The gall!
I almost choked when I read on NZPA that President Bush has asked the new Democrat led Congress to work with him on balancing the budget within five years.
The bloody man has had six years with a Republican Congress and they have spent money like alcoholics in a brewery. They had an ideal opportunity to exercise some fiscal restraint and failed. Now expecting the Dems to help cut spending when your party failed is rather rich.
This lack of fiscal discipline, plus ethical issues, is why I am quite sanguine about the Democrats taking over Congress.
Jordan Carter obviously welcomes the change also, but goes overboard describing the Democrats as “adopting a cautious, bipartisan approach” and the Republicans having been “twelve long years of partisan madness the ‘Contract with America’ loonies imposed upon the U.S. Congress”.
Sigh, must be nice to have such a purist view.
One nice thing in the US Congress was to see America’s first Moslem Congressman sworn in with Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Quran. Hopefully it can serve as a powerful signal that the US is not anti-Islam, to see a Moslem elected to the Congress and able to be sworn in with their holy book.
January 5th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
But the American electorate has obviously been swinging Left for years. Bush only won because of the two party system in 2000 and didn’t sweep the board against the hopeless Kerry in 2004. Contrast that with Nixon’s slaughter of McGovern 3 decades earlier.
The Presidency and the House could have been lost without “Compassionate Conservatism” and associated spend up… or at least in the minds of Republicans denied the House for many years and the Presidency for 8.
The same lurch left is obvious with Cameron in the UK and Key here.
As for corruption, Alcee Hastings (D) has been turned down for Democratic office, as has John Mutha (D) and Conyers (D)is likewise under a cloud.
Nancy Pelosi (D) starts her leadership with tarnished goods and a load of old corrupt men. Looks like business as usual.
JC
January 5th, 2007 at 4:55 pm
nice ‘not anti-muslim america’ spin on that david..
you haven’t lost your touch..eh..?
i saw it reported as a very clever/astute move to in some way counter the wave of anti-muslim his swearing in would induce..
but there you go..eh..?
must be in the eye of the beholder..eh..?
phil(whoar.co.nz)
and um..when do you think you will turn on your former hero..over…..
i dunno..iraq..?
January 5th, 2007 at 5:06 pm
The “swearing in using a bible or Koran” is a myth.
The official ceremony has no bibles or korans or Harry Potter for that matter. The US constitution does not allow any religious paraphernalia
What happens is that “private” swearing ins , which are a farce since the real ceremony has already happened, are done in what ever manner the person chooses
January 5th, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Voters in Democracies get bored with political encumbants after a time. Eventually they prefer a circus,with all the attendant risks,because risk is more interesting than more of the same old,same old.On voting day,logic and calculation give way to the “magic” of the new.A cynic might suggest that electorates finally care less about organised thought and consideration than the prospect of a little “frisson” in their tedious daily lives.It seems to me that the good and bad both get chucked out of Government when a critical mass decides that it is bored/uneducated/tedious and or are only going to the polling booth to walk the dog.
January 5th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Contract with America was defeated early after Clinton painted Newt as an anti-government extremist (which thankfully he is). Jordan is showing his ignorance as Republicans in the mould of newt gingrich have been lacking for quite some time. Their obsession with Clintons sex life was partisan, but on economic policy they clearly lacked a backbone.
January 5th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
To clarify there is no actual book of any kind used in the official swearing in. It is public, done in the House, without any religious book used whatsoever. Members may request a private photo op type swearing in which is not real (they are already sworn in actually when this happens). At that time they usually have family members standing away so they can take pictures. They are then free to use a book if they wish and could use any book they want. But it is not a real swearing in only a staged event for photographic purposes.
January 5th, 2007 at 6:34 pm
I agree on economic policy the Republicans have been reckless spend thrifts. Whether the Democrats can do better time will tell. But there needed to be a change in Washington. I just consider all this bi-partisan stuff to be empty. Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi is saying is she can be bi-partisan so long as you adopt her agenda. But today is hers, the real work will begin in earnest soon.
January 5th, 2007 at 7:30 pm
The cynic would suggest that asking for this help means that if the spending isn’t cut etc etc then the White House can blame the Democrats for anything that ensues…
January 5th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
It’ll be amusing to see the Dems come in for flak from the lunatic left –
http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/politicalticker/2007/01/sheehan-war-protesters-interrupt-dem.html
The Guardain editorial amusingly equated Democrat voters with this fringe -
“The larger problem for the Democratic party are the complaints from its own supporters. They will not be easy to overlook. Feelings on the left of the party are running high over Iraq and there is much pressure for immediate action. It was the Democratic party this week that felt the force of criticism from antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who disrupted a Democrat press conference and demanded investigations into the war and the pullout of US troops in Iraq.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/leaders/story/0,,1983147,00.html
Despite the longings of the Guardian editors I doubt if Sheehan is really that representative of Democrat voters.
January 5th, 2007 at 8:38 pm
Bush has never vetoed a Congressional spending bill.
A scumbag fiscal Democrat.
The triple US debt disasters mean when rather than if for the US$.
Tho that could still be 20 years out, depending whether China wants to mess with it’s major debtor in a strategic sense.
A keen speculator might consider some long term gold.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
If America swings too far to the Left, [like Europe] then we are all finished. Socialist governments are the single most, biggest threat to Western Civilization. This is because they destroy individualism and tenacity, discourage free enterprise and eliminate civilizational will [cultural backbone]
Socialist policies do this by promising that the state will take care of everything, and loyal citizens don’t have to do anything in return – when in reality, the state won’t [and can't]
I hope the GOP learn the lesson that the insidious, Big Govt approach is not what to do.
January 5th, 2007 at 10:37 pm
To be quite cynical, DPF, do you think the Democrats aren’t crafting ear-marks to make sure that lovely pork flows into vulnerable districts well before the ‘08 general election? I was quite surprised at how dependent the Dems. House majority is on more conservative ‘Blue Dog’ Democrats with very narrow majorities – and their seats are all up for grabs in two years. And you can correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t there more Democrat senators up for re-election in ‘08 than there were this year, and they don’t have the GOP to blame any more if they don’t start walking the talk PDQ.
January 5th, 2007 at 11:02 pm
They’re saying bad things about you over on Murray’s tonight David. Seems like you have become choke, gasp…..a chardonnay lefty!
January 6th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Now with the Democrats in charge we might see some fiscal responsibility, a Congress that protects liberty against the police State, and a foreign policy of restraint and realism.
God – I can’t believe I just wrote that…
The world is truly topsy-turvy when the party of Ronald Reagan has become the party that stands for big government, surveillance of its citizens without warrants, indefinite detention without trial, and a foreign policy of adventurism. Sigh.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:15 am
What a bloody joke.
A Muslim in politics. A Muslim who stands for everything that stands against democracy.
A Muslim who swears ….. what? To put America ahead of Allah? Yeah right.
January 6th, 2007 at 9:16 am
Bush went beyond choking rational people years ago when he asked us to swallow outright lies to justify wholesale slaughter. Mere ridiculous hypocrisy pales into insignificance. The US political landscape has been insane for years, why should it stop now?
January 6th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
This is typical mis-representation from David. A partial quotation is the most dishonest means possible for mis-interpreting what I said, and I am disgusted with you, David, for taking that approach.
I said “Sounds like the Democrats…” which pretty bloody obviously means, believe it when you see it.
Finally, if you can’t manage to identify hyperbole when you read it, I suggest you take a holiday.
January 6th, 2007 at 5:51 pm
Bush is a big govt socialist piece of shit getting his orders from the voice in his head ( God) instead of Marx as the other socialists do.
Fuck off you bastards of Left and Right…Liberals forever!!!
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