Given the Bush administration’s record of ignoring scientific findings that don’t match its ideological views, the public should be skeptical of President Bush’s directive last week ordering that political appointees run the regulatory policy offices at federal agencies. The White House said the executive order is "a classic good-government measure that will make federal agencies more open and accountable," and some business groups hoped that it would reduce the burden of federal regulation — which can be excessive at times. But Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, told the New York Times that "the executive order allows the political staff at the White House to dictate decisions on health and safety issues, even if the government’s own impartial experts disagree. This is a terrible way to govern, but great news for special interests."
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Defeated Kansas Rep. Jim Ryun says he’ll be back to take on Rep. Nancy Boyda, D-Topeka, in 2008 — but will GOP stalwarts still be there backing him? Ryun could be seen as damaged goods, especially if a stronger GOP challenger emerges; Republican state Treasurer Lynn Jenkins reportedly may run. Meanwhile, Ryun has blamed his loss mostly on the media and a national anti-GOP surge, not on himself. "I was on the wrong corner (at) the wrong time," he said.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
“We have become, I think, a nation that is less small-r republican and more royalist than it used to be,” Michael Barone wrote in a Wall Street Journal commentary about the political dynasties of the Bush and Clinton families. And he concluded with this chilling forecast: “George P. Bush will be eligible to run for president in 2012. Chelsea Clinton will be eligible to run for president in 2016. So will Jenna and Barbara Bush, who will turn 35 several days after the election. And Jeb Bush, who had a fine record in eight years as governor of Florida, will be younger in 2024 than John McCain will be in 2008 or Ronald Reagan was in 1984. Royalism may be here to stay.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Speaking of Jeb Bush for president. . . . The former Florida governor rallied the conservative faithful at a conference last weekend in Washington, D.C., hosted by the National Review Institute. He argued that the reason Republicans lost last election wasn’t because voters rejected conservatives. Rather, “it’s because we rejected the conservative philosophy in this country,” he said, noting how Republicans in Congress lost their fiscal way.
Bush has some solid credentials to attempt a presidential run. Except for his last name. As Ed Gillespie, a lobbyist and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in introducing Bush at the conference: “If he were former two-term governor Jeb Smith, he might be in Des Moines today.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback got a surprising workout on “Fox News Sunday,” with host Chris Wallace pressing the conservative hard on his stand on the Iraq troop surge, his claim to be the “only tried and true social conservative seeking the Republican Party’s nomination,” and his view of rival Mitt Romney’s Mormonism. He seemed to want to boil down his nuanced opposition to the troop surge and his vote to confirm Lt. Gen. David Petraeus as the new commander in Iraq to one idea: “We can and we will win in Iraq if we can just pull together.”
Brownback dodged the question about whether Romney is a true Christian but said his Mormonism shouldn’t be an issue: “I don’t think it should be. We don’t have a religious test in this country for public office.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
Watching ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” Sunday, we caught up with this Jay Leno joke from last week:
“Also running, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback. He announced he is running for president. He said he is running and this is his quote. He’s on the Yellow Brick Road to the White House. The Yellow Brick Road to the White House! Hey, Sam, watch out for the Wicked Witch of New York, OK? Tangle with her and you can kiss your house goodbye.”
Posted by Rhonda Holman
