Compassionate conservative George W. Bush gives holiday gifts
Unemployed people wait in line at an unemployment office in Miami.
Many large corporations have been promised or are jockeying for billions of government bailout dollars as the ecomonic meltdown continues.
President George W. Bush, a self-described compassionate conservative, walked his talk on Friday and helped to ensure that at least a sliver of the bail out funds will land directly on some kitchen tables.
Reversing his previous opposition, President Bush signed a law early Friday that will extend unemployment benefits for about 1.2 million Americans whose benefits are set to expire at the end of the year.
Congress approved the extended benefits on Thursday, when the jobless rate hit a 16-year high. President Bush should be commended for such compassion during a time of enormous distress.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the huge mortgage-finance companies whose solvency problems led to federal government intervention, announced they would suspend foreclosures and evictions of homeowners during the holidays _ from the day before Thanksgiving through Jan. 9.
Unemployment will continue to rise as more companies announce pending layoffs, which will further feed the specter of home foreclosures for more Americans.
Bad news will not take a holiday. But the Bush Administration deserves praise for making a tough holiday season more bearable for Americans whose livelihoods hang in the balance.
Gilbert Bailon has been editor of the P-D editorial pages since November 2007. Previously, he worked as a reporter, editor and executive editor for The Dallas Morning News and its daily Spanish-language newspaper, Al Dia. He still harbors a passion for all things Tex-Mex: food, music, language, boots and border culture. And yes he has found some of that in the Midwest. 
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And here’s Barack (h)Obama’s gift to us this Holiday Season (Nov. 5th — Jan. 20th):
- - - http://www.lucianne.com/routine/images/11-21-08.jpg
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Of course, now that the election is over the Post will be scrupulously fair, offering praise to Republicans whenever warranted … until about April 2010.
Wow… This reminds me of Andrew Carnegie: barbarously exploit while you’re in power, but in death be avuncular and charitable. Like Carnegie employing PR from the grave, this is Bush employing PR as a lame-duck president, to try to bolster his sad, sad reputation as commander-n-cheat.
Compassionate? Look, if the government is giving away money to Wall Street, AIG, and soon the automobile industry, how would this look if he did not approve extensions for those people who have lost their jobs and their unemployment benefits do run out?
The one thing no one says is, if these people were depending on food stamp assistance, because they will be getting unemployent benefits, their food stamp benefits greatly decrease or are terminated. You cannot have both.
Unless you are one of the professional baby machines. Just keep shooting them kids out like you’re a Pez dispenser. Have five or six different fathers, and never get a job in your life.
Just keep on getting money every month from the government for each kid as well as yourselves.
I wonder, will Obama change this? How about making it mandatory for these bottom feeders to pass a drug test every month or they get nothing.
Mr. B, I can only hope that you cover the new president as carefully as you have coverd President Bush and Sarah Palin.
JimK - I’ll add to that. If you want free healthcare, you’d better get tested for illegal drug use first if you want my money to pay for your healthcare. If you don’t think enough of yourself to stay off illegal substances and can afford to use illegal substances, tough luck, you’re on your own.
A Centrist… The press did not do its job covering George Bush. Otherwise he would not have gotten away with what he has without being impeached by both houses.
— EJ Rotert … and what is it that he has gotten away with?
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BobZ… Really? Have you been hitting the snooze button the last eight years?
EJ Rotert, let me try again:
“…and what is it that he has gotten away with?”
(try to put it in one post, not the six or seven like usual)
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BobZZZZZZZ… I wasn’t going to write a response, because truthfully, if you’re having to ask this quesiton, you’ve obviously been asleep the last eight years and the words will be wasted. But, fine, here’s a partial laundry list: Lying to the U.S. public and Congress to start a bogus war; illegally detaining certain people (and they are people, by the way) at GITMO; WATERBOARDING; not giving people their guaranteed day in court; following the lead of the United Nations if it only agrees with the administration’s assessment; WATERBOARDING; allowing further evolvement of the military/industrial complex (Halliburton, KBR, Blackwater, et al); allowing an `underling’ (and last I checked this is what the vice president is) to get away with a potential crime by not reporting an incident until the following morning (ref. quail hunting); WATERBOARDING; not calling on reporters’ in press conferences unless they were certified as administration lapdogs (so, in effect, feeling he was `above’ answering legitimate questions from the public); WATERBOARDING; his apparent mistaken belief that the U.S. Constitution is a brand of toilet paper; disregarding the Geneva Convention; not allowing the dissemination of scientific findings that run counter to administration policy; engaging in Big Brother-speak as to whether we’re really in a war or not, depending on the administration’s goals at the time (ref., following the Geneva Convention or giving people their day in court); WATERBOARDING; sinking the U.S. economy, with a possible depression as the outcome; and `casually’ allowing thousands of deaths on both sides of the conflict for certain people’s capital gain (ref. military/industrial complex above. Also, his toxic cocktail mix of HUBRIS and IDIOCY. Does that suffice, Bob? I really believe I could continue. Oh, and as to why I sumbit multiple posts at times: one reason is because I care about correcting any mistakes I discover that I’ve made. But another reason is because I know you have a short attention span, Bob, so I cater to that. It allows you to not have to read everything in one sitting. Have a nice Thanksgiving, Bob.