Libertarian CATO Institute Should Be Praising Pres. Bush, Not Bashing

            Even though the libertarian CATO Institute is one of our favorite organizations and Bruce Bartlett is one of our favorite writers, we believe they got it wrong in blaming Pres. Bush for our problems.
            When you try to recall the frantic election in 2000, you may remember that Newt Gingrich declined to run and Pat Buchanan ran as the Reform Party candidate. Many others dropped out even before the Iowa Caucus: Lamar Alexander, Bob Dole, John Kasich, Dan Quayle and Steve Forbes.
            That left George W. Bush, John McCain and Alan Keyes as the only candidates and Keyes soon faded for many reasons.
            McCain (the favorite of the media) won big in New Hampshire (49% to Bush’s 30%) and again in the Michigan Open Primary. That put the Texas governor on the defensive. But Bush essentially won the election when he scored big in South Carolina and easily won at the Convention.
            No one can forget the final battle of Bush against Al Gore where the major television shows sent everyone to bed believing that Al Gore had won. Then we watched the recount in Florida. Even after it was clear that Bush had eked out a victory, Gore refused to concede.
            If nothing else, the Democrats succeeded in causing the Bush staff to spend its entire time on winning the election when he should have been choosing his staff. As a result, he had to take office with much of Clinton’s people still in place at the White House and other offices around Washington.              Many believe it is amazing that Bush is finally succeeding in putting much of his programs into effect. None of us like a lot of those programs --- and we don’t believe Bush does either --- but think of the alternative. Would you rather have Al Gore or John Kerry as our President?
            So, we agree with almost all of what CATO and Bruce Bartlett wrote, but we cannot agree that Pres. Bush should receive anything but plaudits for a fantastic job in a treacherous time that could have ruined our country --- and still could if we start bickering among ourselves.
            The CATO article was taken from a new book by Bruce Bartlett, “Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy.”

How Bush Bankrupted America

by Bruce Bartlett
            Bruce Bartlett is a nationally syndicated columnist and the author of Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy, just published by Doubleday, on which this essay is based.

            George W. Bush is widely considered one of the most conservative presidents in history. His invasion of Iraq, his huge tax cuts, and ...READ MORE...