[On Thursday, when the House was scheduled to vote, Regan called Minority leader Robert Michel of Illinois and promised to support the $ 211 million jobs program for the elderly in a future bill. Administration lobbyists also passed the word that the President would not fight for his extra $ 2 billion in defense funds in a subsequent measure. With those pledges, however, Reagan undercut his argument for vetoing the measure in the first place.] Why this charade? ... Why go through this process? |
As a result of the kind of partisan trench warfare that's going on in Washington, the special interests on both sides basically drive the agendas based on those issues that increase their membership, and that's what's going on here. |
Both sides of the spectrum are really going to use the opportunity provided by Katrina to really begin to test some ideas that they otherwise couldn't test. |
by the end of the year. |
disciples of balanced budgets. ... And at some point, they'll be proven right. |
For Democrats, it's a little more questionable, but it would be viewed as the president trying to find diversions from the other problems he's facing. It's a dangerous tactic to use. |
He gets a pass, they don't. And that's obviously created a lot of nervousness on Capitol Hill. |
He obviously has to go through Congress to get things done. But he can't be seen as tied to its failings. He has to use the bully pulpit effectively and confront Congress effectively. |
He was always graceful in the way he handled his guests, ... He always talked about substance. He never made snide remarks. |
I am personally not aware of any improper relationship, sexual or otherwise, by this president with any of the White House interns or anyone else for that matter, |
I don't think there is any question but that the indictment of Tom Delay gives another boost to the Democrats in terms of their argument that the GOP leadership doesn't pay attention to ethics requirements. |
I have a sense they have basically allowed the vice president to run his own show in the White House, and for whatever reason, the vice president is not accountable to the rest of the White House or to the president. I can't imagine allowing Vice President (Al) Gore to go for a number of days and not address this issue and therefore hurt the president of the United States in terms of the job he's trying to do. The first priority in the White House is not the vice president. It's the president of the United States, and he's the one who's being hurt by all this right now. |
I think the bottom line is, this is one of the few BRAC rounds in history where California comes out doing very well. |
I think the most important thing for this president to do is to focus on trying to get some things done -- limited things done -- over these next 100 days, ... If he can get education reform accomplished, if he could do something on campaign reform in a bipartisan way, then that could send a very important signal to the American people that he's going to try to get things done. |
I think the real test is whether or not he can regain control of the political process in Sacramento, ... If he looks like he's just another partisan hack, then I think he's in trouble. |