George W. Bush, the president who lied America into a war that will end up costing trillions of dollars, scolded the Democratic-controlled Congress in his final State of the Union address on Monday for undermining “the people’s trust in their government” with too many pet projects. Now that’s chutzpah, coming from a man who never met a spending bill he didn’t like unless it had to do with stem cells and sick children.

Bush devoted most of his speech to trying to quell fears about the economy, but made time to sing the praises of his Iraq troop “surge,” which conservatives, aided by a pliable media, are still trying to sell as a success.

And in a possible reference to his father’s most famous slogan, the president threatened to veto any new taxes.

Speaking of taxes, if you thought Bush would let a State of the Union address go by without a plug for his tax cuts, well, he didn’t.

MSNBC:

While the president went to bat for his military “surge” in Iraq, he devoted most of his speech to the economy, confronting Congress on two fronts, taxes and spending.

With his 2001 tax cuts set to expire, Bush reiterated his call that Congress make them permanent. And he declared that he would not allow any new taxes to become law.

“Members of Congress should know: If any bill raising taxes reaches my desk, I will veto it,” he promised.

Read more

 Wait, before you go…

If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface.  We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.

Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.

Support Truthdig
In this Article:
#economy#government#iraq#sotu#speech#state of the union#surge#taxes#veto#war