Mr. Popular

So Dubya’s new budget blueprint is out and –surprise! – is actually being met with resistance on both sides of the aisle (who said the GOP can’t do anything right? Oh yeah, that was probably me). Taken at his word, the logic sounds like the epitome of Republican core values:

Bush made similar pitches for spending restraint at a business forum in New Hampshire, and later at the bill-signing ceremony at the White House, where he praised steps that he said would both check federal spending and "leave more money in the pockets of those who know how to use it best, the American people."

Luckily, administration officials were quickly there to clarify the president’s message (though the energy secretary and national economic adviser couldn’t be reached this time). An unnamed White House insider revealed to PatRoW that "leaving more money in the pockets of...the American people" is Bush code for "me and my oil buddies is gonna sleep on a pile of hundred dollar bills and blow our boogers on poor folk – yeehaw!"

Despite his benevolent intentions, even some GOP rabble rousers don’t seem to appreciate Bush’s efforts:

In the president's own party, Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania called proposed cuts in education and health "scandalous," while Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, said she was "disappointed and even surprised" at the extent of the administration's proposals for Medicaid and Medicare.

A chink in the Grand Old Party’s armor? What’s next – being booed at beloved civil rights leaders’ funerals?