheney as a tiebreaker. That ended when Mr. Jeffords left the Republican Party to become an independent.
Despite the Republican sweep in November, American voters are still closely divided between Republicans and Democrats, so both parties must also be careful to avoid falling into a familiar trap: overplaying their hand. Analysts said that Republicans could lose by moving too far to the right over such sensitive issues as abortion or race relations.
One test could come if Republicans revive efforts to ban the late-term abortion procedure they call "partial-birth abortion," which some call infanticide.
Democrats say doctors should decide if the procedure is medically necessary and consider the GOP's effort an attempt to chip away at the abortion right in general.
Another challenge could come if Mr. Bush decides to push changes to Social Security, allowing recipients to invest some money in the stock market. Democrats say that threatens the system, pointing to the market's recent volatility.
For Democrats, the danger is failing to develop clear alternatives to the Bush agenda, which many analysts believe cost them dearly in the November congressional elections.
They must also not seem too negative, on the economy as well as the war on terrorism, analysts said.
"The one thing you don't want to do above everything else," Mr. Ornstein said, "is make it look like you're hoping for a disaster so you can blame the president. We're all in the same boat here."
E-mail djackson@dallasnews.com
Critics again fire away at Bush - DemocRATS continue their "Divide Amerika" strategy, offer no plan
The Dallas Morning News ^ | July 30, 2002 | By DAVID JACKSON / The Dallas Morning News
Yes, 'RATS ! Please continue your "Divide Amerika" plan, and let's see how many more Congressional seats you can lose in 2004 !!
Excerpts:
And Democrats, with little chance to enact an agenda of their own, are reminding Mr. Bush and Republicans of the perils of getting what you asked for. They plan to hold the GOP majority that Mr. Bush fought so hard to win responsible for anything that goes wrong.
< snip >
Democrats plan to counter with a push for payroll tax cuts and other programs they say will benefit the middle class and the jobless, arguing that the Bush approach favors the wealthy.....
"Democrats will be focusing on middle-class taxpayers, people who will actually need the money and will spend the money right away," said Rep. Martin Frost, D-Dallas. "We're not going to be bashful on many of these issues."
< snip >
Democrats will also push what they consider a more generous prescription drug plan, saying the GOP version favors pharmaceutical companies. They said the Republican attack on "frivolous lawsuits" would limit the public's ability to challenge big companies in court.
Mr. Bush's opponents in the Senate say too many of the judges he has nominated take too narrow a view of civil rights and abortion rights. That sets the stage for what many see as the biggest political fight of the year, to fill an expected vacancy or two on the U.S. Supreme Court.
< snip >
Mr. Lott stepped down after the outcry over his praise for Strom Thurmond's segregationist campaign of 1948, clearing the way for Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., to be the majority leader.
Some Democrats, though, have served notice that they do not plan to let the Lott matter drop. They plan to push a civil rights package that includes laws against hate crimes and a ban on racial profiling.
Civil rights organizations are also pushing the Bush administration to support affirmative action in a major college-admissions case pending before the Supreme Court.
Keep it up, 'RATS !
Your comment needs reposting here, my FRiend!
To: MeeknMing
Democrats are a strange bunch especially their leaders. They complain about politics of personnel destruction when that is how they try to divide the country. They have little pride in America, it seems that the American people serve for their pleasure only. If you don't cotton to the democratic line, you aren't American. They used the surplus for other countries and other people when there was much to do here at home. They take our best technologies and sell them to nations that will use the knowledge against us. They lack an enormous amount of integrity and don't seem to care as they flaunt sleazy ethics and morality in our faces.
We didn't have a government for the people under the Clinton administration, what we had was a Democrats Only need apply type of government and now they are attempting to replace a People's Government with their tired old arguments about an education system they didn't fix in 8 years, a health care program they messed up and couldn't fix in 8 years, a social security system they say needs fixing and did nothing about it in 8 years when in reality that system is fine as long as lawmakers don't spend the money that social security is meant for; they spent 8 years hiring federal workers with no qualifications as long as it meant a democratic vote leaving behind a dumbed down, bloated army of sleazy federal laborers who have plundered their departments of millions in dollars and equipment.
Democrats seem to have no respect, no real base from which true justice can spring, only justice that bends for them. They have no enthusiasm for country/nation, no pride, just the spoils from a rich nation for the DNC. They continue to huddle with shady and corrupt people both here in America and abroad for reasons that only benefit them. They are elitists and exclude the real Americans as they race for the Marxist Utopia they have dreamed about...where individual successes are discouraged in favor of a commune like population. They have learned nothing from failed socialism or failed communism; they still want to live like kings all the while painting a glowing picture of togetherness for the masses who work for them. It is called Slavery, servitude to a few at the top, domination over the people through higher taxes and rules and regulations. Democrats want a Unionized nation/world of bondage and they can surely have it by dividing the country with the deceptive lies they and the press propagandize with daily.
Stand tall Americans and stand firmly for the principals of our Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, both of which are like the fabled Vampires silver cross or spike to the leading democrats, they don't want you to have either; it is these people who would return this country to the quagmire of corruption of the Clinton/Gore/Reno years.
FYI - Strobe Talbott is President of this "non-partisan think tank" - Zoe Baird and Lawrence Summers are two of the trustees, whose names jumped out of a quick glance at their website.
Translation needed for 'mainstream' media reports:
Non-partisan = leftleaning
I will give a prize to anyone who can find a think tank identified as liberal or leftwing anywhere except perhaps the National Review, Human Events, or the Weekly Standard.
Gee, Mr. Frost, is that why your party dumped you in favor of Berkleite Nancy Polesti? Haven't you read the left's take on these issues-- the middle class and middle class values are the enemy. You want a society modeled after the third world-- a small elite ruling class and a vast army of poor. That is, of course, as long as you are among the ruling elite.
Amen !
It is hard to lead when ideas are shot down by a minority partnership; like a bad marrage, Repbulicans and Democrats need counseling to heal the wounds of the Clinton Era politics of personal destruction wraught by Hillary and the old colonel
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