Just POlitics

The Budget

The President has sent to Congress his budget proposal and now the question is whether Congress has any discipline or whether they will continue to spend, spend and spend.

The President and Congress really have very little to do with the budget as most of the budget is taken up with entitlements like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

The Washington Post has a good interactive page on the web that offers interesting graphs regarding the budget.

The budget proposes an increase in military spending of 4.8 percent to $419.3 billion. The Defense budget decreases spending on major weapons programs, including Bush's missile defense system and the B-2 stealth bomber.

There is a new $1.5 billion high school performance program expanded Pell Grants for low-income college students and more support for community health clinics in the President’s budget.

Bush's hit list includes the government support program for farmers. The Administration wants to trim $5.7 billion over the next decade, which would represent cuts to farmers growing a wide range of crops from cotton and rice to corn, soybeans and wheat. The majority of cuts would come from capping the total amount farmers could receive. This would limit payments to large farmers.

The USDA budget would also cut food stamp payments by $1.1 billion with an overall cut to agriculture of $8.2 billion.

Other cuts include: Army Corps of Engineers; the Energy Department; several health programs under the Health and Human Services Department and federal subsidies for the Amtrak passenger railroad.

The Education Department proposes cuts to federal grant programs for local schools in such areas as vocational education, anti-drug efforts and Even Start, a $225 million literacy program.

The budget proposes a $137 billion cut over 10 years in mandatory programs. Reductions would come from Medicaid and in payments from the Veterans Affairs Department. The Administration proposed no savings for Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly.

Roemers out of DNC Chair race

Howard Dean stands alone for the nomination for the Democrat National Committee chairmanship. Tim Roemer, a former congressman from Indiana and a member of the Sept. 11 Commission, withdrew from the race and leaves Dean alone as the only announced candidate seeking the chairmanship. Only if someone from outside were to enter the race can Dean be stopped from being the leading spokesman for the Democrats.

Roemer warned his party as he bowed out.

"I got into this race five weeks ago to talk about the devastating loss we experienced in November," Roemer said. "It was not about 60,000 votes in Ohio. It was about losing 97 of the 100 fastest growing counties in the country. If that's a trend in business or politics you're in trouble."

2008 Democrats

Analysis by: Roger Hughes

An amazing thing has happened in this election cycle. That amazing aspect is that the 2008 race for the presidency has already begun.

It is agreed by most political pundits that the leading candidate for the Democrat nomination for President is Hillary Clinton. During the last two weeks Hillary offered up a position on abortion that caused disbelief among liberal feminists. That position was that abortion should be rare and unusual. She also sent mixed signals concerning parental notification. Hillary has long been known as a child rights advocate who continued to put more authority in the hands of children and away from parental authority. However, this past week she indicated the necessity of parental involvement in crucial events in their children’s lives.

On another front, Sen. Evan Bayh has attracted the attention of political pundits in his recent vote not to confirm Condoleezza Rice for Secretary of State. There was nothing in his history on the Intelligence Committee or other past activities that would warrant this unexpected action by Bayh to oppose Rice’s confirmation. The only thing that makes sense is that Bayh is positioning himself to be more acceptable to his party’s liberal majority.

The conventional wisdom is that there will be one candidate who will emerge as the one alternative to Hillary for the 2008 nomination. On that front, John Edwards’ venture to New Hampshire offered no clues as to whether he will seek to be the one alternative. In his appearance, he stated that he was not thinking about whether he would be a candidate in 2008 but rather concentrating on his wife’s fight against cancer.

America is brought back to the remembrance of Joe Lieberman waiting on Al Gore. Somehow, it is unlikely that John Edwards will wait on Sen. John Kerry for his cues in seeking the nomination.

Speaking of Al Gore, he has been talking to aides about running in 2008 and it seems that he is deadly serious. It seems that he believes that his over-the-top rants to MoveOn.org have him believing that he is the new voice of the Democrat Party. Look for Gore to become more visible.

Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack's advisers plan to meet this month to begin charting his course to a potential bid. A recent Des Moines Register Poll shows a majority of Iowans don’t think that he has the gravitas to run.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson has told party leaders he will run.

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware skipped last year's race, but recently told a well-wisher, "I think next time I will" run.

This all leaves Sen. John Kerry in the unenviable position of receiving no respect. Kerry of course is interested in trying again. He has already come to Iowa and met with his supporters. He has met with former Iowa staff in Washington, D.C. and continues to go on talk shows and offer his opinions. No, there is no doubt that he wants to run. Kerry must believe that he can somehow romance Teresa into saying yes one more time.

What remains amazing is the incredible speed with which the 2008 Presidential Campaign is unfolding. The pace over the decades has quickened from election to election. However, there was no let up between 2004 and 2008. It has been a seamless effort from one to the other. It will only get worse.

Kerry’s 180 debacle

Sen. John Kerry is the subject of a NewsMax article that covers the hole that he has been digging regarding his signing of military form 180, which would release all of his military records. Kerry’s military record has long been questioned and Kerry refused to sign the Form during the presidential campaign. However, now Kerry has seemingly qualified what it is that is going to be released:

"I'm going to sit down with them and make sure that they are clear and I am clear as to what is in the record and what isn't in the record and we'll put it out," he told "Meet the Press" host Tim Russert.

Kerry did not explain his reference to "what isn't in the record," though questions arose late in the campaign about why he received his honorable discharge six years after leaving the service.

Here is the reported exchange by Kerry on the Imus Show:

IMUS: You also told Tim that you would sign Form 180 releasing all of your military records. Have you done that?

KERRY: Yeah. We're gonna do that. Absolutely, I will. But listen, I also think . . .

IMUS: When are you going to do that?

KERRY: As soon as I get, as required by the military, precisely . . .

IMUS: Why don't you do it today?

KERRY; Because I have a stack of different material they sent me. Every time they send me something I want to know what they sent me. I'll get it done. . . .

It’s Mitt Romney’s fault!