Elsewhere I saw someone engage in pure fiction if not also projection, claiming Bush was behaving as a child, suddenly. Obviously this is nonsense, but what may be asked with this bill, since Bush has been a generous spender (“compassionate conservative), is what Bush’s strategy is, not only with this bill but with other bills that are obviously not defective (as has been the case with S-CHIP). It is obviously too late for Bush to change his legacy; he may be engaging in vetoes to try to get voters to believe that he, and Republicans, are tough (now) on spending, with one year to major elections.

(Never mind not only Bush’s spending record, but also that this veto was overridden because it had a good deal of Republican as well as Democratic Congressional support.)