Bush
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Bush
President Bush had it exactly backwards in his speech Tuesday night when he exhorted lawmakers to keep cutting taxes. He noted that when the going gets tough, leaders are tempted to take stands that are crowd pleasing yet counterproductive. He was basically warning the assembled lawmakers, actually the Republicans, that they would never make the cheerleading squad if they didn't extend his temporary tax cuts. The administration expects to hit the nation's legal debt limit -- $8,184,000,000,000 -- and has told Congress it needs to vote to raise the debt ceiling to nearly $9 trillion, a 51 percent increase since 2001, when Mr. Bush took office. President Bush had it exactly backwards in his speech Tuesday night when he encouraged lawmakers to keep cutting taxes. He noted that when the going gets tough, leaders are tempted to take stands that are crowd pleasing yet counterproductive, like championing protectionism in the face of global competition. But then he warned that in today's uncertain times, lawmakers might even be tempted to do something as cowardly as "increasing taxes."