Broder describes the bait:
[President Bush's] advocacy seems entirely sincere .....
In his two most recent State of the Union addresses and in dozens of speeches around the country, this president has urged Americans to devote time and energy to community projects. And he has pledged his best efforts to expand government programs of national service.
At his road stops, Bush likes to introduce AmeriCorps workers, while telling audiences that "we'll increase AmeriCorps by 50 percent." That goal was also set forth in the president's budget for fiscal 2004, which administration documents said would take AmeriCorps up from 50,000 to 75,000 people.
Then the switch:
But despite the rhetoric, skeptics noted that Bush actually reduced his request for AmeriCorps grants from $364 million for fiscal 2003 to $324 million for fiscal 2004.
Remember when the (mal)Administration "forgot" to budget for Afghani reconstruction? Standard operating procedure for these guys.
Like falling off the scooter: aWol wants the photo op bad, but when it comes time to find the "on" switch, he gets a little, well, clumsy. (Then again, maybe we don't want aWol to get comfortable with pushing buttons....)