Bush's First 100 Days: "A Surplus Unending", Another Stupid (Yet Moral) War, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy, Hypocrisy

Let us take a glance to the past and examine President George W. Bush's first 100 days in office:

Item #1: PBS

MARK SHIELDS: The president's mantra is: we have a surplus unending. If we can afford a $1.6 trillion tax cut, then my goodness we can afford $50 billion more for AIDS research; we can afford a billion more for children's literacy. That's the fight he is going to fight. It isn't just - he's going to find out it isn't just Democrats versus Republicans; it's Republicans and Democrats and all bets are off because there is a surplus and there is no deficit.

And then there's this:

PAUL GIGOT: The surplus has been a disaster for believers in small government, there's no question about that. It makes it very hard to make-- you have to make the case against spending on a philosophical basis and there are not a lot of politicians who are really prepared to do that. They say, well, we can't spend because of the deficit; that was the great --

That really puts into perspective the recent chest-thumping cries about spending coming from our Republican friends. Apparently, it is only politically worth it to decry spending after you have managed to destroy a surplus.

Funny quote about Vietnam:

PAUL GIGOT: The right -- on the other hand -- said, "It wasn't executed well but it was a morally right effort on our behalf."

Funny how they end up saying that every time we say, "This is a stupid war, I'm against it." (I realized I should explain why this quote is in here. It came up in the discussion about Sen Kerrey)

On Bush's bipartisan cred, we present Item #2: CNN

"You could call him 'Wedge' for the way he has been driving Democrats and Republicans apart on an issue as important as the budget," Tom Daschle

And here's a quote from Bush that really makes you think about the latter part in relation to Republican's killing pandemic flue funding:

"Politics in Washington has been divided between those who wanted Big Government without regard to cost and those who wanted Small Government without regard to need."

And on to Karl Rove, with Item #3: CNN. First, his guess, after Bush's first 100 days, on how the world will judge President Bush:

ROVE: Over the long haul they are going to see this administration as one is that committed to using new technology and new innovative approaches to clean the air, clean the water and clean the land.

Remember that "clean the air, clean the water and clean the land" means to take absolutely no steps, whatsoever, to actually do that. Let the market take care of it!

On President Cheney, oops, VP Cheney's back room energy deals in comparison to the Clinton's health care efforts:

ROVE: Well, there's no comparison, Wolf. Mrs. Clinton's task force involved hundreds of experts who met for months and months and months and months and months to produce a series of proposals for President Clinton. This is a small group of Cabinet-level officials, who are meeting to discuss a recommendation that they're going to propose to the president for a comprehensive energy policy.

Shock!!!! How dare the Clintons involve "experts who met for months..." Good thing Bush's energy policies were made by a small cabal of politicians and oil executives and not "experts." Only Rove can use the term "experts" as an insult without his head exploding.

Then there's this, on President Bush's travels across the country:

ROVE: The American people like to see their president out among the people explaining their agenda, visiting with them, hearing what's going on around the country, and it's a useful exercise.

Contrast that with his remarks on President Obama's travels:

ROVE: He's been around the country, getting on the television, doing events to draw attention to himself -- there is a danger of being overexposed, particularly if it sounds like he is saying the same thing.

Ooooooo, Item #4: FOX: this is a pretty hilarious quote from Matt Lewis:

First of all, think of the hypocrisy here. If George W. Bush had, in the middle of a crisis like this, gone on Jay Leno, or Letterman, or any show, liberals, and probably everybody would have been outraged.

Yes, President Bush's mid-crisis management was impeccable:


That's Bush and McCain during the Katrina disaster.


And that's Bush being told, literally, "America is under attack." You will recall he then spent the next several minutes attempting to appear calm, rather then leaving immediately to handle the crisis.

Oh, and the next time someone chastises President Obama for not having more bipartisan success, ask them about President Bush's first budget, which only one Democrat would support.