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January 16, 2004
These Guys Get It
This is interesting but then again there's the possibility that it's all for show. Either Bush is a strong party leader who is letting a Republican Congress get away with massive increases in discretionary spending (while at the same time calling for massive increases in non-discretionary spending) or he's a weak President who doesn't have the will or power to tame what I would objectively consider the worst Congress in at least 15 years. The perception of most voters is that Republicans will clean up any fiscal mess and Bush and much of the Repubican Congress is using that as a cover to get away with pretty much whatever they want when it comes to the federal budget. This sort of thing cuts the other way with Democrats so you generally have them being extra-cautious about too much spending. Just look at the many Republican governors who've raised taxes in the past year compared to only a handful of Democratic governors who did. Anyway, the only groups that don't buy the perception and actually want to see some results are certain segments of the base, so like I said it will be interesting to see whether they follow through with their threats or if these are just crocodile tears aimed at setting up some fake rally around the President moment down the road.
Posted by Chris at January 16, 2004 10:24 AM
Comments
A lot of it comes down to the age-old question of what "your voting issue" is. (Think about the lady who called you during your run, asking about your abortion stance.) Tons of conservatives are angry about the spending and the amnesty issues, but how many will actually vote against him for that reason? For most of his supporters (past and present), I would guess that the foreign policy issue is held to be more important, and would vote accordingly.
Stiggy alleges he's not voting Bush, due to the amnesty thing. I'm interested to see whether he'll follow through!
Posted by: zachary d smith at January 16, 2004 12:19 PM
Personally I don't think Bush is doing a better job on the war on terror than any of the Democratic candidates would do, but perception counts and many people do think so. If a Democrat can neutralize this issue then Bush is in trouble on these other fronts.
Stiggy really cares about the amnesty issue? Maybe my sphere is limited but I can't honestly imagine knowing anyone who has problems with it except from the angle that it's not enough.
Posted by: Chris at January 16, 2004 01:23 PM
Oh and that it's not exactly that good of policy but at least it's a step in the right direction and to the administration's credit they aren't just pretending that it's not a legitimate issue.
Posted by: Chris at January 16, 2004 01:24 PM
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