Saturday, May 17, 2008

Abandoning Bush

The rush to get off the S.S. Bush turned into a stampede this week as John McCain, Congressional Republicans and even the Saudis headed for the lifeboats.

King Abdullah, who used to hold his hand, gave Bush the royal finger when asked to pump more oil to ease gas prices.

John McCain backed away from the Imperial Presidency, not only by promising to emulate British prime ministers and regularly going to both houses of Congress to answer questions but also, as a New York Times editorial put it:

"McCain said, if elected, he will...work in 'concerted action' with other nations to counter the nuclear threats of Iran and North Korea; and eliminate a tax meant for the rich that is crushing the upper-middle class. He promised to not 'subvert the purpose of legislation,' as Mr. Bush has done, with signing statements."

Meanwhile, Congressional Republicans were jumping ship by joining Democrats in ignoring Bush's veto threats with lopsided votes to boost food stamps and farm subsidies and to order the Administration to stop pouring oil into the nation's emergency reserves.

Over vocal White House opposition, 35 of 49 Senate Republicans voted with Democrats to pass a $290 billion farm bill to increase food aid for the needy. A hundred House Republicans had voted the same way after the party's third straight loss of a long-held GOP seat on Tuesday.

After seeing the results of Dick Cheney's help in that special election, Congressional Republicans have a sinking feeling about November. If George W. Bush is looking for friends until then, he will have to turn to his dog Barney.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Are you implying that only chance John McBush might have in November is to register as a Democrat?

In my opinion, it will not help.