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Right or Wrong, Bush is a True Big-Picture Guy
Op/Ed My Yahoo ^ | 1/11/03 | Richard Reeves

Posted on 01/11/2003 5:35:42 PM PST by ohioWfan

By Richard Reeves

WASHINGTON -- When he was still a governor in 1999, George W. Bush came to Los Angeles to speak to a polite but skeptical crowd of movie executives. Suspicions that the man from Texas was dim and uncertain seemed confirmed when he could not remember the name of a Californian he said he had worked with closely.

Bush snapped the tension with a crack: "Hey, I'm a big-picture guy."

Who knew he wasn't kidding? I have told that story before, but it seems appropriate right now. This president has knocked the wind out of Washington with his ambitions to change the rules of the world and the tax code of the United States. "Big" and "bold" are the words of the day, as in this headline over a Washington Post analysis: "Bush Goes With the Bold Stroke."

"Call it boldness, audacity or even chutzpah ..." begins the piece by Dana Milbank, which continues, "President Bush twice stunned the capital with proposals far beyond what was considered workable."

The heavy breathing began last Tuesday, when the president called for tax cuts that doubled even what many of the most anti-government Republicans expected -- and they were cuts that proudly favored the so-called "investing class." Rich people, families with incomes above $375,000 a year, the top 1 percent of earners, would get more than 30 percent of the new tax breaks.

Then a few hours later, the president followed with another right cross to the town's solar plexus. The conventional wisdom was that after the racial flap over Sen. Trent Lott's praise of segregationists past, Bush would look for more moderate conservatives to nominate for federal judgeships in the South. Wrong again! Bush once again nominated federal District Court Judge Charles Pickering to fill an appeals court vacancy. Pickering, a Lott protege from Mississippi, was rejected last year by the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) because of his record on racial matters. That was when Democrats controlled the Senate. Now Republicans are in control, so Bush stuck it to the new minority.

In case the Democrats did not get the message, he also renominated Texas Supreme Court Justice Patricia Owens for the same appeals court. She had been rejected in committee because Democrats believed she was determined to push a personal anti-abortion agenda on the bench.

Our president is a very tough guy, an in-your-face politician far tougher than people on both sides thought. "In for a penny, in for a pound," was the comment by one Republican in Congress. The idea, which surprised most people around here, was that if Bush is going to lose on some of his programs, particularly tax cuts, why not lose big?

Many in his own party, some of them uncomfortable with this boldness -- thinking it irresponsible -- believe that the president is haunted by his father's easygoing reputation. The conventional wisdom is that George H.W. Bush lost re-election in 1992 because he did not cash in the political capital (his own high standing in polls) after the first Gulf War (news - web sites) against Iraq. The political cliche on that one is, "Not like father, like son."

All of this happened, of course, while the president was threatening war in a couple of venues, old and new, and as the federal budget (and the budgets of state and local governments) were plunging once more into deficit because of relatively lower tax revenues. We've been there, done that, haven't we? The fact is that younger Bush is not like his father. He is like his father's old boss, Ronald Reagan (news - web sites). Borrow and borrow, spend and spend -- and ignore criticism.

He is, right or wrong -- and he certainly is convinced he's right -- a true big-picture guy. He may be riding for a fall, but he is trying to change the world and the country. Bush, right now, is moving to remake the world in an American image -- institutionalizing an American empire -- and remake the country in a conservative image with government power reduced by cutting its funding. And if people don't like it, they can go to court and appeal to the judges he picked.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bold; bush; toughguy; truevisionary
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To: Howlin
Well, speaking of taking threads and running away with them........(this is a legit question)......do you, or anyone else have a "recipe" for removing rust from OLD linens?????? I just inherited a bunch.
261 posted on 01/11/2003 9:08:29 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma
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To: MeeknMing
Thanks Meek. Love the article.

Bush once again nominated federal District Court Judge Charles Pickering to fill an appeals court vacancy. Pickering, a Lott protege from Mississippi, was rejected last year by the Senate Judiciary Committee (news - web sites) because of his record on racial matters. That was when Democrats controlled the Senate. Now Republicans are in control, so Bush stuck it to the new minority. In case the Democrats did not get the message, he also renominated Texas Supreme Court Justice Patricia Owens for the same appeals court. She had been rejected in committee because Democrats believed she was determined to push a personal anti-abortion agenda on the bench.

So glad to hear that. Makes me feel good.

262 posted on 01/11/2003 9:09:06 PM PST by Victoria Delsoul
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To: MJY1288
LOL ! funny...
263 posted on 01/11/2003 9:10:14 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Just for grins: http://muffin.eggheads.org/images/funny/dogsmile.jpg)
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To: Howlin
I'm turning myself in. I didn't last very long, did I?

Howling......................HI, BG!!!!

264 posted on 01/11/2003 9:10:30 PM PST by marylina
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To: Brad's Gramma
I am not very "handy" around the house (although I do have a handy hint for getting candle wax out of votives....LOL).

You'll have to wait for a smart person to come along and tell you.

265 posted on 01/11/2003 9:11:19 PM PST by Howlin (In your dreams)
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To: marylina
Hooooooooowdeeeee to you too!!!!! (I was wondering if you'd notice that little ditty)

A little cold where you're at tonight, I hear!
266 posted on 01/11/2003 9:11:54 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: ohioWfan
G'night...


267 posted on 01/11/2003 9:12:22 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Just for grins: http://muffin.eggheads.org/images/funny/dogsmile.jpg)
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To: Howlin
Shucks. I'll keep trying though. SOMEONE must have that recipe. Thanks anyway!
268 posted on 01/11/2003 9:13:36 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: Brad's Gramma
Nah, you heard wrong. It's ten degrees here!
269 posted on 01/11/2003 9:15:42 PM PST by marylina
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To: Victoria Delsoul; All
So glad to hear that. Makes me feel good.

Yeah, me too.

And on that note, I'm heading off into the sunset.

G'night, Victoria. G'night everybody !...


270 posted on 01/11/2003 9:16:50 PM PST by MeekOneGOP (Just for grins: http://muffin.eggheads.org/images/funny/dogsmile.jpg)
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To: marylina
Well shucks, that's nothing!!!

(See my tag line, if you're interested)

271 posted on 01/11/2003 9:17:35 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: Brad's Gramma
Rusty linens??? SOunds like a personal problem grannie!
272 posted on 01/11/2003 9:17:46 PM PST by admiralsn (Try Rustoleum.)
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To: ohioWfan
Rich people, families with incomes above $375,000 a year, the top 1 percent of earners, would get more than 30 percent of the new tax breaks.

Sorry, stuff like this really pisses me off. Proportionally, they are still getting a smaller tax break than the middle class and the poor. But the Communists/Socialists/Democrats believe that the rich should have nothing, and that it's the government's right to turn them into the middle class and the poor.

This class warfare crap works on the addle-minded and envious, however.

273 posted on 01/11/2003 9:18:02 PM PST by Dr.Deth
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To: MeeknMing
That's BEAUTIFUL! Just the view you see, heading west....

Nite!
274 posted on 01/11/2003 9:18:26 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: admiralsn
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

I almost MISSED that one. And Mama's not even here....

Rustoleum, indeed. Sheesh.
275 posted on 01/11/2003 9:19:13 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: Howlin
It has been reported on multiple time on Fox News during various programs. Are they liars also?

http://www.kfoxtv.com/news/2002/12/28/social.html
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/1/10/142601.shtml
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20030109-32765908.htm
http://stacks.msnbc.com/news/849447.asp?cp1=1
http://www.csmonitor.com/2003/0102/p08s03-comv.html
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&q=mexican+social+security&btnG=Search+News
276 posted on 01/11/2003 9:19:14 PM PST by Karsus (Note: Perl coding and FR do not mix :->)
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To: Brad's Gramma
Nite, grannie! Sleep tight!
277 posted on 01/11/2003 9:19:59 PM PST by marylina
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To: ohioWfan
A charge to keep. Thank God I've had an opportunity to see a great man who has governed with integrity and courage in the midst of turmoil.

Thank you George W Bush for rising to the challenge.

278 posted on 01/11/2003 9:20:24 PM PST by swheats
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To: marylina
Excuse me? I'm not going to bed!!!!

YOU can, but I'm not.

Nope. Can't make me.

Ya'll have a good night's sleep!!!!
279 posted on 01/11/2003 9:21:21 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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To: Howlin
Just Say No
280 posted on 01/11/2003 9:21:53 PM PST by Brad’s Gramma (Room for rent in CA. Warm CA)
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