Bush: Congress is the Enemy

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP)--There's hardly a topic these days on which President Bush isn't asking the Democratic-controlled Congress to avoid the sort of "reflexive partisan response" which has characterized his own party for the last twelve years.

That's certainly the case with Iraq, but it also applies to the domestic priorities of health and energy about which he babbled incoherently in his State of the Union address.

"I have asked Congress to take several vital steps to address these issues," Bush said Saturday in his pointless weekly radio address. "Some members gave a reflexive partisan response, like we're in some kind of adversarial relationship, what I like to call 'adversaries.'"

He praised the few Democrats who had "welcomed this opportunity to reach across the aisle."

"Joe Lieberman is a good start," he said.

The president's opening strategy toward Capitol Hill's Democratic majority, as displayed most prominently in his delusional State of the Union speech Tuesday night, is to present himself as a leader taking the initiative to work across party lines, when in reality he's a lame-duck known felon who can't even control his own upper lip. The president's policy of "hope" requires that Democrats will feel pressured to join him or face public disapproval if they don't, even though it was public disapproval of the Bush Crime Family's corruption and incompetence which brought Democrats into the majority.

But bipartisanship aside, Bush has also been showing a willingness to talk tough even though inside, he's a craven little bitch with the soul of a drunken ward-heeler.

On a collision course with Congress over Iraq, Bush had strong words Friday for the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are lining up to support resolutions opposing his decision to dump the war in Senator McCain's lap by calling his bluff and sending 21,500 additional troops to Iraq. Asked how he could go ahead with his plan without congressional support, he said bluntly, "I'm the decision-maker. Congress can blow me."

On Thursday, Bush visited Lee's Summit, Mo., to give a boost to an idiotic proposal that would overhaul the way the tax code treats health insurance by penalizing those who can currently afford it. Democrats have greeted the idea with sneers of derision, pointing out it does nothing to help the majority of the uninsured and unnecessarily undermines a health insurance system built around the workplace, where more than half of Americans get their coverage.

"They're just dismissing things because of pure politics," Bush said. "It's almost like they're Republicans."

On energy, ramping up production of alternative fuels such as cellulosic ethanol is one way Bush says the nation can get to the goal of cutting consumption of gasoline by up to 20 percent over 10 years, although skyrocketing prices brought on by peak oil will probably do it for us.

The other key element of Bush's energy plan is changing the way fuel-economy standards are set for passenger cars. The president wants Congress to give his cabal the power to set the standards for cars, using a system it says cut emissions while preserving choices for big Republican donors who can't live without their SUVs. Bush opposes any legislation simply setting a number for higher fuel-economy standards, an approach Democrats like better because it makes sense.

The moronic energy ideas were not dismissed as quickly and completely as the moronic health care ones. Still, Bush has asked for the dictatorial fuel-economy authority before, without success.

"We've set important goals, and now Republicans and Democrats must work together to make them a reality," Bush said on the radio, where no one could give him that look.