Rex Tyus said:
MikeD00019 said:
Bush administrations policies have ran this country into the ground. I'm not a democrat if you read my statement right. I think we need somebody new. John McCain offers NOTHING different. He says country first but leaves an horribly inexperienced VP in charge if something happens to him. That's not putting country first.
Please enlighten us with all your historical knowledge and understanding of the financial markets and the creation of jobs. SPECIFICALLY, what do you see as the top 3 Bush policies that caused the problems we have today.
Inexperienced VP? OK Please enlighten me to what Obama has accomplished or even attempted that makes him more qualified than Palin? Just curious. I mean you have it all figured out so please clue me in. If you want some one new Vote McCain and just wait a little while. I mean he is in his 70's. :wink:
Republicans on Bush's Policies
"If he needs more authority, he just can’t unilaterally decide that that 1978 law is out of date and he will be the guardian of America and he will violate that law. He needs to come back, work with us, work with the courts if he has to, and we will do what we need to do to protect the civil liberties of this country and the national security of this country." - Sen. Chuck Hagel, January 29, 2006. [ABCNEWS.com]
"[A]ny time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap ... a wiretap requires a court order." - President Bush, April 20, 2004. [WhiteHouse.gov]
"If I knew then what I know now about what kind of situation we would be in, I would have opposed the war." - William F. Buckley, preeminent conservative commentator and founder of the National Review, on the Iraq war. [The Hill]
"The situation with the CIA and ghost soldiers is beginning to look like a bad movie." - Sen. John McCain, September 10, 2004. [ABCNEWS.com]
"I've reached the conclusion, retrospectively, now that the inadequate intelligence and faulty conclusions are being revealed, that all things being considered, it was a mistake to launch that military action, especially without a broad and engaged international coalition." - Rep. Doug Bereuter, Former vice chairman, House Intelligence Committee, in an August 18, 2004 statement. [CNN]
"I truly am not that concerned about him." - President George W. Bush, when asked about Osama Bin Laden during a March 13, 2002 press conference in which he said that he was "deeply concerned" about the alleged Iraq WMD threat. [CNN]
"I would not have voted for [President Bush's] tax cut, based on what I know. . . . There is no doubt that the people at the top who need a tax break the least will get the most benefit. . . . Too often presidents do things that don't end up helping the people they should be helping, and their staffs won't tell them their actions stink on ice." - Former North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. [Washington Post]
"He was saying how Colin Powell was being a wuss because he was overly concerned with the lives of the troops. And I said, ‘Look ..., he’s supposed to think that way!’ And Perle didn’t agree with me on that. People like that worry me.” - Author Tom Clancy, describing how he "almost came to blows" with leading neoconservative Richard Perle. In the same interview, Clancy called the invasion of Iraq a "mistake," because it lacked “casus belli,” or suitable provocation. [MSNBC]
"What the hell! What are these guys thinking about? . . . Can't you get these guys back in the box?" - Secretary of State Colin Powell to General Hugh Shelton after Rumsfeld had brought up the possibility of attacking Iraq in a September 16, 2001 National Security Council meeting. [Slate's "Condensed Bob Woodward"; Woodward, "Plan of Attack," p.25]
"[How much Iraq has in the way of WMD's] can be debated." - Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush, in a speech given February 26, 2003, just weeks before the Iraq War began. [London Times]
"Trying to eliminate Saddam, extending the ground war into an occupation of Iraq, would have violated our guideline about not changing objectives in midstream, engaging in 'mission creep,' and would have incurred incalculable human and political costs." - Former U.S. President George H. W. Bush on why he didn't occupy Iraq in 1991, in his 1998 book, "A World Transformed.'' [Bush, "A World Transformed"]
"It is interesting to me that many of those who want to rush this country into war and think it would be so quick and easy don't know anything about war . . . They come at it from an intellectual perspective versus having sat in jungles or foxholes and watched their friends get their heads blown off." - Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska. [MSNBC]
"If we go after Saddam Hussein, we lose our rightful place as the good guy." - Vice President Cheney, September 16, 2001. [Woodward, p.25]
"Woodward meets Bush at a White House Christmas party in 2002. Though it's months before the prez would declare war on Iraq, Bush suggests that a sequel to Woodward's previous best seller, Bush at War, should be in the works.'Maybe it will be called More Bush at War,' Bush says.
Laura Bush responds, 'Let's hope not.'" [Slate's "Condensed Bob Woodward"; Woodward, p.25]
"We see an unprecedented secrecy in this White House that ... we find very troubling." - Larry Klayman, executive director of conservative legal watchdog Judicial Watch. "This is a case where left and right agree ... True conservatives don't act this way." [USA Today]
"This is not a monarchy." - House Government Reform Chairman Dan Burton, a Republican from Indiana, after President Bush invoked executive privilege to deny Congress access to prosecutorial documents, which have routinely been turned over to Congress by past administrations. [USA Today]
Democrats on Bush's Policies
"At present, we still have much to learn about the NSA’s domestic surveillance. What we do know about this pervasive wiretapping virtually compels the conclusion that the President of the United States has been breaking the law repeatedly and persistently. A president who breaks the law is a threat to the very structure of our government. Our Founding Fathers were adamant that they had established a government of laws and not men. Indeed, they recognized that the structure of government they had enshrined in our Constitution – our system of checks and balances – was designed with a central purpose of ensuring that it would govern through the rule of law. As John Adams said: 'The executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them, to the end that it may be a government of laws and not of men.' ” - Former Vice President Al Gore, January 16, 2006. [American Constitution Society]
"General Pace, if you were shown a video of a United States Marine or an American citizen in the control of a foreign power, in a cell block, naked with a bag over their head, squatting with their arms uplifted for 45 minutes, would you describe that as a good interrogation technique or a violation of the Geneva Convention?" - Democratic Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island. "I would describe it as a violation, sir," Pace replied. [CNN]
“$200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can’t afford after-school programs for our children; $200 billion in Iraq, but they tell us we can’t afford health care for our veterans; $200 billion for Iraq, but they tell us we can’t afford to keep the 100,000 police officers we put on the street.” - Sen. John Kerry, Democratic Presidential Candidate [MSNBC]
“That’s why we have these treaties. So when Americans are captured, they are not tortured. That’s the reason, in case anybody forgets it.” - Sen. Joseph Biden, Democrat from Delaware. [MSNBC]
"Congress, by and large, has been left to learn about major war-related decisions through newspaper articles . . . Is it any wonder that members of Congress are beginning to question whether the administration is deliberately leaving Congress in the dark — or whether the administration is making major policy decisions on the fly, without taking time for due consideration or consultation?" - Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, Democrat from West Virginia. [New York Times]
Military Leaders on Bush's Policies
"The invasion of Iraq, I believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster in U.S. history." - Retired Lt. General William Odom, former head of the National Security Agency. [AP]
"To my knowledge, I have not seen any strong, hard evidence that links the two." - Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld discussing the alleged al Qaeda-Iraq link, on October 4, 2004. [CNN] According to the article, in June, Vice President Cheney said: "There clearly was a relationship. It's been testified to. The evidence is overwhelming."
"We all believe that current administration policies have failed in the primary responsibilities of preserving national security and providing world leadership . . . We need a change." - Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, a group of 27 former U.S. diplomats and military officials. [Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change]
"Retired Marine Gen. Anthony C. Zinni, former U.S. commander in the Middle East, charges in a book to be published today that 'everybody in the military knew' that the Bush administration's plan for Iraq consisted of only half the troops that were needed, and says that country is now 'a powder keg' that could break apart into warring regions." [Washington Post]
Scientists on Bush's Policies
"Across a broad range of issues—from childhood lead poisoning and mercury emissions to climate change, reproductive health, and nuclear weapons—the administration is distorting and censoring scientific findings that contradict its policies; manipulating the underlying science to align results with predetermined political decisions; and undermining the independence of science advisory panels by subjecting panel nominees to political litmus tests that have little or no bearing on their expertise; nominating non-experts or underqualified individuals from outside the scientific mainstream or with industry ties; as well as disbanding science advisory committees altogether." - Union of Concerned Scientists, a group that includes 20 Nobel Prize laureates and 19 National Medal of Science honorees, in its statement "Scientific Integrity in Policymaking." [Union of Concerned Scientists]
"The administration plan would hurt public health and help big polluters by weakening, delaying and diluting cuts in power plants’ sulfur, nitrogen and mercury pollution compared to timely enforcement of current law. The administration plan would roll back the current law’s public health safeguards to protect local air quality, curb pollution from upwind states, and protect our national parks. Tens of millions of people would be denied clean air, even as late as 2020 and beyond." - The American Lung Association, in its "State of the Air 2004" report [American Lung Association]
Religious Leaders on Bush's Policies
"I warned him about this war. I had deep misgivings about this war, deep misgivings. And I was trying to say, Mr. President, you better prepare the American people for casualties," Pat Robertson told CNN's Paula Zahn. But Bush said, " 'Oh, no, we're not going to have any casualties,' " Robertson related. [Newsday]
"[The conflict in the Holy Land is a] senseless spiral of blind violence" - The Pope, Christmas Day, 2002. In the same article, the BBC also reported that: "The Vatican has made clear its opposition to what US officials refer to as a preventive war against Iraq, saying it would not qualify as a just war." [BBC]
"In a spirit of shared faith and respect, we feel called to express grave moral concern about your 'Clear Skies' initiative - which we believe is The Administration's continuous effort to weaken critical environmental standards to protect God's creation." - The National Council of Churches, which represents 50 million American Christians [CNN]
"Christian and Muslim, Hindu and Jew, Buddhist and Shinto, Baha'i and Sikh -- all our faith traditions celebrate the sacredness of human life. All charge us to build a just, peaceful, and equitable world. In their essence all these traditions celebrate the power of love to vanquish hate and the power of mercy to overcome vengeance. Therefore, in the name of God, the Ultimate, we say 'No' to war against Iraq." - Statement of Conscience on the Iraq War, dated October 2002, from the Progressive Religious Partnership, a coalition of leaders from a wide variety of faiths. [Progressive Religious Partnership]
