The Bush/Rove Domestic Agenda

The Bush/Rove Domestic Agenda

By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Monday, November 29, 2004; 11:40 AM

As the White House starts making over its economic team and firms up a daring domestic agenda, initial signs from Capitol Hill are mixed.

Metamorphosing the Social Security system and tax policy will require President Bush to use a lot of that political capital he's been talking about since the election. And if you consider the ongoing battle over the proposed intelligence overhaul to be Bush's first post-election legislative test case, this may be a problem. Emboldened House Republicans are resisting Bush's avowed call to action.

But is this because Bush doesn't have as much political capital as he thought? Or is it because, in spite of his public pronouncements, he's just not bothering to use it on this issue?

The latter appears more likely if you consider that powerhouse senior adviser Karl Rove continues to strengthen his hand politically -- and that the intelligence reorg just doesn't seem to be on his radar, one way or the other. Instead, Rove is revving up to push a series of audacious plans to fundamentally reconfigure the way the government gets and spends money, in a way intended to strengthen the Republican Party's grip on power for decades to come.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19837-2004Nov29.html

White House as an SS-like organization so they can use it to build the republican party into a "permanent majority". Is that why the Pentagon is balking at the so called reform?

Start hammering the administration publicly about its regressive tax system.

I'm going to be after both my senators and my congressman about these policies NOW. We should be able to get public outcry against a national sales tax. People moan and complain about even the slightest local tax increase. Start putting this before the public now, before the Bush team even has a chance to refer to it.

By the way, I can't possibly imagine a hell bad enough for Karl Rove to go to. It just defies the imagination.

other than being the worshiped God of the red states.
The "collective President" is now the fundie-House Repubs. They will call the shots (they're already doing it).
Bush is about as useful to them as a used condom.

saying at every turn that Hillary wasn't elected and therefore had NO RIGHT to do anything but polish the silver and pick the menu for State dinners. They were rabid on the subject, as though the very fabric of our Democracy depended on keeping her out of the West Wing.
WHO ELECTED ROVE? DOES HE HAVE A MANDATE TO MAKE POLICY? Policy, which BTW, is only being implemented to keep the GOP in power for generations. That's technically not policy, it's political strategy, and he's using government programs under the control of Congress to accomplish his power grab.
I want to hear some pissed off Democrats reminding the press the Rove's job is strictly political. :mad:

and saying Rove is in charge.

"Instead, Rove is revving up to push a series of audacious plans to fundamentally reconfigure the way the government gets and spends money, in a way intended to strengthen the Republican Party's grip on power for decades to come"