Quote of the day
The far-right Washington Times had an interesting report today on the deteriorating relationship between the Bush White House and congressional Republicans. In particular, the Times noted, GOP lawmakers didn’t care for the president’s veto threat last week.
“I was offended,” Sen. Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, said of Mr. Bush’s threat last week to veto legislation aimed at stopping the transfer of port operations to a company owned by the United Arab Emirates. He said Mr. Bush “threatened me before I even knew the details of what was involved or whether I was going to vote for the bill or not.”
Mr. Lott said his immediate reaction was: “OK, big boy, I’ll just vote to override your veto.”
What’s interesting, beyond Lott’s colorful choice of words, is that Lott commented to the Times now. By that I mean, Bush made the threat and irritated his allies nine days ago, but even after showing a little flexibility in his line in the sand, the president’s tactic has generated lingering hard feelings, so much so that key senators are complaining to reporters about it over a week later.
For that matter, I know there’s some debate about whether Bush’s plummeting poll numbers matter, but Lott wouldn’t mockingly call the president “big boy,” in a conservative media outlet, if Bush enjoyed a 70% approval rating. The “political capital” that Bush is so confident about? It’s in short supply.
What’s just as amazing as the lingering anger by the likes of Lott, is the fact that the little monkey threatened to veto a legislation that hadn’t been even suggested, on TOP OF the fact that he didn’t know anything about the deal….having just learned about it as we did - that weekend from the papers. Just mind boggling!
Could it be that the arm twisting over the NSA investigation pushed folks in Congress just a little to far?
I’m glad that Trent Lott is talking tough, but I’ll be truly impressed when (and if) he puts his votes where his mouth is.
I think it’s funny that Republicans are at last starting to get irked with Bush’s contempt for the Law.
It’s about time they felt what the rest of us have been feeling for five years.
Trent Lott hates Bush and all the other facilitators of his demise as Majority Leader after his unfortunate “Wouldn’t it have been grand if Strom had been elected” comment. He enjoys sticking it to them at selected opportunities and, I think, has decided to stay on in the Senate just as long as the sticking is fun. Certainly the Katrina catastrophe hasn’t made his mood any sweeter. I don’t see that as a trend. I’m waiting for real mainstream conservative Repugs to make a peep against the Chimp in Chief. Except for carefully calibrated presidential hopefuls who occasionally talk about depersonalized principle, it hasn’t happened yet. And those who utter the odd, irritated blurt quickly back down and claim it was just an affectionate tease, like the beseiged Burns did just the other day with his head-of-granite “jest.”
“O.K. big boy, I’ll just vote to override your veto”.
Sounds like something Bugs Bunny would say to Elmer Fudd. I can’t get beyond thinking of Trent as a cartoon character, without much substance behind the snappy line. Let’s see how long Trent can stand up to Elmer , before the inevitable flip flop.
Kali absolutely nails it.
“O.K. big boy, I’ll just vote to override your veto”.
With apologies to kali, I think of that line being delivered by Mae West, with a sultry sexual innuendo.
May I broker a compromise between kali and Ed. Think of the line as being delivered by Bugs Bunny in drag with red lipstick on his lips. You can find a large assortment of pictures of Bugs dressed as a women here. Take your pick.
It’s actually a Southernism, delivered with contempt. It’s like saying OK, tough guy.
Ed and Rege- I agree now that you mention it.
the “o.k. big boy, I”ll just vote to override your veto” line does have a porno flavor to it, especially if Trent delivers it in a deep and husky voice.
I am still not confident that the GOP in Congress are going to actually do anything to resist this pResident’s encroachment into their powers. So far it seems all talk - no action.