George,

I've totally underestimated the wisdom and vision of President George Bush and it's time I admitted it. We're lucky to have a CEO of his stature in the White House. I was wrong to think he did not stand for fiscal integrity as well as opposition to violence. Much as the nasty, liberal Eastern rat-fink press tries to conceal Bush's positive characteristics, some truths have oozed out, and, I frankly admit, I am astonished. My horoscope warned me this morning shocking events would hit me like a bucket of cold water in the face, and since I got splashed I can't help but tell you about them.

To begin with, we have to dismiss the misleading criticisms of that neo-Socialist Manchester, N.H., Union Leader newspaper for its attack on the President. In an editorial yesterday it said Bush's budget deficits had been "ridiculously large" and accused the Republican Party of "profligacy." Old "Pravda" couldn't have done a nastier hatchet job on the prudent money manager from Texas. But that's not all. The paper went on to claim Bush's promises to cut future deficits were based on "fiction" because the underlying assumptions were false. Now that's just about the same as calling our President a liar. But as conservative commentators have long charged, what else can you expect of the big liberal Eastern press?

In his speech at Manchester, Bush said, "Families set priorities, individual Americans set priorities, business people set priorities and when it comes to setting the budget, that's what the federal government needs to do." See? Bush wants to set priorities, same as your family does when you buy apples instead of raspberries in the supermart because you don't want to spend $4.99 a pint.

Is it Bush's fault the White House projects a record $423-billion budget deficit this year? It is not. And here's why: "There's no question the war and the hurricanes have stretched our budget," Bush said. You see: it's the war and the hurricanes that stretched it. (Not bust it, just s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d it a little.) Surely, you can't blame Bush either for hurricane Katrina devastating New Orleans or for the Pentagon devastating Iraq. After all, Bush proved Saddam Hussein threatened the U.S. with WMD and so he had to attack, so how is that his fault? And as one noted minister said, New Orleans got hit from Above for its evil ways, so the city's flooding was obviously an Act of God for which the White House is not at fault.

And only a miser would deny the Pentagon doesn't need every penny of its record $439-billion budget, up 5% over last year. The Pentagon has a long established history of squeezing every nickel to make the buffalo howl. During the Reagan years, it was only his controversial Budget Director David Stockman who charged the Pentagon was wasting $30-billion a year, and he had to apologize for it, we all know that. Obviously, the Pentagon's budget today has got to be bigger than all the rest of the world combined because if we don't police the planet who will? This isn't nation-building, it's, sort of, nation-maintenance; it's us just kind of hanging around to make sure things go right without trying to rebuild a lot of ruined stuff.

By contrast, there's lots of government spending that has got absolutely nothing to do with our security that any occupant of the White House, Republican or Democrat, would want to eliminate. Such as health care for the poor, so that' s $39-billion Bush is saving us over the next five years, and those stupid student loan programs. Believe me, those kids wouldn't have so much time to engage in idle anti-war demonstrations if they had to hold down a job or two to work their way through school for a change instead of feeding off the taxpayers.

The clincher, as far as I am concerned, is when it comes to spending money for Medicare and other programs. Bush said he doesn't want to see "a centralization of power." The Pentagon is not centralizing it because they're spreading their power over 700 different bases in 130 countries around the world. But the Social Security Administration, which wastes up to 1% on administration, has got its hands on your hard-earned tax dollars, and believe me, that's scary! That's true centralization and it's got to be stopped before we're all in the Poor House.

Finally, I was thrilled to read President Bush's statement "We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press." See? Even when the Manchester "Union Leader" attacks him, he doesn't incite a mob to shut it down. This isn't the Middle East, filled with religious fanatics who will riot at the drop of a turban. We've got what's called freedom and that's why our enemies are so jealous of us, because we have it and they don't.

Bush called on governments around the world "to stop the violence, to be respectful, to protect property, protect the lives of innocent diplomats who are serving their countries overseas." Read his lips! I mean, what a guy! All he wants is for one country to treat another with respect and dignity. See what I mean? When I got hit with a bucket of cold water like that this morning, I mean it was positively refreshing!

- Sherwood Ross (electronic mail. February 9, 2006)