Posted on 01/09/2002 6:05:22 AM PST by MeekOneGOP
Bush on Kennedy: 'I actually like the fellow'
01/09/2002
WASHINGTON President Bush had warned his fellow Texans just last weekend.
"A lot of my friends in Midland, Texas, are going to be amazed when I stand up and say nice things about Ted Kennedy," the president said Saturday during a town meeting in California.
Related Bush signs far-reaching education bill |
And Tuesday in Ohio, as he signed his keystone education bill into law, Mr. Bush did just that.
"He is a fabulous United States senator," the president said. "When he's against you, it's tough. When he's with you, it is a great experience."
In the first year of the Bush presidency, this political odd couple has come full circle from Merritt Elementary School in Washington, where the Democratic senator from Massachusetts first appeared with the new Republican president five days after his inauguration, to Hamilton High School near Cincinnati, where Mr. Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
The president did not get every reform he proposed during his 2000 campaign, but he got many of them. And he was determined to make the most of it Tuesday during a daylong three-state tour that had Mr. Kennedy riding up front with him on Air Force One.
"I actually like the fellow," Mr. Bush allowed at their first stop in Ohio, before flying off to other education events in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, where Mr. Kennedy was the host at Boston Latin School.
Education reform nearly stalled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Mr. Kennedy said, but congressional supporters and the president pressed on.
"President Bush was there, every step of the way, making a difference," the senator said in a warm introduction of the president in Boston.
Tuesday's Bush-Kennedy road show was a long way from Texas, where not so long ago, the senator from Massachusetts was often pilloried in Republican campaigns.
In the old days, too, Mr. Kennedy, no stranger to political hardball, used to take after Mr. Bush as the governor of Texas.
"George Bush doesn't have a credibility gap. He has a credibility chasm," Mr. Kennedy thundered on the Senate floor a few weeks before the 2000 presidential election.
But that was then. This is now.
Folks back home might be "somewhat in shock" at the turn of events, Mr. Bush muses. But, in fact, this seemingly topsy-turvy turn of events was carefully nurtured by the new administration to rally congressional support for education reform.
In just the first two weeks of the Bush presidency, the two men met five times, including a private but well-publicized White House screening of the movie Thirteen Days, the story of the Cuban missile crisis during the administration of the senator's brother John F. Kennedy.
The senator, who is chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, says he shares "common ground" with the president, though they still differ mightily over myriad health care and economic issues.
Mr. Bush says their relationship shows that politicians at the opposite ends of the political spectrum can work together.
"It's a great symbol of what is possible in Washington," Mr. Bush said.
In this case, too, there's a little something for both men.
"For the president, it symbolically shows that he's willing to reach across partisan and ideological lines to get the job done," political analyst Charles Cook noted.
"For Kennedy, it's just a further sign that he is an 800-pound gorilla on Capitol Hill and that people, if they want to get something done, need to deal with him."
BIG BUMP to that! You nailed it, IMHO. . .
please explain. War on terrorism? Either you're with us, or you're against us.
Bitter libertarian, eh?
Define "us" Kemo Sabe.
If by "us" you mean the Constitutionally governed and protected United States of America, then I'm with you. But if you mean the pro-unaccountable-big-government fascist entity that's taking wings right before our eyes - sorry, but I gotta side with the Founders of this country instead. They were afraid this was going to happen, and they did everything in their power to prevent it. But several generations of sheep have allowed it to come to pass.
And no, I'm not a libertarian, nor am I bitter. I'm merely a Christian Constitutionalist who believes what the men and women who built this country believed.
When he (Kennedy) is with you, you should do some SERIOUS soul searching to make sure you are not on the WRONG side of the issue.
Bush the Elder immediately comes to mind. President W. is much more politically adept than his father, however, and is smarter than he likes to let on. I have no problem with him being friendly with Ted Kennedy. Asking the President to do otherwise is silly.
However, I think most conservatives would have a major problem with any bill that Ted Kennedy supports. Kennedy would never, ever, under any circumstances, support legislation that would actually reform the public school system. The teacher's unions, and his own leftist ideology, would absolutely prohibit it.
It looks like an Islamic to me. And they could have spared us the 9-11 attacks. Bigotry? It is called survival.
Please don't take this personally, but Islam a peaceful religion? In a pig's eye!
The educational system in this country needs some help. This is the best bill Bush could get through the evenly divided Congress, and he needed to get Kennedy's help to do it.
Kennedy is, as someone said earlier, an icon to many in this country, who remember the days of JFK and Bobby. He is the sole heir of their tarnished legacy, and with his character flaws could never have been president. He is entrenched in Massachusetts until he retires or dies, so he is not going away anytime soon. He has one loser of a son, a failed marriage, a new wife he can't keep up with, and a drinking problem that is publlic knowledge. His health cannot be too good.
I imagine the drinking stems from the urge to wash away some nightmarish memories from a certain car accident many years ago.
He is an old, sad man who once had a chance to be great, but let it pass him by. I don't think it hurts to be nice to someone who maybe, in the twilight of his life, is regretful of things done and undone.
"The quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven..."
Now, if you have information that documents beyond all doubt that the Islam religion is a total sham (i.e., advocates murder, mass murder, etc.) and that ALL Muslims are terrorists, please point me to that. I think you'll have trouble finding credible evidence of that argument, though.
Thanks.
That's about it in a nutshell--you've said it best. I don't care if it is a "tactic." It's sick.
In a word, yes, especially if those "politics" include some of the vicious crimes the Kennedy crime family have perpetrated. Hang out with dogs, you get fleas. I see no virtue in Kennedy, and anyone who does should be viewed with raised eyebrows.
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