Bush: Listening to the American People is a "Waste of Time"

In a recent WaPo article, Bush was complaining about Congress and threatening to implement new policy by executive order.

The White House plans to try implementing as much new policy as it can by administrative order while stepping up its confrontational rhetoric with Congress after concluding that President Bush cannot do much business with the Democratic leadership, administration officials said.

According to those officials, Bush and his advisers blame Democrats for the holdup of Judge Michael B. Mukasey's nomination to be attorney general, the failure to pass any of the 12 annual spending bills, and what they see as their refusal to involve the White House in any meaningful negotiations over the stalemated children's health-care legislation.

So let's take a look at this. Congress won't rubber stamp a nominee who wants to use torture, stealing from the poor to give to the rich, or denying children needed health care coverage.

Bush claims Congress hasn't done much.

"Congress is not getting its work done," Bush said. "We're near the end of the year, and there really isn't much to show for it."

Congress has increased the minimum wage, strengthened America's competitiveness by expanding educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics from elementary through graduate school, passed ethics and lobbying reform legislation, implemented the 9/11 Commission recommendations, passed the largest increase for veterans affairs funding in history, upgraded the military health care and passed a 3.5% pay raise for our troops, passed a pay-as-you-go resolution committing to no new deficit spending, and passed legislation expanding stem cell research (which the president vetoed).

Yeah, what a bunch of slackers!

House Democratic leaders fired back at Bush with strong rhetoric of their own. "The president wants the same complacent, complicit Congress that was a co-conspirator in a coverup of what was going on in this country," said House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).

What Democrats have NOT been able to do, despite strong public support, is end the war-for-profit in Iraq and bring the troops home. (Bush vetoed an Iraq war-spending bill that included a date for withdrawing American troops.)

In a post on Think Progress, Ali Frick sums up the situation well.

Bush is the one who's "wasted valuable time." He continues to bury his head in the sand and back a failed policy in Iraq.

President Bush met exclusively with Republican congressional leaders to discuss the SCHIP bill. Afterward, he held a press conference slamming the Democratic leadership for "not getting its work done" in Congress, stating that the Senate had "wasted valuable time" trying to end the war in Iraq:

BUSH: Congress is not getting its work done. Near -- we're near the end of the year and there really isn't much to show for it.

The House of Representatives has wasted valuable time on a constant stream of investigations and the Senate has wasted valuable time on an endless series of failed votes to pull our troops out of Iraq. And yet there's important work to be done on behalf of the American people.

Yeah, Bush ... listening to the American people certainly is a "waste of time.

According to Bush, the Senate has wasted time listening to the wishes of the American public. Sixty-eight percent of Americans want U.S. forces in Iraq reduced or withdrawn entirely, according to a September CBS poll. An October Washington Post/ABC poll also found that a majority of Americans "do not believe Congress has gone far enough in opposing the war."

Congressional Democrats have faced stiff conservative opposition in their efforts to end the war. In May, Congress approved a bill stipulating troop withdrawals from Iraq -- which Bush promptly vetoed. Two months later, Democrats pushed the issue in all-night Senate session, but Republicans again blocked the legislation.

The only person who has "wasted valuable time" is Bush, who continues to bury his head in the sand and back a failed policy in Iraq. As Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said in April, Congress's actions have been "helpful in demonstrating to the Iraqis that American patience is limited."

Repeating what my friend Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors would say ... Impeach the mutha already!