Those who saw signs of an endorsement of John McCain in President Bush's speech today to the Conservative Political Action Conference may have been looking at the wrong part of the speech.
While it's a certainty that Bush will work for McCain once he officially secures his party's presidential nomination, today's speech contained several implicit criticisms of the Arizona senator.
The president pointedly said his opponents on tax cuts and his embryonic stem cell funding policy — a la McCain — have been proved wrong by subsequent events.
On tax cuts, he said:
"Our critics wanted a different approach. They believed that the best way to keep the economy — to help the economy was to keep taxes in Washington and expand the size and scope of the federal government. ... Despite these dire predictions, the tax cuts we passed contributed to a record 52 months of job creation. They helped produce strong economic growth — and the increased revenues from that growth have put us on track to a balance our budget by 2012. Here is the bottom line: tax relief works."
And on stem cell research, he said his critics "thought my defense of life was short-sighted and harmful. When I vetoed two bills that sought to use tax dollars to destroy human embryos, some academics described my position as ridiculous and scientifically naive. One publication predicted our plan would not hold up over the long haul."
Bush went on to say that new research that shows potential for using adult skin cells for the same kind of research has proved him right.
Bush's speech repeatedly was interrupted by applause, and it was enthusiastic — the element that appeared to be missing from conservatives' reaction to McCain on Thursday.
Does that mean a rethinking of Bush's record has already begun? Possibly.
As one person in the audience for Bush's speech today put it: "People who may have been dissatisfied on certain issues now realize he's a lot better than the people likely to replace him."
— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (11)
This country is full of retards.
Posted by steve | February 8, 2008 4:00 PM
Show of hands: Who here among us believes that President Bush vetoed two stem-cell research bills because he knew, or had a feeling that the "potential to use adult skin cells for the same kind of research" existed?
Posted by James | February 8, 2008 4:07 PM
I read today that Putin wants tax cuts now, to increase business growth, and to reduce the dependence on foreign oil.
Maybe our "left-wing lite" candidates will begin to see the light soon, too.
Posted by George | February 8, 2008 4:11 PM
Really??
Bush has spent the country into bankruptcy, with staggering debts for future generations to pay. He may claim a fight for smaller government, but he NEVER stopped any spending approved by congress; his first ever veto was against stem cell research. Now, with a Democratic congress, he has got religion and has vetoed several bills as "too expensive" and loaded with pork; he couldn't see the pork when the Repubs were spending it.
the majority of our citizens want stem cell research; two states, NJ andCA, have funded the research in direct opposition to his "ridiculous and scientifically naive position". Adult stem cells are not totally the same as embryonic stem cells. Since nature destroys 50% of naturally occuring embryos, it is uniquely stupid to consider them sacred and blocked from research.
Enough said; Bush may look better than the supposed Republican replacement, but history will treat him harshly.
R C G
Posted by R C Gray | February 8, 2008 4:12 PM
blog.myspace.com/ronpaul2008- I think the conservatives know who the real conservative is in this race- and it certainly isn't media packaged McCain.
Posted by David | February 8, 2008 4:15 PM
Not all of us believe that McCain is the "great American hero"; but most will agree that he manages to speak in a decidedly non-politician (not non-political) manner. Sometimes this translates into appearing like a genuine, independent-minded political maverick; other times he just looks like a buffoon - "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" comes to mind all too often.
Yet, there is about him which resonates with voters who are tired of the starched, messaged and massaged suits which seem cut from the same country-club, pricey-lunch GOP lobbyist crowd. He comes across as authentic, even when his demeanor is like someone's old uncle who had to put on a suit for a niece's wedding, but otherwise spends his time fixing his boat engine in the backyard. It's that look, feel, taste and smell which has made him far less offensive to the general populace, even when his positions are as reactionary as Trent Lott or the late Strom Thurmond, or as warlike as Gammal Abdul Nasser.
Yet, he is now being called upon to pronounce his fealty to the supposed ghost of Reagan, and proclaim allegiance to the orthodoxy of the "conservative" or radical-right agenda on issues from guns to RU-486, from Iran to Alito, and from Roe v. Wade to the beauty and righteousness of waterboarding.
All would be understandable if McCain were standing at the gates of heaven and confessing his sins in anticipation of some post-death redemption. He could then renounce the Satans of bipartisanship and independence of thought and be accepted to the Pantheons of the righteously anointed. But he is doing this at a time when he is being sent out to battle in a fight for the minds and souls of sinners and non-believers. Do these lunatics of the right expect him to carry on this war of thought while standing naked on the battlefield, stripped forever of the one quality - independence - that has kept him in the fight.
Harry and Nancy, Hillary and Barak, and the Lord Howard of Dean will be watching every gesture, memorizing every word, and dissecting every phrase that is delivered for CPAC. And then they'll put together the TV ads. The flip-flop on immigration; the inconsistent positions on stem-cells; the backsliding on the environment; tax cuts; waterboarding; etc., etc, ad nauseum.
They won't need talking points; they won't need slick campaign demographics; all they need is one debate, one Dukakis moment:
"Senator McCain, if your granddaughter were raped by a gang of escaped convicts and became pregnant, would you criminalize and incarcerate the medical professionals who terminated her pregnancy"?
And then he'll be just another Bob Dole. Truly, this is no country for old men.
Posted by charles hoffman | February 8, 2008 4:36 PM
Hey RC, nature disposes of 100% of born human beings. That fact does not make it "uniquely stupid" to respect and revere that life while it exists. Ditto for the embryos, for those of us who believe they are likewise human life.
Posted by ptm | February 8, 2008 5:24 PM
If Bush had vetoed some of the spending bills that the republican congress sent him the party might not be in the mess they are in. He was the leader but did not show it. He started out by having Kennedy to the White House to help his education plan. Hell we should have gotten rid of the Ed. Dept like Reagan wanted. Now look at what we are stuck with--McCain
Posted by Lloyd Beasley | February 8, 2008 5:34 PM
Steve Dinan is a fine reporter, very thorough and honest. I always look for his byline, also Amy Fagan, Cheryl Wetzstein, Bill Gertz, Jerry
Seper, James Morrison, Gus Constantine, and I miss Rowan Scarborough but catch him in the OP.
George Archibald
207 Maple Street
Post Office Box 212
Middleburg, Virginia 20118-0212
540-687-6089
571-332-5765
Posted by George Archibald | February 8, 2008 5:37 PM
The democrats in this race are damn near communists. The republicans in this race are rinos and damn near democrats
Posted by Fred | February 8, 2008 7:51 PM
Deride Mr. McCain all you want; he WILL be our next President, unless Americans really are that stupid and blind. Is anyone really longing for another 4 to 8 years of Billary with all the scandals and left-wing half-brained policy? Do they really want a socialist utopia which really means a country in the dumps like France, which the adored Mr. Obama will be glad to provide? I'll take Mr. Middle-of-the-Road McCain (lumps, bumps, and outbursts) any day over those two...and we all know that most Americans are right-of-center, just not very far right. I just hope they don't forget all that when they go to the polls...
Posted by Kirk | February 8, 2008 10:06 PM