A not-so-liberal emailer contacted me over night with a fair argument about today’s vote in the Senate about expanding [tag]stem-cell[\/tag] [tag]research[\/tag]. The email suggested a certain hypocrisy: if we know [tag]Bush[\/tag] is going to [tag]veto[\/tag] the bill, then there’s no point in going through the motions. I’ve criticized lawmakers repeatedly for wasting time on legislation they know isn’t going to become law, just to score some political points, so why is this different?<\/p>\n
It’s a fair point, but I think it’s ultimately mistaken. There are several of reasons for the [tag]Senate[\/tag] to ignore the [tag]president[\/tag]’s veto [tag]threat[\/tag].<\/p>\n
* Bush has caved before<\/i> — In 2000 and 2001, Bush repeatedly and publicly said he’d veto McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform legislation. The GOP base, which strongly opposed the measure, expected the president to keep his word. He didn’t. Facing political pressure and polls showing strong bi-partisan support for the bill, Bush reversed course and signed the bill into law. He did the same thing with Congress’ transportation bill and an anti-torture measure in 2005 (though, with the latter, he used a signing statement to get around the need for a veto). Just because Bush says he’s going to veto something doesn’t mean he will.<\/p>\n
* There may be a little wiggle room<\/i> — Even in denouncing the legislation yesterday, the White House showed that Bush could still sign this bill into law. The president has said he’d oppose any effort to “create new incentives<\/a> for the ongoing destruction of emerging human life” — except the legislation doesn’t create new incentives for anything; it merely uses embryos already created for in vitro fertilization. The White House has also said the president would reject any effort to create human life “for the purpose of destroying it<\/a>,” which is fine since the legislation centers on using embryos that otherwise would be discarded — and the bill does not permit embryos to be created specifically for the purpose of medical research.<\/p>\n And then there’s the third, and probably most important, reason, at least as far as the Bush gang goes… Bush has been consistently disappointing the religious right for years, taking advantage of the movement’s hopes and using the groups’ activists, while offering very little in return. Of all the times for the White House to take the Dobson crowd seriously, Bush picks potentially life-saving stem-cell research? Four months before an election? For the first veto of his presidency?<\/p>\n Everyone knows someone who has Parkinson’s, or a spinal cord injury, or cancer, heart disease, diabetes, or Alzheimer’s. And everyone wants a treatment that offers hope for millions. With this in mind, it’s hard to tolerate Bush standing in the laboratories’ doors asking scientists to do more with less.<\/p>\n In terms of politics, it’s a huge risk for the GOP. In terms of policy, it’s a huge risk for those waiting for effective treatments. The Senate vote is today and the White House decision is tomorrow. Stay tuned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A not-so-liberal emailer contacted me over night with a fair argument about today’s vote in the Senate about expanding [tag]stem-cell[\/tag] [tag]research[\/tag]. The email suggested a certain hypocrisy: if we know [tag]Bush[\/tag] is going to [tag]veto[\/tag] the bill, then there’s no point in going through the motions. I’ve criticized lawmakers repeatedly for wasting time on legislation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\n* A Bush veto is a gift to the Dems<\/i> — As DSCC Chairman Charles Schumer said<\/a>, “This will be one of the major issues of the campaign, and it is going to allow us to win voters we have not won before.” GOP officials think the veto will balance out in the end thanks to support from the far-right base. They’re mistaken. The legislation is going to pass both chambers with bi-partisan majorities and it enjoys broad support<\/a> nationwide. Dems have been waiting for a wedge issue like this for two years — and Bush is poised to help gift-wrap it for them. Facing this kind of pressure — and getting leaned on by Nancy Reagan — Bush may still see the electoral writing on the wall.<\/p>\n