But, folks will certainly not get the idea behind it
In a legislative update sent to GOP members and staff on Tuesday, Republican House Policy Committee Chairman Thaddeus McCotter (Mich.) accused “Beijing George” Bush of throwing House Republicans “under the bone-dry bus” on his way to the Olympics in China.
House GOP leaders last week called on Bush to convene an emergency session of Congress, but the White House said such a move would not make a difference because Democrats would not call for an up-or-down vote on offshore drilling legislation.
McCotter, known for his frank and sometimes unusual political opinions, was not pleased with that decision. His memo stated, “Today, in his final term, the wildly unpopular President George W. Bush boarded Air Force One bound for the Beijing Olympics and a meeting with his chum Hu Jintao, the dapper ruler of a nuclear armed, communist dictatorship. … Perhaps our Compassionate Conservative-in-Chief will bring our absent Democrat Congress some ‘Made in (communist) China’ souvenir t-shirts: ‘Bush went to Beijing and all I got was this lousy five week, paid vacation.’ ”
The memo ends, “Bon Voyage, Mr. Bush! House Republicans will fight on for America!”
On the surface, that looks pretty bad, right? Beyond the fact that McCotter has been virtually unheard from for years and years. The commenters at Think Progress are having a field day.
But, Allahpundit made a good point on the 4th
Even if the White House could set the agenda, getting them involved accomplishes two things: It puts Bush’s dirty fingerprints on an issue that’s otherwise golden for the GOP — so golden that MoveOn admits they’re losing this debate — and it lets the Democrats play the victim by complaining about executive overreach.
That was regarding the letter from Pence and Hensarling’s letter asking Dubya to call a special session of Congress to vote on drilling.
This ripping of Bush may be accomplishing something similar: it puts House Republicans on the opposite side of the issue from Bush, and puts Bush on the same side as Nancy Pelosi and the House Dems in the public eye.
You can read the entire McCotter statement at Hot Air.
