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I agree that Bush campaigned against the provisions in the CFR bill. I agreed with Bush then and I think this is a bad bill. The real problem here is not a constitutional crisis, but that Bush signed a bill he said he wouldn't sign and which I didn't want him to sign.

The fact is had the Pubbies not lost so many Senate seats and had Jeffords not jumped, the bill would never have hit Bush's desk.

So why'd he sign it? Because Enron made Bush and Republicans vulnerable to the charge that he would veto CFR to keep the soft money millions flowing from the oil patch. CFR does not resonate with ordinary voters but Enron does. So the political calculus changed from last year and Bush signed the bill to keep the House from going Dem and give the Pubbies a chance at retaking the Senate. Bush figures taking such a serious political hit on CFR isn't worth it if the SCOTUS is likely to throw out the bad part anyway.

If you want to blame somebody, blame Lay, Skilling and Fastow for their greed in deciding to take a boring gas company and convert it into a commodity speculation scheme that went bad, which they covered up with securities fraud. And for which, perversely, Arthur Andersen will be destroyed while Enron lives on in Chapter 11. Blame the law of unintended consequences.

..."If you want to blame somebody, blame Lay, Skilling and Fastow for their greed in deciding to take a boring gas company and convert it into a commodity speculation scheme that went bad, which they covered up with securities fraud"...

And you feel insulted when someone calls you Clintonesque! Sheesh.... another 'my dog ate the homework' kids!!!

I am impressed.....

I'm pissed at President Bush for this but I'm not voting for a rat nor will I vote for a third party star wars bar scene type. But I want President Bush to know that he screwed the pooch.

However, if he was going to break his word, which he undoubtedly did, he should have addressed why he was breaking his word with his base, thats us.

He gets points for giving McNut and the three mouseketeers the back of his hand by not inviting them to the dog and pony show.

But he loses points because he went along with the federalization of the keystone cops.

My vote for President goes to the man I want to be Commander in Chief when it hits the fan and in that I am not at all disappointed. He has done a great job.

To make a long story short, he needs some better advice. He didn't even have to sign this. He could have allowed it to become law without his signature.

OK, I'm done.

So why'd he sign it? Because Enron made Bush and Republicans vulnerable to the charge that he would veto CFR to keep the soft money millions flowing from the oil patch. CFR does not resonate with ordinary voters but Enron does.

Perhaps. But Mr. Bush had political capital bulging even more heavily than Enron's former coffers. He had (has?) the kind of approval ratings Ronald Reagan himself could never have imagined. He could well enough have vetoed CFR (as he should have done, without question, and on very solid Constitutional ground, as I think we both know) and taken his case to the American people, and remind them that, oh, by the way when Enron came schnorring around our administration looking for some favours as soon as the proverbial sh@t hit the proverbial fan, our administration told Enron in no uncertain terms to take a proverbial hike - and anyone who says otherwise is either an ignoramus or an @$$.