On today’s New York Times op-ed pages, Bill Safire applauds the bipartisan shackling of the proposed TIA and gives cover to libertarian-inclined right-wingers waiting for a signal on Patriot II: the wrath of Ascroft. Over on the opposite side of the page Bob Herbert notes the stealthy way the Bushies are defunding “compassionate” priorities while presiding over a larger budget build-up than we ever saw under Clinton:
The day after Mr. Bush’s upbeat speech to the religious broadcasters, The Times’s Robert Pear revealed that the administration was proposing a change in federal law that would result in rent increases for thousands of poor people receiving housing aid.
The administration has proposed a restructuring of Medicare that would curtail, rather than enhance, delivery of health services to the elderly.
In the $2.2 trillion budget that Mr. Bush sent to Congress last week was an unconscionable proposal that would eliminate after-school programs for 500,000 children. In the arena of bad ideas, that one’s a champion.