Oct 27, 2007 at 11:34 AM by Political Chase
George Bush comparing the government’s handling of the fires in California to Hurricane Katrina:
It makes a significant difference when you have somebody in the Statehouse willing to take the lead.
Rotten to the core.
The notion of using either situation for political fodder is reprehensible, but if Bush cannot control his obsessive-compulsive behavior, he could at least get the facts straight.
So far, there have been roughly 1,875 homes destroyed by the California wildfires; a White House report says 300,000 homes were destroyed or rendered uninhabitable by the storm. In California, fires consumed roughly 475,000 acres; more than 52 million acres were affected in the Gulf Coast.
President Bush reviews Katrina damage from Air Force One
Oct 27, 2007 at 3:33 AM by Political Chase
Recent AP poll:
- 34 percent believe in ghosts.
- 31 percent approve of George Bush.
Oct 27, 2007 at 2:55 AM by Political Chase
The NYT has a piece in tomorrow’s edition about a CNBC interview with Dick Cheney, where Cheney commented on tax legislation that Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) will propose. At first I found the article amusing because of the typical Darth Vader comments, but then found it less amusing as the absence of journalistic standards became obvious.
First, he’s the amusing Cheney lead-in:
Vice President Dick Cheney on Friday joined a chorus of Republican opposition to a sweeping overhaul of the tax code proposed by the House’s leading Democratic tax writer.
The Republican response to the proposal by Representative Charles B. Rangel of New York, the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, underscored the hardening positions of the two parties on taxes as they head into the 2008 elections.
In a television interview, Mr. Cheney said Mr. Rangel’s proposal would reverse the Bush administration’s tax cuts from 2001 and 2003, one of the president’s signature accomplishments and one the vice president credited with “driving this economy.”
I intended to add my single, smart-alek comment of “driving it straight to hell,” and leave it at that. But the Times goes on to highlight a few specifics of Rangel’s proposal (eliminate AMT, cut taxes on select groups making under $200K, etc.). Then, without citing a single reason why, merited or not — other than what was previously declared by Cheney in the lead-in — Rangel’s proposal was summarily dismissed by the hack posing as a journalist.
Here’s their entire debate on Rangel’s proposal
The proposal has little chance of passing and surviving a presidential veto, as Mr. Cheney made clear. Some action, however, is expected on the alternative minimum tax and other tax proposals in the months ahead, and the fierce reactions set the stage for a debate that will only intensify as the 2008 election heralds the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the next. (Emphasis added.)
So, according to Steven Lee Myers — New York Times Stenographer for the Vice President — if Dick Cheney says its not going to happen, then God Almighty has spoken, and The Written Word carried forth to the people.
It’s not necessary to check other sources, opinions, how Rangel might convince his colleagues otherwise in due time, or even the possibility of a congressional override. Nope. Just publish what Dick Cheney, who sitteth at the Left and Right Hand of George Bush the Decider, has commanded.
There’s no doubting the influence Dick Cheney has, and if he says it will be vetoed, then that will likely be the case, but that isn’t where the story begins and ends.
