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If Bush signs this, it will be his "No new Taxes" statement.

The fact that he promises to is enough for me. We apparently have a domestic rubber-stamp who won't stand up to anything that comes from Congress.

Early in the campaign, Bush was doing those appearances where a handful of people would be permitted "60-second interviews" with the candidate - basically you got one question, so choose a good one. An acquaintance of mine had the opportunity to ask a question, so he asked about the Assault Weapons Ban renewal.

Bush responded that he knew it would cost him many votes if he signed it, especially so close to the 2004 elections. He also said that there should be no reason for that legislation to ever reach his desk. He then stressed how important it was for the voters to strengthen the Republican Congress.

All of the above was reported online, over at the subguns.com message boards (the interviewer was a frequent poster there). Now, as I said, that was early in the campaign. Later, Bush did make other comments that were supportive of the ban (or opposed to its repeal, not quite the same thing as letting it die as written). So, we are left to wonder how much of what the man says is urged by his advisors or intended for the ears of squishy moderates and soccer moms.

He knows the risks. For now, we should be focused on Congress, because despite the fact that the voters gave Bush a Republican majority in both houses, they may well try to deal with this very soon rather than leave it to sunset just weeks before the election.

Godd points. We've had plenty of warning, and he is simply promising to keep his word... we just don;t like the words! ;^)

My response is that we've done our part and got him the the majorities he said he needed. Now, if those twerps all try to leave it to someone else to stop this bill, and it gets to GWB who likewise promised to leave it to someone else (just like he did for Congress & SCOTUS for CFR), we're going to get stung on an important issue despite the fact that we did EVERYTHING the GOP asked of us!!!

(Getting back to that "nose-despite-face" argument that others assert, it is interesting that few notice that GWB and the GOP, by passing this bill, will be doing the exact same thing to us!)