The American Mind

it’s too bad bush is only interested in making political hay, and not in really acting like a conservative. more typical bs out of our “leaders”.

Funny, you guys had zero interest in keeping down spending while you controlled Congress. You only oppose pork when it doesn’t go into the pockets of your friends.

No doubt.

Oh, now that DEMOCRATS want to spend money, he’ll whip out the pen. Ha! Anyone who sees this as Bush “finally using his constitutional power” to act more conservative is a moron.

Jim, if you actually read TAM you’d find plenty of complaints regarding the Republicans and their prolifigate spending.

also, for all the noise the republicans are making about this the over 30,000 earmarks in the bill were bi-partisan. the grand ‘ol do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do party.

Also cut down in those vetoes were port and chemical plant security measures that would have truly done some good to make us safer from the types of attacks we face.

The mess in Iraq has taken our eyes away from the dangers we face. We are less safe because of the policies and actions of the Bush administration.

There were conservatives who were upset with the Republican congress, and I should have acknowledged the fact even though God knows they didn’t raise their voices very loudly or at any event very effectively and most Republicans, whatever their private qualms, were content to sit on the sidelines and cheer as the administration and its congressional allies blew through the Clinton surplus to build bridges to nowhere.

Like most liberals, I’m in favor of fiscal restraint and keep an eye on the deficit. I don’t hate the government and don’t want to see it bankrupted. As a result, I’m unhappy with wasteful spending whether it is done by Republicans or Democrats. My read on the situation is that the current leadership in Congress has cut back on pork, though perhaps all it has done has restored the status quo before the Republican orgy of the last twelve years. Nancy Pelosi is my representative, and I have urged her to continue to work towards more disciplined spending.

Jay K has a valid point in his first post – Bush won the funding vote for the troops; I have no doubt he sees this as another battle he can win and gain political points. Given his past record, it has nothing to do with reining in spending.

Jim H – If Nancy Pelosi is your rep, you might want to enquire what happened to earmark transparency between her first 100 hours and now. It took a wholesale effort by bloggers and some MSM authors to pull Obey back from the stunt he was pulling to hide earmarks even more than they already were.