So much for the "independence of the press" - we now have an administration that paid for favorable "press" coverage, prevented reporters from reporting on Inauguration parties and put a politico in the press pool. Whenever anyone in the administration uses the word "freedom," I want to ask if they have a clue what that word really means, because they just don't seem to get it.
On 10/28/2004, KSTP broadcast video that proved the explosives were at Al-Qaqaa and still under IAEA seal in early April 2003. Further, American soldiers were shown breaking the seal!!!! When confronted with these facts on the Today show on 10/29/2004, former US ambassador to Iraq Paul Bremer stuck to the party line - "We don't know when the explosives were removed" and used his time on TV to attack John Kerry for daring to say that the American government botched this big time. Matt Lauer mentioned the original broadcast date at least three times, but Bremer completely ignored him and stayed in attack Kerry mode.
While the FBI is doing too little too late, they're finally launching an investigation into Halliburtion. This all due to the unrelenting work of one woman: Army Corps employee Bunnantine Greenhouse who kept noting improper awarding of huge contracts to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company Halliburton. The administration, naturally, has had nothing to say about this.
This has been Bush's response to Kerry's criticisms of the missing explosives scandal.
Bush, the man who sent our soldiers into Iraq.
Bush, the man whose "Environmental" department has failed miserably to enforce the law, leading to scenes like this.
Bush, the man whose "Justice" department has been trying to deny people their rights under the guise of "patriotism."
This man has done nothing but leap to conclusions for years. Time to get someone in office who can thoughtfully consider the options rather than latch onto the worst possible choice and refuse to let go.
I won't even go there. I have been a registered Republican, at times, in the distant past. Due to the depths to which the Republicans have sunk over the last few years, I will never be a registered Republican again, so long as I live.
Our current health care system is so incompetently-managed that millions of people who should get flu shots due to chronic illnesses won't be able to get them. Why? Because since most medicine is private, and there's no profit in flu shots. America outsourced its vaccine purchasing to a British company that, unfortunately, contaminated about half of this year's batch. So many Americans are getting their flu shots the same place where they're getting cheaper prescription drugs - Canada! - a country with national health insurance! In short, America's health care system is being partially propped up by a country with national health insurance!!
Oh, really?
We've lost over 1,000 American soldiers, probably over 100 contractors, and several thousand Iraqis under our "pro-life" president.
But wait, there's more evidence that, like the term "hard work," Bush wouldn't know a "pro-life" policy if it hit him in the face.
Due to Bushanomics, millions of people have lost their jobs, had their wages cut and lost their health insurance. As a result, the abortion rate in America has gone up under Bush's administration.
On The Daily Show just before the first presidential debate, Ralph Reed said that one reason why we had to invade Iraq because Iraq had invaded Iran back in the '80s. However, Reed is ignoring a simple fact: Under Reagan, the US government supported Iraq in that Iran-Iraq war!!
How soon we forget...
Oh, right. And their families are free to beat them and force them into arranged marriages: New York Times, 10/6/2004
A real debate might have been interesting (at least with real debaters). A more accurate name would be "presenting position papers in parallel."
Bush uses the phrase "hard work" as if he had a clue what that meant.
Cheney confused "factcheck.org" and "factcheck.com" and he also lied about what factcheck.org said about him!
Under Bush, one particularly useful middle-class tax cut, the tax credit for teachers who buy materials for their classes, has been ended. Yet another of the many examples of Bush caring more about tax breaks for millionaires than for working Americans.
All I can say about the current bru-ha-ha is that John Kerry defended this country, came to the conclusion after being wounded for this country that we shouldn't have been in Viet Nam, and did all the right things. His story is consistent, unlike the "swifties" and their friends.
Still don't think the swifties aren't closely related to Bush? Check The New York Times diagram on just how close the swifties and bushies are...
July 27, 2004: This line has been a repeated theme in many Bush speeches recently...
At the same time Cheney claims we need a war president, at the same time Bush claims to want to be "the peace president," at the same time a few people in the administration are looking into delaying the federal election "if there's a national emergency..."
Let's remember that, in the run-up to the Millennium celebrations a few years ago, nearly two years before 9/11, the Democratic Clinton administration managed to prevent Islamic terrorists from doing anything (not that they didn't try!). How did they protect America? The administration talked with the governments of other countries. In a spirit of worldwide cooperation, Islamic terrorists were denied the opportunity to create havoc during the Millennium celebrations. During the Clinton administration, we had more to fear from American white boy terrorists like McVeigh and Nichols than we did from Middle eastern terrorist wannabees.
We were safer before Bush and buddies came to power. We'll be safer again once they're out of office.
July 27, 2004: We must never forget that the Bush administration fought against the creation of an independent 9/11 commission. The day that the comission made its final report, Bush claimed that that "Oh we've already implemented some of their suggestions," but then said that there was no reason to rush to implement the commission's report.
July 12, 2004: Now that we've been in Iraq for over a year, have lost nearly 1,000 American soldiers and killed thousands of Iraqis, Bush has a new reason why we invaded:
Although we have not found stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, we were right to go into Iraq. We removed a declared enemy of America who had the capability of producing weapons of mass murder and could have passed that capability to terrorists bent on acquiring them. [[AP, Reuters, et.c.]]
Now, wait, if we're invading countries that could be giving weapons of mass murder to others, does that mean we're invading Iran next? Even America, since all of the 9/11 terrorists got their training at American flight schools?
Give Up 'Delusional Hope' of Iraq WMD, David Kay, Former Iraqi Weapons Inspector Says -- Why, that pretty much says it all, doesn't it?
The Miami Herald has been following the Florida voter lists scandal relentlessly. They found the following:
The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reported Wednesday that out of the nearly 48,000 names on the list, only 61 were Hispanic. Once again Hood and her boss, Gov. Jeb Bush, stood by the list...The New York Times showed why Hispanics, who largely vote Republican, were kept from the list while blacks, who overwhelmingly vote Democratic, remained. It turns out, the Department of Corrections database follows the federal standard for race, classifying Hispanics as white, and the election department rolls identify voters by ethnicity. Since the two databases didn't mesh, the identity of Hispanic felons couldn't be verified and were therefore kept off the list.
July 7, 2004: George Bush and Ken Lay exchanged hundreds of pieces of mail in the '80s and '90s. Ken Lay gave lots of money to W. and his Dad for things like elections, inaugural balls and libraries. Yet, despite this fact, George Bush had absolutely nothing to say when his old friend was finally indicted for helping to bring down Enron.
CNN documents the partial release
of Bush-Lay correspondence in 2002.
Washington
Post describes Lay's involvement in fundaraising for Bush.
June 23, 2004: "Our values as a nation, values that we share with many nations in the world, call for us to treat detainees humanely, including those who are not legally entitled to such treatment," Bush wrote in the memo dated February 7, 2002. "Our nation has been and will continue to be a strong supporter of Geneva and its principles." -- however
Even as they disavowed the memo, Justice Department officials said they stood behind the legal conclusions that the Geneva Conventions were not applicable.
(CNN)
June 20, 2004: "In an interview Thursday on CNBC, Cheney said 'we don't know' whether Iraq was involved in the 9/11 attacks. Asked whether he had information the panel did not, Cheney said, 'Probably.'"
(CNN)
"Vice Chairman Lee Hamilton said the commission was unable to find evidence supporting comments by President Bush that Iraq provided al Qaeda with chemical and biological weapons training or that an al Qaeda operative "was sent to Iraq several times in the late 1990s for help in acquiring poisons and gases."
Bush's comments were part of a radio address in February 2003, the month before the invasion."
(CNN)
Who said this?
But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.
Who said this - Dick Cheney or Herman Goerring?
After 2001, it's frighteningly hard to tell, isn't it?
Goering made this point during the Nuremberg trials in 1946. Who would have thought that American Republicans would decide to model their treatment of the American public on a Nazi leader?
It's no surprise that the Democrats and the Libertarians attack Bush. But there are a number of non-partisan groups are attacking Bush as well.