Dumb & Dumber

Yet another teaser from Drudge, this one in red (literally and figuratively) ink:

BUSH TO SEEK BIG BUDGET INCREASE FOR NATIONAL ENDOWMENT FOR THE ARTS… Laura Bush plans to announce the request — for the largest increase in two decades — on Thursday… Developing…

That’s it — this guy is determined to try to buy votes from the left, just like G.H.W. Bush tried to do 12 years ago. Didn’t work then, won’t work now, will piss off fiscal conservatives like myself.

UPDATE: For those knee-jerk Bush supporters who doubt the veracity of the Drudge teaser, here’s the story from the New York Times:

President Bush will seek a big increase in the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts, the largest single source of support for the arts in the United States, administration officials said on Wednesday.

The proposal is part of a turnaround for the agency, which was once fighting for its life, attacked by some Republicans as a threat to the nation’s moral standards.

Laura Bush plans to announce the request on Thursday, in remarks intended to show the administration’s commitment to the arts, aides said.

Administration officials, including White House budget experts, said that Mr. Bush would propose an increase of $15 million to $20 million for the coming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. That would be the largest rise in two decades and far more than the most recent increases, about $500,000 for 2003 and $5 million for this year.

A billion here, a billion there — pretty soon you’re a Me-Too Republican.