President
George W. Bush
"When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?" - Lord Keynes as quoted in Barrons, 9/18/06.
"You teach your child to read and
he or her will pass a literacy test." - W
Colbert Rips Bush to His Face:
STEPHEN COLBERT: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Before I begin, I've been asked to make an announcement. Whoever parked
14 black bulletproof S.U.V.'s out front, could you please move them? They are blocking in 14 other black bulletproof S.U.V.'s and they need to get out.
Wow. Wow, what an honor. The White House correspondents' dinner. To actually sit here, at the same table with my hero, George W. Bush, to be this close to the man. I feel like I'm dreaming. Somebody pinch me. You know what? I'm a pretty sound sleeper -- that may not be enough. Somebody shoot me in the face. Is he really not here tonight? Dammit. The one guy who could have helped.
By the way, before I get started, if anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail. Mark Smith, ladies and gentlemen of the press corps, Madame First Lady, Mr. President, my name is Stephen Colbert and tonight it's my privilege to celebrate this president. We're not so different, he and I. We get it. We're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol. We're not members of the factinista. We go straight from the gut, right sir? That's where the truth lies, right down here in the gut. Do you know you have more nerve endings in your gut than you have in your head? You can look it up. I know some of you are going to say "I did look it up, and that's not true." That's 'cause you looked it up in a book.
Next time, look it up in your gut. I did. My gut tells me that's how our nervous system works. Every night on my show, the Colbert Report, I speak straight from the gut, OK? I give people the truth, unfiltered by rational argument. I call it the "No Fact Zone." Fox News, I hold a copyright on that term.
I'm a simple man with a simple mind. I hold a simple set of beliefs that I
live by. Number one, I believe in
In fact, Ambassador Zhou Wenzhong, welcome. Your
great country makes our Happy Meals possible. I said it's a celebration. I
believe the government that governs best is the government that governs least.
And by these standards, we have set up a fabulous government in
I believe in pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. I believe it is possible -- I saw this guy do it once in Cirque du Soleil. It was magical. And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior.
Ladies and gentlemen, I believe it's yogurt. But I refuse to believe it's not butter. Most of all, I believe in this president.
Now, I know there are some polls out there saying this man has a 32% approval rating. But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking in "reality." And reality has a well-known liberal bias.
So, Mr. President, please, pay no attention to the people that say the glass is half full. 32% means the glass -- it's important to set up your jokes properly, sir. Sir, pay no attention to the people who say the glass is half empty, because 32% means it's 2/3 empty. There's still some liquid in that glass is my point, but I wouldn't drink it. The last third is usually backwash. Okay, look, folks, my point is that I don't believe this is a low point in this presidency. I believe it is just a lull before a comeback.
I mean, it's like the movie "Rocky." All right. The president in this case is Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed is -- everything else in the world. It's the tenth round. He's bloodied. His corner man, Mick, who in this case I guess would be the vice president, he's yelling, "Cut me, Dick, cut me!," and every time he falls everyone says, "Stay down! Stay down!" Does he stay down? No. Like Rocky, he gets back up, and in the end he -- actually, he loses in the first movie.
OK. Doesn't matter. The point is it is the heart-warming story of a man who was repeatedly punched in the face. So don't pay attention to the approval ratings that say 68% of Americans disapprove of the job this man is doing. I ask you this, does that not also logically mean that 68% approve of the job he's not doing? Think about it. I haven't.
I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not
only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble
and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message, that no
matter what happens to
Now, there may be an energy crisis. This president has a very forward-thinking energy policy. Why do you think he's down on the ranch cutting that brush all the time? He's trying to create an alternative energy source. By 2008 we will have a mesquite-powered car!
And I just like the guy. He's a good joe.
Obviously loves his wife, calls her his better half. And polls show
I'm sorry, but this reading initiative. I'm sorry, I've never been a fan of
books. I don't trust them. They're all fact, no heart. I mean, they're elitist,
telling us what is or isn't true, or what did or didn't happen. Who's
Britannica to tell me the
The greatest thing about this man is he's steady. You know where he stands.
He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what
happened Tuesday. Events can change; this man's beliefs never will. As excited
as I am to be here with the president, I am appalled to be surrounded by the
liberal media that is destroying
But the rest of you, what are you thinking, reporting on NSA wiretapping or secret prisons in eastern Europe? Those things are secret for a very important reason: they're super-depressing. And if that's your goal, well, misery accomplished. Over the last five years you people were so good -- over tax cuts, WMD intelligence, the effect of global warming. We Americans didn't want to know, and you had the courtesy not to try to find out. Those were good times, as far as we knew.
But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president
makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those
decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make,
announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check
and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that
novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid
Because really, what incentive do these people have to answer your questions, after all? I mean, nothing satisfies you. Everybody asks for personnel changes. So the White House has personnel changes. Then you write, "Oh, they're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." First of all, that is a terrible metaphor. This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!
Now, it's not all bad guys out there. Some are heroes: Christopher Buckley, Jeff Sacks, Ken Burns, Bob Schieffer. They've all been on my show. By the way, Mr. President, thank you for agreeing to be on my show. I was just as shocked as everyone here is, I promise you. How's Tuesday for you? I've got Frank Rich, but we can bump him. And I mean bump him. I know a guy. Say the word.
See who we've got here tonight. General Moseley, Air Force Chief of Staff. General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They still support Rumsfeld. Right, you guys aren't retired yet, right? Right, they still support Rumsfeld.
Look, by the way, I've got a theory about how to handle these retired generals causing all this trouble: don't let them retire! Come on, we've got a stop-loss program; let's use it on these guys. I've seen Zinni and that crowd on Wolf Blitzer. If you're strong enough to go on one of those pundit shows, you can stand on a bank of computers and order men into battle. Come on.
Jesse Jackson is here, the Reverend. Haven't heard from the Reverend in a little while. I had him on the show. Very interesting and challenging interview. You can ask him anything, but he's going to say what he wants, at the pace that he wants. It's like boxing a glacier. Enjoy that metaphor, by the way, because your grandchildren will have no idea what a glacier is.
Justice Scalia is here. Welcome, sir. May I be the first to say, you look fantastic. How are you? [After each sentence, Colbert makes a hand gesture, an allusion to Scalia's recent use of an obscene Sicilian hand gesture in speaking to a reporter about Scalia's critics. Scalia is seen laughing hysterically.] Just talking some Sicilian with my paisan.
John McCain is here. John McCain, John McCain, what a maverick! Somebody
find out what fork he used on his salad, because I guarantee you it wasn't a
salad fork. This guy could have used a spoon! There's no predicting him. By the
way, Senator McCain, it's so wonderful to see you coming back into the
Republican fold. I have a summer house in
Mayor Nagin! Mayor Nagin
is here from
Joe Wilson is here, Joe Wilson right down here in front, the most famous husband since Desi Arnaz. And of course he brought along his lovely wife Valerie Plame. Oh, my god! Oh, what have I said? [looks horrified] I am sorry, Mr. President, I meant to say he brought along his lovely wife Joe Wilson's wife. Patrick Fitzgerald is not here tonight? OK. Dodged a bullet.
And, of course, we can't forget the man of the hour, new press secretary,
Tony Snow. Secret Service name, "Snow Job." Toughest job. What a
hero! Took the second toughest job in government, next to, of course, the
ambassador to
Got some big shoes to fill, Tony. Big shoes to fill. Scott McClellan could say nothing like nobody else. McClellan, of course, eager to retire. Really felt like he needed to spend more time with Andrew Card's children. Mr. President, I wish you hadn't made the decision so quickly, sir.
I was vying for the job myself. I think I would have made a fabulous press secretary. I have nothing but contempt for these people. I know how to handle these clowns. In fact, sir, I brought along an audition tape and with your indulgence, I'd like to at least give it a shot. So, ladies and gentlemen, my press conference.
NOTE BY
BEGINNING OF "AUDITION TAPE"
Colbert shows a video of a mock press conference. It opens with an empty
podium. Colbert's head rises from behind the podium until Colbert is standing
at the podium. He addresses the assembled
COLBERT: I have a brief statement: the press is destroying
COLBERT (acknowledging various reporters): Stretch! (David Gregory nods)
Sir Nerdlington! (reporter nods)
Sloppy Joe! (reporter nods)
Terry Lemon Moran Pie! (Terry Moran nods)
Oh, Doubting Thomas, always a pleasure. (Helen Thomas smiles)
And Suzanne Mal -- hello!!
(Suzanne Malveaux stares at Colbert, looking unhappy. Colbert mimics putting a phone to his ear and mouths "call me.")
REPORTER: Will the Vice President be available soon to answer all questions himself?
COLBERT: I've already addressed that question. You (pointing to another reporter).
REPORTER: Walter Cronkite, the noted CBS anchor, . . .
COLBERT (interrupting): Ah, no, he's the former CBS anchor. Katie Couric is the new anchor of the CBS Evening News. Well, well, how do you guys feel about that?
You, tousle-haired guy in the back. Are you happy about Katie Couric taking over the CBS Evening News?
DAN RATHER: No, sir, Mr. Colbert. Are you? (Laughter)
COLBERT: Boom! Oh, look, we woke David Gregory up. Question?
DAVID GREGORY: Did Karl Rove commit a crime?
COLBERT: I don't know. I'll ask him.
(Colbert turns to Rove) Karl, pay attention please! (Rove is seen drawing a heart with "Karl + Stephen" written on it.)
GREGORY: Do you stand by your statement from the fall of 2003 when you were asked specifically about Karl, and Elliott Abrams, and Scooter Libby, and you said "I've gone to each of those gentlemen, and they have told me that they are not involved in this." Do you stand by that statement?
COLBERT: Nah, I was just kidding!
GREGORY: No, you're not finishing. You're not saying anything! You stood at that podium and said . . .
COLBERT (interrupting): Ah, that's where you're wrong. New podium! Just had it delivered today. Get your facts straight, David.
GREGORY: This is ridiculous. The notion that you're going to stand before us after having commented with that level of detail and tell the people watching this that somehow you've decided not to talk. You've got to . . .
(Colbert is seen looking at three buttons on the podium, labeled "EJECT," "GANNON" and "VOLUME." He selects the "VOLUME" button and turns it. We see Gregory's lips continue moving, but can't hear any sound coming out.)
COLBERT: If I can't hear you, I can't answer your question. I'm sorry! I have to move on. Terry.
TERRY MORAN: After the investigation began, after the criminal investigation was underway, you said . . .
(Colbert presses a button on the podium and fast-forwards through most of Moran's question.)
MORAN (continuing): All of a sudden, you have respect for the sanctity of a criminal investigation?
COLBERT (seen playing with rubber ball, which he is bouncing off attached paddle): No, I never had any respect for the sanctity of a criminal investigation. Activist judges! Yes, Helen.
HELEN THOMAS: You're going to be sorry. (Laughter)
COLBERT (looking vastly amused, mockingly): What are you going to do, Helen, ask me for a recipe?
THOMAS: Your decision to invade
COLBERT (interrupting): OK, hold on Helen, look . . .
THOMAS (continuing): Every reason given, publicly at least, has turned out not to be true. My question is why did you really want to go to war?
COLBERT (again interrupting): Helen, I'm going to stop you right there. (Thomas keeps talking.) That's enough! No! Sorry, Helen, I'm moving on. (Colbert tries to turn her volume off, but the knob falls off his controls.)
(Various reporters start shouting questions at Colbert.)
COLBERT (agitated): Guys, guys, please don't let Helen do this to what was a lovely day.
(Reporters keep shouting at him.)
COLBERT (putting his fingers over his ears and shouting in a high-pitched voice): Bllrrtt! No, no, no, no, no. I'm not listening to you!
Look what you did, Helen! I hate you!
(Helen Thomas glowers at Colbert.)
COLBERT (frantic): I'm out of here!
(Colbert pulls back the curtain behind him, desperately trying to flee. He
says, "There is a wall here!" The press corps laughs. Colbert has
difficulty finding a door from which to exit the room, echoing Bush's
experience in
COLBERT: It reeks in there! Ridiculous! I've never been so insulted in my life! Stupid job.
(Colbert continues walking away. We hear sinister-sounding music playing. We see Helen Thomas walking behind Colbert.)
(Colbert looks behind him, sees Thomas, and starts running.)
(Colbert trips over a roller skate, and yells "Condi!" We see a close-up of Helen Thomas' face, looking determined and angry. Colbert, increasingly panicked, gets up and continues running, running into a parking garage. He reaches an emergency call box, and yells into it.)
COLBERT: Oh, thank God. Help me!
ATTENDANT: What seems to be the problem, sir?
COLBERT: She won't stop asking why we invaded
ATTENDANT: Hey, why did we invade
COLBERT: NO!!! (runs toward his car)
(We see Helen Thomas, still walking toward him.)
(Colbert reaches his car, and fumblingly attempts to open it with his key. He is in such a desperate hurry that he fumbles with the keys and drops them. When he picks them up, he looks back and Helen is even closer. In his frantic rush, Colbert just can't get the keys into the lock.)
(Just as his anxiety is getting completely out of control he suddenly remembers that he has a keyless remote -- so he just pushes the button on the keychain and the car unlocks immediately with the usual double squeak noise. Colbert jumps in and locks the door, and continues to fumble trying to get the car started. He finally succeeds, and looks up to see Helen standing in front of the car, notepad in hand.)
COLBERT: NO!!! NO!!!
(Colbert puts the car into reverse and drives off, tires squealing. Thomas smiles.)
(Colbert is shown taking the shuttle from
COLBERT: What a terrible trip, Danny. Take me home.
(The driver locks the doors, turns around, and says, "Buckle up, hon." IT'S HELEN THOMAS!!!)
COLBERT (horrified face pressed against car window): NO!!!
END OF "AUDITION TAPE"
STEPHEN COLBERT: Helen Thomas, ladies and gentlemen. Mr. Smith, members of the White House Correspondents Association, Madame First Lady, Mr. President, it's been a true honor. Thank you very much. Good night!
Tape: Bush, Chertoff Warned Before Katrina
Mar 01 4:53 PM US/Eastern
By MARGARET EBRAHIM and JOHN SOLOMON
Associated Press Writers
In dramatic and sometimes agonizing terms, federal disaster officials warned
President Bush and his homeland security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck
that the storm could breach levees, risk lives in
Bush didn't ask a single question during the final government-wide briefing the day before Katrina struck on Aug. 29 but assured soon-to- be-battered state officials: "We are fully prepared."
Six days of footage and transcripts obtained by The Associated Press show in excruciating detail that while federal officials anticipated the tragedy that unfolded in New Orleans and elsewhere along the Gulf Coast, they were fatally slow to realize they had not mustered enough resources to deal with the unprecedented disaster.
Linked by secure video, Bush's bravado on Aug. 29 starkly contrasts with the dire warnings his disaster chief and a cacophony of federal, state and local officials provided during the four days before the storm.
A top hurricane expert voiced "grave concerns" about the levees and then-Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown told the president and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that he feared there weren't enough disaster teams to help evacuees at the Superdome.
"I'm concerned about ... their ability to respond to a catastrophe within a catastrophe," Brown told his bosses the afternoon before Katrina made landfall.
Some of the footage conflicts with the defenses that federal, state and local officials have made in trying to deflect blame and minimize the political fallout from the failed Katrina response:
_Homeland Security officials have said the "fog of war" blinded
them early on to the magnitude of the disaster. But the video and transcripts
show federal and local officials discussed threats clearly, reviewed long-made
plans and understood Katrina would wreak devastation of historic proportions.
"I'm sure it will be the top 10 or 15 when all is said and done,"
"I don't buy the `fog of war' defense," Brown told the AP in an interview Wednesday. "It was a fog of bureaucracy."
_Bush declared four days after the storm, "I don't think anybody
anticipated the breach of the levees" that gushed deadly flood waters into
Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
"Skeptics quickly questioned the timing of" Bush's claim he foiled
a terrorist plot in
"'I'm amazed that the president would make this on national TV and not inform us of these details through the appropriate channels,' the mayor said, according to The Associated Press. A Bush administration official claimed on CNN Friday morning (February 10) that someone in Villaraigosa's office was warned about the speech in advance."
- http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1524109/20060210/index.jhtml?headlines=true, 02/10/06
"We look forward to hearing your vision so we can more better do our job." - GWB 9/21/05
Son of
John Ellis Bush, 21, was arrested by agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage
Commission at 2:30 a.m. on a corner of
The nephew of President Bush was released on $2,500 bond for the resisting arrest charge, and on a personal recognizance bond for the public intoxication charge, officials said.
…
Gov. Bush and his wife Columba appeared Friday evening at a museum reception
in
"My son's doing fine. It's a private matter. We will support him. We're sad for him. But I'm not going to discuss it on the public square with 30 cameras," the governor told reporters.
It's not the first time
Noelle Bush, the governor's daughter, was arrested in January 2002 and accused of trying to pass a fraudulent prescription at a pharmacy to obtain the anti-anxiety drug Xanax. She completed a drug rehabilitation program in August 2003 and a judge dismissed the drug charges against her.
…
"Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job." - Bush to FEMA Director Michael Brown shortly before public outrage over his "heck of a job" forced "Brownie" to step down.
"Because of President Bush’s vision and leadership, we’re stronger and better prepared today than we were a year ago from all-hazards."
- FEMA Director Michael D. Brown at
a speech given during the 2004 National Hurricane Conference,
Let's play the blame game: the man who benefited more than anyone in history from safety nets set up by family did not bother to provide one for those who lost their families.
- Maureen Dowd, NYT, 9/7/05
President George W. Bush's response to the crisis was rated "bad" or "terrible" by 42 percent of Americans surveyed for a CNN/USA Today Gallup poll released on Wednesday, compared with 35 percent who said it was "good" or "great."
- Reuters 9/7/05
Almost 90% of
-
In
Mr Bush's victory was viewed positively in only
three of the 21 countries: the
-
Bush starts his second term with considerably less popular support than
other recent incumbent presidents after their re-election -- a 50 percent
approval rating that is well below the support enjoyed by Presidents Dwight
Eisenhower, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, according to a poll
by the
- Reuters 1/17/05
The president's approval rating has slipped below 50%, the lowest, so reports the AP, in half a century for a chief executive about to embark on his second term.
- Barrons 1/10/05
I think a case could be made that ignorance played at least as big a role in
the election's outcome as values. A recent survey by the Program on
International Policy Attitudes at the
This is scary. How do you make a rational political pitch to people who have put that part of their brain on hold? No wonder Bush won.
- New York Times, 11/10/04
A recent Pew Research Centre poll, for example, showed just 7% of Pakistanis approve of Mr Bush, while 65% have a favourable opinion of Osama bin Laden.
-
just about everyone else seems to be hoping for a Democrat victory. In
-
Bush achieved a leisure landmark this month. The previous record for presidential slacking-off was 335 days. On August 18, Bush surpassed that number of days off, and he still has more than three years left in his second term… Critics have not hesitated to suggest
that the President's rest-ethic has cost the country dearly--after all, it
was in August 2001, during the President's first extended stay in Crawford,
that a briefing paper crossed Bush's desk detailing Osama bin Laden's intention to launch terrorist attacks within the
- The
Nation BLOG 08/24/2005 @ 4:22pm, "President of Leisure"
"It is wise to always err on the side of life," he said, wisdom that apparently had not occurred to him in 1999, when he mocked the failed pleas for clemency of Karla Faye Tucker, the born-again Texas death-row inmate, in a magazine interview with Tucker Carlson.
- Frank Rich, New York Times, "The God Racket, From DeMille to DeLay", March 27, 2005
More than a quarter of all Bush tax cuts will go to the top 1/2 of 1%, the 1.4 million Americans with incomes of $580,000 or more.
- David K. Johnston, New York Times, 2/13/05, p. 27.
Bush inaugural word count:
|
Freedom |
27 |
|
|
15 |
|
|
0 |
"To succeed in the world it is not
enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered."
"It is dangerous to be right when the
government is wrong."
- Voltaire
"The danger to our country is grave and it is growing. The Iraqi
regime possesses biological and chemical weapons, is rebuilding the
facilities to make more and, according to the British government, could
launch a biological or chemical attack in as little as 45 minutes after the
order is given. The regime has long-standing and continuing ties to
terrorist groups, and there are al Qaeda terrorists inside
- Bush, 9/28/02, address to the nation; still
on the White
House web page (as of January, 2005) and still just as wrong on every
point…
"
- "ballistic missiles with a likely range
of hundreds of miles";
- reality: these were allowed under the
cease fire agreement and Saddam Hussein was actively destroying those deemed to
exceed the legal range by a few kilometers;
- "a growing fleet of manned and unmanned
aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse chemical or biological weapons
across broad areas. We're concerned that
- reality: the drones were never discovered
and certainly could never have reached the
- more than 30,000 liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents … [perhaps] two to four times that amount.. a massive stockpile of biological weapons that has never been accounted for, and capable of killing millions.
- reality: ISG disbanded 12/04 without finding
any weapons of mass destruction, much less stockpiles;
- "chemical and biological weapons."
- source: White House Web Page
"As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."
-H.L. Mencken, journalist and satirist (1880 - 1956)
"To announce that...we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public." - Theodore Roosevelt
In the "No-I'm-Not-Making-This-Up" Category:
Bob Jones III: Letter to President Bush, November 14, 2004:
"In your re-election, God has graciously granted
"Don't equivocate. Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you."
- Dr. Bob Jones III, president of Bob Jones University, in a letter to President Bush; Bob Jones banned interracial dating and believes the Pope is the anti-Christ and represents a "satanic" religion. [See more below.]
Need more reasons to choose Kerry?
According to the Wall Street Journal, not known for its leftist tendencies, on the President's watch:
|
|
Jan. 21, 2001 |
Oct. 29, 2004 |
CHANGE |
|
Dow Industrials |
10578.24 |
10027.47 |
-5.21% |
|
Nasdaq Composite |
2757.91 |
1974.99 |
-28.39% |
|
S&P 500 |
1342.9 |
1130.2 |
-15.84% |
|
|
Jan. 21, 2001 |
Oct. 29, 2004 |
CHANGE |
|
Euro [in dollars] |
0.9382 |
1.2798 |
36.41% |
|
Yen [per dollar] |
116.35 |
105.84 |
-9.03% |
|
Pound [in dollars] |
1.4653 |
1.8378 |
25.42% |
|
|
Jan. 21, 2001 |
Oct. 29, 2004 |
CHANGE |
|
Nymex oil (front-month contract) |
32.19 |
51.76 |
60.80% |
|
Comex gold (front-month contract) |
266.4 |
428.5 |
60.85% |
|
DJ-AIG Spot Index |
134.352 |
204.188 |
51.98% |
Bottom line: the market lost anywhere from a fourth to a third of its value, the dollar is off a third to a fourth, and oil is up over 60% under Bush's watch.
The stock market return may not sound all that bad until you consider that barring an extraordinary year-end rally, it is the WORST 4-YEAR SPAN OF ANY AMERICAN PRESIDENT SINCE WWII:
|
Date: |
S&P 500: |
Prior 4 year change: |
|
Dec-52 |
26.57 |
74.9% |
|
Dec-56 |
46.67 |
75.6% |
|
Dec-60 |
58.11 |
24.5% |
|
Dec-64 |
84.75 |
45.8% |
|
Dec-68 |
103.86 |
22.5% |
|
Dec-72 |
118.05 |
13.7% |
|
Dec-76 |
107.46 |
-9.0% |
|
Dec-80 |
135.76 |
26.3% |
|
Dec-84 |
167.24 |
23.2% |
|
Dec-88 |
277.72 |
66.1% |
|
Dec-92 |
435.71 |
56.9% |
|
Dec-96 |
740.74 |
70.0% |
|
Dec-00 |
1320.28 |
78.2% |
|
Dec-04 |
1111.09 |
-15.8% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Average: |
39.5% |
|
Rank of Bush II: |
Worst of 14 |
|
|
Last 4 Year Span with a net loss (Nixon-Ford): |
1972-1976 |
|
Contrary to market folklore, the stock market fared almost twice as well on average under Democratic Presidents as it did under Republicans:
|
53.0% |
= average Democratic gain |
|
29.4% |
= average Republican gain |
- MV 11/02/04
Bush Attack Ads Deceptive:
|
What He Said: |
Reality: |
|
Senator Kerry "voted over 350 times for higher taxes on the American people" during his 20-year Senate career [March 20, 2004] |
"Saying Kerry voted for 'higher taxes' 350 times -- is not only misleading but actually misled several news professionals. It's simply untrue that Kerry voted for tax increases 350 times." The Bush campaign included votes to keep taxes constant or even to reduce them, but by less than the Republicans desired. [- factcheck.org] The true figure is probably in the range of 50 times; it is unclear what meaning to assign to this since a.) many tax increases are nominal, not real, meaning they don't keep up with inflation, and b.) many tax increases are often offset by expansion of credits of deductions that may make it difficult to characterize a bill as a net tax increase or decrease. A more useful statistic would be the proportion of votes Kerry cast for tax increases compared to the median proportion of Senators with similar tenure. Another might be the NET increase or decrease in taxes Americans would have experienced had all bills Kerry supported been passed, and all those he opposed failed to pass. To illustrate this point, consider the following statement: In 2002, the Dow rose 111 times and gained 12,923 points. This is technically true but meaningless, since it also fell 139 times and lost 14,654 points, for a net loss of 1,731 points. Pointing out the number of times it rose or fell in isolation from the other or without tallying the net effect is misleading and meaningless. |
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Senator Kerry would take healthcare decisions out of the hands of doctors and put them in the hands of "bureaucrats in Washington" |
97% of those currently insured would keep their current coverage; Medicaid would be expanded, so in a sense, government control would increase, but only among those who have no insurance currently. |
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Senator Kerry voted to slash intelligence spending. |
Kerry proposed and voted for reducing intelligence spending 4% in 1994, a reasonable amount given the collapse of the Soviet Union. Dick Cheney supported similar reductions in defense and intelligence spending at the time. |
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Kerry voted to slash defense spending and deprives our troops of advanced weapons systems and even body armor. |
Kerry voted for 16 of 19 defense budgets presented to him, including the largest increase in military spending in United States history, and every defense budget since 1997. Dick Cheney supported a 30% reduction in defense spending in the mid-1990's, yet no attack ads are run against him on this score. |
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Kerry is the "most liberal man in the Senate" |
The National Journal rated Kerry the 11th most liberal Senator; given that the Senate is a Republican-controlled, all-white, predominantly male body, this may or may not mean much. Kerry tied for #1 in 3 years (1986, 1988, and 1990), sharing the "honor" with 5 other Senators. It may be helpful to remember what voting liberal means: opposing efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade; allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; extending unemployment benefits to help laid-off workers and their families; insisting on tax relief for middle class and low income families, not just for the ultra-wealthy and corporations; expanding Medicare benefits to include prescription drug coverage; opposing laws that would make 84,000 students ineligible for Pell Grants for college education; supporting grants to states to help them invest in voting technology to insure each vote is properly counted. Past "liberal" issues: abolition of slavery; civil rights legislation ending Jim Crow laws; allowing women to vote; abolition of child labor; the 8-hour workday; the 5-day work week (weekends); the minimum wage; the GI bill; social security; Medicare; Medicaid; creation of the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Federal Aviation Administration. |
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Kerry cannot be trusted as a consistent leader in difficult times. |
Kerry, unlike either Bush or Cheney, served in combat. The implication is that Bush, who avoided Vietnam combat service to serve in the National Guard, and Cheney, who received 5 draft deferrals and never served in the military, should get remedial credit for being on duty when 9-11 happened. Given the outcome of the Iraq invasion, it is unclear why Bush would believe his leadership as a "war president" would inspire confidence in his national security or military prowess. Consider this: on the watch of Bush-Cheney, more Americans died from terrorism than died in half a century prior, 5 buildings in lower Manhattan are missing, the United States' international credibility has plunged, and for perhaps the first time in recent history the United States launched a war of aggression, condemned as illegal by the leader of the very body in whose name Bush claimed to act. The President opposed the appointment of a 9-11 commission, withheld documents, and initially refused to allow top officials to testify. Bush and Cheney refused to testify (they gave a bizarre joint "visit" without oath-taking or even note-taking (all notes had to be destroyed at the end of the interview)). It is unclear what in this record would inspire national security confidence. |
The Republican National Convention: the President Versus Reality
Was Bush AWOL From the Texas Air National Guard?
Words of Wisdom: Yes, He Really Said This
30 of 35 countries want a regime change in Washington
"I believe the essential ideas of American identity are what's at stake on November 2," he said, as red and yellow leaves sprinkled from the tree branches. Health care. Decent wages. Helping the homeless. "A sane and responsible foreign policy," the rocker said. "Paul Wellstone, a great Minnesota senator, said the future is for the passionate. . . . The future is now, and it's time to let your passions loose."
- Bruce Springsteen, 10/28/04
In response to George W. Bush's invocation of prominent Democrats including President John F. Kennedy, Kennedy's daughter Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg issued this statement. "It's hard for me to listen to President Bush invoking my father's memory to
attack John Kerry. Senator Kerry has demonstrated his courage and commitment to a stronger America throughout his entire career. President Kennedy inspired and united the country and so will John Kerry. President Bush is doing just the opposite. All of us who revere the strength and resolve of President Kennedy will be supporting John Kerry on Election Day."
- drudgereport.com, 10/27/04
'Just in the past few months,'' Bartlett said, ''I think a light has gone off for people who've spent time up close to Bush: that this instinct he's always talking about is this sort of weird, Messianic idea of what he thinks God has told him to do.'' Bartlett, a 53-year-old columnist and self-described libertarian Republican who has lately been a champion for traditional Republicans concerned about Bush's governance, went on to say: ''This is why George W. Bush is so clear-eyed about Al Qaeda and the Islamic fundamentalist enemy. He believes you have to kill them all. They can't be persuaded, that they're extremists, driven by a dark vision. He understands them, because he's just like them. . . .
- Bruce Bartlett, a domestic policy adviser to Ronald Reagan and a treasury official for the first President Bush, New York Times, 10/17/04
''In meetings, I'd ask if there were any facts to support our case. And for that, I was accused of disloyalty!''
- EPA administrator Whitman, May, 2003
In the Oval Office in December 2002, the president met with a few ranking senators and members of the House, both Republicans and Democrats. In those days, there were high hopes that the United States-sponsored ''road map'' for the Israelis and Palestinians would be a pathway to peace, and the discussion that wintry day was, in part, about countries providing peacekeeping forces in the region. The problem, everyone agreed, was that a number of European countries, like France and Germany, had armies that were not trusted by either the Israelis or Palestinians. One congressman -- the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress -- mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall.
''I don't know why you're talking about Sweden,'' Bush said. ''They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.''
Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ''Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.'' Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to protect the country in the event of invasion.
Bush held to his view. ''No, no, it's Sweden that has no army.''
New York Times, 10/17/04
In his CNN interview, the religious leader [Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson] described Bush on the eve of the invasion as "the most self-assured man I've ever met in my life."
"You remember Mark Twain said, 'He looks like a contented Christian with four aces.' I mean he was just sitting there like, 'I'm on top of the world,' " Robertson said on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now."
"And I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, 'Mr. President, you had better prepare the American people for casualties.' "
Robertson said Bush told him, " 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties.' "
- CNN, 10/20/04
"We will not have an all-volunteer Army… What's that? We WILL have an all-volunteer Army."
- GWB flubbing a line then trying a recovery
when corrected by a supporter; he was responding to rumors he will institute
conscription if elected.
"Why I Will Vote for John Kerry" for President by John Eisenhower, 9/28/04
The Presidential election to be held this coming Nov. 2 will be one of extraordinary importance to the future of our nation. The outcome will determine whether this country will continue on the same path it has followed for the last 3˝ years or whether it will return to a set of core domestic and foreign policy values that have been at the heart of what has made this country great.
Now more than ever, we voters will have to make cool judgments, unencumbered by habits of the past. Experts tell us that we tend to vote as our parents did or as we "always have." We remained loyal to party labels. We cannot afford that luxury in the election of 2004. There are times when we must break with the past, and I believe this is one of them.
As son of a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, it is automatically expected by many that I am a Republican. For 50 years, through the election of 2000, I was. With the current administration’s decision to invade Iraq unilaterally, however, I changed my voter registration to independent, and barring some utterly unforeseen development, I intend to vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate, Sen. John Kerry.
The fact is that today’s "Republican" Party is one with which I am totally unfamiliar. To me, the word "Republican" has always been synonymous with the word "responsibility," which has meant limiting our governmental obligations to those we can afford in human and financial terms. Today’s whopping budget deficit of some $440 billion does not meet that criterion.
Responsibility used to be observed in foreign affairs. That has meant respect for others. America, though recognized as the leader of the community of nations, has always acted as a part of it, not as a maverick separate from that community and at times insulting towards it. Leadership involves setting a direction and building consensus, not viewing other countries as practically devoid of significance. Recent developments indicate that the current Republican Party leadership has confused confident leadership with hubris and arrogance.
In the Middle East crisis of 1991, President George H.W. Bush marshaled world opinion through the United Nations before employing military force to free Kuwait from Saddam Hussein. Through negotiation he arranged for the action to be financed by all the industrialized nations, not just the United States. When Kuwait had been freed, President George H. W. Bush stayed within the United Nations mandate, aware of the dangers of occupying an entire nation.
Today many people are rightly concerned about our precious individual freedoms, our privacy, the basis of our democracy. Of course we must fight terrorism, but have we irresponsibly gone overboard in doing so? I wonder. In 1960, President Eisenhower told the Republican convention, "If ever we put any other value above (our) liberty, and above principle, we shall lose both." I would appreciate hearing such warnings from the Republican Party of today.
The Republican Party I used to know placed heavy emphasis on fiscal responsibility, which included balancing the budget whenever the state of the economy allowed it to do so. The Eisenhower administration accomplished that difficult task three times during its eight years in office. It did not attain that remarkable achievement by cutting taxes for the rich. Republicans disliked taxes, of course, but the party accepted them as a necessary means of keep the nation’s financial structure sound.
The Republicans used to be deeply concerned for the middle class and small business. Today’s Republican leadership, while not solely accountable for the loss of American jobs, encourages it with its tax code and heads us in the direction of a society of very rich and very poor.
Sen. Kerry, in whom I am willing to place my trust, has demonstrated that he is courageous, sober, competent, and concerned with fighting the dangers associated with the widening socio-economic gap in this country. I will vote for him enthusiastically.
I celebrate, along with other Americans, the diversity of opinion in this country. But let it be based on careful thought. I urge everyone, Republicans and Democrats alike, to avoid voting for a ticket merely because it carries the label of the party of one’s parents or of our own ingrained habits.
John Eisenhower, son of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, served on the White House staff between October 1958 and the end of the Eisenhower administration. From 1961 to 1964 he assisted his father in writing "The White House Years," his Presidential memoirs. He served as American ambassador to Belgium between 1969 and 1971. He is the author of nine books, largely on military subjects.
- son of Dwight D. Eisenhower, who graduated
USMA 1916
"The publishers of The Iconoclast endorsed Bush four years ago, based on the things he promised, not on this smoke-screened agenda. Today, we are endorsing his opponent, John Kerry… Texans [should] not rate the candidate by his hometown or even his political party, but instead by where he intends to take the country."
- editorial in Bush's hometown newspaper, the
Iconoclast, of Crawford, Texas, which came out in favor of Kerry
"Just about everyone else seems to be hoping for a Democrat victory. In Norway, the margin was 74% for Kerry and only 7% for Bush, with the president getting the same level of support in Spain and only 5% in France."
- UK Guardian, based on an international global survey showing massive
preference for Kerry over Bush, 9/17/04
"My inclination was to support the government and the war until proven wrong, and that only came later, as I realized we could not explain the mission, had no exit strategy, and did not seem to be fighting to win."
- George W. Bush in his autobiography, "A Charge to Keep: My Journey
to the White House"
In the three presidential elections the Bushes have fought to date, their percentages of the total national vote have been 53.9 percent (1988), 37.7 percent (1992) and 47.9 percent (2000)--an average of 46.5 percent. ..
In 1991-92, George H.W. Bush, prior to his defeat, fell from a record high job-approval rating of 90 percent after the Gulf War to a low 30s summer bottom before the election. His son, who hit the low 90s right after 9/11, by early June had fallen to 42-43 percent, another fifty-point decline. No elected President has ever done this; the Bushes have done it twice. Maybe it's the gene pool.
- The Nation, 7/26/04
9/08/04: Over 1,000 American dead; # of dead when he told us "mission accomplished": 138.
Global survey shows 30 of 35 countries want Kerry in
White House - AP 9/8/04
WASHINGTON (AFP) - A majority of people in 30 of 35 countries want Democratic party flagbearer John Kerry in the White House, according to a survey released showing US President George W. Bush rebuffed by all of America's traditional allies.
On average, Senator Kerry was favored by more than a two-to-one margin -- 46 percent to 20 percent, the survey by GlobeScan
Inc, a global research firm, and the local University of Maryland, showed.
"Only one in five want to see Bush reelected," said Steven Kull, the university's program on international policy attitudes. "Though he is not as well known, Kerry would win handily if the people of the world were to elect the US president."
The only countries where Bush was preferred in the poll covering a total of 34,330 people and conducted in July and August were the Philippines, Nigeria and Poland.
India and Thailand were divided.
The margin of error in the survey covering all regions of the world ranged from plus or minus 2.3 to five percent.
Kerry was strongly preferred among all of America's traditional allies, including Norway (74 percent compared with Bush's seven percent), Germany (74 percent to 10 percent), France (64 percent to five percent), the Netherlands (63 percent to six percent), Italy (58 percent to 14 percent) and Spain (45 percent to seven percent).
Even in Britain, where Prime Minister Tony Blair is Bush's closest ally in the war on terror, Kerry trounced the incumbent 47 percent to 16 percent.
Kerry was also greatly favored among Canadians by 61 percent to Bush's 16 percent and among the Japanese by 43 percent to 23 percent.
Even among countries that have contributed troops to Iraq , most favored Kerry, and said that their view of US foreign policy has gotten worse under Bush.
They included Britain, the Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, the Dominican Republic, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Japan, Norway and Spain.
Asked how President Bush 's foreign policy had affected their feelings towards the United States, a majority of those polled in 31 countries said it made them feel "worse" about America, while those in only three countries said it had made them feel "better."
"Perhaps most sobering for Americans is the strength of the view that US foreign policy is on the wrong track, even in countries contributing troops in Iraq," said GlobeScan President Doug Miller.
In Europe, the exception for Bush was a new ally, Polland, where he was preferred by a narrow majority of 31 percent against Kerry's 26 percent.
Another new European ally, the Czech Republic, however went for Kerry (42 percent to Bush's 18 percent) as did Sweden (58 percent to 10 percent).
Asia was the most mixed region, though Kerry still did better. Aside from enjoying a large margin in Japan, he was preferred by clear majorities in China (52 percent to Bush's 12 percent) and Indonesia (57 percent to 34 percent).
But those polled were divided in India (Kerry 34 percent, Bush 33 percent) and Thailand (Kerry 30 percent, Bush 33 percent).
Latin Americans went for Kerry in all nine countries polled. In only two cases did Kerry win by a large majority -- Brazil (57 percent to 14 percent) and the Dominican Republic (51 percent to 38 percent) -- but in most cases the spread was quite wide.
Bush was preferred in Nigeria with 33 percent as compared to Kerry's 27 percent but the Democratic candidate was favored in five other African states polled -- Kenya (58 percent to 25 percent), Ghana (48 percent to 24 percent), Tanzania (44 percent to 30 percent), South Africa (43 percent to 29 percent) and Zimbabwe (28 percent to six percent).
Strongest negative views on US foreign policy were held in Germany, with 83 percent of those polled saying "worse" followed by France (81 percent), Mexico (78 percent), China (72 percent), Canada (71 percent), Netherlands ( 71 percent), Spain (67 percent), Brazil (66 percent), Italy (66 percent), Argentina (65 percent) and Britain (64 percent).
WEAKEST RECOVERY IN POST-WWII ERA
Late last week, the jobs report showed an increase of 140,000 nonfarm payrolls (jobs) in August. While an increase in jobs is a welcome development, today's chart illustrates that the current recovery has room for improvement. The chart shows that 33 months after a recession ends, the number of nonfarm payrolls typically increases by 7.1%. This is illustrated by the dashed blue line that represents the average growth in jobs for all economic recoveries from 1954-2000. The current expansion (bold red line) has resulted in a mere 0.5% gain in jobs making this the weakest recovery in the post-WWII era. Stay tuned...
GLOBE: BUSH DIDN'T MEET GUARD COMMITMENTS
President Bush fell well short of meeting his military obligation in the Texas Air National Guard during the Vietnam War, the BOSTON GLOBE is planning to front on Wednesday, newsroom sources tell DRUDGE.
The 1,500 word expose on Bush's records comes just hours ahead of an exclusive CBSNEWS interview set to air Wednesday night with a man who secured for the 22-year-old Yale graduate Bush a coveted place in the Guard -- a man who now claims he regrets helping Bush.
The GLOBE claims: "Twice during his Guard service - first when he joined in May 1968, and again before he transferred out of his unit in mid-1973 to attend Harvard Business School - Bush signed documents pledging to meet training commitments or face a punitive call-up to active duty.
"He didn't meet the commitments, or face the punishment, the records show."
After laying dormant for most of the summer, big media picks up where it left off on the Bush national guard issue in a post-Labor Day filing frenzy.
In the next hours and days, the ASSOCIATED PRESS, CBSNEWS, BOSTON GLOBE and NBCNEWS [who will host Bush author Kitty Kelley on Monday] will revisit Bush National Guard.
The upcoming reexamination of Bush's records by the GLOBE show that Bush's attendance at required training drills "was so irregular that his superiors could have disciplined him or ordered him to active duty in 1972, 1973, or 1974. But they did neither. In fact, Bush's unit certified in late 1973 that his service had been "satisfactory" - just four months after Bush's commanding officer wrote that Bush had not been seen at his unit for the previous 12 months."
- DRUDGE REPORT TUE SEPT 07, 2004
BUSH BY THE NUMBERS (as of 8/4/04):
13,398 = high estimate of confirmed Iraqi civilian dead from Operation Iraqi Freedom
11,429 = low estimate of confirmed Iraqi civilian dead from Operation Iraqi Freedom
- source: - http://www.iraqbodycount.net/ (read their methodology before dismissing them);
920 = US deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom
- 714 = US deaths since July 2, 2003 (when President Bush said, "Bring Them On"
- 460 = US deaths since the capture of Saddam Hussein
29 = minimum number of American soldiers who committed suicide in, or shortly after returning from, Iraq
1,042 = total (US and UK) deaths in Operation Iraqi Freedom
222 = number of war dead Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz was unaware of when testifying to the House Appropriations subcommittee in April, 2004. "It's approximately 500, of which — I can get the exact numbers — approximately 350 are combat deaths." Reality: total American deaths were 722, 521 from combat.
5,976 = total minimum wounded in Operation Iraqi Freedom
- source: DOD, http://icasualties.org/oif/
100-500 tons = Secretary Powell's "conservative estimate" of Saddam Hussein's "stockpile" of "chemical weapons" in his 2/5/03 UN presentation to justify an invasion
0 = quantity of chemical agents actually found
4 tons = quantity of VX nerve agent Secretary Powell said Saddam Hussein "lied" about
0 tons = quanitty of VX nerve agent found
100% = degree of certainty Secretary Powell presented about Saddam Hussein's massive stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction ("This is evidence, not conjecture. This is true. This is all well documented.").
0% = amount that actually turned out to be true
2,013 = # of people wounded by terrorism in 2002
3,643 = # of people wounded by terrorism in 2003
81% = % increase in the number of people wounded by terrorism intenrationally
- 1,593 = # of people the United States initially stated were wounded by terrorism in 2003
- 56% = percentage understatement by the State Department;
- source: US State Department, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3830909.stm
13,000 = number of cluster bombs used by coalition forces
2,000,000 = approximate number of cluster submunitions used by coalition forces
1,000 = conservative estimate of civilians killed or wounded directly by cluster bombs
33 = # of civilians killed in a single day in Hilla in March, 2003, from cluster bombs
0 = # of flag-draped coffins that Bush has allowed to be photographed
1 = # of employees fired for releasing a photograph of flag-draped coffins to the media;
0 = # of White House employees fired for releasing the identify of Valerie Plame to the media;
0 = number of military funerals attended by President Bush
> 100 = # of fund-raisers attended by President Bush
0 = # of mistakes Bush recalled having made
76 = # of days in solitary confinement performed by USMA grad CPT James Yee
20 = # of minutes per day CPT Yee was allowed out of his cell
0 = # of charges against CPT Yee that were not ultimately dropped
0 = # of apologies issued to CPT Yee and his family for his treatment
32 = # of nations in the original "Coalition of the Willing"
4 = # of nations that have already left the "coalition"
4 = # of nations that have plans to leave the coalition in the near future
5 = # of nations (besides the US) who have contributed more than 1,000 troops
0 = # of nations (besides the US) who have contributed more than 10,000 troops
155 = median # of troops contributed by non-US "coalition" members
12 = Moldova's contribution
140 = # of troops Norway withdrew from Iraq
15 = Norway's current troop contribution
9% = total non-UK, non-US "coalition" troop contribution (of all troops in Iraq)
8,000 = approximate # of Iraqis who "disappeared" into the American-run detention centers (source: IRC, Newsweek);
100 = # of children being held in US detention centers including Abu Ghraib (-source: UNICEF)
6 = # of soldiers initially charged with abusing Iraqi detainees;
32 = # of deaths of Iraqis in US detention currently under investigation;
0 = # of anti-coalition activities Prisoner Satar Jabar (whose wired image, standing on a box, is now infamous) was charged with (he was facing theft charges);
41 = # of days that elapsed from the death of Munadil al-Jumaily, a healthy 40-year-old who died Feb. 10 of a cerebral contusion and hemorrhage, while in US custody and his family's discovering his death (by seeing his body on ice with a smiling American soldier, Sabrina Harman, giving the thumbs up sign, in a newspaper photograph);
2 = # of reprimands issued to USMA 85 LTC Nate Sassaman related to mistreatment of Iraqis by his unit, one for impeding an investigation into forcing 2 Iraqi men to jump from a bridge on 1/4/04 (1 drowned)
$445 billion = most recent budget deficit projected by President Bush;
20% = % increase over prior year's deficit;
$230 billion = 2000 budget surplus under President Clinton
$122 billion = 1999 budget surplus under President Clinton
$65 billion = projected annual cost of insuring all Americans (assuming no off-setting economies of scale, risk pool efficiencies, etc.)
44 million = # of Americans without health insurance
4 million = # of Americans who lost health insurance under President Bush
15% = percentage of Americans who lack health insurance
#1 = relative ranking of the United States in health care spending as a % of GDP.
0 = # of other wealthy, industrialized nations whose citizens do not all have universal health insurance.
$125.9 billion = cumulative direct costs of the war in Iraq
17.8 million = number of children who could have attended Head Start for this money;
54.0 million = number of children whose health care could be fully financed for a year for this money;
12 = number of years of world-wide AIDS programs this money could have financed.
- source: http://www.costofwar.com
$4 billion = approximate monthly cost of the war in Iraq
$1.7 billion = approximate aggregate value of contracts awarded Halliburton and subsidiaries for reconstruction work in Iraq;
0 = number of competitive bids placed for these contracts;
$174,000 = approximate annual compensation VP Dick Cheney receives from Halliburton
$73 million = approximate dollar value of the illegal contracts Halliburton-controlled companies signed with Iraq when Cheney was CEO;
$1.9 billion = approximate amount to be shifted from funds earmarked for Iraqis to Halliburton and other US contractors;
54.8% = rise in Halliburton's stock price since the invasion of Iraq
0 = # of years Dick Cheney served in combat
0 = # of years Dick Cheney served in the United States military in any capacity
5 = # of deferments sought by Dick Cheney to avoid service in Vietnam
0 = # of deferments sought by Senator Kerry
1 = minimum # of "critical occupation" deferments sought by John Ashcroft (critical job was teaching business at Southwest Missouri State)
0 = # of years of combat experience by George W. Bush
6 = # of years of President Bush's Texas Air National Guard commitment
4 = maximum # of years of President Bush's commitment served
0 = # of years of military service by Thom Delay (he claimed that too many people of color had volunteered to serve the military, leaving no room for him).
0 = # of years of military service by Dick Armey
0 = # of years of military service by Dennis Hastert
0 = # of years of military service by Karl Rove
0 = # of years of military service by Paul Wolfowitz
0 = # of years of military service by Richard Perle
0 = # of years of military service by Bill Kristol
0 = # of years of military service by Rush Limbaugh
0 = # of years of military service by Bill O'Reilly
0 = # of years of military service by Pat Robertson
0 = # of years of military service by Charles Krauthammer
3 = # of limbs lost by Max Cleland in Vietnam
3 = # of Purple Hearts earned by Kerry in Vietnam
2 = # of Silver Stars earned by Cleland and Kerry (1 each) in Vietnam
0 = # of years President Bush served in combat
8 = the number of years since the following was written:
"I am angry that so many of the sons of the powerful and well placed … managed to wangle slots in Reserve or National Guard units. Of the many tragedies of Vietnam, this raw class discrimination strikes me as the most damaging to the ideal that all Americans are created equal and owe equal allegiance to their country."
- Colin Powell, My American Journey
Reality Versus Bush
The Saga Continues
September 2, 2004 If You Can't Think Up New Lies,
Just Repeat Some Old Ones (With Music and Plenty of References to God and
9-11 and American Fighting Men (Even if You Yourself Never Were One))
Bush's address to the Republican National Convention was less dishonest or primitive than the bizarre duel-challenging splutter of Zell Miller the night before, but no less disconnected from reality. To wit:
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What He Said: |
Reality: |
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If America shows uncertainty and weakness in this decade, the world will drift toward tragedy. This will not happen on my watch. |
I imagine many residents of Fallujah, Najaf, and Baghdad might believe that "tragedy" has most definitely happened on his watch. |
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We will offer a tax credit to encourage small businesses and their employees to set up health savings accounts, and provide direct help for low-income Americans to purchase them. These accounts give workers the security of insurance against major illness, the opportunity to save tax-free for routine health expenses and the freedom of knowing you can take your account with you whenever you change jobs. |
Although not a terrible idea (such plans in various form already exist), they are unrealistic for most low income and modest income Americans. A serious illness or accident followed by rehabilitation and inability to work will quickly wipe out whatever savings even the most frugal ordinary American could amass. This is a gimmick, a cosmetic change to a system that consumes over 15% of our GDP but fails to provide coverage to 45 million Americans. |
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Thanks to our policies, homeownership in America is at an all-time high. |
Homeownership has risen virtually every year since World War II. Home ownership is a function of income, interest rates, and lending practices. Bush controls none of these. |
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In an ownership society, more people will own their health plans … |
This is a cynical way of stating that the government under Bush will assume absolutely no responsibility for refereeing or fixing our health care system. |
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"…we're providing a record level of funding to get [the schools] that help." |
Bush reneged on his promise to fully fund No Child Left Behind (a slogan plagiarized from the Children's Defense Fund, which most definitely does NOT support Bush) |
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"This principal is challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations…" |
Interesting quip from the only President who failed to address the NAACP. |
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"Senator Kerry opposed Medicare reform and health savings accounts. After supporting my education reforms, he now wants to dilute them. He opposes legal and medical liability reform. He opposed reducing the marriage penalty, opposed doubling the child credit and opposed lowering income taxes for all who pay them." |
None of these claims is true. Bush uses this deceptively sloppy logic: "my opponent does not share my proposed solution so he is opposed to ANY solution." The quip re taxes is nonsensical; the vast majority of Bush's tax cuts went to the top 1% of the country by income - Kerry proposed making it more equitable. To use Bush logic against him, consider this: virtually no soldier in Iraq will benefit from Bush's tax cut, but under Kerry, most would. |
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"[Kerry's] proposed more than two trillion dollars in new federal spending so far, and that's a lot, even for a senator from Massachusetts." |
This is astonishingly dishonest from a President who blew a surplus into a $500 billion a year deficit. Bush always discusses the cost (without any offsetting benefits), assuming every cost must be financed with tax increases. By this logic, his military expenditures should make him the greatest tax-and-spend president since LBJ. |
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"His policies of tax and spend — of expanding government rather than expanding opportunity…" |
Bush expanded government at a record rate. There is no end in site to the growth in spending. Talking about opportunity is nice, but about as meaningless as most of the 6th grade essay filler that Bush tries to pass off as original or bold thinking. |
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"I support welfare reform that strengthens family and requires work." |
Since most impoverished households are headed by single mothers, it is unclear how mandating work and restricting claims will strengthen the family. |
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"Because a caring society will value its weakest members, we must make a place for the unborn child." |
Curious though that once that "unborn child" (aka fetus) is born, many won't have health insurance, access to Head Start, or the presence of mom (who Bush would like to leave home to work at a minimum wage job across town). |
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"I support the protection of marriage against activist judges." |
As a happily married man, I have no idea how an "activist judge" or anyone else for that matter could threaten my marriage. This is a cheap gay-bashing play to the radical right. Why not simply say that he opposes family values if the family involved is headed by a same gender couple? |
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"I will continue to appoint federal judges who know the difference between personal opinion and the strict interpretation of the law." |
Since he owes his job to an activist judge who inserted personal opinion over a strict interpretation of Florida law, this is pretty ungrateful. |
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"If you say the heart and soul of America is found in Hollywood, I'm afraid you are not the candidate of conservative values." |
I don't remember Kerry saying this, for one. For another, consider that two of the most prominently featured Republicans (Schwartzeneger and Reagan) are/were actors. The admirals, generals, and diplomats who supported Kerry as commander in chief were real. |
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"We are staying on the offensive — striking terrorists abroad — so we do not have to face them here at home." |
He really likes this line. Whether the death of Americans abroad will prevent the death of Americans at home is highly speculative, to be kind. It is unclear how many American lives, if any, were saved by the hundreds of Iraqi men, women, and children killed in Fallujah, Najaf, or Baghdad. I imagine a school child in Iraq might not like knowing his country is being gutted so that Muffy can shop safely in a mall in Minneapolis. |
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"The government of a free Afghanistan is fighting terror…" |
Perhaps, but there is no coherent, credible government of Afghanistan; when Doctors Without Borders pulls out, you know the security situation is horrible. |
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"More than three-quarters of al-Qaida's key members and associates have been detained or killed. We have led, many have joined, and America and the world are safer." |
This is a meaningless statistic and - unless Rumsfeld was lying - is impossible to ascertain. If there were a finite member of terrorists, then killing or capturing many of them would mean something. The true proof of the effectiveness of an anti-terror campaign is a reduction in the number of terrorist attacks, deaths, and injury. By this metric, our campaign has not been effective. Consider the past week alone: 2 buses blown apart in Israel (16 dead), a bombing in Moscow (10 dead), 2 downed Russian airliners (90 dead), and a school with about 400-600 people, mostly children, being held hostage. Violence may one day prevent violence, but it has not yet. |
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"We knew Saddam Hussein's record of aggression and support for terror. We knew his long history of pursuing, even using, weapons of mass destruction. And we know that Sept. 11th requires our country to think differently: We must, and we will, confront threats to America before it is too late." |
After all that has been revealed and written, including the conclusive findings of the independent 9-11 commissions, to continue to link Saddam Hussein and 9-11 in this nakedly sloppy way defies incredulity. Had he been honest, Bush could have rewritten these statements as a series of excuses explaining why he was so wrong about weapons of mass destruction and links to al Qaeda, and concluding with an apology to the people of Iraq and the servicemen who died because of his sloppy, deceitful rush to war. |
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"Leaders in the Middle East urged him to comply." |
Leaders in the Middle East begged Bush not to attack. None supported Bush. |
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"We gave Saddam Hussein another chance, a final chance, to meet his responsibilities to the civilized world." |
Technically, the Security Council gave him another chance. No one elected Bush as arbiter or spokesman for the "civilized world." |
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"He again refused" |
This is a patent lie, especially after what Bush didn't find in Iraq. The Security Council established a process whereby weapons inspectors would be re-introduced, then report back to the security council. Saddam Hussein complied with every demand, even surprise inspections of his palaces. Hans Blix felt he was making good progress. His assessment, we now know, was accurate. Bush - not Saddam Hussein - ordered the inspectors out of the country, aborting the process. It was quite clear from what was not found that Saddam Hussein was actually in compliance - that is, he had taken advantage of his "final chance" and that the war was unnecessary. |
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"I faced the kind of decision that comes only to the Oval Office — a decision no president would ask for, but must be prepared to make. Do I forget the lessons of Sept. 11th and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our country? Faced with that choice, I will defend America every time." |
This is one of Bush's favorite lies. It actually consists of several lies cleverly embedded within each other: 1.) that he didn't "ask for" war (he did); 2.) that not aborting the arms inspection and disarmament regimen in Iraq would be "forget[ing] the lessons of Sept. 11th (connection?); 3.) that trusting the work of the weapons inspectors would have anything to do with trusting Saddam Hussein (Blix and others have repeatedly stated that the arms inspection and disarmament process could succeed independent of Saddam Hussein's cooperation); 4.) that invading Iraq and aborting the inspection process had something to do with "defend[ing] our country" (which implies that Saddam Hussein had the will, motive, and means to strike the United States, a ridiculous assertion at the time and an even more ludicrous one now; 5.) that Bush's only choice was starting a war and alienating the "civilized world" Bush claimed to represent or not defending America; 6.) that Saddam Hussein was a "madman" - he was brutal, authoritarian, and merciless, but he was not a "madman' in the sense that his actions were unpredictable. He informed the United States government of his intention to invade Kuwait and to attack Iran, his only two acts of international aggression. As an Arab nationalist (not an Islamic fundamentalist like Osama bin Laden) who had survived for decades, there was virtually no likelihood that Saddam Hussein would have engaged in an action (attacking the United States) that would have guaranteed his downfall. |
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"Because we acted to defend our country, the murderous regimes of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban are history, more than 50 million people have been liberated, and democracy is coming to the broader Middle East." |
Notice the switch - he glides from acting in American interests to acting in the interests of the "civilized world" to acting now in the interests of those countries we invaded. His opinion about whether or not the Iraqis should feel liberated is speculative and irrelevant; opinion polls of Iraqis indicated most feel occupied and humiliated, not liberated. No credible, representative government has been established in either Afghanistan or Iraq. Perhaps one day they will, but to claim so now is not true. |
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"In Afghanistan, terrorists have done everything they can to intimidate people — yet more than 10 million citizens have registered to vote in the October presidential election — a resounding endorsement of democracy." |
No, a meaningless statistic. Unless those registered voters can get to the polls and get home safely, something that clearly cannot happen today, no free or fair election could be held. |
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"Despite ongoing acts of violence, Iraq now has a strong prime minister, a national council, and national elections are scheduled for January." |
(Note the actor-less vague phrase "ongoing acts of violence" as though our shelling of Fallujah or cluster-bombing of Hilla are somehow disconnected from the war we started.) Iraq's "prime minister" is unelected and controls very little of the country, certainly very little west of Baghdad. He is an ex-CIA operative with very little credibility. National elections are scheduled, but pre-election councils have fallen apart. Security remains atrocious. There is no legal authority in Fallujah, for example, after the security force set up a few months ago fell apart. |
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Our troops know the historic importance of our work. One Army Specialist wrote home: "We are transforming a once sick society into a hopeful place ... The various terrorist enemies we are facing in Iraq," he continued, "are really aiming at you back in the United States. This is a test of will for our country. We soldiers of yours are doing great and scoring victories in confronting the evil terrorists." |
As touching as the President might intend this anecdote to be, the reality of the situation on the ground should not and cannot be determined by a single letter from a single unidentified enlisted person. The weight of evidence is that the United States occupation forces are fighting a wide array of elements with far greater popular support than was first imagined (or probably existed a year ago). |
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"Because of you, women in Afghanistan are no longer shot in a sports stadium." |
Perhaps not, but thousands were suffocated by our putative allies in container cars. And in Iraq, hundreds recently died following our siege of Fallujah (and they were buried in mass graves in a sports field). |
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"We owe you our thanks, and we owe you something more. We will give you all the resources, all the tools, and all the support you need for victory." |
This is not the consensus view of soldiers on the ground, certainly not in the critical months immediately following the invasion. |
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"My opponent and his running mate voted against this money for bullets, and fuel, and vehicles, and body armor." |
This is vicious, childish histrionics. The Pentagon has an enormous budget out of which it could easily find money to equip all troops with body armor, with or without the additional $87 billion. To say that because Kerry opposed the exact timing, amount, amendments, etc., on the appropriations bill (which was much larger and earlier than Bush had said it would be when estimating the cost of the war), he opposed body armor is to make a general argument ludicrously specific. One thing is certain: had Bush not started this war, not a single troop would require body armor because they would not be getting killed in Iraq. |
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"When asked to explain his vote, the Senator said, "I actually did vote for the $87 billion before I voted against it." Then he said he was "proud" of that vote. Then, when pressed, he said it was a "complicated" matter." |
Whoever scripted the RNC must have loved this quotation. I find it stunning that a career politician like Bush or a Beltway lobbyist such as Cheney would not understand the complex horse trading that goes into making laws. Of course they do. When Bush shot down protocols on torture, the family, the child in the summer of 2001, did this mean he supported torture and was anti-family and anti-child? (Before Abu Ghraib, this would have been a rhetorical question, but you get the idea.) |
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"There is nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat." |
Then why did you do such a terrible job? Why did you send National Guardsmen into harm's way to do a job they were not prepared to do, to put their lives on the line for weapons that did not exist, to execute orders that violated the Geneva Convention? Why did you call the over-stretched Guardsmen back to duty while forbidding to allow pictures of their flag-draped coffins? And why, Mr. President, did you start this war in the first place? There is nothing complicated about why Americans are dying: you lied to them. |
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"About 40 nations stand beside us in Afghanistan, and some 30 in Iraq." |
Yeah, powerhouses like Honduras and the Marshall Islands. What percentage of troops are non-United States, non-Brit? 9%. Only 5 nations contributed more than 1,000 troops, none besides the United States contributed more than 10,000. The median number of troops committed by our "allies" is 155. Several have plans to withdraw all or most of their troops. Norway, for example, has 15 on the ground. |
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"Allies … deserve the respect of all Americans, not the scorn of a politician." |
The greatest scorn a politician can show to an ally is to lie to them, to have them commit troops with no realistic plan of occupation, no international or regional legitimacy or support, and no viable, face-saving exit strategy. |
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"The people we have freed won't forget either. Not long ago, seven Iraqi men came to see me in the Oval Office. They had "X"s branded into their foreheads, and their right hands had been cut off, by Saddam Hussein's secret police, the sadistic punishment for imaginary crimes. During our emotional visit one of the Iraqi men used his new prosthetic hand to slowly write out, in Arabic, a prayer for God to bless America. I am proud that our country remains the hope of the oppressed, and the greatest force for good on this earth." |
As moving as this anecdote is, 7 is simply not a statistically valid sample from which to draw inferences about a general population. Sadr was also a victim of Saddam Hussein, losing a father and several family members to his secret police. Yet he is fiercely fighting our occupation. Larger surveys from the general population indicate most Iraqis view the American war and occupation much less kindly than that of these 7 hand-picked victims of a regime Reagan and Bush's father once supported. |
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"The terrorists are fighting freedom with all their cunning and cruelty because freedom is their greatest fear — and they should be afraid, because freedom is on the march." |
Since terrorism is a means, not an end, and generalizing about the motives and aims of all who engage in terrorism worldwide, or even in the Middle East, is about as useful an exercise as generalizing about all febrile illnesses, it is unclear whether this statement is universally true. It is not clear that the "black widows", for example, who have lost their loved ones in Chechnya and blow themselves up in Moscow are afraid of freedom as much as resisting occupation. |
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" Palestinians will hear the message that democracy and reform are within their reach, and so is peace with our good friend Israel." |
Palestinians are much more in need of food and physical security right now than they are of some abstraction such as political reform. According to a recent USAID study, 20% of Palestinian children are anemic and 17% are stunted, something only seen in famine-like conditions. An end to occupation, lifting of the blockade, destruction of the apartheid wall, dismantling of settlements would go a long way. Why are Palestinians singled out for reform, yet Israel identified as a "good friend"? |
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"Generations will know if we kept our faith and kept our word." |
Yes they will, George. And so will that "Almighty God" you so frequently claim guides your actions. |
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"We see America's character in our military, which finds a way or makes one." |
From listening to the Republicans, you would never imagine that only bout 4% of our GDP goes into the military (or that neither Cheney nor Bush served in it). The other 96% of the country - teachers, engineers, doctors, nurses, librarians, salespeople, policemen, and firemen - arguably make America what it is. The Soviet Union collapsed not so much because of Ronald Reagan but because it spent far too much on guns and far too little on butter. Apotheosis and glorification of all things martial has not generally been associated with flourishing, prosperous societies. (One could also quip that Bush found a way, or made one, out of military service in Vietnam.) |
"I think John Kerry must have shot his dog."
- McCain referring to the rage of Zell Miller at the RNC; The Daily Show, 9/2/04
Bush had one DUI; Dick Cheney had 2 DUI's. (Zell Miller had at least one.)
Bush lost his pilots license when he refused to take a drug test, he got
into Yale even though his SAT scores were under 700.
He failed to complete his National Guard service because he "worked
something out" with the National Guard to attend Harvard Business School,
a program that strangely accepted him despite his C- average at Yale. I would
wager there are a few thousand National Guardsmen in Iraq who would love to be able
to "work something out" to return to their families right now.
Senator Kerry "showed up when assigned to [military] duty… A cowardly attack on innocent civilians brought us an unprecedented level of cooperation and understanding around the world. But in just 34 months, we have watched with deep concern as all this goodwill has been squandered by a virtually unbroken series of mistakes and miscalculations… In the world at large we cannot lead if our leaders mislead."
- President Jimmy Carter, 7/26/04
[Bush] "and his congressional allies made a very different choice: to use the moment of unity to push America too far to the right and to walk away from our allies, not only in attacking Iraq before the weapons inspectors finished their jobs, but in withdrawing American support for the Climate Change Treaty, the International Court for war criminals, the ABM treaty, and even the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. For the first time ever when America was on a war footing, there were two huge tax cuts, nearly half of which went to the top one percent. I'm in that group now for the first time in my life....They protected my tax cuts while withholding promised funding for the Leave No Child Behind Act, leaving over 2 million children behind; cutting 140,000 unemployed workers out of job training, 100,000 working families out of child care assistance, 300,000 poor children out of after school programs; raising out of pocket healthcare costs to veterans, weakening or reversing important environmental advances for clean air and the preservation of our forests.
"Everyone had to sacrifice except the wealthiest Americans, who wanted to do their part but were asked only to expend the energy necessary to open the envelopes containing our tax cuts. If you agree with these choices, you should vote to return them to the White House and Congress. If not, take a look at John Kerry, John Edwards and the Democrats.
"If you agree with the White House decisions to cut police funding and not to push for extending the ban on assault weapons--"they're taking police off the streets and putting assault weapons back on the streets"--then vote for the Republicans. If you agree with the White House's opposition to a bill that would have diverted $1 billion in tax cuts for the rich to a program to boost security inspections of cargo at ports and airports, then vote for the Republicans. "If you think it's good policy to pay for my tax cut with the Social Security checks of working men and women, and borrowed money from China, vote for them… Their opponents will tell you to be afraid of John Kerry and John Edwards, because they won't stand up to the terrorists--don't you believe it. Strength and wisdom are not conflicting values--they go hand in hand."
- President Bill Clinton, 7/27/04
"This president would seem to be the most illiterate in U.S. history. His is not the merely technical illiteracy of most Americans, who, irrespective of their class or education, routinely make grammatical mistake so slight that only pedants mind them: George W. Bush is so illiterate as to turn completely incoherent when he speaks without a script or unless he thinks his every statement through so carefully beforehand that the effort empties out his face."
- The Bush Dyslexicon, Mark Crispin Miller, 2001, ap. 6 a
" Homeownership is at the highest rate ever. That means there's [sic] more people ever in our history [sic] are [sic] able to say, 'I own something. I own my own home.'"
- George W. Bush, from www.whitehouse.gov, 3/15/04.
"I was not prepared to shoot my eardrum out with a shotgun in order to get a deferment, nor was I willing to go to Canada, so I chose to better myself by learning to fly airplanes."
- George W. Bush, interview with Houston Chronicle 1994
Question for Press Secretary McClellan: You keep saying this [raising of the National Guard AWOL issue] is a shame… but don't you think the American public, as well, particularly the U.S. military, who has been tested right now with the fact that they went to war on faulty intelligence, possibly, and now finding out that their Commander-in-Chief possibly tried to avoid going to the Vietnam War… is owed a little bit more than photo copies that we can't see things of? Don't you think the military is owed a little bit more than just, "he served"?
- from the White House Press Briefing 2/10/04.
"Yet, it is hard not to hate George Bush. His ignorance and conceit, his professed special relationship with God, invite revulsion."
- Guardian editorial, 12/22/2003
Words of Wisdom: Yes, He Really Said This:
"You shall not utter a false report. You shall not join hands with a wicked man, to be a malicious witness. You shall not follow a multitude to do evil. Nor shall you bear witness… so as to pervert justice." - Exodus 23.
Bush's lies:
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What Bush said: |
The truth: |
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Saddam Hussein had a "massive stockpile" of unconventional weapons. |
The overwhelming weight of evidence from inspectors was that if he had any weapons they were scant. (Subsequent failure to unearth a single unconventional weapon demonstrates the inspectors' assessment was correct.) |
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Saddam Hussein was directly "dealing" with al Qaeda . |
No such evidence existed or exists. "Combining the techniques of Madison Avenue and of totalitarianism, President George Bush has … endlessly reiterated the names of Saddam and 9/11 together. With a wondrous piece of suggestio falsi, he spoke of Saddam's links with 'al-Qaida-type organisations' (or 'al-Qaida types', or 'a terrorist network like al-Qaida'), and in one speech about Iraq, he mentioned September 11 more than 10 times. As a result of this subliminal persuasion, a majority of Americans now say they believe that Saddam was linked to the attack on New York, a falsehood which even the White House has never dared assert in plain terms." Guardian, 4/21/03 |
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The International Atomic Energy Agency had produced a report in 1998 noting that Iraq was six months from developing a nuclear weapon. |
No such report existed. The IAEA had actually reported then that there was no indication Iraq had the ability to produce weapons-grade material. Note that President Bush made this statement on television; by the time it was retracted several days later, the public impression of this inaccurate statement had already had its effect. |
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Saddam Hussein was importing aluminum tubes to reconstitute his nuclear program. |
The IAEA stated multiple times that these tubes had been thoroughly examined and exactly matched the dimensions needed for conventional artillery munitions (allowed by the cease fire accords). President Bush repeated his incorrect statement in a later televised addressed AFTER the IAEA corrected his earlier inaccuracy. |
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Saddam Hussein was attempting to obtain uranium in Niger. |
He initially cited what was dismissed by the intelligence community as a fraudulent letter. He later cited British intelligence. That British intelligence has never been shared with the Americans or the British. "In October, [2003], acting on Tenet's suggestion, Bush excised a sentence about Iraq seeking a specific quantity of uranium from Niger, Fleischer said. Yet, several months later, Bush went ahead and raised the claim about seeking uranium in Africa." - CNN, 7/15/03
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Iraq was "harboring a terrorist network, headed by a senior Al Qaeda terrorist planner" |
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"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." |
No one who heard this speech doubted the President was referring to nuclear weapons, by far "the most lethal weapons ever devised." Note this is more than a desire, more than an inchoate program; President Bush said Saddam Hussein "possess[es]" the weapons and was hiding them. |
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Saddam Hussein "wouldn't let" U.N. weapons inspectors into Iraq. (State of the Union Speech). |
In fact, the inspectors were in the country in the months before the war. - CNN, 07/15/2003 |
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"We found the weapons of mass destruction." |
Perhaps one of his most famous mis-statements, made on Polish television after the war. Arguably the most forgivable (every report of chemical weapons "finds" were later shown to be false), it is still curious why the President would issue a statement on such an important issue at such a critical time (attempting to enlist more Polish support for the occupation) without allowing his "fact-checkers" to vet the story. |
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"The vast majority of my [proposed] tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." |
Actually 42.6% of the initial $1.6 trillion package would go to the top 1% of earners; only 12.6% would go to the entire bottome 60%. |
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A single mother of 2 children supporting 2 children would experience a 100% pay cut. |
Actually, such a woman would have not tax liability prior to the tax cut. |
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"The greatest percentage of tax relief goes to the people at the bottom end of the ladder." |
The greatest proportion of the tax cut (42.6%) goes to the top 1%; here, Bush is using the "percentage" to refer to the percentage one's taxes are lowered. So a person paying $200 in income taxes who no longer has to pay federal income tax does enjoy a 100% reduction in income taxes, but is this arguably more significant than a millionaire whose $100,000 tax bill is cut by "only" 10%, or $10,000? |
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The estate tax would "keep family farms in the family." |
The New York Times could not find a single family lost because of the estate tax. |
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"Ninety-two million Americans will keep an average of $1,083 more of their own money." |
This is meaningless average since the distribution was so skewed toward high-earners. Almost half of all taxpayers would received less than a $100 tax reduction. Those in the middle of the range would receive $265. 80% of taxpayers would received less than $1,083. |
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About arsenic: "At the very last minute my predecessor made a decision, and we pulled back his decision so that we can make a decision based upon sound science and what's realistic." |
2 lies: the decision to lower arsenic levels to 10 parts per billion was made after a decade of study, not "at the very last minute"; "sound science" as represented by a 1999 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study indicated the existing standard could create a 1-in-100 cancer risk and recommended lowering levels promptly. |
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Kyoto had to be abandoned because of "the incomplete state of scientific knowledge" about global warming. |
More a quibble than a lie, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) noted global temperature increases, citing unspecified human contribution of human emissions. |
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"America was targeted for attack [on 9/11/01] because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world." |
Since at least 1998, al Qaeda's motivation for attacking America was clearly its foreign policy not its domestic values. The 3 major criticisms were US support of Israel, sanctions against Iraq, and stationing of Western troops in Saudi Arabia. The attacks were vicious but far from random. |
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"No one could have conceivably imagined suicide bombers burrowing into our society and then emerging all in the same day to fly their aircraft--fly US aircraft--into buildings full of innocent people." |
Actually, he and his senior staff had been briefed several times on just such a scenario. |
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"We must uncover every detail and learn every lesson of September the 11th." |
Actually, he resisted creating a special committee to explore what happened, complicated the committee's future at one point by appointing an alleged war criminal (Kissinger), then filed to cooperate fully with the committee until publicly shamed into doing so. |
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"We're not going to deploy a [missile defense] system that doesn't work." |
He did; the system has never tested successfully. Initial tests were such abysmal failures that subsequent tests were classified. |
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His 8/01 decision to permit federal funding of stem-cell research only for projects that used existing stem-cell lines was softened by his claim that there were sixty existing lines which "allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem-cell research." |
In reality there were only about 10 lines, insufficient for a promising research effort, and seriously hampering American innovation in critical areas of medical research. |
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Ariel Sharon is a "partner for peace." |
This is a strange statement to make about a man found responsible by his own government for the 1980 Sabra-Shatilla massacres that killed up to 1,800 Palestinians, and a man who has refused to make a single concession on settlements, the security wall, or the right of return of Palestinian refugees in the interest of peace. |
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Yasser Arafat is "irrelevant." |
Yasser Arafat, like Sharon a man with a long history of politically motivated violence, may be many things, but he quite clearly remains (through 9/03) relevant to Palestinian policy. He was elected in 1996 to lead his people, which is of course more than can be said for President Bush. |
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Bush supports free trade. |
In March, 2002, in a move later shot down by the World Trade Organization as a violation of existing free-trade agreements, Bush hiked tariffs on steel imports. He later rescinded many of those hikes, perhaps realizing this drove up the price of everything made with steel by about a third. |
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"We have assembled a coalition of the willing." |
The vast majority of the troops and assets for the Iraq invasion were Anglo-Saxon with token support by a number of other countries, many of whom were granted large cash infusions for signing on. "The Bush team keeps arguing that this silly alliance it cobbled together to fight the war in Iraq is multilateral and therefore the moral equivalent of the U.N. Almost every government in it is operating without the support of its people. Fighting this war without international legitimacy is hard enough, but trying to do nation-building without it could be even harder." Thomas Friedman, NYT, 3/30/03 |
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"I pray for peace." |
Said on the eve of war, this strange statement makes it seem as if he had no choice but to attack, as if war was thrust upon him. Was it outright sacrilege? Perhaps. The Pope denounced the war as a "defeat for humanity." Bishop Tutu urged President Bush to "listen to the voice of the people, for many times the voice of the people is the voice of God" to "give peace a chance." |
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Security Council Resolution 1441 authorized the United States to take force against Iraq. |
Incorrect. 1441 set up a timetable under which inspectors would be readmitted (they were), Iraq would report the possession of any weapons of mass destruction (they did, accurately as it turned out), then Blix would return to the UNSC who in turn could authorize force in the name of the United Nations if Iraq was deemed in material breach. No individual member state was given authority to attack unilaterally, and Blix indicated on multiple occasions that the Iraqis were surprisingly cooperative. |
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In response to world-wide protests against his proposed Iraq invasion: "Size of protest it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group… The role of a leader is to decide policy based upon the security, in this case, the security of the people." |
A focus group consists of a small number of representative people. When over ten million people take to the streets worldwide, that pretty much IS the people. The highest support for the war outside of the United States was 14% prior to the invasion. Since the weight of evidence before and after the conflict illustrated that Saddam Hussein never posed a threat to the "security of the people", his equating invading Iraq in the teeth of international outrage was with protecting that security was bogus. |
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Mr Bush "understands there are going to be people who are more comfortable doing nothing about a growing menace that could turn into a holocaust". |
This implies that the most rigorous arms inspection and disarmament regimen in history (that now seemed to have been even more successful than its most ardent supporters believed) is "doing nothing" and that between here and "a holocaust" no opportunity for intervention will present itself. |
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"Mission Accomplished" (slogan as backdrop to President Bush's 5/1/03 speech on the Abraham Lincoln announcing the triumphant end of major hostilities). |
More Americans died since the speech than before it. Saddam Hussein remains at large. The country remains short of security, water, electricity. Many international aid agencies have withdrawn. |
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"There was a time when many said that the cultures of Japan and Germany were incapable of sustaining democratic values. Well, they were wrong." (Implying that Iraq could also sustain "democratic values." |
From the Guardian: " In fact, it is Mr Bush who is wrong. Japanese men got the vote in 1925, not in 1945, as the president implied. And German men won the vote as far back as 1849, albeit subject to a property qualification, at a time when Mr Bush's country practised legalised slavery. Bearing in mind that America only became a full democracy in 1965, and Germany in 1946, there is a case for saying that Germans have at least as strong a democratic tradition as Americans. What's more, there is no dispute about who actually won the last German election, which is more than can be said about the means by which Mr Bush came to office. A little historical humility would do the president no harm." |
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"a new regime in Iraq would serve as a dramatic and inspiring example of freedom for other nations in the region" |
Conceivably an error in judgement rather than a true lie, this certainly has not (as of 9/03) been true. |
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President Bush never claimed Saddam Hussein posed an imminent threat. |
He did at least twice (through his press secretary in answer to explicit questions using the phrase "imminent threat"), and repeatedly stated that Saddam Hussein possessed and concealed some of the worst weapons ever devised, and could hand them off to a "shadowy terrorist network" at any time, that failure to invade in March, 2003, would be "suicide", and he referred to British claims that a chemical, biological, or nuclear attack could be launched on England within 45" as credible. An imminent threat by any other name… |
Polls last winter showed that public support for the president's decision to go to war in Iraq was sharply divided along partisan lines, with broad indications of reluctance. Now there are growing doubts about whether the results were worth the loss of life and other costs involved. Only 41 percent said it was, while 53 percent said it was not. When the question was asked using Saddam Hussein's name, the results were almost reversed, with about half those surveyed le saying it was worth removing him from power, and 41 percent saying it was not. Over all, 51 percent of the respondents approved of Mr. Bush's performance.
- New York Times 10/03/2003
Thirteen months before the 2004 election, a solid majority of Americans say the country is seriously on the wrong track, a classic danger sign for incumbents, and only about half of Americans approve of Mr. Bush's overall job performance. - AP, 10/03
Max Cleland, the former Democratic senator from Georgia, became the first panel member to say publicly that the commission could not complete its work by its May 2004 deadline and the first to accuse the White House of withholding classified information from the panel for purely political reasons. "It's obvious that the White House wants to run out the clock here," he said in an interview in Washington. "It's Halloween, and we're still in negotiations with some assistant White House counsel about getting these documents it's disgusting." - New York Times 10/26/2003
Bush talked last week about trying to shut down the War Crimes Tribunal by 2008. That doesn't sound like a man who has internalized either the pain of the Bosnians or the lesson that noninvolvement in the region was shortsighted.
Comments re Intervening Militarily to Stop Genocide in Rwanda:
"I don't like genocide," Bush said in January of 2000.
"But I would not commit our troops."
Words of Wisdom: Yes, He Really Said This:
"I will have a foreign handed foreign
policy "
"Families is where our nation finds hope,
where wings take dream."
"The Legislature's job is
to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law "
"It's not the way America is all
about"
"A leadership is someone who brings people
together"
"I don't feel like I've got all that much too important to say on the kind of big national issues." (20/20, 9/15/00)
"Is our children learning?"
"The important question is, How many hands have I shaked [sic]?" (New York Times, 10/23/99)
"The fact that [Gore] relies on facts - says things that are not factual - are [sic] going to undermine his campaign." (New York Times, 3/4/00)
"We cannot let terrorists or rogue nations
hold the nation hostile or hold our allies hostile "
"Discussing terrorism and other
foreign threats, Bush vowed to 'use our technology
to enhance uncertainties abroad.'"
New York Times, 3/6/00
"And, you know, hopefully, condoms will
work, but it hasn't [sic] worked."
Meet the Press, 11/21/99
"Pussy."
Bush's answer when asked by David Fink what he and his father talk about when not discussing politics, at the 1988 Republican Convention
Matthews: How can you stop people from getting an abortion if they want one?
Bush: You can't. You can't. I- I-
Matthews: So why ban it?
Bush: Well, I- I don't - I- I don't - I think
the key is, is to change the culture first and foremost. I don't think anybody
is under - I don't believe people believe it can be banned.
Hardball, May 31, 2000, CNBC
"Bush can, and has, cut off aid to family planning programs overseas. He can, and will, sign a bill outlining a procedure critics call partial birth abortion. And he will appoint federal judges whom the right considers congenial. (Asked during the campaign to identify his favorite Supreme Court Jutices, Bush named Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, exciting conservatives to the point of ecstasy.)"
- The Radical
Presidency of George W. Bush, George Keller, 1/26/2003, section 6, New
York Times Magazine
"You no good f…ing
sonofabitch, I will never f…ing
forget what you wrote!"
To Al Hunt, the Wall Street Journal's Washington bureau chief, who was dining with his 4 year-old son at a Mexican restaurant in Dallas, 1987, as recounted by Bill Minutaglio, First Son, pp. 208-9; Bush was "quite clearly lubricated" despite his claim that this was after he found Jesus and stopped drinking and using cocaine (Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession, and also had at least one DUI.)
President Bush,
Brain of Mush,
Like Father, like son,
Term will be one.
- Halloween mock tombstone seen in Decatur, GA, October, 2003
The World Trade Organization reported that the steel tariffs of up to 30% imposed by President Bush on imported steel are a violation of international law, and will probably impose a $2 billion fine on the United States for them. The cost of the tariff to the United States economy (every company using steel saw its cost of production go up) has been several hundred million dollars.
- NPR, Morning Edition, 11/06/03
Myth: President Clinton was "soft on crime."
Reality: Under Clinton, the number of incarcerated Americans jumped by 673,000 (higher than the 478,000 increase under Reagan). The overal prison population jumped fm 1.4 million to 2 million. The rate of incarceration in certain populations was particularly hard hit: the African American incarceration rate rose from 1,156 per 100,000 black men to about 2,800 under Reagan/Bush, but hostage swelled to 3,620 under Clinton. (source: Justice Policy Institute study, February 2001).
Myth: President Clinton was a Vietnam draft dodger (and his right-wing
detractors were not).
Reality: There were many ways to avoid combat exposure in Vietnam. Clinton, as did most educated Americans in his day (and any day, actually), strove not to be killed or maimed in a conflict being fought in a remote land for unclear reasons. Interestingly, those who criticize his decision must have some amnesia about the historical verdict of that conflict, during which several million Vietnamese and over 50,000 United States soldiers were killed. Also, many of those who criticize Clinton vocally mistrust the stated motives and goals of an over-reaching federal government; however, in the issue that is arguably most critical - one that involves putting yourself in harm's way - they condemned anyone who did not blindly trust the Johnson and Nixon administrations with their lives (literally).
At any rate, if Clinton dodged combat duty in Vietnam, he had plenty of company among his detractors, among them President George W. Bush (who served in a cush, domestic Texas Air National Guard unit during the war), Limbaugh, Gingrich, Quayle (see Bush), and Cheney (who had better things to do; see chickenhawk article). As a 2/18/03 letter to the editor to the Atlanta Journal Constitution put it best:
Bush's 'sacrifice' can't be matched
As we head for war with Iraq, Americans should reflect and be grateful for combat sacrifices made by our veterans, such as Sen. Daniel Inouye (lost an arm), Sen. John McCain (lost six years of his life in a POW camp), former Sen. Bob Kerrey (lost a leg) and former Sen. Max Cleland (lost both legs and an arm).
However, we veterans are most impressed by the sacrifices of Vietnam-era veteran George W. Bush, who lost his memory for nearly a whole year concerning where he was and what he was doing from mid-1972 to mid-1973 when he was supposed to be serving in the Texas Air National Guard.
Loss of limbs in combat and POW camps pale in comparison with our president's unique personal sacrifice. We are fortunate to have such a selfless and patriotic man leading us to war.
CHRIS RISER
Riser, of Atlanta, is a veteran of Desert Storm.
Myth: President Clinton (and all "tax and spend" Democrats)
expanded the federal government; President Bush (and other Republicans such as
Reagan) contracted it.
Reality: "There is little prospect of course that Bush will actually shrink the government. But then Reagan didn't either, thanks to the armor of special interests and the predilection of presidents to do things, he left behind a much bigger federal enterprise than he inherited, including a whole new cabinet department (Veterans Affairs) and 60,000 more employees. Reagan asked Americans to dream heroic dreams but he rarely asked them to give up anything. President Bush, even with the war on, shows no greater desire to sacrifice.
"Bush can, and has, cut off aid to family planning programs overseas. He can, and will, sign a bill outlining a procedure critics call partial birth abortion. And he will appoint federal judges whom the right considers congenial. (Asked during the campaign to identify his favorite Supreme Court Jutices, Bush named Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, exciting conservatives to the point of ecstasy.)"
- The Radical
Presidency of George W. Bush, George Keller, 1/26/2003, section 6, New
York Times Magazine
Evolution (see also)
"Evolution is as well documented as any phenomenon in science, as strongly as the earth revolves around the sun rather than vice versa. In this sense, we can call evolution a 'fact'. (Science does not deal in certainty, so "fact" can only mean a proposition affirmed to such a high degree in the perverse to withhold one's provisional assent.)
-- Stephen Jay Gould, Time magazine, 8/23/99 (as quoted on Miller, page 139)
"In August 1990, the Kansas Board of Education voted to remove the subject of evolution from the state science curriculum. The 6-4 decision was the result of a propaganda drive by Celtie Johnson, a Christian Fundamentalist without any scientific training. "To Johnson, evolution simply makes no sense," the Kansas City Star reported. 'She rejects the evidence most scientists say supports the theory that all living things share common ancestors.'
"As 'young Earth creationists,' Johnson and her co-religionists on the state's Board of Education believed that our multibillion-year-old planet was created about 7,000 years ago and, of course, in just 6 days. They seek to spread this superstition not by means of rational discourse but through intimidation and a pounding sophistry. Besides for their insistence on the literal truth of Scripture, they offer nothing but inflammatory rhetoric ('Do you want to believe your ancestors were monkeys?') and a heady potpourri of partial truths. For example: it takes a 1,000 years to form an inch of topsoil. The average worldwide topsoil is 7-8 inches. Ergo, the Earth has been around for just about a few millennia. As evolutions point out, that tiny proof ignores a crucial factor of erosion."
Miller, pp. 139-140.
"It's a state issue. The people of
Texas can resolve that issue as can the people of Kansas… Should the people
choose in my state [to adopt a similar rule banning the teaching of evolution],
I have no problem… I think it's an interesting part of knowledge [to have] a
theory of evolution had a theory of creationism. People should be exposed to
different points of view."
Governor George W. Bush, Kansas City Star, Sept. 9, 1999
"After all, religion has been around a lot
longer than Darwinism."
President George W. Bush, George magazine, Sept. 2000
"You teach a child to read, and he or she
will be able to pass a literacy test."
Townsend, Tennessee, February 21st, 2001, The New Republic, March 5th, 2001
Bush's true divisiveness is most apparent in his faith… His blithe assertion that non-Christian cannot make it into heaven - a tenet of his creed that he has never disavowed - bespeaks a cold and absolute self-righteousness that has always posed a danger to democracy, whatever ideology may cloak or drive it. The militant Christian is as bad a democrat as any other true believer: Marvin Olasky, Bush's chief Fundamentalist guru and the coiner of the phrase "compassionate conservatism," was once a hard-line Marxist-Leninist -- and no doubt just as flexible and open-minded and as he is now.
The risk posed by the president's religiosity is not an abstract matter of the necessary separation church and state -- although Bush is unmistakably intent on breaking down the line between them, as when he made "Jesus Day" an official holiday in Texas. Nor is the danger merely one of possible intolerance toward this or that minority… The real threat, rather, is that bone-deep conviction of almighty rectitude - the dead certainty that God Is On Our Side. Such martial piety divides the world into two, in the good old Manichaean tradition.
Miller, page 147
"When you have no king but Jesus you release the eternal, you release the highest and best, you release virtue, you release potential… I thank God for this institution. "
John Ashcroft at Bob Jones University, Miller, page 148;
"That school was based upon the
Bible."
President George W. Bush, Palm Beach Post, 2/4/2000; note that "that school" that Bush referred to and John Ashcroft thanked God for condemned the Catholic Pope as the Antichrist, was anti-Semitic, and forbade interracial dating:
"The pope is the greatest danger we face today…He is doing more to spread Antichrist communism than anyone around. The papacy is the religion of the Antichrist and a Satanic system.
"We believe that the Lord God created races with distinctions and that races are meant to be separate from one another. We basically accept that there are three races: Caucasians, Negroes, and Orientals. Caucasians can't date Orientals. Orientals can't date Caucasians, and neither of them can date Negroes."
Bob Jones III, chancellor of Bob Jones University [Miller, 187-188]
"Mother and I were arguing -- not arguing, having a discussion -- and discussing who goes to Heaven,' recalls the governor [Bush], who at the time had religion very much on his mind. Having dealt with a gathering drinking problem by abruptly swearing off alcohol, he had vowed a renewed commitment to his family and his faith. Bush pointed to the Bible: only Christians had a place in Heaven. "I said, Mom, look, all I can tell you is what the New Testament says. And she said, well surely, God will except others. And I said, Mom, here's what the New Testament says. And she said, O.K., and she picks up the phone and calls Billy Graham. She says to the White House operator, 'Get me Billy Graham… And about two minutes later, the phone rings, and it's Billy Graham … and mother explains the circumstances, and Billy says, 'From a personal perspective, I agree with what George is saying, the New Testament has been my guide. But I want to caution you both. Don't play God. Who are you two to be God?'"
Stan Howe Verhovek, New York Times magazine, 9/13/98, Miller, page 148;
"You're all going to hell."
Joking about what he would say to Israeli Jews upon arriving in the Middle East in 1993, Austin-American Statesman, 12/1/98
Capital Punishment
"I do not believe we've put a guilty - I
mean, innocent person to death in the state of Texas."
All Things Considered, NPR, June 16, 2000 [Miller, 243] Note that Bush was never known to have spent more than half an hour on any matter, death penalty appeals included.
On Fox TVs, Bill O'Reilly urged the governor when he was running for president to meditate upon the subject of capital punishment.
O'Reilly: OK. Now so far in his campaign, the thing that sticks in my mind with you is the Jesus Christ political philosopher remark. Everybody remembers that. It's been played many, many times... Somebody might say, "Gee, you know, if Gov. Bush's been so influenced by Jesus Christ, how can he support the death penalty --"
Bush: Sure.
O'Reilly: "-- for example, so hard?" Because Jesus Christ would not have. How do you answer?
Bush: Well, first let me say the question was
really, you know who influenced me most, and I didn't -- this is not a
calculated answer. It's one of those moments of time where somebody --
"Who influenced the most?" And --
O'Reilly: Off the top of your head.
Bush: -- "Christ" came out of my mouth
because Christ influenced me, thanks to Billy Graham. It planted a seed in my
heart, and it changed my life. It really did -- I'm -- I take a great solace --
I recognize on a humble -- I'm a lowly sinner who sought redemption.
O'Reilly: But what about the death penalty?
Bush: Let me --
O'Reilly: Texas leads the --
Bush: Yeah, we have a lot of issues that relate
to Christianity. I -- you know, I don't want to put word in Jesus Christ's
mouth. I believe that the death penalty when administered surely, swiftly, and
chilling signal [sic] that if you kill somebody in my state in the commission
of another crime, there's going to be a consequence, and you're not going to
like it.
O'Reilly: So you might disagree with Jesus on this one if he said --
Bush: Well --
O'Reilly: -- "I don't believe in that."
Bush: Well, I -- yet, and are not so sure he
addressed the death penalty itself in the New Testament. Maybe he did.
O'Reilly: Well, he did, but I don't believe he would be for it if he were here today. But I could be wrong. I mean, I could be wrong but he was one of those --
Bush: This -- this -- we both can agree on this.
Far be it from you and me to put our -- put words into the Savior.
The O'Reilly factor, Fox, March 6, 2000, pages 150- 152.
"Well, it seems like to me "Thou shalt not kill" is pretty universal."
GOP Debate, Johnston, Iowa, 1/15/00; Really?
"Please… don't kill me!"
- mocking what Karla Faye Tucker said, when asked, just before her execution, "What would you say to Governor Bush?", Talk, 9/99
Global Warming
While deaf to all that science has to say on the Creation, Bush purports to be enormously concerned that something he calls "science" should very strictly guide our national policies on other issues. "The science is still out on issues like global warming," he said in March 2000. Although he did claim to "believe there is global warming," as he said a few months later, he also noted that a "number of conservative people... disagree about its cause and impact."
Miller, page 172
Yeah, I agree. I just, I think there's been some, some of the scientists, I believe, Mr. Vice President, having been changing their opinion a little bit on global warming? A profound scientist recently made a different
Presidential Debate, 10/12/2000
"Under strong pressure from conservative Republicans and industry groups, President Bush reversed a campaign pledge today and said that his administration would not seek to regulate power plants and emissions of carbon dioxide, a gas that is widely considered to be a key contributor to global warming."
New York Times, 3/14/2001
On American History
"I will never apologize for the United
States of America -- I don't care what the facts are."
8/2/88 Press Conference of the Coalition of American Nationalities, Miller, page 81
"Laura and I really don't realize how
bright our children is sometimes until we did an objective analysis."
Meet the Press, NBC, 4/15/2000
"My education message will resignate among all parents."
New York Post, 1/19/2000
Larry King: Only 1% of Americans are even affected by [the estate tax], right?
Bush: Well, … I don't know the figure of 1
percent or 99 percent, but I think it's good public policy and, it's the public
policy.
Larry King Live, CNN, July 20th, 2000
Additional Sources
Miller, Mark Crispin. The Bush Dyslexicon, 2001:
Joe Millionaire for President by Mark Rich