[kitkat]

***If the President doesn't campaign for you or if he directs the party to shut off election money, then your career in Congress is over.***

You're mistaken. The President can't just shut out a member of Congress without making sure there is a Republic replacement for him who is certain to win in the next election. And nobody can do that. The President needs Republicans in both houses to help pass his bills.

***He is asking Congress to play goalie for him so he could have an easy ride through 2004.***

Give me the name of any president who hasn't wanted his people to help him get re-elected.

[FirstPrinciple]

The President can't just shut out a member of Congress without making sure there is a Republic replacement for him who is certain to win in the next election.

Explains why the White House is shutting down a conservative in PA and supporting a bona-fide RINO, Arlen Specter. Watch it. Every single Republican who is voting against Bush's big govt proposals will have a price to pay.

Give me the name of any president who hasn't wanted his people to help him get re-elected.

Oh, I thought Bush was a deliberative President who doesn't make political decisions on important issues. It is his duty to veto measures which he thinks are unconstitutional and against his ethical judgements to enforce. When he willingly signs every dumb legislation to come out of Congress, he is a willing accomplice. Otherwise, he wouldn't make them into laws. What he is saying to Congress is that he is too weak to say no because someone somewhere may not like it and that will affect his chances in 2004.

[Consort]

In the last off-year elections, Bush's popularity helped to elect Republicans against the usual trend and at the dismay of Terry McAuliffe and his fellow Democrats. If we let Bush get away with that, he might try it again.