Beware of praise from Bush

That means your program/job/office is going to be cut/found redundant/closed:

24 Hours After Touting Clean Coal In SOTU, White House Drops Ambitious Clean Coal Project

Just how many times has he done this? Read this wonderfully written Molly Ivins article, so to the point:

On the few occasions when Bush does directly encounter the down-and-out, he seems to empathize. But then, in what is becoming a recurring, almost nightmare-type scenario, the minute he visits some constructive program and praises it (AmeriCorps, the Boys and Girls Club, job training), he turns around and cuts the budget for it. It's the kiss of death if the president comes to praise your program. During the presidential debate in Boston in 2000, Bush said, "First and foremost, we've got to make sure we fully fund LIHEAP [the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program], which is a way to help low-income folks, particularly here in the East, pay their high fuel bills." He then sliced $300 million out of that sucker, even as people were dying of hypothermia, or, to put it bluntly, freezing to death.

She wrote this in 2003. Bless you, Molly.



crossposted at Rants from the Rookery