Posted on 05/24/2003 9:45:34 PM PDT by Pokey78
The picture said it all: Susan Collins, Republican senator from Maine, at the state dinner last week. Not only at the dinner but placed in the best seat in the house--right next to George W. Bush. "It was the president's idea," coos a top White House adviser. "He really likes Susan." Absent (that is, not invited) was the senior Republican senator from Maine, Olympia Snowe. Even by Washington standards, it was a pretty good snub.
"The president wanted to say thanks" to Collins, says an aide, because she wound up supporting his $350 billion tax cut after holding back at the outset. The state's other moderate, Snowe, just couldn't get with the administration's program. "I came up against my principles and came back time and time again to the things I most believe in," Snowe told me last week. "I feel badly I disagree with the president, but you have to weigh what you can live with at the end of the day."
It's not that Collins caved. She didn't. In fact, she was part of a group that pushed the administration to add $20 billion in state aid to the tax bill. But for Snowe, the issue was different: It was about swallowing the huge cost and gimmickry of the tax cuts that will allegedly expire in three to five years--but really won't. Snowe calls the package a "trillion-dollar tax cut masquerading at $350 billion." In her conversation with me, she pointed out that she has spent her entire career in politics "talking about deficits and balanced budgets." Most Americans also seem just as skittish about tax cuts: According to last week's Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, only 29 percent of voters believe that tax cuts are the best way to increase economic growth. A majority also say that, instead of tax cuts, they would prefer to see Washington provide money to help pay for health coverage.
French fried. It isn't easy being out there alone--or almost alone--against this White House when the stakes are so high and margins so narrow. Snowe found herself lobbied by the head of one of Maine's major employers, the International Paper Co., to get her to change her mind. And Snowe was no Jim Jeffords, the man the White House forgot. The White House paid plenty of attention to her: She had a 90-minute session with the president, the vice president, the majority leader, and the House speaker. She spoke regularly with White House Chief of Staff Andy Card. She informed them of her intention to sign a letter with other centrists asking for a smaller tax cut. They urged her not to do it, but she figured she was doing them a favor by reaching across the aisle. In any case, there were no surprises, at least not on her part.
Then came the over-the-top ads run in Maine last month and paid for by the conservative "Club for Growth." They called Snowe a "so-called Republican" and linked her with "so-called allies" who opposed the war in Iraq--namely, the French. There was Snowe, with the French tricolor. Snowe, with French President Jacques Chirac. Didn't any of these folks know that Maine has the second-highest concentration of Franco-Americans in the nation? Snowe's support back home skyrocketed. And the White House went nuts, with White House political adviser Karl Rove calling the sponsor to get the ads off the air. "They're stupid and counterproductive," said Rove. "You're insulting people whose votes we're trying to get." Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch also called the White House. "She [Snowe] thinks you ran the ads," he told a White House aide, who was incredulous. Why, he asked, would they do something that stupid? Good point.
The ads "turned the tide" for Snowe at home, she says. Not only did the public react with disdain; she reacted the same way. "They heap disdain and distortion on your reputation when you have an honest policy difference," she says. "It's a whole new low." Sleazy and dumb. Quite a combination.
In the end, the White House couldn't get Snowe's vote. Still, they're careful not to bad-mouth her--aside from gingerly pointing out that it sometimes felt as if she was moving the goalposts on them. And Snowe is similarly cautious not to say anything bad about the president's men. "I always feel sad when I disagree with the president of the United States," she says. "I just came up against my principles."
The president's next big fight in Congress will be over Medicare. "Snowe is a great ally of ours on Medicare reform," gushes a White House aide. "We look forward to working with her." Will it happen? Keep an eye on the invitation list to the next White House state dinner.
High taxes . . . spending . . . spending . . . spending . . . high taxes . . . free abortions . . .
This makes no sense--if you have a tax cut, you have more money to help pay for health coverage (or whatever else you need to pay for).
" Most Americans also seem just as skittish about tax cuts: According to last week's Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, only 29 percent of voters believe that tax cuts are the best way to increase economic growth. A majority also say that, instead of tax cuts, they would prefer to see Washington provide money to help pay for health coverage."
Ah yes, Gloria. That famous poll, comissioned by Al Hunt. If you, Gloria, can find the 71% of the voters who do NOT want a tax cut, and believe that it won't increase economic growth.....I'll find Jason Blair a job!
My son will get a check for $1200 this summer. That's not chump change for a young family, and they are going to use it as part of the downpayment on a house.
See you tomorrow!
Sheesh.
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