CATO INSTITUTE: CLINTON MORE FISCALLY CONSERVATIVE THAN BUSH

The Cato Institute ^ | August 8th, 2002 | Veronique de Rugy

[flyervet]

Yep, you're absolutely spot-on.

[lavaroise]

He is not really conservative no. It's more like a conservative who has a case of fright with the left, and who, well, seeing that laissez faire is not working, is looking for a Messiah of sorts, new ideas and stuff.

THe guy is not very focused and needs a good spanking.

[Wyatt's Torch]

If your post was not "tongue-in-cheek" then I agree whole-heartedly. I have been extrememly disappointed with all the token tax reform ideas that have been floated. Meaningless. Someone in his inner circle needs to come up a with a "big-idea" on the economic front and he needs to pull a Reagan and go directly to the American people to sell it so much that Daschle has no choice but to pass it. He needs to do this now as it is getting to late in the election cycle and the Pubbies are going to lose the House if the economy doesn't improve. If that happens, he's just about toast in '04.

[WhiteGuy]

I don't think comparing bush to clifton is really fair.

bush's big government socialist spending stands on it's own as wrong.

From inside the fiscally conservative camp, our president and the gop have left the building.

I can hardly wait to see what happens to our paychecks once our military invades iraq........

thats going to cost hundreds of billions for years to come.

Ron Paul in 2004

[Conservative til I die]

Sorry, honesty and integrity only goes so far. I cannot sit back and look in awe at Bush's honesty as he enacts a left-wint agenda. And anyway, how much honesty and integrity does it take to sell out nearly every idea on which he campaigned?

[Conservative til I die]

Yes. The farm bill was a natural outcome of 9-11. Apples and oranges indeed.

[kayak]

Did you by chance hear his speech today ...... from Mt. Rushmore .... with Daschle in the audience?

He talked about the extra $5 billion tacked onto the supplemental bill ..... he was forced in this bill to spend all of the $5 billion or none of it ..... he stated emphatically the other day that his message was to spend none of it.

Check out this link ...... Bush won't budge on deficit

Several quotes from the article ......

President Bush went to the heartland yesterday to repeat the challenge he laid down for Congress to restrain deficit spending and move quickly to aid the war on terrorism.

[snip]

In the war against terrorism, Mr. Bush said he wants the Senate and House quickly to resolve their differences over two versions of a bill to provide "a significant increase in defense appropriations."

Bush also says repeatedly (including during the speech today) that the money spent in Washington is not the government's money ..... it's the people's money. And he gave us the largest tax cut in decades. His predecessor said that he didn't want to give a tax cut because he didn't trust us to spend our own money wisely ...... instead, he gave us a huge tax increase.

Re the Education Bill, one fact often overlooked is that it gives much more control over the money to those on the state and local level. While there are many aspects of the bill that I'm not particularly happy with, it's at least a step in the right direction. It also leaves the door open for the approval of vouchers ...... but we must get a Republican majority in the Senate and keep the one in the House for that to happen.

In his speech today he also spoke strongly in favor of becoming less dependent on foreign oil (think ANWR), of common-sense forest management, of the creation of the new Homeland Security Department, and other things that Daschle opposes ...... right in his face on his own turf!

[JohnGalt]

Bush apologists don't help the cause.

[Thisiswhoweare]

Remember that the CATO institute is basically a 'Globalism' think tank. Probably funded by multi-national corps. to boot.

Small wonder they prefer Clinton.

[RightWinger]

Yep, Dubya isn't the Conservative that the right had hoped for.

[Wyatt's Torch]

You sure you have the right CATO? They are a libertarian outfit and are by no means "for Clinton". They are just making a comparison of a known liberal to a self-professed conservative.

[Pining_4_TX]

Bush didn't write any of these spending bills, did he?

NO, but he signed them all and didn't fight against them either. Bush is all gung-ho for spending. Sometimes I think Gore is using mind control on him.

[lavaroise]

Someone in his inner circle needs to come up a with a "big-idea" on the economic front and he needs to pull a Reagan and go directly to the American people to sell it so much that Daschle has no choice but to pass it.

However Bush makes the mistake of looking for really progressive ideas at times. He should look back at older bolder ideas indeed, like Reagan's. He simply does not get that there is no messianic idea out there except the ones which keep away such ideas from ever reaching power status. The tax reform thing should be dealt as a way to insure it to pay for the checks and balances, mindful of checks and balances, and instead of imposing power, protecting powers.

[elcaudillo]

Candidates dished up by the Republicrat Party is rather like playing Russian Roulette, or opening a box of chocolates: you never know what the hell you'll end up with.

Electing Algore(d) would have made the slide into the quicksand just a little quicker instead of drawing the agony out for another decade. Where is our Francisco Franco or Alberto Fujimori when he's needed? It would take something like one of these guys to kick the criminals who entered our country illegally the hell out of here and close the borders to any further immigration! Then he'd have to send the porkbarrel fatcats home to keep them out of the way while an enema was administered to our government and bureaucracy.

[pittsburgh gop guy]

"Ron Paul in 2004"

Yeah, cause that's gonna happen.

[Howie]

If you will remember, Reagan straight to the people with impassioned speeches when he needed to, and Congress was flooded with mail and turned tail several times (like the cowards they are) and did his bidding.

A lot of liberals had great respect for Ronald Reagan even though they disagreed with much of his agenda. Too bad we can't rebuild him and elect him again.

Regards,

[dead]

Bush has been an absolute disaster in the area of spending.

He hasn't been all that hot in the area of respecting the constitution either.

But, hey, at least he kicked some ass in Afghanistan and he routinely tells the UN and the environmentalists to shove it, in polite diplomatic language.

Overall, I'd give him a B minus or a C plus, depending on my mood.

[Thisiswhoweare]

I believe this to be true both form position papers, speeches, and having a some personal knowledge of some of the think tanks and PACS in DC.

From the link: Globalization is Grrrreeaat!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/729380/posts

...Opponents of globalization, from the left and from the right, from Ralph Nader to Patrick Buchanan and Jean Marie Le Pen, say "no." Let me now tell you why I say "yes."
- from a speech given by Tom G. Palmer, Senior Fellow, Cato Institute

Some on the thread go on to argue that they are merely concerned with global trade and try to tie it closely with the 'free trade' arguments, however, they are rather unconvincing. What he presents in the speech is essentially globalization.

The senior fellow goes on to say this about business and their relationship to national economies "Rather than a race to the bottom, what we are seeing is a race to the top." I actually choked laughing.

Tell that to the various industries that have relocated overseas, and trades whose wages have collapsed under various trade agreements. Now, even the corporate headquarters are starting to follow, officers and capital alike in tow.

Our excessive regulations, corporate tax structures, crazy tort laws and more(!) are pumping the E right out of PE. Simply giving whole industries away to foreign countries may feel great to the directors of the multi-national playing the float between Chinese labor and American conume, but it hurts our country. In the final analysis, I am an American as well as conservative. Hard to play the 'free trade' thing when the playing field is so uneven.

Admittedly, the globaloney crowd has infested every major political party, it's just a little harder to pick out in the libertarian camp. I believe all parties fail to make the grade concerning the American economy. BTW, I am a Rebublican, as such voting since the days of Reagan.

[gcruse]

Posted, as one would expect for
an article this old, elsewhen.

[fogarty]

Not all of them. But he certainly signed all of them, didn't he?