In my first diary entry, I'm going to take a quick look at the Bush veto record and also examine the possibility of what the next veto might be.
Bush's veto record is impressive. So far, he has has vetoed exactly two bills. To put that in perspective, Clinton vetoed 37, Bush Sr. vetoed 44, and Reagan vetoed 78. Granted, Bush has been under a Republican congress and enjoyed popular support for the first four or five years of his presidency, but that's still a pretty low number. Here are the two bills he's now vetoed:
#1: Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act, H.R. 2005-810, which I'll refer to here as the "Let's Cure Alzheimers Bill."
#2: U.S. Troop Readiness, Veterans' Care, Katrina Recovery, and Iraq Accountability Appropriations Act, H.R. 2007-1591, which I'll refer to as "Let's Get the Hell Out of Iraq, Buy Body Armor for the Troops, Help Hurricane Victims, Support the Troops, Help Veterans, something about peanuts, and Support the Troops Some More Bill."
Everybody here is pretty familiar with these two vetoes, so I don't see a reason to discuss them that much, but if you look at them together, and try to think like a high school student 100 years from now, those are some pretty terrible bills to veto out of all the bills to veto.
Well, looks like Bush may have found #3! WaPo reports that the new hate crime legislation may be vetoed by Bush. The bill would expand the list of covered classes of federally-recognized classes that could be targeted for hate crimes. Whereas before it includes race, religion, color, and national original, in the new bill it also covers gender and sexual orientation.
Just to repeat that, it's a law that makes it easier for the federal government to help you if you're being raped/murdered/stalked for being a woman/gay man/transexual and your local police aren't doing anything to help you because they're sexist/closed-minded/lazy. Presumably, the White House is warning of a veto because of the sexual orientation issue and not the gender issue, but frankly, I'm not that sure. But nonetheless, if they DO veto it, here's what Bush's sum veto record could be preserved as:
#1. Cure Disease
#2. End war
#3. End hate
It reads like what the really humble child asks Santa for in particularly sappy Christmas movies. It's almost incomprehensible that these might be the ONLY bills Bush would veto.
Also, if I were a transsexual soldier deployed to Iraq with Alzheimers who is being stalked in my municipality and the local police don't care because they hate the fact that I'm a gay woman who used to be a straight man, I'd seriously be rethinking my support for the President about now.