Interesting that Bush is back in town for a big fundraiser on behalf of Hulshof’s flailing gubernatorial campaign. I say interesting because it was unclear that Bush would come at all due to the problems with the bailout bill. And now Hulshof voted against the bailout bill again. I guess Bush is just the forgiving type.

Jay Nixon’s statement on Bush’s visit:

“”The failed economic policies of President Bush, supported by Congressman Hulshof, have created what looks to be the worst economic crisis in more than a generation.  While Washington is focused on bailing out Wall Street, the people of Missouri continue to feel the real pain of this broken economy.  Families are struggling to pay the bills, jobs are leaving our state and everyone is worried about what the future will bring.

We have an election around the corner and everyone is campaigning aggressively, but by embracing President Bush in the midst of this

economic meltdown, Congressman Hulshof is reminding the people of

Missouri why it’s so important that we take our state in a new direction. After voting lockstep with President Bush to create this economic crisis, Congressman Hulshof is not the change we need here in Missouri. We simply can’t afford it.”

Today is John McCain’s birthday. That’s easy to remember, because on August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans as a Category 3 hurricane, bringing ruin and devastation to an impoverished population unable to evacuate partially because of decades of neglect and partially because of an unresponsive government.

And part of the unresponsivity is directly tied in with John McCain. On August 29, 2005, John McCain was celebrating his 69th birthday with George Bush in Arizona, and apparently the festivities couldn’t be called off so that the president of the United States could coordinate some sort of effective response. Now we have indelible images like this:

juxtaposed with this:

This is yet another shameful legacy Bush, along with his enablers like John McCain, has given us. When you don’t believe government can be useful or effective, you don’t spend time trying to figure out how it can actually be useful or effective.

Speaking of responses, our very own Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor Sam Page volunteered his time and effort providing free medical services for Katrina in Jennings, LA. That’s especially touching to me, because not only was I born in Louisiana, I still have lots of extended family in Jennings. Thank, Sam, for showing that you cared when those higher up in government did not.

Photos courtesy of Flickr users John McGaffe and weBranding.

Missouri’s own Rep. Roy Blunt (R-Springfield) called McCain’s views on the economy an extension of Bush’s.

BLITZER: So it would be in effect a third Bush term when it came to pro-growth tax policies?

   BLUNT: It would be. I think it would be. And I think that’s a good thing.

Watch the video (about 50 seconds in):

That’s the question Kay Barnes asked Sam Graves today.

From a press release:

WILL GRAVES STAND WITH BUSH OR WITH MISSOURIANS?

Last week, Kay Barnes asked Congressman Sam Graves if he agreed with President George W. Bush that the U. S. economy is not in a recession, or if he agreed with the 74% of Americans who at that time believed we are?

Now, according to a Wall Street Journal poll released today, now 80% of Americans believe we are in a recession. (see article)

Tomorrow, President Bush will be in Missouri to give a major speech on the economy. Will Congressman Sam Graves stand with President Bush tomorrow? Or will he instead stand with the people of Northwest Missouri and admit we are in a recession?

Technically speaking, we are in a period of really crappy, back to back quarters of 0.6% growth, not a recession. Still, I’d love to see Sam Graves explain that 0.6% growth is just dandy. I mean, when wages are stagnant, health care and energy costs are spiraling upward, and the value of your home is falling, the fact that the economy is growing meagerly is small comfort to the 80% of Americans who feel like we’re in a recession.

On the fifth anniversary of Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech, McCain Source has released an excellent compilation of McCain quotes. McCain likes to pretend he’s the principled straight talker, but he was one of the key sellers of the Iraq War, even as he later tried to portray himself as a truth talking critic.

And speaking of key sellers of the war, Bush himself will be in St. Louis tomorrow. You can welcome him yourself by attending this Pro-Vote organized protest. Bush is so toxic that he won’t even be headlining a fundraiser while in town, but he will be appearing with Republican Rep. Todd Akin (MO-2).

You may remember that Sam Graves loyally voted last fall against the SCHIP program that would have expanded health insurance coverage for 10 million children. His votes were absolutely critical to upholding Bush’s veto. It’s not like this is a new occurence, either; Graves voted with Bush 95% of the time in 2006.

It looks like he’s going to be rewarded for his “good work.” Not only has Dick Cheney already headlined a fundraiser for Graves, but now Bush is headed to Parkville for a $1000 a head dinner for Graves. This will make Graves the only Republican candidate thus far to get a fundraising visit from from the Terrible Two this cycle. Either they are very confident in Bush and Cheney’s popularity in NW Missouri, or they are desparate for cash.

Graves’ Democratic opponent, Kay Barnes, has a nice slogan on her website. A Flash animation reveals that Bush and Graves both arrived in Washington in 2001. “They came to Washington together. On November 4th, let’s send them home together.”

Barnes is trying to raise $15,000 online by February 1st, the same day as George Bush’s little visit. I just put in $50 for Edwards this morning, and now I’m going to add $25 for Barnes. You can donate here.

Well Bush went ahead and vetoed the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill the other day just like he said he would, and he did it in the name of fiscal discipline. Fiscal discipline, my foot, this is about the defunding of the federal government, the promotion of endless war and The Decider’s dubious logic.  The House came within two votes of overriding the veto. The vote was 277 to 141, with 51 Republicans joining 226 Democrats. Imagine that! So close and yet too far, thanks to the efforts of two men from MO.  Namely, Roy Blunt and Todd Akin.  They both voted against the override; the rest of the Missouri delegation supported the override.  Maybe Sam Graves got motivated or then again maybe not.  There might have been too much riding on this for even Graves to stomach.
Calling the bill  “irresponsible” and “excessive” Bush has sought to portray it as part of a congressional plan that constitutes “runaway spending.” The bill provided for a $5 billion increase and included money for education, medical research and other human services needs.  Bush would like to see this budget cut by $7 billion. That is $12 billion less than Congress wants. But this is not about fiscal discipline; it is about Bush’s values. 

If it were indeed about fiscal discipline, why then would Bush insist that Congress finance the $51 billion cost of Alternative Minimum Tax relief (AMT) by incurring higher deficits rather than allowing Congress to close tax loopholes used by multimillion dollar hedgefunders to cover the cost. The tax cuts he protects will reduce revenues by about $250 billion in 2008 and will include $49 billion in tax-cut benefits just for people making more than $1 million a year.
No, this veto is about priorities – whether multi-billion-dollar tax loopholes for a tiny number of very affluent individuals matter more than the needs of much of the public.

  If it were indeed about fiscal discipline, why would he push for a $32 billion or 7.5 percent increase for the DOD, and this is over and above his requests for funds to prosecute the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, or his “war on terra”. He has requested another $196 billion dollars for that purpose. Congress has allocated a hefty increase of $29 billion or 6.6 percent. The Administration’s main complaint about Defense funding is that the large increase Congress provides is not large enough.  There is never enough money for war for the War President. It’s gimme, gimme, gimme.

According to the Center for Policy and Budget Priorities the impact of cutting the Labor-HHH-Education down to The Bush Expectation would look something like this with respect to these specific programs.

K-12 education would be cut by $1.3 billion;
Child care, which would be cut by $33 million; Head Start, which would be cut by $254 million (the equivalent of slots for nearly 34,000 children); medical research, which would be cut by $1.4 billion; (the NIH) health centers, which would be cut by $225 million the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which would be cut by $630 million; and Home-Delivered Nutrition Services Program, which would be cut by $16 million.

In some cases, these cuts would come on top of reductions already imposed in 2007 and earlier years.

If Bush’s position prevails, Missouri will lose $21.1 million dollars in revenue as a result.  That $21 million could go a long way to counter the health care cuts disaster that Boy King Blunt has engineered.  Education, Head Start, energy assistance and Meals on Wheels, all programs in need, are all on the Bush Block for trimming. I guess it is no wonder Sam Graves voted to override the veto.  Sane people everywhere wonder why Roy Blunt and Todd Akin did not. 

An acquaintance of mine recently sent me a question to this effect:  What kind of country is this when Barry Bonds gets indicted for perjury but we can’t get impeachment proceedings started for George Bush, whose crimes are infinitely worse.

I realize that technically there’s some logical fallacy in that thinking–though I can’t recall the name of the fallacy–but no matter.  It’s still a good question.

Feel free to speculate on the answer.  Or just rant.