Sullivan: Bush The Socialist

Andrew Sullivan tells readers of The Times that George W Bush is a socialist, and uses Peggy Noonan and Ann Coulter "the Michael Moore of the far right" to back him up:

Here’s Peggy Noonan, about as loyal a Republican as you’ll find, in a Wall Street Journal column last week: “George W Bush is a big spender. He has never vetoed a spending bill. When Congress serves up a big slab of fat, crackling pork, Mr Bush responds with one big question: Got any barbecue sauce?”

Here’s Ann Coulter, the Michael Moore of the far right, a pundit whose book on liberalism was titled Treason: “Bush has already fulfilled all his campaign promises to liberals and then some! He said he’d be a ‘compassionate conservative’, which liberals interpreted to mean that he would bend to their will, enact massive spending programmes, and be nice to liberals. When Bush won the election, that sealed the deal. It meant the Democrats won.

“Consequently, Bush has enacted massive new spending programmes, obstinately refused to deal with illegal immigration, opposed all conservative Republicans in their primary races, and invited Teddy Kennedy over for movie night. He’s even sent his own father to socialise with ageing porn star Bill Clinton.” Ouch.

His conclusion?

I believe in lower taxes. But I also believe in basic fiscal responsibility. If you do not cut spending to align with lower taxes, you are merely borrowing from the next generation. And if a Republican president has legitimised irresponsible spending, what chance is there that a Democrat will get tough?

This may, in fact, be Bush’s real domestic legacy. All a Democratic successor has to do is raise taxes to pay for his splurge, and we will have had the biggest expansion of government power, size and responsibility since the 1930s. What would Reagan say? What would Thatcher? But those glory days are long gone now — and it was a Republican president and Congress that finally buried them.

I thought (and think) that Sullivan's support for Kerry was a little disingenuous, and overlooked Kerry's evident weakness in the face of Islamic Fascism (although, in fairness to Kerry, many are less than impressed by the performance of Condi "Gaza is just the beginning [praise Allah!]" Rice since she became Secretary of State).

That said, there is arguably more than a whiff of the Aussie National Party about the Bush Administration - social conservatism, and barrels of pork for all our key constituencies!