By Anthony Wade
Preview Note: This is a very long article, and I apologize. I believe though that this election is the defining moment in our lifetimes. I did not want to pay it mere lip service but really detail the opinions presented. Thanks to many progressive websites who have done a lot of the actual research and legwork that makes an article like this possible.
Day Four, The Fortunate Son
It amazes me whenever a song written 30 years ago remains so salient to our current situations. Some 35 years ago Credence Clearwater Revival sang these famous words:
Some folks are born made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, white and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
Ooh, they point the cannon at you
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no senator's son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no,
Some folks are born silver spoon in hand,
Lord, don't they help themselves, now.
But when the taxman comes to the door,
Lord, the house looks like a rummage sale, yeah,
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no millionaire's son, no.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, no.
Some folks inherit star spangled eyes,
Ooh, they send you down to war,
And when you ask them, "How much should we give?"
Ooh, they only answer More! more! more!
It ain't me, it ain't me, I ain't no military son, son.
It ain't me, it ain't me; I ain't no fortunate one, one.
George Bush is most definitely the fortunate son described so well by John Fogerty in late 1969. A man who wraps himself up in the flag as long as the guns are not pointed at him, or his. A former Congressman's son, George W. Bush was certainly born with the proverbial silver spoon in hand. A millionaire, Bush tries to play the folksy down to earth guy next door but it all comes off as plastic. Blinded by his star spangled eyes, Bush has no problems sending your kids down to war and the answer when the draft is reinstated should he win, will be more and more and more.
A child of privilege, Bush wanted to avoid the Vietnam War at all costs, after all it was poor people's kids that went to the front lines. For his entire political life Bush has insisted that he had no strings pulled for him to get into a most coveted slot in the Texas Air National Guard. Now the truth is coming to light about exactly how Bush got into the elite "Champagne Unit", made up of kids of Texas politicians and businessmen. Last week it was revealed that Ben Barnes, the former lieutenant governor of Texas , said that he was "very ashamed" of getting Bush into the National Guard. He said the remorse was prompted by a recent visit to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington , where he saw the names of thousands of other young men who did not enjoy the connections of the Bush family. Furthering the special treatment angle is that Bush was jumped ahead of a nationwide waiting list of 100,000 Guard applicants, while achieving the lowest possible passing grade on his pilot aptitude test for would-be fliers, and listing "none" as his background qualifications. I want to make sure we all got that. This wartime president used his family's connections to cheat and skip over 100,000 other Americans who were probably more qualified for the coveted Guard slot. Barnes will be on 60 Minutes this Sunday so watch for the trademark smear job that will be forthcoming on Ben Barnes by the Karl Rove GOP machine. More importantly, lets see how our faithful media picks up on the story. We have heard about the swift boat liars for months now from all mainstream media and talking heads. The Barnes story is more credible and far more newsworthy so lets watch carefully how they handle it.
Bush is fond these days of saying Kerry should be respected for his service, and that Bush should be as well. His favorite tag line is "I would have gone if my unit was called up". This is insulting because the chance back then of the unit being called up were nil. Bush checked off the box to NOT go overseas. Yet he has dragged his feet about condemning the swifties that question the depth of John Kerry's wounds. Of course that is because it has been recently discovered that the swifties are really operating in concert with the campaign. Now, Karl Rove can deny this all he wants but lets look at the facts:
First, the Washington Post reports that a "top lawyer in President Bush's reelection campaign acknowledged that he has been advising the veterans group." Benjamin L. Ginsberg, the "chief outside counsel to the Bush campaign" admitted "I've done some work for" the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Ginsberg has long been a top adviser to Bush. The LA Times reports he represented the Bush campaign in 2000 and became a prominent figure during the Florida recount. In the current presidential campaign, his law firm has been paid $256,635 for his services by the Bush campaign. That figure does not include any cash Ginsberg made in his work with the Swift Boat Veterans.
Additionally, the Dallas Morning News yesterday reported that the man bankrolling the smear ads is hosting President Bush's top political adviser at a fundraiser in New York during the Republican National Convention. Robert Perry, the top Bush-Cheney fundraiser who is financing the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth ads, "is listed as the co-host" of an event whose guest list includes Karl Rove on September 1.
This news follows revelations earlier this week that one of the Veterans smearing Kerry in the ads is actually a member of the Bush-Cheney campaign. It also follows news that the Bush-Cheney campaign headquarters in Florida is distributing fliers promoting the group smearing Kerry.
The most telling sign of the collusion is the payoff recently discovered. As the Washington Post reports, Rear Admiral William L. Schachte Jr., the man who claims Kerry was not under fire when he received his first Purple Heart, is a top lobbyist for a defense contractor that recently won a $40 million grant from the Bush administration. According to a March 18 legal filing by Schachte's firm, Blank Rome, Schachte was one of the lobbyists working for FastShip's effort to secure federal contracts. On Feb.2, FastShip announced the Bush administration had awarded it $40 million.
Schachte has other connections to the Bush administration. The Washington Post notes David Norcross, Schachte's colleague in the Washington office of Blank Rome, is chairman of this week's Republican convention in New York. Records show that Schachte gave $1,000 to Bush's 2000 and 2004 campaigns. Additionally, Schachte helped organize veterans' efforts against Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and for Bush in the 2000 South Carolina primary.
These are the tactics Bush uses constantly. He smiles at you while sounding folksy and then winks to his friends as he hands them millions or billions of your money.
In the aftermath of Vietnam, Bush tried his hand at business and proved that wasn't his area of expertise either. He opened his own oil business, Arbusto Energy, in 1978. It was a financial disaster from the very beginning and never turned a profit. By a stroke of fortune (wink), it got swallowed up in a 1982 merger with another energy company named Spectrum 7. The merger was engineered by a couple of Bush family friends. For some reason they chose to rescue the son of the Vice President of the United States from his own financial catastrophe and make him the CEO of the merged entity. So, essentially for ruining a business, George Bush was rewarded and made CEO of another company. Ahh, the American dream.
Not satisfied with demise of Arbusto, Bush four years later found Spectrum 7 was itself floundering underneath $3 million in debt. At this point, Harken Energy, yet another company run by a family friend, came in and bailed out Bush's second failed enterprise. Bush was rewarded for ruining Spectrum 7, by receiving stock options and a $120,000 annual salary.
Now, I know what you are thinking, this stuff happens to everyone, every day. At Harken, Bush's job was to attract investment monies because of who he was, the son of the Vice President. Harken though, was hiding massive debts through shell companies and underhanded methods masterminded by the now-infamous accounting firm of Arthur Anderson. One such deal was the putative "sale" of Aloha Petroleum to Intercontinental Mining and Resources Ltd in 1989. In actuality, IMR Ltd was just another company owned by three members of Harken's board. And the terms of the sale were extremely sketchy: although IMR agreed to pay an exorbitant $12 million for Aloha Petroleum, they wouldn't be required to make any payments for three years. Nevertheless, Harken immediately booked an $8 million profit. There is a word for that in the business world, fraud. George Bush is the one who perpetrated that fraud because he was serving on the corporation's audit committee and signed off on the Aloha Petroleum deal. This deception helped maintain the illusion that Harken was solvent for several months after it had actually run out of money. Not content with fraud, Bush tried his hand at insider trading as a few weeks before Harken collapsed Bush sold off $848,560 in Harken stock. Then he waited eight months to notify the SEC of his sale. After Harken's stock price plummeted, the SEC finally figured out something was wrong and began asking questions. At which point, George offered up this nugget:
"In the corporate world, sometimes things aren't exactly black and white when it comes to accounting procedures."
Especially not when you are the son of the President and family friends head the SEC. The Martha Stewarts of the world do time, but Teflon George, slides on by.
Realizing that the details of actually running a business were not his strong suit, Bush then borrowed $500,000 to invest in the Texas Rangers baseball franchise. For his investment, Bush was given an annual salary of $200,000 and was considered the "owner". Eventually the GOP machine convinced Bush to pursue politics.
Not wanting to repeat the mistakes he made when he unsuccessfully ran for Congress in the late 70's, Bush concentrated on creating his "regular guy" image. Elected Governor of Texas Bush maintained his value in the Rangers franchise and when his partners sold the team in 1998, Bush walked away with 14.9 million on an investment of $600,000, most of which was not his money to begin with. A true American success story. I am sure this happens to a lot of folks all the time.
A favorite son of the GOP, he beat out far more distinguished candidates for the party nomination for president in 2000. It was accomplished with shady dealings and underhanded ads, a staple of Karl Rove's genius. When McCain was gaining ground Bush unleashed push polling suggesting that McCain had fathered a black child out of wedlock to turn off southern voters. Not content with that, he had people begin whispering that McCain was too unstable to be president because of his five years as a POW in Vietnam. He cast aspersions that McCain did not support breast cancer research, citing a vote against an appropriations bill that was laden with pork and also had some money for research. This strategy is being used now to exploit Kerry's voting record as they point to weapons systems Kerry allegedly voted against, but they were really large appropriations bills. McCain folded under the pressure and Bush won the nomination.
Realizing that they were facing a superior candidate, the Bush machine had to try and paint Gore as an inveterate liar. They mangled his words to fit their means and repeated it over and over until people actually believed them. Al Gore never said he invented the Internet, he said he was behind the funding for the Apranet, it's predecessor. This was true of course. The other alleged lies were twisted versions of what Gore actually said. Buoyed by gains in the polls and FOX News hammering home the talking points each night, Bush hung in a race he had no business being in. One stolen election later and a partisan vote by the Supreme Court and this "average man", this "folksy guy", this "fortunate son", was president.
His presidency has been a miserable failure by any standards but the GOP. He has a negative 800 billion dollar turnaround in the economy. Records for foreclosures and bankruptcies. He has raped the environment and has not bothered to fund his education initiatives. 45 million people are without healthcare and the true unemployment rate is as high as ten percent. Never one to let the facts get in the way, Bush has responded with choruses of "we have turned the corner" and "the tax cuts are working". Instead of facing the harsh realities and changing his policies that have crippled this country, it was announced today that the Bush administration would instead change the way statistics are gathered. Last week, the Census Bureau released statistics showing that for the first time in years, poverty had increased for three straight years, while the number of Americans without health care increased to a record level. The Bush administration response was to announce plans to change the way the statistics are compiled. The move is just the latest in a series of actions by the White House to doctor or eliminate longstanding and nonpartisan economic data collection methods. In a Bush administration press release yesterday, the Census Bureau said next week it "will announce a new economic indicator" as "an additional tool to better understand" the economy. Translation? We will find an indicator that makes the picture look like the economy is a success. The change in statistics is being directed by Bush political appointees and comes just 60 days from the election. It will be the first modification of Census data in 40 years.
This is not the first time the White House has tried to doctor or manipulate economic data that exposed President Bush's failed policies. In the face of serious job losses last year, the Associated Press reported "the Bush administration has dropped the government's monthly report on mass layoffs, which also had been eliminated when President Bush's father was in office." Similarly, Business Week reported that the White House this year "unilaterally changed the start date of the last recession to benefit Bush's reelection bid." For almost 75 years, the start and end dates of recessions have been set by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), a private nonpartisan research group. But the Bush administration decided to toss aside the NBER, and simply declare that the recession started under President Clinton.
Besides his failures at home, the failures in the world are far more costly. After allowing the largest lapse in intelligence in our history, Bush declared a war on terrorism. Osama Bin Laden was public enemy number one and we were gonna smoke em out. After the bombing campaign in Afghanistan though, Bush became bored and wanted to take out his daddy's nemesis, Saddam Hussein. Realizing that Saddam had no connection to 911 or al Qaeda, Bush put his own intelligence cell within the Pentagon to cook intelligence against Saddam to justify a war. Realizing the nation was still focused on bin Laden, the perpetrator of 911, Bush had to switch gears. When asked about the wisdom of pursuing Iraq when bin Laden was still at large, Bush replied "I don't really think about him much anymore".
Bush pimped his Iraq war on the premise of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). He sold it to all of us and we bought it. After realizing he wasn't going to find any, Bush had to change gears again. Suddenly it was that Saddam had the capability to produce WMD-related-programs, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean. The true nature of how cavalier Bush has been about this was displayed in his interview with Diane Sawyer after the capture of Saddam. Bush let his guard down and actually did a real interview, assuming everyone would be so giddy about finding Saddam that nothing else would matter. Ms. Sawyer correctly asked him about the discrepancies with WMD and his justification for the Iraq War, and Bush tersely replied "what's the difference". It is this true Machiavellian nature of Bush that Karl Rove spends so much time hoping we don't see. To Bush lying to the country to get his war, is justified with the capture of Saddam Hussein. The truth is that despite his proclamation of 'Mission Accomplished", George Bush's Iraq quagmire has spiraled out of control with deaths piling up daily. That is why he is so eager to have the swift boat ads stay in the spotlight. Every day we talk about the Vietnam War, is another day he doesn't have to answer questions about his Iraq War.
So this leads us to this day, this time, this moment in history. To listen to the revisionist history at this convention over the past three days is an exercise in patience. From the opportunistic Guliani, to the vitriol of Zell Miller, each speaker has had one theme in his or her message, look at John Kerry. Don't look at our candidate. The overwhelming message is fear. They need us all afraid when we walk into the voting booths. To dispel that I would proffer that this country is NOT safer under Bush. He has visions of war with Iran and Syria next. Meanwhile, in a cave in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden is laughing. Bin Laden is definitely rooting for Bush this year. Why wouldn't he? Bush has ignored him and "doesn't think about him much anymore". Bush has already deposed a sworn enemy of al Qaeda in Saddam Hussein. George Bush is poised at a defining moment in history to tell us why HE should be voted on for another four years. Let's see what the president had to say for his rationale:The President's Own Words
"We have a moral responsibility to America's seniors"
Unfortunately, the sound bite does not measure up to the facts. Seniors will not see cheaper prescription prices when the new Bush Medicare plan is fully implemented in 2006, because it does nothing to control the rising cost of drugs. "Most beneficiaries will face higher out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs after full implementation, despite the benefit. Under the new Bush Medicare legislation, the poorest 6 million American seniors lost their federal eligibility for Medicaid, exposing them to substantially higher drug costs. They will face higher co-pays on drugs -- and that will increase over time as prices are allowed to rise an estimated 10 percent per year. The plan also allows providers to limit drug coverage, meaning seniors might actually lose coverage under the law. Retirees under the age of 65 saw their personal expenses for health plans increase 20 percent in 2003 to $166 a month, while expenses for those over 65 increased 18 percent to $83 a month. Contrary to Bush's pledge to spend every penny in the Social Security trust fund on social security, Bush's budget deficits will require raiding the Social Security trust fund every year through 2013 -- totaling $2.1 trillion over the 10-year period. By 2011, the entire trust fund will be spent. That is NOT morally responsible.
"Our economy is growing again and creating jobs."
As I pointed out yesterday, this is pure fantasy. Bush has touted the 1.5 million jobs created in the past year. Unfortunately, the economy has to create 1.5 million jobs per year just to keep up with new job seekers. July saw a whopping 32,000 jobs created. Americans living in poverty have increased in every year he has been in charge. This is the difference between the reality of every day life and crafted sound bites written by professional speechwriters.
"If America shows uncertainty in this decade the world will drift toward tragedy."
This is at the heart of Bush's hopes for re-election. The inference is that Kerry will be uncertain. There is no basis for truth in this of course, but that does not stop the Bushies from pushing this line. The more important point is whether wanting the international community to be onboard is being uncertain. It is whether realizing your errors about WMD is showing uncertainty. The answer has to be no.
"America must be the best place in the world to do business."
I guess this has to be the excuse for losing 2.8 million manufacturing jobs and the fact that his administration said that outsourcing was "good for America."
"We must restrain spending, decrease regulations, and make the tax cuts permanent."
For George Bush to say we must restrain spending is nothing short of ridiculous. He has been so fiscally irresponsible that most true conservatives have left his base. His spending combined with his tax cuts for the wealthy have resulted in a negative 800 billion dollar turnaround. He does believe in decreased regulation, which usually benefits his biggest contributors. Just take a look at the environment where his deregulation has assisted the logging and coal mining lobbies, huge donors to Bush.
"We must be less dependent on foreign sources of energy."
Great sound bite. What does that mean? No specifics were given because for Bush to run as an anti-oil candidate is quite preposterous.
"We must make the tax code simpler, fairer, and more pro-growth."
Another sound bite without substance. It does sound a bit like Bush wants to revisit the flat tax proposals, which will benefit the rich only.
"I will increase funding for community colleges."
Really, what about your first term Mr. President? Lets take a look at the record. Tuition has soared 35 percent since he took office, creating an enormous burden on families trying to provide higher education for their children. But if those families are looking to the Federal government for help, they can think again. Bush broke his campaign promise to increase the size of Pell Grant awards and has cut other financial-aid programs. State budget cuts fueled by the Bush recession have forced colleges to hike tuitions and fees-threatening access to higher education for low-income students. Public universities and colleges in 49 states increased their tuition in 2003. Tuition and fees at public two-year institutions has increased 16 percent since Bush took office, and four-year public institution tuition and fees have increased 35 percent. During the 2000 Presidential campaign, Bush promised to increase the maximum Pell Grant award- a critical source of educational support for low-income and minority students-to $5,100. Yet his 2005 budget is the third in a row that has refused to increase the value above the current $4,050. And Bush has fought Pell Grant increases at every turn, even threatening to veto legislation that increased the maximum grant. Bush's 2005 budget eliminates the $66.2 million Leveraging Education Assistance Partnerships (LEAP) program, which offers an enormous bang for the buck in leveraging state financial aid dollars, especially for students from low-income families. Bush's 2005 budget also eliminates capital contributions for the Perkins Loans program and cuts overall funding by $101 million (60.3 percent) from the amount necessary to maintain purchasing power. Perkins Loans are need-based loans with a low 5 percent interest rate. House Republicans are considering adding a provision to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act to switch student loans from fixed to variable interest rates, meaning higher payments for millions of college graduates over the next few years. According to Henry Howard, President of the U.S. Education Finance Group, students could ultimately wind up paying twice as much in interest payments under the proposal as they pay now.
What do the community colleges have to say about the current Bush proposal? The American Association of Community Colleges describes the new Bush budget as inadequate, saying: "Although the budget has a few bright spots, it freezes or cuts many programs that are essential for community colleges and their students. . . The Administration's budget threatens college access for millions of Americans, and it undermines the quality of academic and technical programs responsible for training a workforce that increasingly requires postsecondary education." This is the real record, not a sound bite.
"I will create American Opportunity Zones in poorer areas to attract new businesses."
Great Mr. President. Why did it take you four years to come up with a plan to address poor neighborhoods? Could it be because you are running for re-election?
"I will provide tax incentives to allow Americans to purchase Health Savings Accounts."
I have spoken about this already in many articles this week. This HSA plan is a scam set up to benefit the richest Americans. Most average Americans will not afford or gain anything from these plans.
"To make healthcare more affordable we must pass medical liability reform NOW!
This is a staple of George Bush's plan. The facts are simple. The HMO and pharmaceutical lobbies are DEEP in the pockets of Bush. The pharmaceutical lobby has given Bush over $300,000 for his campaign alone. That money was not given out of the goodness of their hearts, but rather to shape policy. The fact is that these two lobbies are the only entities that actually benefit from tort reform. Bush has tried to sell you on the fact that trial lawyers are evil and are the problem in the system. They are not of course. To hear Bush explain it, lawyers decide to sue. It is people that feel they have been injured that choose to sue and seek the help of a trial lawyer. Lawyers are there for YOU, if you get hurt unfairly and under Bush's plan, you will have NO legal recourse. Is that what you really want? Hope you don't get hurt.
"I am running with a compassionate conservative philosophy: that government should help people improve their lives, not try to run their lives."
I have to give George credit here. I thought it took guts to try and play up the floundering economy, but this takes real cohones. You remember the compassionate conservative line don't you? It was what Bush ran on four years ago. It was empty rhetoric then and now there is proof that it is nothing more than a cute tag line. Is there anything compassionate about poverty rising for three straight years? Were the 14,000 dead civilians and the 1,100 dead soldiers killed compassionately? Was "shock and awe" compassionate? Is there anything conservative about a 440 billion dollar deficit? No, there is NOTHING compassionate or conservative about George W. Bush. He tried to snooker you once with that line four years ago, don't you fall for it again. As Bush likes to say, "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, eh , eh, we won't get fooled again."
"We are going to change the outdated laws to allow workers to have comp time and flex time."
Another Bush scam. By putting into law comp and flex time regulations, Bush is actually allowing corporate America to deny your overtime. Stop the scam.
"I want to build an ownership society. People should be allowed to own their own social security and health savings accounts."
HSA have already been discussed. The social security privatization plan has been pimped to us since 2000. The reality is that this is a plan to use Social Security revenues to pay for making Bush's tax cuts for the rich permanent. Greg Palast describes it best and I beg you to go to this link so you can understand the truth behind this swindle: http://www.gregpalast.com/
"Home ownership is at an all time high."
A favorite tag line of Bush, this is a direct result of the poor economy. Because the economy is so poor, mortgages are more available, and thus people who may not really be able to afford a house, are getting one. A few missed payments later and there is a foreclosure. That is why foreclosures at an all time high as well.
"We are transforming our schools."
Well George, not according to teachers and states in this country. Maybe it will help if you actually fund your legislation.
" We will fund an early intervention program for at risk high school students."
Great idea, where has it been for four years?
"We will expand Pell Grants."
Hmm, you promised this four years ago and CUT the program. Why should we trust you now?
"Kerry opposed my Medicare reform, No Child Left Behind, and tax relief."
Maybe Kerry was against the Medicare reform because it was nothing but a billion dollar handout to the pharmaceutical lobby and seniors don't really benefit from it? He changed on NCLB because Bush denied funding necessary to make it a viable law. The tax relief Kerry understands to be a boon for millionaires and is the root cause for our economic woes.
"If you say the heart of America is found in Hollywood, you are not the candidate of conservative values."
Hmm, I could have sworn that Arnold spoke at the republican convention?
"We are staying on the offensive, striking terrorists abroad so we don't have to face them here at home."
This will be a mantra of Bush down the stretch. Raising the specter of fear at home and 911, he hopes to excuse his foray in Iraq as being related to terrorism, which it is not.
""and we will prevail."
Hmm, sounds like a flip flop to me. Just a few days ago he said the war was not winnable.
"Pakistan used to be a transit point for terrorists."
Current US intelligence is speculating that Osama bin Laden is currently in Northern Pakistan. In Bush's defense, he doesn't think about Osama much anymore.
"Three quarters of al Qaeda have been detained or killed."
Really? When did this happen? I do not recall ONE conviction. I vaguely remember an occasional person detained or killed here or there but three quarters? How many were in al Qaeda to begin with, ten?
"We knew Saddam Hussein had a history of pursuing terror."
Yes, against Israel. Not America.
"We knew we must confront threats to the US before it became too late (about Saddam.)"
Again, where was the THREAT? There were no WMD, so how was he a threat?
"Both parties voted for the war."
Yes, based on Bush's cooked intelligence.
"We gave Saddam a final chance to disarm, he refused again, and I was faced with a tough decision."
Unfortunately, another lie. Saddam was allowing unfettered inspections at the point that Bush decided to invade. Saddam said he had no weapons, Bush assumed he did, and we went to war. Now, in retrospect, we must conclude that Saddam actually was complying because they have not found any weapons. But Bush is unwavering, so he cannot admit fault.
"Do I forget the lesson of 911 and trust the word of a madman."
Again, Bush tying Saddam to 911, which is a LIE.
"Iraq now has a strong Prime Minister."
A short time ago, this strong Prime Minister was witnessed executing six dissenters. Good choice.
"There is nothing complicated about funding our troops in combat (knocking a Kerry comment about the infamous 87 billion dollar vote)."
What Bush neglects to mention is that he threatened to VETO the exact same bill if it had the provision Kerry wanted which would have made Halliburton accountable for their 20 billion portion of the 87 billion. Once Kerry knew the bill would pass, he cast a NO vote in protest about the abuses of Halliburton who still cannot account for 8 billion dollars of lost money. There was never ANY doubt that the funding would be approved. It also took Bush six months to get the troops what they needed and it was just revealed that Bush sent our kids there for the first year without body armor.
"They (the coalition) deserve our respect not the scorn of a politician."
See the next section on the coalition.
That was the best I could glean from the speech. It was a collection of rhetoric and "plans" for the next four years, which leaves me with only one obvious question. What in hell happened to the first four years? Where were these great plans for the past four years? Overall, George Bush plays to our basest fears, our most animalistic instincts and our deep seeded fear that he hopes to cultivate over the next two months. He wants you going into the voting booth scared. Even if you are, how exactly has Bush made us safer? Do you want the guy who actually volunteered for combat, or the guy that went AWOL. Who would you rather have in your foxhole?
The Lies ContinueLastly, Tommy Franks took the podium before Bush to throw some last second misdirection at the country. Here are the prevarications:
"Join me in thanking our coalition partners who were there for us"
Just to remind people why everyone calls this coalition what it really is, the coalition of the bribed, lets look at the troop deployments, per country.
USA 130,000
Great Britain 9,000
Italy 3,000
Poland 2,460
Ukraine 1,600
Netherlands 1,100
Every other country has less than 1,000 troops deployed. 17 countries have less than 200 troops deployed. Ya, thanks a lot. The bottom line is Bush did not get a broad coalition. It is our kids that are bearing the brunt and dying every day. It is your money funding it. Any other spin on this is just a lie.
"Bush gave our soldiers everything they needed to protect them from the weapons of mass destruction we ALL thought would be there."
I guess General Franks doesn't think that body armor is needed. As reported yesterday, Dick Cheney admitted that our troops had NO body armor for the first year of this occupation. Families had to chip in and send their kids body armor at a cost of $1,500 each. These are the facts, not the spin General Franks would have you believe. Secondly, General Franks made quite an inflection at the point when he said ALL. What he is omitting is that most of us saw the cooked intelligence from the Office of Special Plans, Bush's cell in the Pentagon. We all did not think that WMD would be found.
"Bush has improved soldier's pay 20% and improved their housing. He has remembered the sacrifice of our veterans."
Hmm, really? Lets see what the facts say:
On April 2, 2003, the U.S. Senate unanimously voted to increase pay for soldiers in "imminent danger" areas by 50 percent. Pay for families of active-duty troops was increased 150 percent. The increase was the first to imminent-danger pay since the first Gulf War, and the first to families since 1997. The increases were temporary, and set to expire at the end of the current fiscal year on September 30. Bush's Defense Department effectively decided "to cut the pay of its 148,000 U.S. troops in Iraq, who are already contending with guerrilla-style attacks, homesickness and 120-degree-plus heat" by opposing renewal of the pay raises.
After criticism from Democrats, the Pentagon announced that current salaries for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan would not be cut, but such efforts may come at the expense of troops serving elsewhere. [Knight-Ridder, 4/5/03; Los Angeles Times, 4/3/03; CQ, 4/16/03; San Francisco Chronicle, 8/14/03; Army Times, 8/13/03; 8/20/03]
The Army Times, an independent paper distributed to Army personnel, criticized Bush, saying "The bottom line: If the Bush administration felt in April that conditions in Iraq and Afghanistan warranted increases in danger pay and family separation allowances, it cannot plausibly argue that the higher rates are not still warranted today." The Times said the Bush administration "undermined" support for the troops, and called the pay cuts "maddening." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution called the Pentagon's plan "heartless" and "simply unacceptable." [Army Times, 8/18/03; San Francisco Chronicle, 8/14/03; Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/15/03]
Bush's 2004 budget cut $200 million from Impact Aid, a program that helps military children receive a quality education. The military portion of Impact Aid would fall in Bush's budget from $635 to $435 million. Bush tried to cut $3 million from Impact Aid in 2003 as well. [House Appropriations Committee, Minority Staff, 6/17/03, 6/16/03; Washington Post, 6/17/03; Omaha World Herald, 2/5/02; State News Service, 2/4/02]
Bush's 2004 tax cut failed to extend a child tax credit to 200,000 low-income military families. Soldiers whose "with taxable incomes below $26,625 are ineligible for the increase in the maximum child tax credit from $600 to $1,000 that was part of a tax bill signed into law in May." Among those whose families are left out of the Bush tax cut are soldiers serving in combat zones. [Washington Post, 6/17/03; Army Times, 8/11/03]
The charity group "Feed the Children" organized food drives for children whose parents were fighting in Iraq. Between December 2002 and April 2003, the group "delivered 600,000 pounds of food and other necessities to more than 6,200 military families at 12 bases." In April, people "lined up for a half-hour near Fort Bragg to get free boxes of supplies and food, from cereal and spaghetti sauce to baby food and potato chips.
Among the needy were some of the 1,200 families living near the Army post and Pope Air Force Base whose breadwinners are off fighting in Iraq." Even in peacetime, many militaries families rely on such efforts, and qualify for food stamps. "Feed the Children is best known for providing food and medical assistance in developing countries. It began aiding families of deployed military during the first Gulf War." [Tulsa World, 4/7/03; Associated Press, 4/9/03]
A bipartisan Senate push to extend benefits to part time reservists has met stiff resistance by the Bush Administration. In July 2003, "Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld sent a letter to House and Senate leaders stating the Bush Administration's opposition to" legislation that would extend full benefits to part-time military reservists.
A Pentagon memo dated July 26, 2003 revealed that the Bush Administration would veto any Defense appropriation request that included the benefits. The legislation is strongly supported by the National Guard Association, the Adjutants General Association, and Enlisted Association of the National Guard. [Office of Senator Tom Daschle, 7/14/03; Army Times, 8/13/03; http://www.ngaus.org/newsroom/Sec%20523%20Letter.pdf]
UPI learned that "hundreds of sick and wounded U.S. soldiers including many who served in the Iraq war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait -- sometimes for months -- to see doctors. The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living conditions are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, that many of them believe the Army is trying push them out with reduced benefits for their ailments.
One document shown to UPI states that no more doctor appointments are available from Oct. 14 through Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day.... One month after President Bush greeted soldiers at Fort Stewart...as heroes on their return from Iraq, approximately 600 sick or injured members of the Army Reserves and National Guard are warehoused in rows of spare, steamy and dark cement barracks in a sandy field, waiting for doctors to treat their wounds or illnesses."
Despite Bush's claims, "the annual percentage increase it requested for veterans' health care is 5.4 percent -- hardly a windfall considering that the consumer price index for medical care was 13 percent during fiscal year 2002. VA officials have testified that it would take a 13 to 14 percent hike in the VA's health care budget just to maintain the status quo." [Rep. Lane Evans (D-IL) Op-Ed, The Hill, 9/17/03]
At least 230,000 veterans are being forced to wait over six months for their initial visit to a doctor at the VA medical facilities. In some parts of the country veterans are waiting nearly two years for those visits. Bush's VA Secretary Anthony Principi has acknowledged the danger in these delays, stating "I'm concerned [the delays are] causing quality to be degraded."
The "Independent Budget," an analysis of the VA budget provided by veterans groups, has said "The Department of Veterans Affairs health care system is in critical condition." Meanwhile, the Bush administration opposed a Senate addition to the Iraq supplemental bill that would have added $1.3 billion to veterans' health care. [Air Force Magazine, 10/02; http://www.pva.org/independentbudget/pdf/IB_04excsum.pdf; OMB Director Joshua Bolton to Rep. David Obey (D-WI), 10/21/03]
In early August 2003, the Bush administration announced it was closing hospitals in its efforts to "restructure" the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Joy Ilem, assistant national legislative director for Disabled American Veterans, "questioned the need for closures and other cutbacks. 'Everyone is aware of the difficulty VA has meeting demand,' Ilem said. 'When we have hundreds of thousands of veterans on waiting lists (for medical appointments), we don't want to see facilities closed due to fiscal problems.'" There are currently 163 VA hospitals in the US. [Associated Press, 8/4/03, 10/28/03; Department of Veterans Affairs]
In mid-August, as Bush vacationed in Texas, a thousand veterans and supporters rallied in Waco, Texas to protest the closing of that VA hospital. The protestors met at the Waco School District football stadium parking lot "for a rally before driving the 22 miles to Crawford," where Bush was vacationing. "Veterans of Foreign Wars State Commander Ron Hornsby told the stadium crowd that the VA commissioner looking at closing hospitals could harm veterans all across the country, not just in Waco. 'We can never repay the veterans -- we hear those words a lot,' Hornsby said. 'At times like this, those words become very hollow, very meaningless.'" More than 1,500 vets joined a similar October rally to protest a VA closing in New York. [San Antonio Express-News, 8/17/03; Associated Press, 10/20/03, 10/28/03]
After the initial UPI reports surfaced, the Army announced it was rushing doctors and funds to Fort Stewart to alleviate the situation. [United Press International, 10/17/03; 10/20/03]
This year Bush proposed increasing prescription drugs costs for veterans. The Bush plan would have included a new $250 enrollment fee and a co pay increase from $7 to $15 for veterans earning over $24,000. On July 21, the House Appropriations Committee agreed to a Democratic amendment to reject the Bush fee increases and recoup the $264 million in costs by reducing administrative funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs. [Reuters, 7/14/03; Washington Post, 7/22/03]
On January 16, 2003, the Bush Administration announced it would cut access to health care benefits for 160,000 middle-income veterans due to budget constraints. John Pettyjohn, an Oklahoma veteran who served in Vietnam, said of the cuts, "On one hand, we're sending our sons and daughters out to war and possibly to die, yet on the other hand we're punishing a certain class of veterans who've made money in their lives. The government made a promise to us. What they're doing now is wrong." [Associated Press, 1/16/03; The Daily Oklahoman, 1/18/03]
What do you think about that General Franks? This president want to wrap himself up in the flag and pretend he is the "war president" but the facts don't lie. Bush does.
SummaryThe fortunate son of our lifetime is certainly George W. Bush. He wants you to remember two things from this convention.
1) You need to be scared because we are not safe.
2) John Kerry is a flip-flopper and thus unfit to be Commander in Chief
On the second point, if changing one's opinions is a bad thing lets take a look at George W. Bush's record.
Flip Flop # 1 Social Security
Flip Flop # 2 Patient's Rights to Sue
Flip Flop # 3 Tobacco Farmers Quotas
Flip Flop # 4 Osama bin Laden
Flip Flop # 5 Nation Building
Flip Flop # 6 Incentives to North Korea to Disarm
Flip Flop # 7 Abortion
Flip Flop # 8 Forcing OPEC to Lower Prices
Flip Flop # 9 Iraq Funding
Flip Flop # 10 911 Commission (this counts as multiple flip flops)
Flip Flop # 11 Ahmed Chalabi
Flip Flop # 12 Department of Homeland Security
Flip Flop # 13 Free Trade
Flip Flop # 14 Mandatory Caps on Carbon Dioxide
Flip Flop # 15 Gay Marriage
Flip Flop # 16 Saddam - al Qaeda Link
Flip Flop # 17 Campaign Finance Reform
Flip Flop # 18 527 Political Ads
Flip Flop # 19 Confidentiality of Medical Records
Flip Flop # 20 Diverting Water From the Great Lakes
Flip Flop # 21 Winning the War on Terror
This is just a sampling. Using the GOP mantra, George Bush must be unfit for command because he changes his mind so much. The right is very good about exploiting this nonsense. You have to be more vigilant and actually look at what they specifically are talking about. When they are talking about Kerry's switch on No Child Left Behind, it is because Bush did not fund it. When they are talking about the Patriot Act it was because of the way John Ashcroft has abused it. When they are talking about the 87 billion dollar vote, it is because Bush threatened to veto the version Kerry supported which would have made Halliburton more accountable. Aren't these noble changes of opinion? I do not want a leader that when realizing he made a mistake about the premise for war is so obstinate that he snaps "what's the difference!" I don't want a leader who is so inflexible that when asked a fair question about his relationship with Ken Lay feels compelled to storm out of the press conference. I do not want a leader that is so rigid that when faced with proof that his economic policies are not working he decides to change the way the statistics are collected instead of the policies themselves. That is what is dangerous in this country. Pigheaded leadership has been celebrated at this convention as a good thing and I think they are wrong. We need a leader who can assess a situation and decide what the best course of action is, not the best way to defend his own positions.
On the first point, if we are not safe, then why does Bush deserve my vote? If he has not been able to get the terror alert down from elevated ONCE during his entire presidency, how can that be claimed as a successful record? How are we safer for removing a man who had no WMD, while bin Laden was getting away? Maybe the answers are tied up in the fact that we really are safer. Of course if we were then Bush has nothing left to run on. Beat the war drums loud enough, wave the flag strong enough, and say snappy lines like "we are going to terminate the terrorists" and maybe enough people will feel unsafe and need to vote for Bush. Raise the alert every now and again, just enough to remind everyone that they are not safe. Never mind if there is no intelligence to back it up, or if the intelligence is four years old. We need those folks scared. You are skeptical? Here is a partial list of the dates of our terror warnings:
2001 - 10/11, 10/29, 12/3
2002 - 01/17, 02/10, 03/27, 05/19, 05/21, 09/10
2003 - 02/08, 03/17, 03/18, 12/21
2004 - 04/02, 05/26, 08/01
These were all accompanied by "serious chatter", "credible intelligence", or "increased activity". Guess what they all had in common? That's right, nothing happened. There were never any details, the point was just to scare you. A scared voter may vote for Bush. A voter who is not scared may start thinking about their life and their issues, which George W. Bush cannot speak to. Even those of you who may be scared, you must honestly ask yourself how Bush has made you safer? Because FOX says so? We are at war and will be at war every day that Bush stays in office. War does not make us safer. It only kills. You need to be careful that you aren't so busy being protective, that you wake up one day with nothing left to protect. I started this article with a song, and I will finish with another song, from 1964:
Yes, my guard stood hard when
abstract threats
Too noble to neglect
Deceived me into thinking
I had something to protect
Good and bad, I define these terms
Quite clear, no doubt, somehow
Ah, but I was so much older then
I'm younger than that now
Peace and God bless us all.
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
