http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62783-2002Sep24.html Four times in the past two days, Bush has suggested that Democrats do not care about national security, saying on Monday that the Democratic-controlled Senate is "not interested in the security of the American people." _____________________________________________ "But then I read in the paper this morning. Now, even the president. The president is quoted in The Washington Post this morning as saying that Democratic--the Democratic-controlled Senate is not interested in the security of the American people. Not interested in the security of the American people? You tell Senator Inoue he is not interested in the security of the American people. You tell those who fought in Vietnam and in World War II they are not interested in the security of the American people. That is outrageous--outrageous. The president ought to apologize to Senator Inoue and every veteran who fought in every war who is a Democrat in the United States Senate. He ought to apologize to the American people. That is wrong. We ought not politicize this war. We ought not to politicize the rhetoric about war in life and death. I was in Normandy just last year. I've been in national cemeteries all over this country, and I have never seen anything but stars, the Star of David, and crosses on those markers. I have never seen Republican and Democrat." -Tom Daschle on the floor of the senate
Well, yeah, I mean, they were totally asleep at the switch on 9/11, and after all those warnings, too. Wait, sorry, wrong branch of the government.
Just trying to reinforce the widely-held belief that the Republicans are the flag-waving, fire-breathing defenders of the nation, and the Democrats are the latte-sipping, Chomsky-reading hippie-wannabe hypocrites. Doesn't matter if Daschle gets Bush to apologize or not, in the heartland it gets votes.
Yeah, I know facts are stupid things to Democrats but it seems little Tommy Dashole got his panties all in a bunch over nothing. Bush was commenting about the silly fight over labor regulations that is holding up creation of the Homeland Security Agency, not Iraq policy. Seeing how irrational Dashole reacted seems to me that GW must have hit a nerve somewhere, or little Tommy is anxious after seeing himself on the wrong side of public opinion. Or, maybe he just wanted to steal the spotlight back from Al Gore on the Iraq issue in their anticipated battle for the 2004 nomination.
Here are the facts: Bush wants to move federal employees over to the Homeland Security Agency and then strip them of the "perks" already negotiated under a federal labor agreement. The Democrats say, "No, employees under the HSA should work under the same labor agreement as those in the CIA, FBI or NSA." The labor agreement deals with such tantamount issues of security as vacation policy, salary structure, comp time, and bereavement leave. Bush then pouts that the Democrats are "not interested in American security." So who has their panties in a wad over nothing?
Who cares what he was talking about? The fact is that he said it. Homeland security.. Iraq.... same same.
Late October, early November, depending on how many Congressional seats are up for grabs that close to the election.
Yeah, I guess Democrats are not interested in national security because they would like Homeland Security workers to have the same right to join a union that, say, police and firefighters have. Because we all know that the only way the president can protect the country is if he strips workers of all such protection like, say, airport security workers, who did such a stellar job on September 11. What makes Bush's criticism particularly laughable was that the very first piece of legislation that was part of the Republican "Contract with America" was that the federal government lost the various immunities it had from federal laws, including civil rights laws and labor law protections.
Bush should definitely cave on this. What's he got to lose? He can always just bust the union when it doesn't do what he likes anyway.
I'm just wondering when senior Democrats and Republicans are going to say 'my dad's better than your dad', or get their nobs out in Congress and say 'look you prat, I've got a python compared to you, so my party is better than yours'. I'm also wondering when the more hard-core members of each parties are going to get their party's logo tattooed and form gangs. American politics is like Australian politics without the humour, and it is like Taiwanese politics without the violence. So please have better insults and more punch-ups .
I'd have to give the 'my dad's better than your dad' to Bush. His dad was President after all. And Bush hopes to succeed Cheney someday.
Yeah, right, I have time to listen to Rush during the day. I haven't heard a minute of his show in probably two years. But, of course, liberals are learned free thinkers and conservatives just regurgitate crap from Rush.
Daschle vs Lott in full contact karate match for control of the Senate. I'd pay a few dollars to see that.