When the Going Gets Stupid ...

Hullabaloo : "For Immediate Release

August 5, 2004
BUSH THREATENED TO VETO THE $87 BILLION BEFORE HE USED IT AS A POLITICAL CUDGEL

Kerry spokesman Phil Singer said: George Bush can't be straight about his own record, let alone anyone else's. The fact is that George Bush twice threatened to veto this bill over the fact that it provided funding to veterans and reservists. As a combat veteran, John Kerry knows that you don't give a President a blank check to continue a failed policy, especially when our security and the lives of our men and women in uniform are at stake.

BUSH THREATENED TO VETO $87 BILLION SUPPLEMENTAL OVER ADDITIONAL FUNDING FOR RESERVISTS AND VETERANS. As part of the $87 billion emergency supplemental appropriations for security and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2003, the Senate passed an amendment that provided an additional $1.3 billion for improved medical benefits for reservists and veterans. OMB Director Josh Bolten wrote to the Congressional Appropriations' Committees, stating, 'The Administration strongly opposes these provisions, including Senate provisions that would allocate an additional $1.3 billion for VA medical care and the provision that would expand benefits under the TRICARE Program. ...If this provision is not removed, the President's senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.' [Foxnews.com, 10/21/03, http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,100777,00.html; BVA legislative bulletin, http://www.bva.org/aut03bulletin/l_update.html; CQ, 10/20/03]


BUSH THREATENED TO VETO $87 BILLION PACKAGE ON ISSUE OF ALLOCATING GRANTS OR LOANS TO IRAQIS. 'Key senators reversed course yesterday and voted to make an $18.4 billion reconstruction package for Iraq entirely in the form of grants rather than loans, as House-Senate negotiators worked their way through President Bush's $87 billion request for military and rebuilding operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The 16 to 13 vote represented a significant victory for Bush, who had threatened to veto the bill if Congress insisted on making Iraq repay some of the money.' [Wash Post, 10/30/03]

And then CNN chimes in: White House threatens veto of Iraq aid bill over loans - Oct. 22, 2003

So does Forbes: Bush threatens to veto Iraq bill over loans - 10.21.03

Save it for the debates, Big John. Make sure the nation is watching when you drop this poison pill on Bobo. He might even look something like he did in the Florida classroom, a retched little dunce without a clue in the world.

Friends at Our Lady of the Worthless Miracle Rehab Center explain that prolonged use of Wild Turkey or Absinthe will give you that devious, distant glare. Nice stuff, Digby. And thanks for the vine, Atrios. Keep the faith.