No…We Insist
“As a final humiliation, you must walk home naked, dragging behind you the stone of shame.” - Number One
I don’t follow Congress closely enough to accurately gauge the chances of the kiddie health care bill gaining enough votes in the House to override last week’s veto. I do hope it happens though. I don’t know if it will do any kids any good. If it does, that’s nice; if it doesn’t, well what’s one more government program? For entertainment purposes though, a veto override would be pure saccharine.
Bush the Younger and his cadre of fanatics do not handle adversity well. Their argumentative tactics, indeed their entire would view, is based on the conviction that they can do no wrong. When something does go wrong, as so many things have, they are forced into amusing verbal gymnastics and mind bending leaps of logic. It’s high comedy.
One of the few bad things that hasn’t yet happened to this Administration is a Congressional override of a veto. It’s virgin territory for the rightist press flaks, the professionally angry pundits, and the man himself. Having Congress pass a bill over a veto is a rare instance of undeniable humiliation for a President. It’s not something that can be ignored or swept under the rug.
If Congress trumps him, it dims the aura of power that Bush has so assiduously cultivated. This is, after all, a man accustomed to having his orders obeyed. For six years he and his ilk have treated Congress like a foolish younger sibling, too naïve and raw to be trusted, an inconvenient and occasionally embarrassing tagalong. Now these upstarts might pull rank on him.
Bush and his defenders will never admit that they’re wrong about something, even if they lose a veto vote. Instead they’ll have to express frustration that the President is being ignored, certainty that he will be vindicated in time, and absolute denial that anything that goes wrong is his fault. It’s a tall order, even for experienced bullshit craftsmen. What lunatic statements might they conjure to exonerate and justify themselves? I really hope we get to find out.
