Bush Gets Savage with the Veto Pen
By Kevin Roeten (06/22/07)
His approval ratings have dropped to 30%. Many say Bush is 'cow-towing' to Democrat demands, that he's being too amiable, and that he's willing to make too many compromises with the 'other' party. But enter his veto power that politicians have never seen before with Bush.
On 6/20/07 he vetoed(again) legislation [S-5]. This mandates federal funding of the type of stem cell research that requires the killing of human embryos. “American taxpayers would for the first time in our history be compelled to support the deliberate destruction of human embryos,” Bush said. “For that reason I will veto the bill.”
The amazing part of that story, is that the majority of senators voted for the funding even though embryonic stem cell research has never cured a single patient, tumors typically appear with that type of stem cell, and 73 known successes have resulted from adult stem cells—not embryonic. And those senators don’t even know when the soul inhabits the body, when life really starts, and don’t seem worried about increased governmental spending.
Of course, Bush didn’t have to veto anything involving the Partial Birth Abortion Ban. He had already signed it into law, and had to keep the pressure on the Supreme Court, until they eventually had the necessary votes. And, he’s already promised to veto the homosexual hate crime bill[HR 1592] if passed.
As columnist Robert Novak revealed, Bush plans to veto the Homeland Security appropriations bill(raising spending 14% over the previous year), followed by vetoes of 8 more money bills sent to him. Of the 12 appropriations bills for 2008, only 3 will be signed by the president. It seems this unpopular president is also taking responsibility for the fiscal needs of the country. Bush has already vetoed 2 bills as of late, one of which was the Iraqi war money bill. Attached to that bill was a mandatory retreat date from Iraq, pushed by the Democrats.
Per Novak, Bush plans vetoes on the Energy-Water bill, the Interior-Environment bill, and vetoes on bills for Labor, HHS, Transportation, HUD, Commerce, Justice and Science, Agriculture and Rural Development, State and Foreign Operations, and Defense. Per the fiscal vetoes alone, Novak says that they would slice more than $20 billion in Democrat spending.
One has to think about the situation Bush is now in. More than 70% of America disagrees with some aspect of his presidency. He can’t be running again, and his lame duck status seems obvious. So what does he have to prove?
Several things can be accepted as fact: 1) Bush has access to more information than anyone in the world. Even past compromises by American intelligence did not nullify all, or even most, of the information coming from those sources. 2) Bush has been the recipient of some information that cannot be released to the public--either because of compromise of sources, or just outright danger to the source’s life, 3) Because of Bush’s status as a lame duck politician, he will likely do what is right for America rather than something that will benefit his next election, 4) Even considering Reagan, never have we had such a fully pro-life president with as many pro-life issues that now exist.
You need to have access to ALL information sources to make a competent decision on most issues. Bush has had that access. It is a given that Bush also has access to information that we will never have, and has used it to make correct decisions. Slavery has been one issue that proves that having the majority of the citizens behind you is not necessarily the correct one. Maybe we should think about this before coming to our own conclusions. And at least, we know that Bush had essentially the right ‘starting point’ on every issue—that is, what’s morally right, and what’s morally wrong.
Let all those who believe they have access to more information than the current administration, cast the first stone.
Kevin Roeten
http://kevinroeten.us/
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