Posted by
Mark Holt on Friday, October 03, 2008 1:14:02 PM
For quite some time now, I have defended George W. Bush to his critics. When they said he had plans to invade Iraq before 9-11, I said he was just preparing for contingencies. When they said he knew there were no WMD there, I said he believed the same intelligence reports that fooled everyone. When they said he was stupid, I said he had no gift for public speaking. Whatever they said, I had an answer. But this week, I stopped.
I don't have an answer why our President would put a 435-page, $700 Billion burden in front of Congress, with less than a day to read it and no time for debate, and then use all of the power of his office and every ounce of the shrinking influence left to him, to force them to endorse it. This bill is so full of pork that pigs the world over are worried about bacon inflation.
I recall a similarly proposed bill from a few years ago. It introduced prescription drugs into our already budget-crushing medicare entitlement. Also too long to read quickly, also forced on lawmakers with no time. Also championed with irresistible zealotry by George W. Bush.
Why is it that "urgent" problems demand the crappiest solution we can find? Why is the government that created the problem suddenly uniquely qualified to craft a solution? What worthy endeavor ever bettered the world by rewarding the guilty in the dead of night?
Never again will I defend George W. Bush. Although he has done much good, he has done it while increasing the burden of government on the citizens of America to a degree unprecedented. And I can no longer deceive myself that it is not deliberate. It is deliberate. And it is greedy, and it is unconstitutional, and I am worried that it might even be, yes, evil.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice for well over 700 Billion dollars, shame on my grandkids.