Three years of Bush:

Deficit Spending:

In 2000 Clinton administration runs the largest Federal budget surplus in history.
 In 2003 the Bush administration runs largest Federal budget deficit in history. 2004 will be worse.
July 2003, administration announces deficit will be twice as large as its earlier estimate - and this still does not count the cost of operations in Afghanistan or Iraq, where our occupation is consuming $1 billion per week.

Jobs:

2,800,000 jobs lost under Bush.
 Highest unemployment rate in 20 years.
Longest average length of unemployment in 20 years.

Compassionate Conservatism:

 Number of seniors who will be cut off meal programs because of Bush budget: 36,000.
 Number of families who will be cut off of heating assistance because of the Bush budget: 532,000.
 Number of homeless kids who will be cut off of education programs because of Bush budget: 8,000.
 Number of kids who will be cut off of after-school programs because of the Bush budget: 50,000.
 Number of kids who will be cut off of child care because of Bush budget: 33,000.
(from Molly Ivins 12.23.02)

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Why is Bush popular?

It's simple. We're scared.

Since 9/11, we're afraid of hijacked planes, anthrax attacks, dirty bombs, and nuclear holocaust. We're scared to death, for good reason. Bush has manipulated our fears to meet his political ends. Without our fear, more Americans would have noticed by now how radically conservative Bush is. Without our fear, we would have demanded to know why he's talked so much but done so little to ensure our safety. Without our fear he would have never gotten support to attack Iraq without credible proof of either a link to 9/11 or Weapons of Mass Destruction.

The dangerous thing about Bush is not, as some felt during his candidacy, that he is stupid. He is not. The dangerous thing about Bush is that he thinks that the American people are stupid. He thinks that if he says often enough that his invasion of Iraq is part of the war against terrorism, even though there is no proof that Iraq had anything to do with Al Quada or 9/11, that people will believe it. He thinks that if proposes a tax break for rich people nobody will notice so long as he calls it a jobs bill. He thinks that we won't notice if he guts the Education Department and calls it the "Leave no Child Behind Act." He thinks that we won't recognize his love note to polluters if he calls it "Clear Skies legislation." More here>>

Complacency and the Corporate Media?

Keep in mind that 40% of the electorate would enthusiastically support a Republican president even if he were to invade Mexico. Another 40% will support just about anything a Democratic president does. Among the other 20%, people are too busy living their lives to pay attention. And the corporate media is so afraid of saying anything that could be construed as having a liberal bias that it will happily report anything the administration says without question or comment.

Could Bush have prevented 9/11?

We'll never know.  This is the most secretive administration in a decade, and it keeps anything that could reflect poorly on it under wraps.  But three things are certain: 

• Shortly before 9/11, Bush was warned of an imminent attack involving hijacked planes.
• Bush did nothing about it.
• Bush has attempted to hide the fact that these warnings occurred; he even had Condoleza Rice lie about it.

More here>>

Did Bush lie about Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction?

Yes. Though Bush apologists in the media have suggested that he only exaggerated, (remember when exaggerations made by Al Gore were picked apart incessantly by these same writers?) there is no doubt that Bush knew that the case against Iraq was skewed. In fact, evidence is surfacing that the administration spinmasters' attempts to pin responsibility for 9/11 on Iraq began within hours of the attacks, despite a total lack of evidence of Iraqi involvement.

Does it matter that he lied?

Yes and no. As John Dean has noted, Bush has almost certainly committed an impeachable offense. In practical terms, things have changed for the worse since the time of the Watergate scandal, when Republican Senators demanded to know what Nixon's role was, and Democrats led the investigation. Now, the Republicans are dedicated to nothing more than protecting their own, and the Democrats are dedicated to protecting their own backsides. Besides, in real terms, this is but one in a pattern of lies.

This president lies about everything. And what he doesn't lie about, he spins. Take the flap about his Niger assertion in his State of the Union speech, for example. His people made the rounds saying that the statement was technically true, even though it was made in the knowledge that it was false. They would rather redefine what a lie is than admit that the president made one. And any fault wasn't the president's but that of CIA director George Tenet, or Condy Rice, or her assistants. In other words, the buck stops over there somewhere.

Remember that this president set a higher standard for himself when he ran for office on a promise to return honor to the White House.

Other Bush lies:

Has he lied about his military service and his sweetheart financial dealings with Harkin energy and the Texas Rangers baseball club. What about his sobriety? You decide. (requires Quicktime)

Voting: the anti-Bush

Websites and peace-marches are fine, but the only way to stop Bush is to vote him out of office. The only way to vote is to register to vote.

In 2000, Gore lost by a few hundred votes in Florida. You can blame his victory on dangling chads, poor ballot design, poor campaigning, poor recount strategy, a politicized Supreme Court, Ralph Nader, or all of the above, but the truth is that 75 million eligible voters didn't bother to vote. It's their fault that we're in this mess. It's their fault and our fault if Bush gets re-elected and the mess becomes permanent.

So it's our job to make sure that they come out next time and bring about a regime change in Washington.

Fortunately we live in a wonderful e-world, where residents of all but six states can register painlessly right now buy filling out the form at election.com. Please send this page and this link to your non-voting friends. Make them fill it out. Then, when the election rolls around, make sure they get to the polls.

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