Talking Points Come True

We'd heard over the last few days that the GOP had decided their talking points would be "we'll throw every dollar we can find and then some at the Gulf Coast and make people believe we're going to make it all spiffy and peachy-keen-arino. Last night, that's exactly what Bush promised.

Oh, he's GREAT at throwing huge piles of money at Halliburton, Bechtel, et al. But we never see the results of this except that Halliburton and Bechtel's values keep rising at the same time Bush keeps handing them big tax breaks. Before Katrina, we were told, "we've prevented untold number of attacks - just trust us on this."

Based on Katrina, do you think you've been saved anything?

From Blah3:

Gergen, Jay Carney and Mark Whittaker are all pointing out that he just floated what is probably more than $200 billion in ideas, with no indication of how they'll be paid for. And Gergen pointed out that between the gulf Project, Iraq, and Bush's tax cut, this country is going to go completely broke unless something is sacrificed.

My take is this - Bush is real good at promising lots and lots of money to everyone, and then counting on the fact that people will remember the promise and assume the money was paid. No Child Left Behind, anyone? That's how Bush works.

Update: People over at Dem underground are reporting that Tucker Carlson just announced that Bush will lose the conservative base with that speech - and said Bush was a bigger spender than Clinton, and that whatever gains he makes among moderates will be evened out by defecting conservatives. He may have just made a bad situation worse.