“I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.” President George Bush on CNN, November 16, 2008.
So desperate for a government takeover of the U.S. auto industry, some on the left are now stooping to borrowing rhetoric from Vice President Dick Cheney to make their case for the bailout of Detroit’s Big Three. Commenting on Cheney’s warning that “If we don’t do this, [the GOP] will be known as the party of Herbert Hoover,” The Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen writes: The Neo-Hooverite caucus apparently seems willing to wear the label with pride. Well let’s just see who else, besides conservatives, has called for the auto companies …
With all the excitement surrounding Obama’s historic victory last week, relatively little attention has been given to the outgoing President’s legacy. In fact, most of Europe just seems relieved that the age of ‘Bush’s cowboy unilateralism’ is finally over. It is often difficult to judge a President before the fog of war clears and it is much too early to assess what President Bush has left the world. But Britain and Europe should bear a couple of things in mind, as they rush to judgment. Throughout his epic career, Winston …
The Politico is famous for its fact free political analysis. Glenn Thrush continues this tradition today in an article purporting to identify the biggest losers from Tuesday’s election. Thrush writes: John McCain invoked the Great Communicator as his idol — and many in the GOP believe a return to Reagan-era conservative populism provides a path back to relevancy. (His visage still adorns the National Republican Congressional Committee’s home page.) But Democrats claim the economic crisis has called into question central tenets of The Gipper’s fiscal philosophy, including wide-ranging tax cuts, …
This past weekend President Bush announced plans to host an “emergency” summit of world leaders to “overhaul the regulatory framework for global finance.” Bush offered few details on what actual policy fixes would be addressed, but British Prime Minister Gordon Brown penned an op-ed in for The Washington Post calling for unprecedented levels of “global governance,” including global standards for accounting and regulation and a “renewal of our international institutions to make them effective early-warning systems for the world economy.” Specifically, Brown wants to enhance the power and authority of …
Under the header Big Government Ahead, David Brooks identifies four sources of massive new spending soon to be coming out of Washington and warns: “What we’re going to see, in short, is the Gingrich revolution in reverse and on steroids. There will be a big increase in spending and deficits. In normal times, moderates could have restrained the zeal on the left. In an economic crisis, not a chance. The over-reach is coming.” As bad as the new levels of spending in Washington will be, what Brooks forgets to mention …
Earlier this year, despite Sarah Palin’s best efforts, the Bush Administration chose to cave into the environmental left and designate the polar bear as ‘threatened’ pursuant to the Endangered Species Act. Bush made the decision despite the fact that an independent committee of scientists told the Canadian government that the polar bears are not, in fact, threatened or endangered. Bush tried to mollify pro-growth critics by claiming he could list the polar bears as threatened without then naming a critical habit as required by law. It is because of wishful …
Is the Bush Administration supporting yet another bailout? After seven delays and months of negotiations between Massachusetts and federal officials over the renewal of the state’s Medicaid demonstration waiver which supports its landmark health reform, State House News Service has just reported that a deal has been struck. While the details of the waiver renewal are so far being withheld by both state and federal officials, there was a press conference today at 2pm where Gov. Patrick announced the deal. As my colleague Ed Haislmaier and I wrote in our …
Speaking to a group of welders in Euclid, Ohio, yesterday, President Bush called for an expansion of commercial nuclear power to alleviate America’s dependence on foreign oil. In his speech at Lincoln Electric Co., self-described as the welding capital of the world, Bush focused largely on energy prices and offered a number of solutions, including nuclear: The United States of America needs to understand that if we truly are concerned about the environment and want to make sure we continue to grow our economy, we’ve got to expand nuclear power. …
Last week The Hoover Institution’s Peter Robinson posted a chart at The Corner that he said could “only be termed, alas, Republican overspending—that is, the enormous increase in domestic spending during this administration, most of which, of course, took place while the GOP held not only the White House but both chambers of Congress.” Rising to defend President Bush’s record on spending, The Atlantic’s Ross Douthat responded: “[W]hen Bush took office, discretionary domestic spending accounted for 3.1 percent of GDP, and in 2007 it accounted for … 3.3 percent of …
