January 2001 20On the day of George W. Bush’s inauguration, Chief of Staff Andrew Card issues a sixty-day moratorium halting all new health, safety, and environmental regulations issued in the final days of the Clinton administration. 23On the twenty-eighth anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, Bush reinstates the “global gag rule” barring U.S. funding for abortion counseling abroad. … return to article
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Reader Comments (43)Page 1 of 1 pagesI think that this “Timeline” is the way that Kerry should have “debated” Bush. Rather than allowing Bush to turn the debate toward supposed “National Security” and its false connection to the Iraq war, Kerry should have pulled out salient features of the “Bush” presidency that occured prior to 9-11 and demonstrated that the Bush of 9-10 (with its very low approval ratings was the same Bush that in 2004 has demonstrably bungled the war policy as well as continuing on the road to destruction of the people and the land in the United States.
The structure and the content of the questions from the moderators of the debates can certainly be called into question, but for the Kerry campaign to have allowed openings for Bush to effectively lie about his environmental policy because people forgot or never knew what is was, for example, is astounding. Letting the anti-Labor (or anti-employee) policies go unmentioned was crazy. Allowing the Bushites to get away with cutting medical and other benefits for Veterans without mentioning them also comes to mind.
To make this type of presentation better, one might include footnotes somewhat the way “Bush Misleads” does—prompting people to sites that prove the point being made.
I like to make the angry white men look stupid cutting off their nose to spite their face. In this presentation the lack of footnotes gives them too much room to obfuscate. Thanks….Dennis Dixon
Posted by Dennis Dixon on Oct 29, 2004 at 5:54 AM Bravo to Dennis Dixon for his right-on remarks about the Timeline. I had the impression during both the Presidential and Vice-Presidential debates that both Kerry and Edwards had moments when their brain-cells were turned off, and flat-out lies passed over the airwaves with nary a blink. The issues the Timeline raises were/are critical ones, and if we get lucky this year and Bush finds himself pulling weeds in Crawford, then we must still raise every issue the Timeline poses, and push Kerry-Edwards so far to the Left to get the country centered once again. What Kerry will need is an wholesale Great Society-Works-Progress program, dealing with the global environment (who cares about any of the local issues when 50% of the fauna of this planet will be extinct within 50 years?), the political state of the planet (are we alone or together?), the economics of this country (10% controlling at least 70% of the economy?), and those good old American issues such as racism and zenophobia.
Kerry deserves our prayers, and a knock-knock joke or two. Bush, Cheney & Co deserve prison.
Posted by Stephen Geller on Oct 29, 2004 at 8:13 PM Beautiful !! Why were Kerry’s handlers not utilizing this as material for rebuttal of the Bush moronic comments in the debates ? How has the Cheney energy conference material cover-up gone so unchallanged ? How can the expiration of gun control be so ignored? The Bush record on environment is of itself grounds for impeachment. We have the makings of a true dictatorship of the priviliged going on and what are we doing? Throwing spitballs at muggers. To re-phrase the idiot Zell Miller. God Bless Valerie Plame. What traitor revealed her identity? Should Bush win re-election, we shall become the worlds’ largest “Banana Republic”
Posted by Jack Finn on Oct 29, 2004 at 8:31 PM What can one say about this scoundrel who’s been acting like he actually won the 2000 election fairly? In fact, what he HAS done is no different than everything a dictator with virtual political carte blanche would do if he’d usurped a legitimate leader…which is exactly what this regime did…
This bum and his gangster cronies smugly felt that they were entitled, (for no reason save disrespect of the Constitution and the American people), to accomplish their pre-scripted radical dismemberment of our democracy - in accordance with their fascist agenda…whose thrust and details were made into a manifesto which their chickenhawk gurus even attempted to make President Clinton impliment.
This list highlights the disgraceful truth of our nation’s paralysis in the face of a dictator’s usurpation of power and eventual implimentation of the most sordid, corrupt, Earth-endangering, war-crazed policies…all based conveniently, oh so conviniently on the holocaust of 911. For I will always doubt that the people would have gone along with these policies, enacted with such uncaring impunity, and outlined above in some detail - if the horror of 911 hadn’t occured.
And we still don’t know half of the facts about how or why that terrible day’s awful events came to pass. This scoundrel and his henchmen’s obfuscations and stonewalling, double-speak, unwillingness to testify under oath, and obvious failure to do their jobson that day, (or was 911 PART of their jobs?), created just the societal climate necessary to impliment these above outlined anti-American policies…and other treacherous and bloody misdeeds and crimes.
We are still living with the legacy of fear which either this tyrant’s ineptitude or complicity in the events of that infamous day ushered in. It shouts at us even now, three years on…less than three days before November 2nd…in the willingness of many voters to, in their fear and confusion, denialist mentality, or love of war and empire…ignominiously re-elect the very culprits who foisted that mental state upon them. God help us all!
Posted by Dominick Mastroserio on Oct 30, 2004 at 12:55 AM well, i must say that a person who thinks god is telling him to kill thousands of people definatly shoulld get his ears checked. im not christian, but isnt one of bush’s commandments “thou shall not kill”? as we all know he is (apparently) above the law of the united states, and even above international law, as he has show us, but i never would have guesses he was above his gods law! so, i guess the best we can hope for if this monkey gets re-elected is that god sees the light, because we all know that bush won’t, unless his oil companies profit. some say god bless the world, i say god save the world
Posted by corey adams on Oct 30, 2004 at 3:26 PM If Barbara Bush was half the woman she thinks she is, she would have washed Jr. Bush’s mouth out with soap long before this. And where has this left us? With a spoiled, born-again alcoholic in the White House running this country like a crusading mad man. It’s enough to make me want to throw up my hands and my dinner in disbelief and give up on my hard-earned religious beliefs. George Bush’s misdeeds are surely not a sign of God’s calling.
Posted by Sally Bookwalter on Oct 30, 2004 at 8:20 PM I think being disrespectful to the leader of our country and name calling is childish, if you want something to change then vote and do what you can to change it. Mistakes are part of being human and I agree we should get our troops out of there but I think that the first thing everyone needs to do is just support the people who are fighting for this country, instead of bashing it.
Posted by A on Oct 30, 2004 at 11:06 PM If I am allowed to respond to “A,” I do not see anything to respect in George Bush. As has been pointed out by the head of psychiatry at, I believe, George Washington University, George Bush exhibits the traits of an *untreated alcoholic.* He is arrogant, belligerant, and a bully. This has been demonstrated any number of times from his laughing at a women who he would not reprieve from death while governor of Texas; to saying to Cheney quietly on stage (not knowing a mike was on)that a New York Times reporters is an a—hole, to his present ducking of any responsibility for the situation in Iraq. This is, according to people in and around treatment, exactly what one calls a “dry drunk.”
He, and the cowards aroung him, were in favor of the Vietnem War as long as working class kids were fighting and dying so they could enjoy their privilege. He couldn’t last five minutes on the streets of South Chicago in 1966 (there were no “land men” there). He’s just a punk who has made a career out of being a failure *with a name* until he met his henchman Karl Rove. And now these two scoundrels maintain power for his class through the use of religion and patriotism to fool people. Hell is not deep enough for these people…
Posted by dennis dixon on Oct 30, 2004 at 11:57 PM This is directed to “A.” The Bush campaign has repeatedly shown that it respects no one. Historically, or hysterically, they have been the masters of nasty, smear tactics in political campaigns. So, you don’t get off easily with trying to tell me that supporting him is the only patriotic thing to do and to not support him is not supporting our troops. I feel sorry for our troops. They deserve more than our lip service for what they are enduring.
I likely know a little more about patriotism than you can dream of, having been a school kid during WWII, and living near a Naval Airforce Base. My mother was one of the original Gravel Gerties on the assembly line. So I don’t accept your whining criticism about Herr Bush. Dissent is part and parcel of our Consitutional Freedoms and you don’t have the freedom to deny that to any of us no matter how you feel about the Bush. Although the Bushites sure want that changed! How much have you read about this novice President and his minions? There is not much to respect among them, they are simply power hungry people.
You’re right that people make mistakes but smart people admit to serious mistakes so as not to make them again. And they usually say they are sorry. Bush admits to no mistakes and thousands of people are dead in the first pre-emptive war waged by this country. Bush policies are also bankrupting our economy, jobs are going, going, gone, and the environment is going to hell in a handbasket. What would you have me call him, “Sweetie?”
Posted by Sally Bookwalter on Oct 31, 2004 at 5:33 AM “The Bush campaign has repeatedly shown that it respects no one”. Interesting words.
Look at yourselves. You accuse Bush of rewriting history and then rewrite it yourselves. Kerry had just as many lies as Bush in the debates. I don’t agree with a lot of what Bush has done, but from what I have read, you are just a bunch of propoganda machines.
Yes, he did win. Face that fact and accept it. Even if the Supreme Court had ruled for Gore, Bush would have won. This is a fact. Bush has done some not good things, but the country isn’t going to Hell in a handbasket. I cannot and will not vote for Kerry. He slandered my grandfather, and if the Vietnam War had gone one month longer, he would have included my father as well. I will also not vote for Edwards as he is an ambulance chaser lawyer (my family is medical, so that is a sore spot). If the Democrats had fielded viable candidates, I might consider voting for them. However, I will vote for Bush because I despise him less.
Posted by Benjamin A. Dickson on Oct 31, 2004 at 5:49 AM Benjamin ...
Bush has done “some not good things.” Wow—I’m bowled over by your alacrity and verbal dexterity. Actually, you remind me of the fellow you’ll be voting for.
Yeah, Kerry slandered your grandfather. And almost your dad too. Tell you what. Instead of walking around with your head in the clouds, concocting and reciting to yourself some fantasy about what Vietnam was like—not that you were there—you might consider doing some actual research. Pick up a book like “Bloods” and read non-partisan, non-political, simple, first-hand accounts of many different soldiers in Vietnam. When you get to the parts about the atrocities US soldiers committed, just skip those parts. They never happened. When you get to the parts about the atrocities the VC committed, make copies and tape them all over your bathroom mirror so you can read them in the morning and remind yourself how Kerry slandered your grandfather. And almost your father. And then accuse us of “rewriting history.”
The truth is that war, as they say, is hell. Both sides committed atrocities. Horrible, brutal deeds. Not everyone. Not even most. But a lot. Enough to matter. Enough that we should remember, and that we should care. To believe that our soldiers can do no wrong not only denies human nature, it’s naive. I know—you’d rather sweep it under the rug. “That was just a couple of bad apples, and we shouldn’t bring it up.”
I always shake my head at the right wing attitude. So pro-war and most are chicken hawks—including W, whose daddy got him into the National Guard, where he served valiantly and honorably, defending Texas from the encroaching Viet Cong army.
Or wait. Didn’t he disappear to work on some guy’s re-election campaign? Well, defend Texas from the VC or work on the re-election campaign. Either way. All valiant and brave.
Anyway, isn’t it interesting that leaders who have actually been to war are a little more cautious about dragging us into more of them? Bob Dole, John McCain, even George H.W. Bush. Weird. I guess they’re just the pussies of the Republican party. Not like the current administration. Bush, Cheney, Perle, Bremmer, Wolfowitz. (Speaking of Cheney, didn’t you looove how, in the debates, he actually said that he never suggested a connection between Iraq and 9/11. I must have been smoking crack while watching all those broadcasts of Meet the Press where, in my drug-induced haze, I heard Cheney cram Iraq into every paragraph related to 9/11. Well, let’s give Cheney the benefit of the doubt. We may have been watching his clone. You know. The one who never met John Edwards before.)
Oh, by the way, my family is also “medical”—and I still realize that Bush is screwing seniors and the rest of us to make the pharmaceutical industry richer.Go ahead and write me off as another “propaganda machine.”
See you at the polls!
Posted by Robert on Oct 31, 2004 at 1:48 PM By the way ... Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. Always has been.
But suddenly, for the first time, I find myself wishing it were spelled without a W.
But I have no idea how to pronounce Halloeen.
Ah, screw it. If there’s any day that epitomizes Bush, it’s Halloween.
Anyone have a vote for what the appropriate costume for Bush should be?
Me, I can’t escape the monkey thing. So I say he should dress up like one of those Wizard of Oz flying monkeys.
—Okay, it’s only fair. We gotta do Kerry too. I say he should be one of those huge walking trees from Lord of the Rings. After all, he’s tall, sort of elongated, and maybe just a tad wooden ;-) Kind of talks like one of those Ents too.
Posted by Robert on Oct 31, 2004 at 2:03 PM Well, time is almost up, is everyone doing everything they can to get folks to the polls? please turn away from “news”, TV and this computer - pick up the phone and volunteer somewhere on Election Day - every bit helps!
Here’s to massive turnout everywhere . . . regime change begins at home this Tuesday
Posted by Katy on Oct 31, 2004 at 6:55 PM Robert, I’m sorry about the poor writing on my last post. My grammar deteriorates after one o’clock in the morning. Yes, there were atrocities commited in Vietnam, but Kerry said that everyone was guilty, no exceptions whatsoever. Also, his actions in the anti-war movement were inappropriate at best.
“where he served valiantly and honorably, defending Texas from the encroaching Viet Cong army”. Ever wonder why the national guard and reserves weren’t called to active duty in Vietnam? We certainly could have used the soldiers. If the Soviets had attacked the east coast, who would have fought the American front? Bush and the national guard. There was no safe way out of the draft save Clinton’s route.
Back to the present. Do you really think Kerry’s plans will work? He is proposing over a trillion dollars in increased spending. Then, he will repeal the top half of Bush’s taxes. This will raise approximately $600 million. He is also claiming he will cut the deficit in half. How, magic?
About medicine. What can the president do? Socialized medicine has tremendous problems as well; ask any Canadian or military officer. Care is slow, and often unavailable. In Britain, they are now requesting that people see a dentist only once every two years.
How is Bush screwing seniors? I’d like to know. He added a medical benefit to Medicare. True, it is a crazy, convoluted compromise bill that satisfies no one, but it is there.
Also I will scream at the next imbecile that mentions a “stem cell research ban”. There is no such thing. Look at Clinton’s government, which banned all funding for any research that involved the destruction of an embryo. Bush allowed federal funding for the first time.
Yes, I know that there are problems with this administration, but I do not see any hope of improvement with Kerry. Both of them have shown a tendency to distort the truth, and so neither is trustworthy. Therefore, I will vote for the man I find less repulsive.
Posted by Benjamin D. on Nov 1, 2004 at 2:22 AM I apologize for the socialized medicine comment, I forgot that Kerry was proposing a different medical plan than the Clintons. However, this is extremely expensive, with estimates ranging from 65 to 150 billion dollars a year. I repeat my question about how Kerry is expecting to pay for this.
Also, I would like to comment on importing drugs from Canada. The current drug prices are unacceptable. America is financing the majority of the planet’s pharmecutical recearch. However, importing drugs from Canada will not solve the problem. In fact, it will hurt Canada more than help America. If Americans begin importing quantities in mass, the drug companies will likely limit exports to Canada to reduce their losses. Then, Canadians will have trouble getting access to drugs, and Canada might end up banning drug exportation to keep their heads above water. Then, we are back to where we started, but with greater animosity on both sides.
Also, the majority of the importation would be done by mail order, correct? Do you know that the BBC found that half of the Viagra bought online is fake? I rest my case.
Posted by Benjamin D. on Nov 1, 2004 at 2:39 AM Are all these events supposed to be “failures” of the Bush administration? I also have one other comment: support?!?
Posted by Bryan Daniel on Nov 1, 2004 at 9:44 AM How quickly we forget about the economy, and what George W. Bush has done to us. My state (Michigan) has been hit very hard by this recession. It continues to take devastating hits. Let’s not forget about the havoc in Greenville with Electrolux. My state can’t take more job losses. It’s time for a change…elect John Kerry for president.
Posted by Jonathan Hudson on Nov 2, 2004 at 1:39 AM Republicans, STOP VOTING AGAINST YOR OWN SOCIAL CLASS. You are ruining this country!
Posted by Bubba Gump on Nov 2, 2004 at 3:22 AM George W. Bush:
WHERE IS OSAMA BIN LADIN? You said you would bring him to justice or see him dead. Instead, you start a new war in Iraq. Was Bin Laden in Iraq and is he dead? No and No. It’s been over 3 years now. Last we all checked, it was Osama that attacked our country. So what do you do? You invade Iraq.
WHERE ARE THE WMD’s? You and your cronies insisted that Iraq had them and you used them to justify a new war. Now our guys are dying everyday because of a blithering miscalculation on your part.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED? You proclaimed that victory was ours in Iraq and the war was over. The war is far from being over and our guys are getting killed everyday.
Posted by Cal on Nov 2, 2004 at 5:44 AM perhaps if rumsfield, wolfowitz, and the defense industry (in which cheney was a part of
before going back to Congress right afterward) hadn’t sponsored bin laden in
Afghanistan in part of their ridiculosly out-dated cold-war foreign policy then
Clinton wouldn’t have had to deal with him. He’s a hard man to take out, he had more direct influence in the USSR’s collapse than Reagan could have dreamed (hence why he funded him) - the man has had and still has incredible power in this world. Go to http://www.cnn.com and check out the article on Bin Laden’s statement yesterday, and ask yourself who has a better read on the situation,
Bush or Bin Laden.bush’s foreign policy is cold war policy - look at his cabinet, look at their
experiences and records and you’ll know why. just substitute terrorist threat
for communist threat. clinton was the first president ever to take a fresh look
at our foreign policy and get out of the dogmatic, retarded arms-race oriented
cold war policies, he brought more allies to our side than ever before (hence
the massive support he got both in the Arab World as well his 0 American
fatality invasion of Kosovo -where ethnic cleansing was taking place at the
time, unlike bush’s invasion of iraq to correct ‘ethnic cleansing’ that occured
15 years ago under his dad’s watch), and he almost single-handedly solved the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict (and would have had he not been distracted with
domestic problems caused by Kenneth Lay’s multi-million dollar quest to show he
had sex in the oval office). And who did Reagen, Wolfowitz, and Rumsfield
support in the Iraq-Iran war? Aghast! Was it… SADDAM HUSSIEN?!?look, you compare bush and clinton as if clinton is running for president! I talk of the shady past of his cabinet BECAUSE THEY ARE STILL IN POWER AND HAVEN’T LEARNED A DAMN THING. as far as foreign policy is concerned, bush has got to go…
Posted by Matt on Nov 2, 2004 at 6:04 AM Bush has a record that never was beaten and probably never will. Even Dan Quail could not have been as bad a Bush. To correct and alleviate the damage he has done to the U.S. will require at least 50 years of diligent effort by the reunified citizens of this country.
Posted by Carl Selnes on Nov 2, 2004 at 7:30 AM John, Bush didn’t have time to do anything to cause the recession. It started in Feburary, and economists say that it takes between two and four years for anything the government does to greatly affect the economy.
Cal, Afghanistan and Iraq are very large countries. I would be ashamed if I couldn’t find a place to hide a few suitcase bombs or barrels of chemical weapons. Show me someone who didn’t have significant doubts about Saddam’s claim to lack weapons, and I shall show you a person who changed their memory. And yes, the first mission was accomplished. We utterly destroyed Saddam’s regime in one of the most lopsided assaults in military history. It’s the terrorists and insurgents that we can’t defeat.
Matt, Clinton was an apologist. He is the sort of guys that gets friends, but in the end accomplishes little. He did nothing in the Israel conflict. He got talk, but talk was an end in itself. Besides, who are we to tell Israel how to run their country? Besides, the tricks he pulled in his last week in office show what the man really was. Also, calm down. Your spelling is terrible when you are angry.
Carl, explain. Don’t summarize or you look like a guy who doesn’t know what he is talking about. How exactly has he ruined the US? Don’t say the economy, because the recession couldn’t have been his fault. Iraq, perhaps, but at least he didn’t just bomb it and leave like Clinton. The deficit, of course, but the Democrats haven’t had a very good record either. The Patriot Act? It was thrown together too quickly by Congress and they added things that should not have been done. Besides, the vote was 98-1 in the Senate. It was a highly bipartisan bill. Really, I would like to know what you dislike so much about him.
Posted by BenD. on Nov 2, 2004 at 10:11 PM Yesterday (November 2, 2004) was a great day for America!
George Bush received more votes than any President in our nation’s history.
George Bush received a majority of the votes cast - while Bill Clinton always received less than 50%.
Republicans have expanded their hold on both the Senate and the House.
Tom Daschle has been given his pink slip.
With the Executive and Legislative branches nailed down, our next acquisition will be the Supreme Court.
We have collectively told the looney left to go away and let the grown-ups run the country. Or, in the immortal words of Theresa Heinz Kerry, we told you all to “Shove it!”.
I know that you people thought it was really cool when that looney bitch sneaked into the Republican convention with her useless protest against Dick Cheney. In fact, she was profiled in a positive light on this very site. But I told you then to laugh it up while you could, because the time was coming when you would all have your sorry asses handed to you. I was right, you were wrong. Deal with it!
So, goodbye George Soros, MoveoOn.org, Michael Moore, Tom Daschle, Jimmy Carter, Dan Rather, Al Gore, Bruce Springsteen, Ben Afleck, Barbara Streisand, Garrison Keilor, France, Germany, other assorted socialists Euro-trash, and all of the other nutjobs who now hang their heads in shock, depression, and disgust. But most especially, goodbye to the two Johns and their clueless wives. You gave it your best shot, and you lost - big time. The power you thought was your birthright has eluded you yet again, and your misery is music to my ears.
Buh-bye to all of you, and good riddance.
The Patriot
Posted by Patriot on Nov 3, 2004 at 9:29 PM Patriot,
We’re not going anywhere. I’m sure most people who post to this board intend to make your life miserable, and will hold George Bush accountable for his war crimes. We are organizing as you are gloating, because in this game there is absolutely no rest for the weary. There are simply more of us than there are of you. All the international opinion polls show that. Think you can celebrate, get a good night’s rest, rest on your laurels. Not a chance. You have reason to be paranoid Patriot—because we are out to GET YOU!!!!! Ha ha ha ha . . . .
Posted by ptaka on Nov 3, 2004 at 10:07 PM ptaka the delusional wrote: “We are organizing as you are gloating, because in this game there is absolutely no rest for the weary.”
My reply: Excuse me, but I thought you had ALREADY organized. Oh I get it. You weren’t playin’ for keeps this last time. But now, NOW, you’re really mad, and, and, and, you’re really gonna get us now.
—————
ptaka also wrote: “There are simply more of us than there are of you.”
My reply: Must be why my side handed your ass to you yesterday - because we’re outnumbered.
Anyway, have a nice time in oblivion.Patriot
Posted by Patriot on Nov 3, 2004 at 10:23 PM For the lost souls:
1.Be very gracious to your Republican friends. Liberals are supposed to be good losers.
2.No frothing about Bush. Frothing makes you look rabid, not convincing.
3.No cheap shots at W. Just making fun of him or his intelligence makes you look partisan.
4.You think you are smarter than the average voter. Don’t. Or if you do – figure out your strategy for the long term.
5.Long term is the key. In a way, it is actually a good thing that Kerry lost – the democratic party is in shambles. Just getting control of the white house would have led to complacency.
6.Don’t keep saying Halliburton – find out ways to make the accusation stick.. Perhaps fund-raising for a group of activist lawyers for an investigation would be a start.
7.Ditto for Gitmo. There are some remarkable people on this job. See http://www.equaljusticesociety.org/press_korematsu.html
8.Stop the chatter – work underground.
9.Zen-like calmness. Ignore “Patriots”.
10.COURAGE!
Posted by Dreamer on Nov 3, 2004 at 11:54 PM I thought I’d help “Dreamer” out with some more tips for the lost souls (a.k.a. liberals):
1) If you want the American people to support your guy for President, don’t enlist your most liberal Senator to run for the office - especially one with an embarassingly dumb bitch of a wife.
2) If you want the American people to NOT turn away from your party in disgust, don’t embrace propagandists such as Michael Moore. Though you may love him, everyone else hates a liar.
3) In the future, you may want to try to base your argumentation on actual facts, rather than parnoid conspiracy theories.
4) You may also want to get over your obsession with such non-issues as Haliburton and Bush’s National Guard service (are you listening Dan Rather).
5) You probably shouldn’t count on too much more help from the likes of Dan Rather and the rest of your support group known as the mainstream media. More and more people are getting pretty damned annoyed with the selective truth-telling that passes for “news” nowadays.
6) Befriending such loons as George Soros, Michael Moore, Alec Baldwin, Barbara Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, Bruce Springsteen, Jesse Jackson, assorted Euro-trash, and the three Al’s (Gore, Franken, and Sharpton) is not going to win you any friends.
7) Likening anyone and everyone that disagrees with you as either a fascist and/or Hitler - while subsequently lecturing us all on tolerance and diversity is probably not a wise course.
8) And the whole pro-Europe/Anti-American thing as it turns is not terribly popular with the American people.
9) Also, you could probably get a few more votes in the future if you were to show as much contempt for the enemies of the United States as you do for people that make above $200,000 per year (a.k.a. successful people).
10) And lastly, try not to sound like an irretrievably stupid lunatic every time you open your mouth.
That’s all for now. Enough to get you started on your path to rehabilitation.
And…you’re welcome.
Patriot
Posted by Patriot on Nov 4, 2004 at 12:36 AM No Patriot, delusion is to mislead. That is more precisely what Bush did in lying about the aluminum tubes, and the yellowcake uranium to illegally invade Iraq. Nor did I vote for Kerry who clearly supported Bush’s support of Sharon’s Mideast peace plan, again a clear violation of international law. I expected the Democrats to lose, because they abandoned their base to become pseudo Republicans. Harry Truman once remarked that when an electorate is given a choice between a republican, and a Republican, they’re going to choose the Republican every time. And while G.W. Bush is a Republican, he is not a conservative. He in truth is more of a Trotskyist attempting to export his brand of freedom. Frankly, freedom should be the work of the local populace, and not American troops. You though, Patriot, have been led around by the nose by Likud partisans to believe in the quite un-American doctrine of preemption, something every true conservative from Eisenhower to Reagan would have found repugnant. Indeed, G. H. W. Bush had to get rid of the neo-cons during his administration. Get some anger management therapy, Patriot, before you blow a gasket. You’ll need it when the neo-cons leave Bushites holding the bag for failures in Iraq.
Posted by ptaka on Nov 4, 2004 at 5:51 AM To Patriot,
You are a narrow minded fool that does not understand anybody if they do not subscribe to your logic, and therefore you hate them. This would include the democrats, Europeans, Arabs and the rest of the world. For you there is only American democracy and nothing else. You forget that this planet is made up of people different from you that also have the right to live. And for you success is measured in how much you earn. How narrow minded can some people be. Patriotism is a call to arms to defend yourself against someone else because they do not think like you. Its called civil war. Dump that shit in the toilet and stop subscribing to that mentality shmuck.
Posted by Watson on Nov 4, 2004 at 7:58 AM Hollywood is filled (albeit there are a few exceptions) with people who have absolutely no core. I’ll elaborate. These are people who are famous and are nationally and internationally admired for their talents. The are rich, famous, live the way they want to live in every aspect. They lack something though, values. Hollywood representing America is as ludicrous as a statement could be. America is not Hollywood. It’s a place filled with miserable people. My wife used to live there and even back when I voted for Gore, yes, Gore, she had always told me about what a horrible place it is.
That’s said, ok so what’s my point. These people, the “elite” are .. I’m sorry, were trying to effect the outcome of the election. I thought they had a chance but the average American came through and shined. We proved so many people and nations wrong. I have no problem with Democrats. In fact, that fellow from Illinois, Obama, he looks like a cool character. It’s the extremists I have a problem with. That goes for both sides might I add. No one wants an extremist in office. Clinton brought his policies as close to the center as he could through a bit of triangulation.
What so many people fail to understand is this is a different world we live in. I do not agree with everything Bush has done or is doing. He scores very high though with how he is handling the war and terror. If you even believe Michael Moore for one minute that terror is not a threat. Do America a favor and a) move b) rid us of your presence or c)go ahead and just throw yourself off a building.
Failures in Iraq. This one is great. Exercise. It hurts right? It really hurts the day and days after an intense workout right. Well here’s a nice analogy. On that 2nd day after a workout, you feel like shit, yes? Are you a failure? In your minds, yes, ok, refer to the throwing yourself off of a building suggestion. OK, in reality, NO you are not a failure. You’re in a process of rebuilding. Ok, lets represent some resistance, oh wait we already had that with doing repetions and yeh… ok do you get the point? If not… yes, jump off a building, ... more than 10 stories at least please.
9/11 Ok, how many of you nuts believe it was planned? By Osama? .. Bush? If you answered Osama skip this part. If you answered Bush. Go jump off of a building. This is fun. The commander in cheif is charged with protecting our country. You get one point here, that was a failure on the current administrations part. But lets make it half a point. Too many people harp about how they should have known about it. The problem is this. This world is huge (relatively) We can see an army coming across the Atlantic or the Pacific. We just didn’t have the capacity to catch a handful of people devising a brilliant plan. Yes, it was brilliant, effective, yes? It did the job so it was a success for them. Now to you Michael Moore lovers. What was your first reaction upon hearing the news on that day? I’ll give you a minute to think. Most of you would say, damnit, he should have jumped up and strapped on his gun and went out shootin’. Uh, no, I think his reaction was as human as most of ours was. I want a human being in office. Not a robot. While we haven’t been attacked since, it doesn’t mean it won’t happen again, no matter who is in office. This is why we must be vigilent in every possible way.
I’ve gone on way too long. I’ll jump right to the end here.
America voted in who they thought the right person was. A popular vote of 3.5 million more than the opponent is a nice margin. Clinton never went above 50%. Why was Bush able to? Because people are stupid? Would people be just as stupid is Kerry had won?
The republicans have increased their power in the house and the senate. Unprecedented. Why is this? The democratic party is enslaved by the extreme left. These people are a danger to the very things we hold dear. Moral values. Yes, .. dare I say it… GOD??!! What is so taboo about beleiving in a higher power. Do you know what it does? It humbles you. We should be humble. Not fatso movie makers thinking they know everything. Ok I am being way too mean to Michael Moore… no I’m not.. ha.
In a closing word. Bush’s acceptance speach was good. He made it short and simple and got to the point. We need to reach across to you, the left, and try to bring in some bipartisanship to this country. Some say we should reach across and slap you. I won’t go that far.
The thing that I felt was even better than the acceptance speach was Kerry’s concession. He did the right thing to the highest level. I found few things to admire about him but when I heard his speach, I heard a human being talking. We did not need another 2000 this time around. That is what divided us. 1960, 50,000 vote separated Kennedy and Nixon. Nixon could have fought it. He did not. He chose to concede for fear of dividing the nation.
I hope we all learned something. Let’s move on
Good day
Posted by Another Patriot on Nov 4, 2004 at 4:52 PM To ITT moderator;
This “discussion” at this point is going nowhere. PATRIOT obviously is living in another reality—where the fact that Americans are so isolated that they actually get upset when people from England (the Guardian letter-writing experiment) tell them that the rest of the world thinks “Dubya” is a nut. But to answer him with a diatribe in which one says ‘we’re out to make your life miserable’ or ‘we’re out to get you’ is really almost as silly.
Workers’ rights were barely mentioned in the debates (now Bush is planning to change the entire pay structure for federal employees (Washington Post this morning). The discussion of the minimum wage was totally superficial and even the discussion of social security was so cropped that nobody (except those who already know) could possibly understand how destructive “privatization” actually is (no matter how “small” the percentage is going into private funds). There are other answers to the social security debate that have been proposed by organized Labor and others that are not even discussed. As usual, organized Labor and other “left” leaning progressives were totally taken for granted by Kerry. While Bush could just mobilize his base with a few proclamations about abortion or even his modified “gay marriage” nonsense, Kerry did not push hard on issues that go beyond “terrorism” and war (all Kerry kept saying was that his hammer is just as good as Bush’s even though the war on terrorism involves a whole lot more than that—justice for the Palestinians being one).
I would like to mention to PATRIOT that the left in the United States apparently takes the promises of “justice” too far regarding present day reality—as if it were easy to see. I *am* better informed about many things than most Americans. This is partly because I have taken the time to do the research and been involved in movements that “connect the dots” regarding social and economic justice. Most people in this country are not exposed to these issues (the Labor movement is largely insular here in Chicago, so I can assure you that 90+% of people here have no conception of what Labor is interested in nor have they heard of such potentially important institutions as Jobs with Justice, the Interfaith—yes “faith”—Committee on Workers Rights or any number of other groups that might inform them as to how they might observe the world differently than what is pushed in the media. The Kerry campaign did little to shed light on these issues or to gain militancy except among people who were actually motivated by being against the war.
As for patriotism, the left rescued American folk music from being totally forgotten. The left wrote many of the best songs calling for the justice that we seem to naively believe to be the promise of the United States. The left pushed for all the Civil Rights legislation that we have. We pushed for public education (that the right later defunded). We have done our civic duty through mass action as opposed to using money as our motivating factor. PATRIOT should know that Johnny Cash is far more popular in the rest of the world than the American military. The neo-cons have failed in Iraq and will continue to fail because they are pure ideologists—-as is the religious right. One thing this election helped clarify is how far the “angry white men” will go to rationalize voting for a rich Republican from Maine who masquerades as a “regular guy.”.......Dennis Dixon
Posted by Denis Dixon on Nov 4, 2004 at 9:41 PM Dear Dennis:
You seem to have not noticed that on November 2, 2004, the American people gave a big middle finger to socialism, terrorism, anti-Americanism, and other assorted pathologically deranged “isms”. You and your ilk are being flushed down the toilet bowl of history.
Have a splendid day!
Patriot
Posted by Patriot on Nov 4, 2004 at 10:11 PM Dear “Patriot”
And YOU seem to have not noticed that almost half the entire nation gave a big middle finger to YOUR “president”/well-trained monkey and his and his cabinet’s/monkey-trainers’ war-mongering maniacal neo-conservatISM.
Have an even more splendid day!
Posted by Robert Hayhurst on Nov 5, 2004 at 11:26 AM Children, children. Scroll up a bit and read Dreamer’s comments. You guys are all falling for propaganda.
AP, I agree with many of your points. However, your presentation of them is unaccepatble and alienates everyone who disagrees with you in the slightest. Work on that.
Dennis, I agree that labor should have had a much bigger section of the debates, and both candidates have their heads either in the clouds or up their rears concerning justice.
Watson, again, I agree with much of what you say. However, I doubt that anyone else can say that they are not partly guilty of the same. American democracy might not be perfect, but it is certainly better than autocratic dictatorships like the Palistinian Authority. Yes, the PA is a dictatorship. Arafat has held only one election since the PA’s creation. Ptaka, think about that and ask yourself whether we should be supporting either side here.
Also, to whoever moderates this site. I agree with Dennis. These comments are becoming so off topic that it is ridiculous. I request that you lock this topic and end this pointless, endless discussion.
Posted by BenD. on Nov 6, 2004 at 3:28 AM To Whom it May Concern:
You must face the facts that Bush won-and with the highest percentage of the popular vote since Ronald Reagan, he will continue to lead the United States in a more proper, moral, and secure fashion than John Kerry ever could have.
“To everything we know there is a season—a time for sadness, a time for struggle, a time for rebuilding. And now we have reached a time for hope. This young century will be liberty’s century.”
-President Bush
Posted by kT B. on Nov 6, 2004 at 5:04 AM BenD,
What comment are you referring to? I don’t support Sharon’s, i.e., the Israeli position on the occupied territories because it’s in violation of international law, and I never said I supported Arafat.
Posted by ptaka on Nov 6, 2004 at 3:38 PM Firstly I came across this website during my ethics class. Secondly I have to say I am a hypocrite for posting. Don’t you people have more time on your hands than to read this fucking shit day after day and post comments about each other? Get out and do something about it. Writing about it on this website will only affect other narrow minded people that get on this website and read it. Go out and make something happen.
Posted by blowjob on Nov 10, 2004 at 7:53 AM The Bush-Cheney corporate government terrorism has continued here in Polluter’s Paradise, Louisiana.
In the name of security measures, long time advocate and the Father of Environmentalism in Louisiana has lost his job with the attorney generals office due to a “security” issue.
Students in a van he was riding, photographed the petrochemical plants across from where they stopped on Scenic Highway in Baton Rouge. The area is known as Cancer Alley.
The van and students were on a public right of way, and as attested by the U.S. Coast Guard, it is not illegal to take pictures while standing on a public road.
The environmental liasson for the Louisiana AG’s office has worked on behalf of the Louisiana attorney general in Louisiana for some 27 years, but now it has become a security issue and he has been forced into retirement.
Under the powers that be in Washington, D.C. another form of terrorism is occurring here. Not only are we being poisoned, but we’ve lost our right to document actions while standing on public roads, if we work for government agencies.
Alike Greenpeace who was hauled in for security reasons when Bush first came into office, for drawing attention to bad neighbors such as we have here, this administration is going after the fathers and mothers who are working peacefully to bring environmental awareness to our children, in order for lives to be saved, fetuses to be born and maintained without chemical poisoning, and brains to have the ability to think for themselves.
Apparently, this is no longer held to high esteem by multinational corporations and the Bush Administration or their liassons wherever they lurk.
Bravo for your article. I’ll help get the information out!
http://www.2theadvocate.com/stories/040505/new_agstaffer001.shtml
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/capital/index.ssf?/base/news-2/111268246479320.xml
Posted by Susan K. Snow on Apr 5, 2005 at 9:21 PM At the signing
ceremony for a $417 billion defense spending bill, President Bush had a Freudian slip, when he exclaimed: “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we.” .“They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.”
http://cbsnewyork.com/water/watercooler_story_218134141.htmlIn These Times has done a wonderful job documenting what the Evil Empire has done. But, let’s not forget what the Administration and appointees to the Coalition Provisional Authority have done for the farmers and Iraqi people, and as well as changed the name of so called “free enterprise” everywhere.
http://www.iraqcoalition.org/regulations/20040426_CPAORD_81_Patents_Law.pdfhttp://www.newfarm.org/international/gleanings/oct04/ir_patent-law.shtml
http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6
My friend, Paul has said to me, “It really shows the evil side of this Coalition to fight terrorism, because it is the U.S. who is the terrorist nation now…’’
Posted by Susan K. Snow on Apr 5, 2005 at 10:02 PM Your references to the farm oriented links in your note of April 5, 2005 bring my attention to a recent article in HARPERS magazine about the emergence of a strong organic farming society in Cuba. Although still dominated by Castro, Cuba has shown remarkable strength in their ability to adjust to the situation in which they find themselves. Namely, lack of farm machinery, fertilizer, pesticides etc. Due to the impending oil crunch, the rest of the world, including the U.S. would be wise to start considering just how we propose to feed our huddled masses when the oil supply becomes virtually non-existant. The agriculture methodology presently being foisted upon the world by so-called “Free Trade” agreements, world bank and so on with the able assistance of Monsanto, ADM and such corporate enterprises. We are all facing a much more serious threat than which idiot will we place in the White House. Our most immediate concern should be how do we propose to feed our people when oil becomes practically non-existant. Our agricultural system will no longer be able to get the job done. Perhaps we should be thinking in terms of lifting travel restrictions to Cuba and start sending teams of agro-biology experts there to see just how it’s done. Our organic farming movement has made a start, but not nearly of the scale required to feed our children and grandchildren. This is an imminent issue that transcends the political dogfights with which we are presently wasting our collective energies.
Posted by Jack Finn on Apr 9, 2005 at 7:01 PM Encourage people to start their own “Defeat” garden—the opposite of the “Victory” gardens of WWII. Today we need to prepare for the defeat of the high-speed, high power technological age and return to the human roots from which we emerged. The “modern” frame of mind is in the process of defeat because the scientific power we created is being grossly abused.
We need to give our hearts time to catch up with our minds so that we can reattach ourselves to Nature and fellow human beings. I grow my own fruits and vegetables right here in town so I don’t have to put commercial poisons on our table.
Plastics, hydrocarbons, malathion, diazinon, and sevin are all around, and we wonder why so much cancer is common, so much allergy is present! The corporate control of our culture is poisoning all of us, peddling the purified water, air, and land that they have poisoned for all of us.
The giant corporations will collapse, but they may take many innocent lives in the catastrope. They are like the cancers in our bodies; they grow and grow until they are destroyed, and sometimes they are destroyed only in the process of destroying the host.
Posted by Dr. Carl Selnes (MSgt Ret.) on Apr 10, 2005 at 5:07 AM George W. Bush should go down in history as one of the worst leaders of any civilized country, ever. He almost single handedly destroyed every path to a healthy future for the USA, through lying over and over again to everyone.
Posted by Alan M. Gold on Jun 11, 2005 at 7:09 PM The American people elected a Democratic majority to restore checks and balances, the rule of law, and our reputation as a law-abiding country in the world community. These cannot be accomplished unless President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are impeached. Their impeachable offenses dwarf those that led to proceedings against President Clinton and President Andrew Jonson, and the threatened proceeding against President Richard Nixon combined. The offenses below are already supported with evidence in the public record, including admissions of guilt. It is likely that investigations prior to impeachment would turn up even more.
IMPEACH BUSH & CHENEY FOR:
* Lying to the American people, Congress, and the world about the threat from Iraq & need for war.* War of aggression against Iraq, which posed no threat to US.
* Death of over 600,000 Iraqis and nearly 3,000 S troops in unnecessary war.
* Exploiting 9/11 for political gain and for war to benefit oil companies and other cronies.
* Canceling Iraqs oil contracts with foreign companies and giving them to American corporations and restructuring Iraqs oil industry to their specification in violation of the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
* Awarding no-bid contracts to cronies for rebuilding and oil exploitation in Iraq.
* Inciting animosity toward the US by attacking Iraq and falsely claiming it was part of War on Terror.
* Authorizing the use of torture in violation of the Geneva Convention and US law and against the advice of the uniformed military.
* Participating in the overthrow of the democratically elected government of Haiti and attempting to do so in Venezuela.
* Failure to fully cooperate with 9/11 Commission and joint congressional inquiry, and refusal to comply with Freedom of Information Act in other areas as well.
* Warrantless wiretapping of American citizens.
* Issuing signing statements that contradict the plain meaning of legislation, including on issues of torture.
* Denying Americans and others habeas corpus rights even after Supreme Court ruled against it.
* Coercing government employees to lie to Congress and the American people about the cost of Medicare drug benefit, global warning, and toxic hazard of NYC after 9/11.
* Failure to provide timely aid to Hurricane Katrina victims and appointing someone with no experience to run FEMA.
* Barring Americans who disagree with the president from public events paid for with taxpayer money, and forcibly removing some with private security posing as Secret Service agents.
Listen to the American people so we can be confident we have a democracy again.
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