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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gao seng who wrote (138118)	4/13/2001 10:41:30 AM
From: gao seng	Respond to of 769667

The name Winston was mentioned and thus this post: -- There will be no loyalty, except loyalty towards the Party. -- There will be no love, except the love of Big Brother. -- There will be no laughter, except the laugh of triumph over a defeated enemy. -- There will be no art, no literature, no science. When we are omnipotent we shall have no more need of science. -- There will be no distinction between beauty and ugliness. -- There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always -- do not forget this, Winston -- always -- there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, -- there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face -- for ever.'

To: gao seng who wrote (138118)	4/13/2001 10:43:32 AM
From: Thehammer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769667

I found this on another thread from our friend Tunica: To:ColtonGang who wrote (20019) From: Tunica Albuginea Friday, Apr 13, 2001 8:56 AM Respond to of 20052 OT//Vermont's Ben & Jerry socialists need to learn that independence runs both ways". A lesson as old as LBJ, or Machiavelli: " It's good to be loved, but better to be feared. " TA ============================================================================= Bush Could Learn From LBJ on Jeffords, China By PAUL A. GIGOT A story popular among some Republicans these days concerns Lyndon Johnson, of all presidents. LBJ once invited a few members of Congress to the Oval Office for some schmoozing. "Take a good look around," he told them, "because if I don't have your vote, it's the last time you're going to see this place." Perhaps apocryphal, the story captures LBJ's willingness to reward and punish. What many Republicans want to know is whether President Bush has the same toughness. In the last two weeks, both China and Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords have, in their different ways, given Mr. Bush the back of their hands. LBJ would have made sure they knew they had paid some price. In his first 80 days, Mr. Bush has shown that he has more than enough charm to be successful. Everyone outside of John McCain's media orbit seems to like him. He's hit nearly all the right personal notes -- a Rose Garden tribute for cancer-stricken Democratic Rep. Joe Moakley, and social invitations and trips on Air Force One for key members of Congress. If Washington were a fraternity, Mr. Bush would be rush chairman. The doubt that remains is whether Mr. Bush is also tough in the clinches. Can you cross him and get away with it? His aides point to the South Carolina primary battle with Mr. McCain as proof of his grit. But every new president has to prove his mettle early in his first year. Ronald Reagan earned respect by firing the air-traffic controllers in 1981, while Jimmy Carter showed weakness getting rolled by his own party when he tried to kill pork-barrel water-projects. Mr. Bush was facile enough to declare last week's Senate vote to trim his tax cut by 20% a "victory." But spin aside, that's not how he felt before the vote. His aides negotiated furiously for the one additional vote the president needed to preserve all $1.6 trillion. interactive.wsj.com. Mr. Jeffords was the prime target because he's always been available in the past for a fee. Vice President Dick Cheney met him three times, twice one-on-one. The White House even encouraged some of Mr. Jeffords' campaign check-writers to fly down from Vermont for a heart-to-heart. "We had a very frank discussion," says Skip Vallee, one of the Vermonters, though to no avail. Mr. Jeffords demanded that special-education be made a new federal entitlement, to the tune of about $180 billion in new spending. Mr. Bush agreed but only if the program were also reformed. Mr. Jeffords first agreed, then reneged and finally joined Democrats in celebrating their rebuff of the president. The Vermont liberal has also stiffed Mr. Bush on education reform in general, in effect giving his proxy to Ted Kennedy. LBJ would have known how to respond: Don't get mad publicly, get even privately. Mr. Jeffords' choices for U.S. attorney and federal judgeships would get overlooked. His special-ed hobby horse would move far down the spending-priority list. Above all, Vermont's precious northeast dairy compact would be headed for extinction. Mr. Jeffords is the main reason this price-fixing cartel survives at all. It is horrid policy, milking consumers for about 20 extra cents a gallon. (This from a senator who supposedly bleeds for the poor.) And in 1999 the Senate voted down an extension. But GOP leader Trent Lott revived it at the last minute as a favor to his fellow "singing senator." The Vermonter was running for re-election and needed to protect his state's dairy farmers from more efficient Upper Midwest competitors. Mr. Jeffords is now being hailed in Vermont for showing "independence" with his anti-Bush vote. So Mr. Bush has every incentive to return the favor by killing the dairy compact. Vermont's Ben & Jerry socialists need to learn that independence runs both ways. China's leaders could stand a similar lesson in the risks of taunting a new president. China has returned the plane's crew but not before giving Mr. Bush a miserable time. Its hardliners will now be looking to see if they pay any price for their two-week nationalist bender. If they don't, they and others will try the same thing again. For China, the policy-lever equivalent of Vermont's dairy cartel is U.S. support for Taiwan. But merely selling Taiwan more arms isn't enough. That was going to happen anyway later this month. U.S. officials say that what Taiwan really needs to defend itself is better command and control, plus more coordination with the U.S. military. Mr. Bush can get Beijing's attention by quietly stepping up U.S.-Taiwan military cooperation. And he can speak softly but carry a blunt message by sending the U.S. Pacific commander, Adm. Dennis Blair, to visit Taiwan, where he has never been. In both of these cases, at home and abroad, Mr. Bush will hear counsels of appeasement. Don't rile the Chinese now; the "moderates" who returned the plane need to be supported. And don't upset the senator; his vote will be needed down the road. Too bad politics doesn't work that way: Both are more likely to cooperate with Mr. Bush next time if they know they paid a substantial price for slapping him in the face the first time. The lesson is as old as LBJ, or Machiavelli: It's good to be loved, but better to be feared.