Monday, June 22, 2009
|
|
Bush Threatened DeMint Over Vote
|
|
Posted by:
Matt Lewis at
11:13 AM
|
I'm reading my advanced copy of Senator Jim DeMint's new book, Saving Freedom. I'm still not finished, but wanted to share one part with you.
When Bush was trying to pass his No Child Left Behind bill, he called then-Congressman DeMint into the Oval Office and pleaded with him to avoid a blood bath" over an amendment he had added to the bill. DeMint still voted against NCLB, but dropped the amendment because of Bush's "gentle persuasion."
... But things were different when it came to passing Medicare. As DeMint recounts the story,
After publicly expressing my opposition to this bill, I was once again invited to meet with the president along with several other conscientious objectors. In that meeting the President made it easy for me; he threatened me by telling the group, "some of you have tough elections and we are watching how you vote." And he looked straight at me when he said it.
... You may have wondered how so many conservatives were co-opted into voting for bad legislation. I think this answers the question.
Fortunately for DeMint, he resisted the pressure, and was rewarded by being elected the the U.S. Senate, where he is one of a hand-full of reliably conservative senators...
|
|
|
While I'd like to hear this anecdote from someone other than DeMint, it certainly seems true enough and my hat off to you Mr. DeMint for standing up for your principles in a time when others would/did cower to King George. |
|
What I criticize Obama for is the policy, not how he gets the votes. Presidents (both parties) are known for doing this to get their "ideas" converted into policy. Nothing new to me.
It really isn't news to me how President Bush got things done. I would actually like to read the book to see if DeMint is attacking the policy or the man, though.
A piece of interesting news is that the Medicare prescription drug benefit actually ended up costing the government (us) substantially less than expected. I believe this was reported within the last week or two (don't remember where). This bill did not bother me, nor did the NCLB bill, because I knew something had to be done re: both issues. I am a center-right Republican. |
|
You can whine about the arm twisting in the affairs of human beings. So what!
Life is always a power play. What needs to be understood is that God has all the power. He backs up His principles and always has the last word.
If you want to experience a fulfilling, satisfied, and blessed life and society: Agree with God. |
|
It's a Rethug tactic and they still do it - in fact, you wingnuts are doing it. You strong-armed Specter, Snow and Collins. You did it to Colin Powell and any Republican who doesn't walk in lock-step with the hardliners. Holding a Medicare vote for hours and hours until DeLay could twist the arms of Republican holdouts is not something that is a sign of the past. If they don't follow the rightwing logic, they are threatened with ouster as in the case of Specter being threatened with a hardcore wingnut as a primary opponent.
You guys just continue to fool yourselves in more LOL ways every day. |
|
It seems to me that "center-right" Republicans are the norm among average Repubs and have nothing to fear posting on TH. RINO's are justifiably criticized because they don't adhere to the principles that inform us. Strident hard-right posters are equally fair "game" (to borrow your hunting analogy) as are the Left/hard-Left.
Tell us, who are the prominent pro-life, pro-2nd amendment, pro-traditional marriage, pro-robust military, pro-limited federal government Democrats in national leadership? |
|
This incident does not surprise me at all. Sen. DeMint was far from being the only Republican Congressman that Bush tried to intimidate into his supporting his big government schemes. They just never got any air time, because liberals wanted to paint the GOP as Bushite, and Bush and his tribe of big government and social conservatives wanted to hush-hush any evidence of Bush being anything other than a moral, I-heart-Jesus kind of guy. But Bush stabbed the country and the movement in the back with this one, and on many other occasions.
Nice find; thanks for posting this information. |
|
|
Presidents strong arm people. The 'people' aren't conservative in this country. DeMint might be your pure candidate. He'll get 40% of the vote, and maybe 80 EV. |
|
"They just never got any air time, because liberals wanted to paint the GOP as Bushite, and Bush and his tribe of big government and social conservatives wanted to hush-hush any evidence of Bush being anything other than a moral, I-heart-Jesus kind of guy."
I'd add one more thing . . .
The democrats usually voted for the big spending, social items that Bush wanted because they wanted them too! |
|
|
All presidents use the bully pulpit. That is part of the power of the job. The sad thing about it is that Bush used it on things that, according to DeMint, the Republicans didn't want: NCLB and Medicare drug program, and didn't use it when it came to the things that many of us want, which is Social Security reform, and tax reform. |
|
|
I guess it's kind of like how the Blue Dog Dems will be treated if they don't vote the way Grossy Pelosi or Dingy Harry tell them too, huh? |
|
Politicians that allow fear of losing reelection to cause them to vote for legislation they know to be destructive don’t deserve to be reelected and should get out of Washington.
The harlequins in Congress are nothing more than useless preening narcissists who will do anything to get elected. They are soulless and gutless. Arlen Specter is their Poster Boy.
Senator DeMint is a very rare exception.
I would have politely told President Bush to go to hell.
|
|
Three....four years? You sound like a pre-school nosepicker with your silly name-calling.
The Blue Dogs are not 'moderates' on the issue of healthcare. They are either bought and sold insurance industry patsies or have some idea that they can keep the status quo for some stupid reason. Progressive liberals are gaining ground and changing the palette in DC, and the old farts are fretting for their time-honored spot in comfy shades of gray and pasty white. They will be ousted because they are stuck in retrograde, just like the Rethugs. Only difference between our Blue dogs and the Rethugs is that at least our guys have a smidge of integrity where the thugs only have black holes. |
|
He would have made a great secretary of defense -
Nothing is worse than having a crime committed by your own family. That's why McCain didn't cut it with me. I'd rather die quickly than the slow but just as deadly, poison of "moderation."
When this is over - it may finally put to bed the curse of liberalism which is founded on relative morality and evil, while talking the opposite. |
|
|
|