Thursday, September 13, 2007
When President Bush reaches out, reaches out to touch someone ...
I don't know why I watch C-Span's "Washington Journal." Each and every time I tune in, some preening, unlearned leftist jackass calls in and makes me madder than a hornet. (The folks at C-Span should do their viewers a favor and hire a good call-screener.)
This morning, someone from Maryland called C-Span to say this to God and country: "[George W. Bush] is the most partisan president in history. He has never reached out to Democrats or attempted to build consensus." I nearly tore the front section of the Wall Street Journal in half when I heard that.
President Bush has reached out to - and collaborated with - Democrats in Congress throughout his term in office: He signed McCain-Feingold, which was pet legislation for Democrats during the 2000 campaign; he allowed Ted Kennedy to remove vouchers from the No Child Left Behind Act; he's championed amnesty for illegal immigrants (another pet project for Democrats); he supported a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients, which represents the largest expansion of a federal program since LBJ's Great Society; and during the run-up to the Iraq War, he agreed to the Democrats' demand that no military operations in Iraq would begin until Congress passed pro-war legislation, which it did.
What has President Bush gotten for his "build consensus" efforts? Firm kicks between the legs on an almost daily basis, that's what. Democrats convinced themselves that Bush's operatives "stole" the 2000 presidential election. They were further enraged when Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate 2002 and when President Bush was re-elected in 2004. To punish the president for getting their goat in 3 consecutive national elections, the Democrats arose - and continue to arise - in hyper-partisan opposition to practically everything the Bush Administration said or did.
President Bush has done his level best to "reach across the divide." The Democrats have done their level best to see that the president retrieves his hand with a few fingers missing whenever he reaches out. For Mr. Mayland Shipdit - nay, for anyone - to assert that today's toxic political environment is a result of President Bush's failure to "try to build consensus" is to propagate a tall tale of the first order.
This morning, someone from Maryland called C-Span to say this to God and country: "[George W. Bush] is the most partisan president in history. He has never reached out to Democrats or attempted to build consensus." I nearly tore the front section of the Wall Street Journal in half when I heard that.
President Bush has reached out to - and collaborated with - Democrats in Congress throughout his term in office: He signed McCain-Feingold, which was pet legislation for Democrats during the 2000 campaign; he allowed Ted Kennedy to remove vouchers from the No Child Left Behind Act; he's championed amnesty for illegal immigrants (another pet project for Democrats); he supported a prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients, which represents the largest expansion of a federal program since LBJ's Great Society; and during the run-up to the Iraq War, he agreed to the Democrats' demand that no military operations in Iraq would begin until Congress passed pro-war legislation, which it did.
What has President Bush gotten for his "build consensus" efforts? Firm kicks between the legs on an almost daily basis, that's what. Democrats convinced themselves that Bush's operatives "stole" the 2000 presidential election. They were further enraged when Republicans gained control of the U.S. Senate 2002 and when President Bush was re-elected in 2004. To punish the president for getting their goat in 3 consecutive national elections, the Democrats arose - and continue to arise - in hyper-partisan opposition to practically everything the Bush Administration said or did.
President Bush has done his level best to "reach across the divide." The Democrats have done their level best to see that the president retrieves his hand with a few fingers missing whenever he reaches out. For Mr. Mayland Shipdit - nay, for anyone - to assert that today's toxic political environment is a result of President Bush's failure to "try to build consensus" is to propagate a tall tale of the first order.
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Thursday, September 13, 2007 
