Bush 'in no mood' to talk to Dems about spending

[babylonsister]

Bush in no mood to talk to Dems about spending
By Jonathan E. Kaplan
November 13, 2007


President Bush rejected a plea this past weekend to open a dialogue with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to resolve the impasse over federal spending.

Pelosi and Reid, who had hoped to send Bush a $65 billion veterans and military construction spending bill, pleaded in a letter sent to the president on Saturday that he show “some willingness to find common ground.”

“We write today to make it clear we welcome this dialogue,” Reid and Pelosi wrote. “Key to this dialogue, however, is some willingness on your part to actually find common ground. Thus far, we have only seen a hard line drawn and a demand that we send only legislation that reflects your cuts to critical priorities.”

The White House declined their offer and demanded that Congress send Bush the appropriations bills “one at a time — as they promised the American people — and within the reasonable spending limits recommended by the president,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement Saturday.

Bush and congressional Democrats are at odds over the 12 spending bills needed to keep the government running. Bush’s budget request included $933 billion for discretionary and defense spending programs, while Democrats want to spend $22 billion more. Even though the fiscal year began Oct. 1, Congress approved the first two of 12 appropriations conference reports only last week.

more...

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/bush-in-no-mood-to-talk-to-dems-about-spending-2007-11-13.html

[krispos42]

1. Send'em one at a time

over and over and over and over....

[rodeodance]

7. But the strategy failed in the Senate, where the GOP forced Democrats to split the spending bills.

....House Democrats had wanted to send Bush a combined veterans’ spending bill and the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education bill to force his hand. But the strategy failed in the Senate, where the GOP forced Democrats to split the spending bills. Democrats ended up sending Bush the Labor-HHS bill, which Bush has threatened to veto, and a defense-spending bill, which includes a continuing resolution to keep the government operating at last year’s spending levels.


In their letter, Pelosi and Reid blamed Republicans for “stall our efforts to send” Bush the combined veterans’ and social spending bill.


They also wrote that House and Senate appropriations Chairmen David Obey (D-Wis.) and Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) should remain the chief negotiators for Democrats. That came in response to a comment by Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Jim Nussle, who had said he did not know who his negotiators were.


The Saturday exchange marks the second time in as many weeks that Bush has rebuffed a Democratic leader’s request for a meeting. Earlier this month, Pelosi asked Bush to meet to discuss legislation expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. There has been no resolution to that stalemate, and Bush, who objects to the increase in the tobacco tax to finance the bill, has said he will veto it. The bill’s supporters in the Senate and a group of House Republicans are trying to figure out how to win support from enough Republicans to override an expected veto.

[rodeodance]

8. “So all [Congress] can do is talk and write letters and hope that [Bush] is willing to listen.”

....Even though Bush’s popularity is waning, he has still managed to flummox Democratic efforts to change policy in Iraq and force Bush’s hand on domestic policy issues.


“He is the president, after all, and he has veto power and just needs one-third of the Congress plus one to sustain a veto,” a Democratic aide said. “We want to work with him on spending, as our letter says, but he must engage in actual negotiations, not just inflammatory rhetoric.”


Yet Bush and his aides appear comfortable with their with-us-or-against us approach to governing.


“Rather than sending legislation to the president to fund our nation’s veterans before Veterans Day, instead sent a letter to explain their failure to meet this goal,” Perino said in her Saturday statement. “Always deciding to spend more and raising taxes isn’t a difficult choice, and isn’t responsible.”


If Bush is unwilling to compromise, there is little Congress can do to force his hand, say analysts.


“He’s trying to build a historical record as a president who not a total softie on spending,” Cal Mackenzie, a political scientist at Colby College, said. “So all can do is talk and write letters and hope that is willing to listen.”

[rodeodance]

9. "Bush and his aides appear comfortable with their with-us-or-against us approach to governing."

[bdamomma]

39. just my opinion, someone needs to stand up and challenge this spoiled

brat *. Dr. Justin Frank where are you? Apparently Dr. Frank diagnosis of this sick man is accurate again.


http://www.larouchepub.com/other/interviews/2006/3314justin_frank.html

just a snip from this interview with Dr. Frank


"One is by learning disabilities, which makes it hard for him to read, and therefore hard for him to visualize and anticipate events".

He is also compromised by his long history of alcoholism. That has led him to see the world in black and white, and for him to have to use black-and-white thinking, in order to manage his anxiety—and everything makes him anxious. So, he has to surround himself with people who agree with him, who see things the way he does, and who never question him.


another snip of the interview:

"He's like a teenage boy, who's in the midst of a prolonged fight against his father. The terms are basic and familiar: who has the credit card, who has the car, and who can do whatever he wants. It was like this when he was a child, a teenager, a President who didn't need a permission slip from the UN, and now a President who, if he disagrees with a bill he feels forced to sign into law, issues "signing statements" which give him the prerogative to do what he wants".

"In other words, the law to him is a straitjacket, and there's a line that is direct and easy to follow in him, from his earliest childhood. And the irony is, now, he's the President who executes the laws, and yet, he still rebels against the law".

[krispos42]

23. Bush must be made irrelevent

It's the only way to get things done that are not his agenda. He's being a spoiled rotten brat, perfectly fitting the "strict father" model of George Lakoff.

Either we crush his ego, which I believe is uncrushable, or we render him irrelevent by passing what WE want over his veto. And if that means shutting down the government, so be it. The Republicans are facing defending 12 more Senate seats next year than we are. They'll buckle if we show balls.

They are authoritarian. They are either at your throat or at your feet. And as long as we keep expressing a desire for "bipartisanship" or "compromise", they will be at our throat.

[leftchick]

2. grovel grovel

please sir, please? fuck them.

[depakid]

4. It really is pathetic, isn't it?

grovel grovel is right....

How anyone has a lick of respect for these two anymore is quite beyond me.

[Cha]

27. rush limpballs says..

"you must respect them..that is your order for the day".."that is all".

[Eagle_Eye]

3. Let me do a quick check

Democrats control the Senate.
Democrats control the House.
Democrats are going to win the Executive Branch in 2008.

Bush had better get 'In the mood' because he 'ain't running the show'.

[leftchick]

5. better check again

he has been running the show since the Dems took control. :eyes:

[Cha]

30. Yeah, the dems must have

taken too much chicken soup intravenously.

They should have eaten their spinach like Kucinich! B-)

[Eagle_Eye]

42. How does the saying go 'all politics are local'?

We should be lighting a fire under the butts of our elected representatives. All of the House and 33 senators (21 republican seats) are up for election in 2008. We need to be telling our incumbent Democrats to start voting like Democrats or we will support another Democrat trying to take their seat.

As for the poor republicans, I hope they have their good contractor jobs lined up, because they are going to need them.

[fasttense]

6. Oh please Sir, may I have more.

The Democrats can plead all they want but the bushes think they own the country and have never, ever compromised. If they can't get it with force, they will lie, steal and torture to get it. People like that can't be bargained with. Punishment and force is the only thing they understand. When are the Democratic leaders going to understand this?

[OzarkDem]

10. Pelosi & Reid will give him whatever he wants

they don't want to risk losing corporate campaign cash.

[Cha]

33. Getting so obvious to us now..

A little OT, but did I get this quote from Wellstone from one of your post? :)

"As Wellstone said "If we don't fight hard enough for the things we stand for, at some point we have to recognize that we don't really stand for them."

[Cha]

32. I'm thinking they're

being willfully ignorant..how else do explain such displays of Stockholm Syndrome when you're in the Majority?

They've had a victory or two but where it really counts they've managed to go the way of the dinos(read fuckchuck-schumer and notso-feinstein).

[AndyA]

11. Save your stamps, Congress.

Bush is not going to compromise. He is not going to meet you halfway. He is not going to bend, give in, or work with you.

Are you people really this stupid? Get a clue.

What's worse for you, Congress, is the American people have finally caught on to your rhetoric. You speak harsh words, but then don't follow them up with tough actions. And your approval ratings show that we've had enough.

You will never get the cooperation of the GOP, and they are going to speak ill of you no matter what you do. And now you're losing the support of your base. Congress is quickly finding itself floating on an island with no safe landing. The only thing it can do at this point is do what its base wants: end the war, impeach Bush/Cheney, stop the corruption.

Just do it.

[durablend]

17. Yes, they're really this stupid

Just wanted to point that out.

[SammyWinstonJack]

28. Stupid and naive if they still think after six years that george will work with them on anything.

:shrug:

[Cha]

34. What bushit IS gonna do is..

stick it to 'em with a big long sharp knife and say, "take that you weasley fookin' dems..I don't need you cause I got the corporatemediawhores on speed dial to do our bidding."

And the fookin' dems know this..so :wtf:

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. Little Lord Pissypants is having another Royal Snit. Nothing new.

John Edwards is right: When he vetoes a bill, send him the same one right back.

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Sober up and get in the mood George. n/t

[annabanana]

14. "in no mood" - THAT"S the way to talk about it.

Points up Lord Pissypants stubborn childish refusal to made the kinds of deals necessary.

[spanone]

15. write another letter and tell him to go fuck himself.

[opihimoimoi]

16. There is no satisfying a BULLY...they haven't learned this YET???

[DCKit]

18. "Dear Mr. pResident; Please tell us what you want so we can send it on over." nt

[babylonsister]

19. Sadly, I think that's the Dem's MO. I wish they'd prove me wrong! nt

[gratuitous]

20. I hate myself for this

But my reading of the report is that the Democratic leadership has paid out the rope, and they're letting George fashion his own noose. I know, I'm probably giving them way too much credit, but in this area at least, I would think that the Democrats are much abler, politically speaking, to get the job done.

I'm hoping that the story will become "We tried to negotiate, the White House would have none of it," and hammer on the Republicans in Congress to pass budget bills that reflect the will of the people.

I've been disappointed a lot by Congress' leadership this year. But I'm hopeful that they might be able to redeem themselves, if only partially, in this latest skirmish.

[babylonsister]

22. I hope you're right! I wish I had more

faith in anything they do at this point. Maybe they'll improve my faith by being bold and turning the tables. A girl can wish...

[Cha]

36. And I think they're too infiltrated with

moles and mokes like schumer and feinstein in key positions.

[youthere]

21. Kind of like when I was 16..

and I broke curfew...I wasn't in the mood to talk about it.
or when I didn't do my chores...Wasn't in the mood then either.
When I was disrespectful to my mom...Nope...no mood to talk then either.

[Cha]

24. WTF is bush in "the mood" for? Golf?

Fucking little derelict. Maybe they should they take away his bottle and mainline him some caffiene so he'd get "in the mood".

What do bushits want to do with the extra money? Save it to blow up Iran?

Rec'd.

[Supersedeas]

25. a uniter, not a divider???

[librechik]

26. he's never in the mood to be treated less than royally.

he's embarrassing himself again, as if he would notice.

[Joanne98]

29. OHHH!!! He's POUTING!!!!! What a frigging brat!

[Prophet 451]

31. How is that different from the last six years?

Chimpy has spent his entire reign of error playing "my way or the highway" on absolutely everything. He thinks the word "compromise" means "they do what they're told".

[bdamomma]

41. and that is what makes him so dangerous

[Ghost in the Machine]

35. Just IMPEACH the motherfucker already, you gutless fucking assholes!

Excuse my french, but I'm sick and tired of this stupid son of a bitch that thinks he's a goddamned king. Impeach his ass and be done done with him. There are more than enough documented crimes that he's committed that warrant impeachment...

JUST. DO. IT.

Damn!

[Cha]

38. No French...just good ol' American

carthartic, venting. You'd think those dems in congress would feel the rage, too..you'd be wrong.

Seems like they'd rather be living at the taxpayers' expense then working for them.. and making sure our Constitution stays intact.

[bdamomma]

37. hmm....* is having a tantrum again, there should be no question

why IMPEACHMENT IS OFF THE TABLE. This man is clearly suffering from a mental disorder.

Not in no mood??? again, bullying is the only thing * resorts too. He is clearly whacked out.

[Zorra]

40. Force that spoiled rotten, sniveling little fascist punk to shut the

government down.

We absolutely have to stop him from continually giving our money away to his wealthy war profiteer family and friends.

We desperately need to use that money to help improve the quality of life for all Americans.

[SoCalDem]

43. Sounds like somebody needs some Midol..and a Paxil chaser..

He's not in the "mood"..WTF.. oh yes I forgot.. he's only president of the Republican States of America.. the other 70% of the country can just go pound sand :grr:

[KharmaTrain]

44. The Bastard Wants To Shut The Government Down

...except his war for profit that is. He's looking at his polls showing the Congress' popularity at an all-time low and figures he can "make points" and "help" his corrupt party by doing a Bill Clintonesque government shutdown. The gamble is people will get pissed cause their checks don't show up and they blame the Democrats. He's betting the Democrats are too scared to call his bluff and will cave on all his demands. While I've bet against asshat almost every time in the past, I'd have to go with him on this one.