I'm still one of you, Bush tells angry conservative supporters
From Tim Reid in Washington
PRESIDENT BUSH, facing mounting anger among his right-wing supporters over runaway spending, his latest Supreme Court nomination and the Iraq war, was forced to declare yesterday: “I’m still a conservative, proudly so.”
Confronted by growing disillusionment and a sense of betrayal among conservatives of all stripes, Mr Bush used a hastily arranged press conference in the Rose Garden to assure his traditional supporters that he was still one of them.
He also insisted that, despite some of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency, he had “plenty” of political capital left.
Compounding the conservatives’ dismay, a Texan grand jury indicted Tom DeLay, the leading Republican congressman, on two charges of money-laundering. Mr DeLay, who stepped down as House leader after being indicted on the lesser charge of criminal conspiracy last week, was accused of illegally funnelling $190,000 (£108,000) in corporate donations to Republican candidates.
In his first full press conference since May, Mr Bush sought to placate small-government conservatives appalled by the massive increase in government spending since he took office; religious conservatives dismayed by his choice of Harriet Miers to fill the latest Supreme Court vacancy; and neo conservatives angered by the Administration’s poor prosecution of the Iraq war.
His nomination on Monday of Ms Miers, who has never been a judge, brought howls of protest yesterday from the Religious Right, who wanted a candidate with unambiguous conservative credentials. Mr Bush’s choice of Ms Miers, his former personal lawyer from Texas, will probably avert a bruising confirmation battle with Democrats, but William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, said that he was “ disappointed, depres- sed and demoralised”. He said that her selection would be regarded as “a combination of cronyism and capitulation”.
Rush Limbaugh, the popular conservative talk show host, said that Ms Miers was “a pick made from weakness”. Pat Buchanan, a former Republican presidential candidate, commented: “Handed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to return the court to constitutionalism, George W. Bush passed over a dozen of the finest jurists of his day — to name his personal lawyer.”
Mr Bush met those charges head on, insisting: “I picked the best person I could find.” He suggested that Ms Miers shared the judicial philosophy of Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, the most conservative Supreme Court judges, who believe that the Constitution should be interpreted as it was originally intended, untainted by prevailing social attitudes.
Mr Bush said: “[Ms Miers] shares my philosophy that judges should strictly interpret the laws and the Constitution . . . Twenty years from now, she will be the same person with the same judicial philosophy.”
He said that he could not recollect discussing abortion with Ms Miers, but said: “I’ve made my position very clear. I’m a pro-life President.”
Mr Bush also moved to reassure fiscal conservatives dismayed by his pledge to “spend what it takes” to rebuild the Gulf Coast after hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They assert that he has spent like a liberal, presiding over the greatest increase in government spending — 33 per cent — since President Johnson in the Sixties. Mr Bush has also refused to veto a single Bill, the first President to do so since John Quincy Adams, who left office in 1829. He signed a $286 billion transport Bill this year stuffed with more than 6,000 “pork barrel” pet projects inserted by politicians.
Mr Bush said that hurricane reconstruction work must be done “in a fiscally responsible way” and called for “real cuts” in 150 domestic programmes excluding security.
timesonline.co.uk
Of course it's gonna be fiscally responsible ... like the fiscally responsible bridge in Alaska to serve 50 people that costs ... what was it...~$250M. We could have given each of the families a private helicopter and it would have been cheaper. And now that I think about it, do these 50 people even want a bridge. They chose to live on some podunk island in Alaska. I'm guessing they're not interested a whole lot in people to begin with.
jttmab |
