A Bush "Ask the President," Stump "show" Annotated and Analyzed
At his scripted Events where Only card carrying fascists and the brainwashed may attend, Bush does not deal in the details because the details are against him. I used to think that George Bush didn't get it. When you look at the disconnect, the arrogance and the lies, you just feel that he does not get it. After this piece, I realized that he does get it, he just can't sell it. When your entire presidency is a scam you are in a tough spot. When you have gutted the environment, education, and our respect in this world, you honestly do not have much to run on.
By Anthony Wade
President Bush is stumping these days in a manner that belies his inability to actually connect with anyone. These are scripted events, called "ask the president" where Bush is surrounded by adoring throngs of supporters who want to cheer more than they really want to ask anything of substance. The events are staged, pre-planned and plastic, right down to the "questions" and the "ordinary citizens". First, the crowd is packed only with supporters. Regular readers of my work already know about the arrests of dissenters at Bush rallies and how they insist on an Orwellian pledge to the President before gaining admittance to one of these events. Traditionally, Bush will ramble on for the first portion of the "ask President Bush" session, waxing prophetically about how the economy has turned a corner, and we gonna get those evildoers before entering into a game of softball with the "questions". I have analyzed the most recent event, held in Southridge High School, in Beaverton Oregon. The absolute disconnect this President shows to this country and its citizens is staggering.
For the sake of simplicity, the President's words are bolded.
Introduction Segment
After the standard fawning over how lucky we will all be to have Laura Bush as first lady for another four years, Bush declares his support for Cheney:
"I'm running with a good man in Dick Cheney. I like to tell everybody, I admit it, he's not the prettiest face in the race. However, that's not why I picked him. I didn't pick him for his looks. I picked him because he can do the job and his judgment."
His judgment? For what? How to intervene to ensure that Halliburton receives all the no-bid contracts it can handle? How to lie incessantly about a non-existent connection between Iraq and al Qaeda? How to lie about a meeting Mohammed Atta had in Prague that every credible intelligence source says did not occur? How to tell a US Senator on the Senate floor to f*ck off? Most Americans, even those who support Bush, agree on their dislike for and realization that Dick Cheney has added nothing to this country while receiving deferred stock options payments from Halliburton for the past four years.
In his first stab at Kerry, Bush states:
"I like to remind people in the Nation's Capital, a lot of them can talk a good game. I like to be the person known as somebody getting the job done."
Well, I would like to remind Mr. Bush that he has NOT gotten much done in his four years. His biggest legislative achievement is the tax cut which the Congressional Budget office summarized just this week as follows:
"Fully one-third of President Bush's tax cuts in the last three years have gone to people with the top 1 percent of income, who have earned an average of $1.2 million annually."
"About "two-thirds of the benefits from the tax cuts, enacted in 2001 and 2003, went to households in the top fifth of earnings, with an average income of $203,740."
As the Center for American Progress highlighted: "Longtime tax analyst William G. Gale, of the Brookings Institution, explains the larger ramifications of this disproportionate tax system: "It's not just that lower-income people are getting smaller benefits. It's also that these tax cuts will eventually have to be paid for with either spending cuts or tax increases, and those are likely to be less progressive than the taxes they are paying now.''
His other major legislative accomplishment was the Medicare Prescription Drug benefit and in order to get this past, the Bush had to lie to Congress about the actual cost, understating it to the tune of 156 BILLION dollars. Once it was analyzed of course, it turns out to just be a boon for the pharmaceutical lobby, which is DEEP in George W's pockets. The GAO analyzed it as such:
"Seniors that those "who do stay with Medicare will not get the proposed drug coverage in 2006."
"To get the drug benefit, seniors must sign up for a separate insurance plan, similar to an HMO."
"If a senior stays in the traditional Medicare plan, they'll also have to pay more."
The point of the legislation is to move seniors off of Medicare, into HMO's who are another lobby DEEP in GW's pockets. Here are more frightening facts about this law:
Starting in 2006, the new law will enable large corporations to collect massive government subsidies even if they significantly rollback their retiree prescription drug benefit. The new regulations make corporations eligible for government subsidies of up to $940 per retiree as long as they provide drug coverage that mimics the Medicare drug law. The proposed rules give companies four different ways for companies to demonstrate they are doing so. But most companies already provide drug coverage that is superior to the new Medicare benefit. Thus, companies could collect the subsidy even as they roll back coverage - at a total cost to taxpayers of $89 billion over ten years.
While the administration found plenty of cash for corporations, many seniors with high drug costs will be left in the lurch. After paying an average of $420 in premiums and a $250 deductible seniors are still responsible for paying up to 25% of their drug costs up to $2,250 a year. But seniors with drug costs in excess of $2,250 a year, even though they will continue to pay premiums and have satisfied their deductible will receive no assistance whatsoever for their next $2850 in prescription drug costs. This gap, known as "the donut," has many seniors justifiably concerned about their ability to pay their drug bills in the event of a serious illness. But Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson dismissed their concerns saying, "Only a pessimist would look at a doughnut and complain about a hole."
More compassionate conservatism from Mr. Thompson I guess. Seniors should be glad to have the doughnut. This is the true "compassion" of Bush and his policies.
I would not refer to these two accomplishments as getting the job done, unless you are representing the top 20% of Americans only, as well as the pharmaceutical and HMO lobbies.
In his second swipe at Kerry, Bush tries to get environmental:
"We worked on a lot of important projects for Oregon, including the Healthy Forest Initiative. You might remember, they'd been talking about doing something about these catastrophic wildfires. We actually got the job done through the Healthy Forest Initiative. It wasn't easy to get done, because some of the big talkers in Washington blocked it. One in particular finally came out west and he said, well, even though he had blocked it in the past, some of the parts looked like they're all right, you know. It's kind of like those wildfires, he shifts in the wind."
I have referred to the Healthy Forests Initiative before in my articles as "No Tree Left Behind", because what it really does is give a large boon to the logging lobby, yet another lobby that is DEEP in Bush's pockets. The solution to all of the wildfires according to GW is to remove those pesky trees. The Alabama Environmental Council described this insidious legislation as:
"The new law was clearly designed by the Bush Administration, timber interests, and their Congressional allies as a means of opening our public forests up to more logging under the guise of "community fire protection," "fuels reduction," "restoration" and "forest health."
The Environmental Protection Information Center actually sued Bush over this law, stating:
"The Bush Administration is trying to use our National Forests as scapegoats for people's fear of forest fires. However, gutting environmental laws and eliminating public participation in the management of the public's lands will mean there are less checks in place to keep big, fire resistant trees from getting logged by the timber industry, who typically leave behind a tinder box of logging slash and small diameter material that is the real threat in a forest fire," said Christine Ambrose with the Environmental Protection Information Center. "By lying to the public about the past mismanagement that has caused unhealthy forest conditions, the Bush Administration hopes to fool people into allowing the timber industry to plunder our public forests. We intend to keep our National Forests independent of partisan political paybacks, keep the public in our public lands, and keep the valuable fire resistant trees on the landscape."
The fact that Bush is willing to try and use this, as a positive on the campaign trail, speaks not only to his disconnect, but to his arrogance. He assumes that by naming something "Healthy Forests", people will just assume it means what it says but as we continue to learn, George W. Bush rarely means what he says.
Still in his introduction, the President now moves into spinning about Afghanistan:
"One of the interesting statistics that came to my desk was the fact that over eight million people in liberated Afghanistan have registered to vote. This, in spite of the fact... It's an amazing statistic when you think about the fact that it wasn't all that long ago that a bus was stopped, the thugs from the Taliban pulled over four women registrars of voters and killed them. And yet, the people, because they long for freedom, said, you're not going to intimidate us. We want to participate in a free society. They're registering to vote. And we herald that."
Now, it is great that people are registering to vote, but what Bush left out were these salient points:
Bush gave the "thugs" from the Taliban 43 million dollars in 2001.
Afghanistan's opium production is back and going strong.
Civil unrest, warlords, and the Taliban still reign. People are being killed daily. We blew up this country, then essentially left it to it's own devices.
For the truth about Afghanistan, please see:
http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?pid=1477
Not content to misrepresent on Afghanistan and the environment, Bush moves into his stump speech on education.
"There's all kinds of ways to make America better. I'll talk about two, right quick. We're at a school. One way to make America better is to make sure every child learns to read and write and add and subtract."
"We also recognized that the issue is more than funding. The issue is results."
Ahh, you see George, here is the disconnect. Without the funding, you cannot expect results but I guess the details don't matter to Bush. He deals in sound bites but lets try the realities:
At exactly the time schools are struggling to meet the new requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, President Bush has proposed the smallest increase in federal education funding in 9 years.
"President Bush's education secretary actually called the largest teachers group in America a "terrorist organization."
"Since 2002, the No Child Left Behind program has been shortchanged by more than $26.5 billion."
"Over 7,500 school districts will see their funding cut this summer."
"The President's 2005 budget would eliminate 38 programs in areas such as arts education, school counseling, small school support, and dropout prevention."
"More than 1.3 million children won't receive after-school services, because of funding freezes."
"Last year, the President tried to cut 84,000 Pell Grants."
"The National Governors Association has voted unanimously to label No Child Left Behind an unfunded mandate. Twenty-two states are considering challenging portions of the legislation, including the GOP-controlled legislatures in Arizona, Minnesota, Ohio, Utah and Virginia."
Bush was not done though, as he moves into more deception:
"So that no child gets left behind, we've got to make sure our Head Start programs start children off early with the fundamentals of reading."
Here is the Bush record on Head Start:
"Only 60 percent of children who are eligible for Head Start are getting services, and only 3 percent of the children eligible for Early Head Start are getting services."
"Despite Bush's promise to make reading a priority, he is proposing to eliminate the Even Start program that promotes young children and parents reading together in the home. Laura Bush herself has promoted these programs, stating, "Family literacy programs . . . work on the front lines of the battle against illiteracy."
"Bush wants to shift cut federal Head Start funding and move it to state programs with lower quality standards and less accountability. His 2005 budget freezes enrollment in Head Start programs, meaning the 40 percent of children eligible for Head Start and 97 percent eligible for Early Head Start who aren't currently enrolled won't ever be."
Finishing off his series of lies on education Bush states:
"What I'm telling you is, after four more years, the children of this country are going to be more hopeful, more confident and have more of the skills necessary to succeed. And America will be better off for it."
Ahh, the power of the sound bite. Unfortunately the details keep escaping this man. As we saw with the environment, George W. Bush's record on education is pitiful. The fact though that he chooses to BOAST about it, again displays this man's arrogance and disconnect with the realities facing real Americans.
Now Bush will move on to a subject he really needs to twist, the economy. He touted quite a bit, but for the sake of brevity, here are the largest fibs:
"A stronger America is one, which people can find work, and our economy is vibrant."
"We've been through a corporate scandal. By the way, we passed tough laws. It ought to be abundantly clear to CEOs in corporate America that we expect there to be honesty in the boardrooms of our country."
"Yes, we've overcome a lot because the soul of this country is strong. I think -- I will argue strongly that we overcame these economic problems, as well, because of well-timed tax cuts."
"Nationally, the economy is strong. It's getting strong. We've added about 1.5 million jobs."
"Nationwide, the unemployment rate is 5.5 percent."
"I want to share with you some of the things that I think we ought to be doing to make sure this economy continues to grow so people can find a job, and to make sure jobs stay here in America."
Where do I start?
Bush's economy is not vibrant. People cannot find work, and when they do, it is for far less pay, and without medical coverage. Stephen Roach, chief economist for Morgan Stanley, has pointed out "that over four-fifths of the total job growth in the past year has been in low-end occupations. Currently, a worker getting a new full-time job today will earn an average of $572 per week, compared to $681 per week in their old job."
CEO's are getting the message? Not if they are friends of Bush. It took Ken "Kenny-Boy" Lay three years to get indicted. Many of the other offenders from the major scandals never actually got prosecuted.
In a true display of disconnect and arrogance, Bush credits the tax cuts for the economic recovery. This is especially evil because it is a lie, wrapped up in another lie. First, there is no economic recovery. The economy is stagnant. Secondly, the tax cuts are the prime reason the economy is stagnant, and not recovering. A recent analysis uncovers that for every dollar of lost tax revenue, we are only seeing 59 cents of economic stimulus. When you multiply that dollar by the 290 billion that are currently tied up in the tax cuts, you have a clearer understanding of why the economy is doing so poorly. Essentially, it is like saying to someone I will give you 59 cents for every dollar you give me. Who in the world would agree to such a reckless fiscal policy? Worse than that, for every dollar lost to the dividends and capital gains taxes, we see a return of only 9 cents! Lastly, the burgeoning deficit will only further inhibit job creation and growth.
Nationally, the economy is NOT strong. Bush has lost 1.2 million jobs, not added 1.5 million. In order to keep up with the new job seekers, the government must create 150,000 jobs per month. That is just to break even. The past two months of Bush's economy has created 78,000 for June and a paltry 32,000 for July. That is a record of losing jobs not gaining them. George W. Bush is guaranteed now of presiding over the first net job loss for a president since Herbert Hoover during the Great Depression.
The unemployment rate is a matter of contentious debate, as the model used to calculate it, does not include people who are not receiving benefits. So, if your benefits run out today, you are dropped, and the rate goes down, but you are still out of work. The true unemployment rate for 2003 was 9.7, the highest out of all modernized countries.
Bush's last comment is just insulting. After the outsourcing of 2.8 million manufacturing jobs by president Bush, he is now going to run on a platform to keep jobs in the US?
The details, the disconnect and the arrogance. This is the true platform that George W. Bush is running on. Don't let the catch phrases and the pre-screened rabid crowds fool you. He just does not think we are smart enough to see the difference.
The arrogance is not nearly done though, as Bush enters the healthcare fray and takes his third swipe at Kerry:
"I'll tell you what else we need in this country -- to make sure these good folks can afford health care for their people, to make sure you can afford health care, we need medical liability reform. You cannot be pro-doctor and pro-patient and pro-trial lawyer at the same time. You have to choose. My opponent made his choice, and he put him on the ticket. I made my choice. I stand with the docs, the patients, the small business owners. We need medical liability reform now."
The complete disingenuousness of this statement should make all Americans furious. It is the delivery though that makes it so evil. GW is very good about being folksy. He can say, "I'm with the docs", and make Americans feel like aww, who wouldn't be? Ahh, the trial lawyers of course. So in the name of lowering healthcare costs, Bush wants to limit your ability to sue even if you are legitimately injured. This is whether it is just or not. In fact, Bush has now gone further to declare the FDA "infallible" making it impossible to sue if the damaging drug or equipment had been approved by the FDA. These measures Bush seeks all benefit his high-paying lobbies, not you or I. By drawing a fake line in the sand and saying you or with the "docs" or with the lawyers, Bush has crossed the line from mendacity to malevolence. If we are injured in this country, we should have a legal recourse, period. I might add that when the 2000 election was up for grabs, Bush RAN to a trial lawyer to fight his battle. If we allow him to play this card this election season, we are only hurting ourselves. Don't let him protect huge corporations by taking away your legal right to seek recourse if you are injured.
Wrapping up his introduction, Bush states:
"What I'm telling you is, I've got a reason for running, to keep the country stronger. I've got an idea -- I've got ideas to make sure that people can find work. I've got ideas to make sure the entrepreneurial spirit is strong in America."
It's a shame George that you waited three and a half years to develop these ideas.
Fake Q and A Segment
Now, we enter the gratuitous phase of meeting the "regular" folk that Bush pretends are not pre-screened ahead of time. It is the same tired routine at each of these stops. Pro-Bush, small business owners are on stage with Bush while he pretends to have a "give and take" with them. The purpose behind it is to show that these business owners all "invested" in their companies and hired people because of the tax relief. Having established that he then makes aspersions toward Kerry, as if under Kerry these owners would not have received the tax relief, and thus not created the jobs or invested in their respective businesses. Here are the highlights:
"Most new jobs in America are created by small businesses. And a lot of this tax relief that was opposed by some in Washington, D.C. was aimed at our small business sector."
This is a lie. What is being opposed is handing back one third of the tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans, period. Bush can spin this anyway he likes, but the people he uses as examples are either earning more than 1.2 million dollars per year, or they would see no change to their tax relief offered by Kerry.
"We had a problem. The problem was the recession caused people to lose work. So I decided, why don't we put policy in place that will encourage the job creators to expand. That's what the tax relief was all about, when you think about it."
Bush is still championing this as if the economy is getting better, which it is not. Jobs are NOT expanding, clearly indicating that the policy of handing back huge sums of money to the richest in America does not create jobs.
"So I said when we cut taxes, everybody who pays taxes ought to get relief. We ought not to play favorites with the tax relief plan."
Allow me to translate the Bushese for you. We should not play favorites means people earning over 1.2 million should get one third of the tax break. This is so transparent.
"It's very important for government to help people with something they don't have enough time of, and that is time, they just don't have enough of it, time. And we were talking about flex-time and comp-time rules."
The flex time initiative is a scam to help companies avoid having to pay overtime and differentials for night shift work, pure and simple. Bush tries to dress it up as providing workers with time to be with their families, but the reality is that if they are working that many hours to begin with, they need to overtime a lot more than the flex time.
"There's an interesting new product available for our citizens. And they're called health savings accounts. Basically what it means is, is that you buy a catastrophic plan with a high deductible, and that you then contribute tax-free from zero to the limits of your deductible, and you can earn that money tax-free. It's your money. If you don't spend that money in the year in which you contribute it, you roll it over tax-free. So you, in essence, have a savings account for health. And yet, if things get rough, there's a catastrophic plan to take care of your health care. That's what we want."
Yet another Bush scam, this initiative is geared toward the rich, and provides no real benefit for the average American. Please see this link, which tells the truth behind this sinister plan: http://www.democrats.org/specialreports/healthcare_savings/
"And in this campaign, I urge people to be careful about falling prey to the rhetoric, I am going to spend this money and pay for it by taxing the rich. That's what you're hearing again, isn't it? That's political rhetoric. So, I'm running against a fellow, he's made about $2.2 trillion of new promises. And we've still got September and October to go. And so -- and so they said to him -- so how are you going to pay for it, they said. They said, how are you going to pay for it. Well, we're going to tax the rich. Remember, when you tax the rich, you're taxing S corps and sole proprietorships. When you start running up those tax rates on individuals, the people who start paying are the small business owners. I told you, by far; the vast majority of small businesses in America are sole proprietorships or S corps. And if they are halfway successful, he's running the taxes up on them. And why would you want to be taxing the job creators of America? It's bad economic policy to run up the taxes."
More lies. Kerry wants to reinstate the taxes on people making 1.2 million or more. If these "average folks" fall into that bracket, I would argue they are not "average". The rhetoric from Bush about how much Kerry is going to spend is laughable compared to the ridiculous rates of spending Bush has accomplished making true conservatives, turn away from him and his failed policies. Kerry does not want to tax the "job creators" of this country. Millionaires do not take the tax breaks and reinvest the money. Reagan proved that. Lastly, I would think it is bad economic policy to run up a deficit of over 440 billion dollars, which has a destabilizing effect on the dollar and looms for generations to come.
"I'll give you one other thought. Let me just leave you with one other thought about taxing the rich. You know how that works. A lot of the rich are able to get accountants, so they don't -- they're able to dodge. You've seen it before. We're going to tax the rich, and then they figure out how not to get taxed. So guess who ends up paying? You do. And we're not going to let him do it to us. We're not going to let him wreck that economy by running up our taxes."
Bush's logic here is patently stupid. Because the rich know how to avoid paying taxes, we shouldn't tax them? Here is an idea George, why don't you prosecute tax evaders, a practice Bush has not implemented in his four years. The notion that if you tax the millionaires and they dodge the taxes, that then you and I pay them is equally moronic. As for wrecking the economy, if we are lucky enough to have a Kerry presidency, Bush has not left much to wreck.
You Need to Remember to be Scared and Vote for Me Segment
Bush now moves into the second part of his standard stump speech, the fear factor. Some comments:
"First of all, you got to know nobody wants to be a war President."
You could have fooled me George.
"These are cold-blooded killers. You cannot negotiate with these people. You cannot reason. You cannot hope for the best. We must bring them to justice before they hurt us again. Thank you. You cannot -- you can't show weakness to these people. You cannot show weakness. That's the nature of these folks."
What folks? Bush's own 911 commission declared no relationship between Iraq and al Qaeda, so who exactly are we talking about? Bin Laden is still out there and Bush himself declared that he no longer gives bin Laden much thought, so who exactly Mr. President?
"In order to secure our country, we must not only bring them to justice, we must say to those who provide them safe harbor, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists who have conducted the raids."
Great, but again, Iraq has not provided safe haven for Al Qaeda, or bin Laden. The best you could find is a request made ten years ago that went unanswered by Saddam.
"And when you say something, you better mean it in order to make the world a more peaceful place. So I said -- I said to the Taliban, you're harboring these folks, give it up. And they defied us. And we took action. We gave them a chance. The use of our military is the last option for a President -- the last option. And they had their choice, and they refused to listen to America and our allies and friends. And we removed them from power. And as a result, Afghanistan is no longer a training base for al Qaeda."
Hmm, but the Taliban is back, and you blew up the country without capturing anyone, so how exactly is this a success?
"America is safer because of the actions we took in Afghanistan. And equally -- and equally as important, the people in that country are better off."
Not quite. Just a few weeks ago it was conceded that Afghanistan is a country about to "implode". The puppet leader installed by Bush is not supported. The warlords are terrorizing everyone again. Women still do not have rights. Opium production is on the rise and the Taliban is back in certain areas. Also, how is America safer? Bush needs to realize that capturing al Qaeda may make us safer. Forcing them to work out of another country may just inconvenience them.
"See, we saw a threat in Saddam Hussein. Now, remember his history. He had used weapons of mass destruction. That meant he was a threat. Because one of the most dangerous parts of this new war is that there is an enemy who will chop somebody's head off, just like that, who would love to get a hold of weapons of mass destruction to inflict even greater damage than the deeds they did on September the 11th. That's the nature of these people."
Again, the masterful Bush mixing and matching facts. He starts by talking about Saddam, and then makes allusions to 911. For the thousandth time George, Saddam had nothing to do with 911. Stop propagating the lie. As for the head-chopping reference, I believe that Saudi Arabia practices this form of punishment, not Iraq. Of course, we don't hear George getting upset about that, possibly because of the $130,000 in gifts the Saudi Prince bestowed upon George and Laura last year alone.
"And so we saw a threat. He was the guy who had used them. He was a sworn enemy of America."
George deftly mixes in the WMD issue while avoiding the fact that HE HASN'T FOUND ANY. Now, we know Saddam had them, because WE SOLD THEM TO HIM 20 YEARS AGO. That does not mean however that he had them now. The truth is that Bush did not use diplomacy, he thumbed his nose at the international community and his go-it-alone policies are crippling our military.
"Zarqawi, he's the person who has ordered the beheading of innocent people in order to shake our will -- he was in and out of Baghdad. These are terrorist organizations. So we saw a threat."
Zarqawi is the new boogeyman, replacing bin Laden. This statement however is extremely unfair. Lets see what Colin Powell said to the UN, in his infamous address about Zarqawi.
"Those helping to run this camp are Zarqawi lieutenants operating in northern Kurdish areas outside Saddam Hussein-controlled Iraq." - Colin Powell.
Did you catch that? You see the US imposed air sanctions against Saddam that prohibited him from flying over the Northern part of Iraq, giving free reign to the Kurds. It is a little hard to blame Saddam for "harboring a deadly terrorist network" -- when it was not Hussein, but a Taliban-like crowd of Islamic radicals in the U.S. Air Force-protected north, doing the harboring. To make matters worse is we knew that Zarqawi was in northern Iraq, and did nothing to take him out, because it would have damaged the president's case for war. Ahh, the details.
"But I recognized that it was important to bring the country together as best as possible on this issue. So I went to the United States Congress and I said, look, we see a threat, and we see the lessons of September the 11th. What do you think? And so the Congress looked at the intelligence and they remembered the facts. Members of both political parties looked at the intelligence. My opponent looked at the very same intelligence and came to the same conclusion I had come to, that Saddam Hussein was a threat."
Bush keeps playing this card. By lumping Congress in with him, he pretends that he is absolved for seeking this war. As a side bonus, Kerry supported the war as well. The part left out is the Office of Special Plans. This was Bush's private Intel cell within the Pentagon, set up by Bush to cook Intel on Iraq. The fact is that most respected intelligence officers disagreed with these assessments. The Office of Special Plans was led by Douglass Feith and contained some of Cheney's neo-can friends from the Project for a New American Century. Lastly on this, Congress wanted Bush to use war as a last step measure and to get a broad coalition and he did neither.
"And so we had a diplomatic front, sent the message to Saddam Hussein. He defied the world. He said -- I can't put words in the fellow's mouth, but it seemed like he said, who cares what you say? And we said, that's why we sent inspectors. Let's go send inspectors in to find out the truth. And he systematically deceived the inspectors."
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies. Saddam obviously DID NOT systematically deceive the inspectors; otherwise George would have found some WMD. Saddam said that he had destroyed all his WMD, and guess what, it looks like he was telling the truth. David Kay the chief weapons inspector has repeatedly said that the inspections were working and Bush jumped the gun by prosecuting his war despite the efforts of the international community.
"So I'm left with a choice. We've tried diplomacy, we've tried inspections. This guy doesn't really care what the free world has told him. Do I trust a madman? Do I forget the lessons of September the 11th? Or do I take action necessary to defend our country? Given that choice, I will defend America."
This "I will defend America" has become Bush's tag line this election season. The fact is that he did not try diplomacy. He did not let the inspections work. I find it ironic that after more months searching by Bush than by the UN, the Bush administration stated that "these things take time" when asked why he hadn't found WMD yet. Don't fall for this "defend America" line this fall. It is not defending America to blow up a third world country and kill 11,000 of its innocent civilians, all in the name of democracy.
"But we do know he had the capability of making weapons. And after September the 11th, how can we take a risk that he wouldn't pass that capability on to -- on to an enemy."
The newer Bush tact is to say that Saddam had the capability to make a weapon. The reality is twofold. First, Bush did not convince us all to support a war based on the capability to make a weapon. He sold it on cooked intelligence. You all remember the Sarin, Anthrax, VX Nerve Agent and the specific amounts, don't you? You remember the "mobile weapons labs", don't you? Bush came to us many times and gave us very specific information that has been proven to be LIES. Don't let him dumb this down by now saying Saddam had the capability to make weapons. The second facet of this is that he hasn't proven he had the capability either! What have they found? Nothing.
"And the world is better off because Saddam Hussein sits in a prison cell. We're a safer country."
Bush is going to try his hardest to make this the issue. Isn't the world better off without Saddam? Don't you let him do it. That is not the point Mr. President. You did not come to us and say, "the world will be better off without Saddam, lets get him". You lied to us, and we must NEVER let him forget that or twist this issue. If we do, what we are saying is that it is ok for our president to lie to us to go to war, as long as the result is somewhat desirable. We do not live in a Machiavellian society we live in a representative democracy. George Bush is our employee and the ends do NOT justify the means when there are thousands of people dead because of it. It is time for America to say THE TRUTH MATTERS TO US!
"You know, it's an interesting -- we've had an interesting dialogue in this campaign, thus far. My opponent voted for the resolution. Then the Democrat primary came about and he declared himself the anti-war candidate. And then he finally said, knowing what we know today, I would have continued to vote for the Iraq resolution. So he's been there, not been there, been there. We've got 80 days left. There's no telling what his position will be. But I think it's important that everybody understand clearly where people stand when you're running for President of the United States."
Here is the flip-flopper card. Just like they portrayed Al Gore as a liar, Karl Rove has decided to portray John Kerry as a flip-flopper. Kerry has been consistent though if you can see through the haze of lies the Bushies throw out. Kerry supported the president because he assumed the Intel was good and not cooked. He also supported it because the president promised to use war as a last option and to have abroad coalition. When the president reneged on those promises, he could not in good faith support him anymore.
"I want to thank -- thank our troops. It's -- we've got a great military. Thank you all. And thank our veterans who are here, too."
Bush thanks the military but cuts their imminent danger pay, conscripts reservists who have done their time, and has stretched the military too thin. He thanks the veterans, while decimating their benefits and health coverage. Hypocrite.
"I just want to remind everybody about the facts. I submitted a supplemental funding request to the Congress in September of last year to make sure our troops had body armor, and spare parts, fuel, ammunition, the things necessary to be able to do their mission. It passed the Congress -- overwhelmingly passed the Congress. Members of both political parties supported the request. In the United States Senate, as Gordon might recall, only 12 senators voted against, two of whom are my opponent and his running mate, voted against funding for our troops in combat."
One of the major Bush trump cards is this lie that he has been drumming at every campaign stop. Lets see the real facts:
20 billion of the 87 billion was not for the soldiers, it was for Halliburton, and Kerry was fed up with the gross mismanagement of the people's money.
Kerry supported a version of the 87 billion that would have been paid be repealing taxes on the wealthiest one percent of this country. It is BUSH who refused, and said he would veto the bill if that were the case. So Bush's stance was that he would prefer to protect the super rich, than support the troops.
Kerry wanted some of the monies to be in the form of a loan to Iraq, Bush wanted it all as a gift. Six days after Kerry's "no" vote, Bush said he would veto the bill if the reconstruction money included loans, as the Senate had voted. The troops were always going to be funded. There was never any doubt about that. It was a matter of how it was going to be paid for and how the Halliburton portions were going to be managed.
I want to make sure we all got that. The very bill Bush bashes Kerry about voting no for; he is ON RECORD as saying he would have vetoed, if it attacked the tax cut for the rich or if it had any loans in it. By the way, see this link for GW's impressive list of flip-flops:
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=42263
"I think it's wrong to denigrate the contributions of our allies in Iraq by saying that there is no coalition, we're going it alone. There's over 30 -- about 30 nations involved. These strong leaders from Italy to Japan to South Korea -- all around the world have joined with the United States. We ought not to be denigrating their contribution. We ought to be thanking the moms and dads of those countries whose sons and daughters are in harm's way."
More fabrications. The coalition of the bribed is made up of Britain, and other countries that contribute very little. That is the point. It is not denigrating when it is OUR soldiers being killed every day. Here is the truth about this so-called coalition:
It is down to 27 countries now George, get it straight.
Listed below are the remaining 27members and their estimated contribution in manpower:
UNITED STATES
141,000
UNITED KINGDOM
8,300
ITALY
3,000
POLAND
2,500
UKRAINE
1,550
NETHERLANDS
1,400
ROMANIA
730
SOUTH KOREA
700
DENMARK
500
JAPAN
500
BULGARIA
480
EL SALVADOR
380
HUNGARY
300
AUSTRALIA
250
LATVIA
160
GEORGIA
150
AZERBAIJAN
150
MONGOLIA
140
PORTUGAL
120
LITHUANIA
110
CZECH REPUBLIC
100
SLOVAKIA
100
ALBANIA
71
TONGA
45
SINGAPORE
33
ESTONIA
32
MACEDONIA
30
MOLDOVA
12
Pardon us for not getting excited about the broad support your policies have garnered Mr. President. This is not a coalition. Maldova cannot even field a full football team.
"Think about those Iraqis. Think about the Iraqi citizens who are wondering whether or not America will keep its word. You got to remember, this country is a country, which has gone from tyranny to freedom. And that's a hard transition to make in a quick period of time. And they're wondering whether or not we're really willing to stand with them as they make the hard choices necessary to get to a free society."
Which Iraqi citizens would that be George? The ones who are trying to kill us each day? Don't twist Kerry's statements. His plan is not to abandon Iraq, it is to do what Bush has refused to do, bring in an international force to maintain the peace and rebuild Iraq. Bush does not want that because then the oil fields are not under his control and the contracts are not handed out by the US. Kerry does not play politics with the kid's lives, and that is the difference.
"Let me talk about a free society. The other day I was campaigning in Phoenix, and I saw a sign, a woman help up a sign said, "My son is in Iraq." And it was a proud sign to hold up. And I looked at her in the midst of this rally, and I said, I just want you to know, tell your son, your son is a part of an historic moment because the world is changing. And the world is changing because liberty is beginning to spread its wings in parts of the world that is desperate for freedom."
Touching, but I have two questions. One, if the poor child happens to come home in a coffin, why won't you provide him the simple respect of being seen by a grateful America? Secondly, why won't you do the decent thing and attend his funeral? The TRUTH is that GW Bush has not attended ONE soldier's funeral, not one. The TRUTH is that GW Bush wants to conduct a war but not remind any citizens that we are actually at war and that now 1000 Americans are dead. I guess that mission wasn't accomplished after all, eh George?
"I want to tell you the story, which I share a lot with people, about having dinner with Prime Minister Koizumi. Laura and I like him a lot -- he is the Prime Minister of Japan. He's a good guy. And you know, we're eating Kobe beef there in Tokyo. Pretty fancy. You get good food when you're the President. And I was really impressed during the moment to think that, you know, my dad had fought against the Japanese in World War II; they were our enemy. And here I am talking to the leader of a former enemy, and we were talking about peace. See, we were talking about North Korea, how best we can work together to keep the peace. Isn't that a fantastic thought, that former enemies are now working together for the sake of peace for our own security and for world peace."
The symbolism is not lost on me. We dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. This analogy is quite alarming.
"These are historic times. We're living in historic times. And by serving the ideal of liberty, we not only serve the security of our nation and spread peace, but by securing the ideal of liberty we listen to the deepest beliefs in our soul. And that is, freedom is not America's gift to the world; freedom is the Almighty God's gift to every man and woman in this world."
Now, the God I believe in, is the same one Bush professes to believe in. He just keeps getting this wrong. Christianity cannot be a forced concept anymore than democracy. What is the message? In order to help God, we need to blow up other countries, kill 11,000 innocent civilians, and destroy holy shrines in their culture, all to provide freedom, in the name of God? It is the height of arrogance to assume God needs our help for anything. The Great Commission was to go out into the world and preach the good news of Christ's love and salvation, not go out into the world and blow it up. There is a Christ like quality called humility and George W. Bush does not possess it.
Audience Q & A & Fawning Segment
This last segment is where Bush fields questions from the audience. Keep in mind that not even one independent is in the crowd, let alone a democrat. This is because of the Bush policies of demanding all attendees sign endorsements of Bush and the arrests of dissenting citizens. Keep in mind that we are living in perilous times, with a crippled economy, failed environmental policies, failed education policies and the constant specter of terror and the Iraq war, including the missing WMD. With so much to choose from, let's see how critical and serious the questions are for our president.
Question: "I'm wondering if I can get some inauguration tickets."
Nothing like starting out with a tough one.
Question: I started my business last October, and it was a dream. But it's been going -- (inaudible) -- everybody I talk to, all my customers, they say the same thing. If it wasn't for your tax cuts, and your stimulus and your steady hand since 9/11, my job would never happen -- (inaudible) -- because of your stimulus package.
I'm sorry, was that a question?
Question: Actually, 33 years ago I was working with the Texas Air National Guard. From October of '71 to May of '72, you and I knew each other. So you were there.
How convenient. The Bushies have scoured the country for anyone to say that Bush was not AWOL, and at this event the person come forward. WOW. Pardon me while I stare dumfounded, in the sheer doubt of the moment.
Question: Any fundraising dinners before the election?
Another vital point of national interest and security.
Question: Mr. President, God bless you and your wife, Laura, first of all. And I would like to know in your second term what you are going to do to move more common sense judges into our courts and get rid of these.
Hmm, me smelleth a republican stooge.
Question: Mr. President, you were a fighter pilot, and you were with the 147th Fighter Wing?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes.
Question: And flew a very dangerous aircraft, the Delta F102?
THE PRESIDENT: Right. And I'm still standing.
Question: I want to thank you for serving our country.
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.
Question: Thank you for serving.
THE PRESIDENT: I appreciate you saying that.
I just want to make sure I didn't misread that. Nope. So, we are supposed to believe that this average citizen did this unscripted? Are you getting mad yet, how about sick? The man was just confirmed to have been AWOL!!!
Question: Mr. President, Mr. Kerry seems to have a lot of trouble remembering dates -- when and if he was in Cambodia; who was President -- Nixon or Johnson -- when he was assigned to Vietnam; what bills in Congress he worked for and when; cannot remember if he campaigned in Oregon or California for George McGovern. Your last opponent you exposed with fuzzy math. It's time to expose John Kerry with fuzzy memory.
You see a question". is supposed to have a little question mark at the end that denotes the other person may have to answer something"
Question: I, too, want to say God bless you, Mr. Bush. My husband and my twins and I pray for you daily, as do many home schoolers. Thank you for recognizing home schoolers.
I am not making this up, I swear.
Question: Hi. My brother-in-law served under your father at Desert Storm, Sgt. Scott Aclair. (Phonetic.) He is serving at Ft. Richardson in Alaska right now and is scheduled to go to Iraq and is just hoping that you are going to be his President that he can serve under again when he goes back there. And when he found out that I would be here, he just asked one thing, if I could shake your hand for him.
You have got to be kidding me.
Question: On behalf of Vietnam veterans -- and I served six tours over there -- we do support the President. I only have one concern, and that's on the Purple Heart, and that is, is that there are over 200,000 Vietnam vets that died from Agent Orange and were never -- no Purple Heart has ever been awarded to a Vietnam veteran because of Agent Orange because it's never been changed in the regulations. Yet, we've got a candidate for President out here with two self-inflicted scratches, and I take that as an insult.
The Bushies hit a new low. The allegations of "scratches" and "self-inflicted" are GARBAGE. So, if I understand this "average citizen" correctly, Kerry who actually was in Nam is insulting. Bush, who is now found to be AWOL after avoiding Nam, is supported. Who believes this nonsense?
Question: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President, for visiting Oregon. I've heard through the grapevine that Oregon is one of the most unchurched states in the union, and I really feel like it shows up in every walk of our society. Could you take a moment to pray for Oregon, for us, right now?
The president did not pray for Oregon. Word is that Rove is praying for Oregon, at least for their electoral votes.
Question: I want to thank you for everything you did after September 11th. I was in Israel then, and it was hard getting back. And it was very devastating. And you -- no one could have done what you did any better.
How sweet of you to say" IS THERE A FRICKIN QUESTION ANYWHERE IN OUR FUTURE!!!
Question: Our Superintendent makes over $200,000 a year, and he fired my librarian. Why is that? - From a sixth grader.
Finally!!! An honest, intellectual question, and it comes from a sixth grader!!! Apparently the rumor is that children will also be screened from now on in order to get into a Bush event. For the record, the president had no answer.
Summary: I started this not realizing how specific I was going to need to be. It was exhaustive. It also is important to realize what Bush is saying as we head down the stretch and where he is not being truthful, which appears to be in most areas. There was more to talk about, but as you can tell this was quite long already.
The fact of the matter is that Bush does not deal in the details because the details are against him. I used to think that George Bush didn't get it. When you look at the disconnect, the arrogance and the lies, you just feel that he does not get it. After this piece though what I realized is that he does get, he just can't sell it. When your entire presidency is a scam you are in a tough spot. When you have gutted the environment, education, and our respect in this world, you honestly do not have much to run on. When you have blown up two third world countries for the sake of God and democracy, neither of which asked you to, your platform is a little weak. Knowing he has mainstream media on his side, he does the only thing he can do, he lies.
First he lies by not being fair. He packs his visits with loyal subjects who gush and don't ask him one honest question, unless it comes from a sixth grader. It is a sad statement for our leader when he cannot even take a question from an undecided voter. He demands that all attendees sign endorsements of him if they want to attend an event. He has dissenters arrested for crimes such as wearing an anti-Bush tee shirt.
Secondly, he lies by cheating. Knowing full well when he is getting trounced in polls, he unleashes the Department of Homeland Security on America. Kerry picks Edwards as his running mate and we go to level Orange. Democratic National Convention ends and Kerry is starting to get his bounce, he announces a major al Qaeda arrest, even though the man was captured 5 days earlier. That not being enough, he raises the terror alert again, based on three year old intelligence. Bang, no Kerry bounce and the front page belongs to Bush again.
Thirdly, he lies about the facts, straight up. In responding to a real question about the cost of college, Bush replied that Pell grants are up under his leadership. This is patently false. He also stated that college loans were up, and that is equally untrue. He broke a campaign promise to increase the maximum Pell Grant to $5,100, is proposing to eliminate the LEAP program that provided more than a billion dollars in federal and state assistance to students in 2000, and is cutting $100 million in Perkins Loans. Lying becomes a natural reflex. It is the first option, not the last.
Fourth, Bush lies by association. He lets others lie for him. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are funded by a LARGE Bush backer. They are spewing lies in three swing states that are so outrageous, even republicans are disavowing the ad and the group. Not Bush though. He just sits there whistling, pretending he has nothing to do with it.
I once called George Bush a used car salesman, and now I realize the affront I perpetrated against used car salesmen. Bush is a scam. He is an empty suit filled with the brilliant psychology of Karl Rove. Bush will be out on the stump again, maybe in your area soon. He will smile and sound folksy for the cameras. He will wax prophetically about how great America could be. Behind the sound bites and the Kerry swipes though, you will see a man who appears disconnected to your needs and the problems facing real Americans. Behind the scripted malapropisms designed to make him seem like one of you, will be a seething arrogance that assumes you can't tell the difference between the truth and a lie. Behind the aww-shucks-down-to-earth portrayal you will see a man that appears to just not get it. It is at that moment that you must remember that he does. He just can't sell it to you.
Anthony Wade is co-administrator of a website devoted to educating the populace to the ongoing lies of President George W. Bush and seeking his removal from office. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive, and professional counselor, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.
Anthony Wade's Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm
Email Anthony: takebacktheus@gmail.com
