get donkey!

Our Populist President

Rove also took issue with criticism that the president has sided with wealthy interests and rolled back environmental reforms.

“This president is a populist,” he said. “Given a choice between Wall Street and Main Street, he will chose Main Street any time.” [emph. mine]

Let’s see how well Mr. Populist President’s GOP controlled Senate chose Main Street yesterday, shall we:

By 50-46, the GOP-controlled chamber killed an effort by Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., to delay Environmental Protection Agency regulations that will let factories, refineries and processing plants modernize without upgrading their air pollution systems.

The vote was a victory for President Bush in the first major environmental showdown of the new Congress and briefly shined the spotlight on Edwards, a 2004 presidential hopeful. It was hailed by industry groups as a boon to business and criticized by environmentalists who said it would result in dirtier air.

[snip]

Later, the Senate by 56-39 turned aside an amendment by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., that would have roughly doubled the $3.1 billion the overall measure has for farmers. Instead, senators voted 59-35 for an alternative by Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., focusing more of the money already in the bill for growers and ranchers hurt by natural disasters.

[snip]

Democrats said they had scored enough political points by spending days trying — mostly unsuccessfully — to add funds for schools, farmers, domestic security and other programs.

[snip]

Democrats contrasted the GOP’s stance against spending with Bush’s proposed $674 billion, 10-year economic package, all but $4 billion of which is for tax cuts.

“At the very time the administration says we can’t afford $6 billion in disaster assistance, they come forth with a $670 billion tax cut, a tax cut that helps those at the very top with very, very little support for anyone else,” Daschle said.

In another vote, the Senate by a 49-45 vote killed an effort by Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., to provide extra benefits to 1 million jobless people who have used up their long-term unemployment benefits. By 48-46, it also rejected $600 million in famine aid for Africa introduced by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla.

So if what Rove claims about President Bush is true, I guess we can expect the President to reverse his tax cut plan and fund some of the programs the GOP Sentate is gutting?

And what about the President’s Populist Stance on the Main Streets of US cities? Lets see what the nation’s mayors have to say:

Mayors rip Bush, offer alternative stimulus package

Saying the big-spending federal government is short-changing cities, the nation’s mayors on Wednesday criticized President Bush’s stimulus plan and called for targeted investment to create jobs.

A new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that metropolitan areas lost 646,000 jobs last year, including 500 in Houston.

To bring back jobs and keep cities thriving, an alternative stimulus plan endorsed by the mayors calls for more federal funding for transportation, housing, redevelopment and job training initiatives.

“Our new report predicts weak job growth, and that is simply not acceptable,” said Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, president of the mayors’ conference.

Adding to financial pressure on cities and states, Menino said, are the added costs of homeland security passed down from the federal government to local entities.

In the meantime, job losses from a lackluster economy are also putting the pinch on cities, according to the mayors’ report.

In all, two-thirds of the nation’s 319 metropolitan areas lost jobs in 2002. Six cities — New York, Chicago, Atlanta, San Jose, Boston and Seattle — lost more than 40,000 jobs each.

[snip]

Richard L. Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, said that when cities are forced to cut costs, workers such as police and firefighters often lose their jobs.

“I think we can all agree that our economy is no longer fundamentally sound,” Trumka said. “And there is little hope the Bush administration will do anything to create jobs.”

and of course there are the people themselves whose voice is heard through polls:

…a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that a majority of Americans for the first time in his presidency disapprove of Bush’s handling of the economy.

Fewer than half of those polled support Bush’s tax cut plan, unveiled with much fanfare earlier this month but facing at least some battle for passage in Congress.

The President has a response for this of course. You can almost feel the spirit of old TR coursing through President Bush’s Populist veins:

Bush, who was in Missouri promoting his economic stimulus and tax cut plans, scoffed at criticism that his package overlooks average workers.

“Oh sure, you hear the typical class-warfare rhetoric, trying to pit one group of people against another,” Bush said.

Rove deserves much of the criticism he gets from us denziens of the Left, but sometimes you just have to sit back and admire Rove for having such a set of big brass ones. The man has no shame.

January 23rd, 2003 Posted by Rob | Politics | 2 comments