September 30, 2004 – A Foolish Consistency is the Hobgoblin of Little Minds
These past weeks I have been rendered speechless by the gall of the Bush Administration, its Campaign tactics, and their selective memory. To a great extent, the Bush Campaign has effectively portrayed John Kerry, a war hero, as a coward without strong convictions, a “flip-flopper,” someone we cannot trust. They have taken the time and effort to go out and find inconsistent statements, primarily on issues like Iraq, to prove that John Kerry is not a safe choice for the Job. Well, since the first of three Presidential Debates is tonight, I thought I would take a second to actually point out some of the statements and positions taken by the Bush Administration these past four years, because lord knows, according to George Bush, John Kerry is a man whose life is nothing more than one big mixed message.
George Bush, the man who has no regrets about his decision to go into Iraq; the man who would still land on an aircraft carrier with the sign “Mission Accomplished” behind him; the man who said “bring them on” when told of insurgents in Iraq, this man has himself changed positions about as many times as he has said “evil-doers” this past year on just about everything except Iraq. For the record, I do not think a change of position is a problem, and often times, shows growth and learning. And, as this Administration has demonstrated, doggedly sticking to a position just because you want to be right does not in fact make it so. More than 1000 American servicemen and women have unfortunately proven that point with their lives, as have tens of thousands Iraqis. And, apparently, it is un-American to even question whether or not Bush’s Iraq strategy is proper. Question authority and you are a traitor to the country and the troops fighting the fight. Remember, mixed messages are the solace of terrorist and evil-doers.
If the Bush Campaign is going to focus on this whole flip-flop mixed message thing, well, then, in the words of Shakespeare (who Bush would not know because he does not read, and any way, only those elitist liberals read stuff like that) the Bush Campaign doth protest too much. For the record, and I know that the Bush Campaign hates anything resembling Bush’s actual track record, but if you look at it, you will see that Bush is a pretty good issues acrobat in his own right. The following is a list of just some of the flips and flops of George W. Bush. A more detailed list, along with a pretty cool poster of all of the flops and flips of our Commander-in-Chief, and is also available at http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/pp.asp?c=klLWJcP7H&b=118263.
1. Weapons of Mass Destruction
BUSH SAYS WE FOUND THE WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION..."We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories...for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them." [President Bush, Interview in Poland, 5/29/03]
...BUSH SAYS WE HAVEN'T FOUND WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION "David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out." [President Bush, Meet the Press, 2/7/04]
2. Osama Bin Laden
BUSH WANTS OSAMA DEAD OR ALIVE... "I want justice. And there's an old poster out West, I recall, that says, 'Wanted: Dead or Alive.'" [President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01]
...BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT OSAMA "I don't know where he is. You know, I just don't spend that much time on him... I truly am not that concerned about him." [President Bush, Press Conference, 3/13/02]
3. The Environment
BUSH SUPPORTS MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE... "[If elected], Governor Bush will work to...establish mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide." [Bush Environmental Plan, 9/29/00]
...BUSH OPPOSES MANDATORY CAPS ON CARBON DIOXIDE "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act." [President Bush, Letter to Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), 3/13/03]
4. WMD Commission
BUSH RESISTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE... "The White House immediately turned aside the calls from Kay and many Democrats for an immediate outside investigation, seeking to head off any new wide-ranging election-year inquiry that might go beyond reports already being assembled by congressional committees and the Central Intelligence Agency." [NY Times, 1/29/04]
...BUSH SUPPORTS AN OUTSIDE INVESTIGATION ON WMD INTELLIGENCE FAILURE "Today, by executive order, I am creating an independent commission, chaired by Governor and former Senator Chuck Robb, Judge Laurence Silberman, to look at American intelligence capabilities, especially our intelligence about weapons of mass destruction." [President Bush, 2/6/04]
5. Gay Marriage
BUSH SAYS GAY MARRIAGE IS A STATE ISSUE... "The state can do what they want to do. Don't try to trap me in this state's issue like you're trying to get me into." [Gov. George W. Bush on Gay Marriage, Larry King Live, 2/15/00]
...BUSH SUPPORTS CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT BANNING GAY MARRIAGE "Today I call upon the Congress to promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife." [President Bush, 2/24/04]
6. Nation Building
BUSH OPPOSES NATION BUILDING... "If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road." [Gov. George W. Bush, 10/3/00]
...BUSH SUPPORTS NATION BUILDING "We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people." [President Bush, 3/6/03]
7. Saddam/al Qaeda Link
BUSH SAYS IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN AL QAEDA AND SADDAM... "You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror." [President Bush, 9/25/02]
...BUSH SAYS SADDAM HAD NO ROLE IN AL QAEDA PLOT "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11." [President Bush, 9/17/03]1. Social Security Surplus
8. North Korea
BUSH WILL NOT OFFER NUCLEAR NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM... "We developed a bold approach under which, if the North addressed our long-standing concerns, the United States was prepared to take important steps that would have significantly improved the lives of the North Korean people. Now that North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach." [President's Statement, 11/15/02]
...BUSH ADMINISTRATION OFFERS NORTH KOREA INCENTIVES TO DISARM “Well, we will work to take steps to ease their political and economic isolation. So there would be -- what you would see would be some provisional or temporary proposals that would only lead to lasting benefit after North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs. So there would be some provisional or temporary efforts of that nature." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan, 6/23/04]
9. OPEC
BUSH PROMISES TO FORCE OPEC TO LOWER PRICES... "What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price." [President Bush, 1/26/00]
...BUSH REFUSES TO LOBBY OPEC LEADERS With gas prices soaring in the United States at the beginning of 2004, the Miami Herald reported the president refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds." [Miami Herald, 4/1/04]
10. Iraq Funding
BUSH SPOKESMAN DENIES NEED FOR ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR THE REST OF 2004... "We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for '04" [White House Budget Director Joshua Bolton, 2/2/04]
...BUSH REQUESTS ADDITIONAL FUNDS FOR IRAQ FOR 2004 "I am requesting that Congress establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal year to meet all commitments to our troops." [President Bush, Statement by President, 5/5/04]
11. Science
BUSH PLEDGES TO ISSUE REGULATIONS BASED ON SCIENCE..."I think we ought to have high standards set by agencies that rely upon science, not by what may feel good or what sounds good." [then-Governor George W. Bush, 1/15/00]
...BUSH ADMINISTRATION REGULATIONS IGNORE SCIENCE "60 leading scientists—including Nobel laureates, leading medical experts, former federal agency directors and university chairs and presidents—issued a statement calling for regulatory and legislative action to restore scientific integrity to federal policymaking. According to the scientists, the Bush administration has, among other abuses, suppressed and distorted scientific analysis from federal agencies, and taken actions that have undermined the quality of scientific advisory panels." [Union of Concerned Scientists, 2/18/04]
12. Medical Records
Bush says medical records must remain private: "I believe that we must protect…the right of every American to have confidence that his or her personal medical records will remain private." [President Bush, 4/12/01]
…Bush says patients' histories are not confidential: The Justice Department…asserts that patients "no longer possess a reasonable expectation that their histories will remain completely confidential." [BusinessWeek, 4/30/04]
13. Timelines For Dictators
Bush sets timeline for Saddam: "If Iraq does not accept the terms within a week of passage or fails to disclose required information within 30 days, the resolution authorizes 'all necessary means' to force compliance--in other words, a military attack." [LA Times, 10/3/02]
…Bush says he's against timelines: "I don't think you give timelines to dictators." [President Bush, 8/27/04]
14. Winning The War On Terror
Bush claims he can win the war on terror: "One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we're asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course, you can." [President Bush, 4/13/04]
…Bush says war on terror is unwinnable: "I don't think you can win [the war on terror]." [President Bush, 8/30/04]
…Bush says he will win the war on terror: "Make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win [the war on terror]." [President Bush, 8/31/04]
After reviewing even a couple of these acrobatic statements, it seems incredible to me that the mainstream media has not called the Republican Party’s bluff. Are they that afraid of the consequences of actually reporting on the President’s record? Or, is it just easier to soak up the patriotic air of the Republican façade while our rights go slipping through our hands and the truth goes by the wayside. After some of the post-debate spin, and the endless echoes of “flip-flop” and “mixed message” from Bush operatives, it seems clear that no one is going to call the President on his own inconsistencies. That is a shame, because if he really loved this country, he would resign right now because clearly he is not qualified to lead if he has a flip or a flop.
Next time George Bush, Karl Rove and Dick Cheney pull out the good old “flip flopper” label, or you hear the phrase “mixed message” again, someone, anyone in the media please pull out Bush’s own record and hold him accountable for his own inconsistencies. Perhaps then we can try to move on to discuss the real issues that face us all, rather than focus on the shrill accusations going back and forth. And, perhaps we can utter three words to those so busy slinging mud and accusations regarding John Kerry’s record: Pot. Kettle. Black.