NationStates Jolt Archive

Do you feel he has kept them?

If you are looking at the statement "I am a uniter, not a divider," he's not even come close.

Not all of them, and justifiably so.

Times have changed from the summer of 2000, the high water mark of Tech.

I was jsut playing this fash game. It seem he cartinaly hasnt kept all of them. Its tedious but alright.

http://www.emogame.com/bushgame.html

I was jsut playing this fash game. It seem he cartinaly hasnt kept all of them. Its tedious but alright.

http://www.emogame.com/bushgame.html

Not a bad game but I almost threw up when John Kerry arrived at the end.

Let's see.

PROMISE #1: "I will restore honor and integrity (sometimes he switched intergrity with dignity) to the White House."

EVIDENCE:

A. Reelection runaround. Not only has Bush used Air Force One more than any other President to finance his campaign, but he has also included "political" stopovers while on the reelection trail which makes the tax payer foot over half of the bill. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A42530-2002May19&notFound=true

B. Enron. Nuff said.

C. Medicare. Bush ordered cost estimates of the White House backed perscription drug plan withheld knowing full well that if they were disclosed
they would look bad. http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/8164060.htm

D. Neopotisim. It pays to be a friend of Bush. Literally. It pays even more to be related to him. Again, literally. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A10476-2002Mar11&notFound=true

E. Tailoring the truth. Bush won't release his documents but he will release Clinton's, with the proviso that they paint him in a bad light.
http://www.salon.com/politics/feature/2002/02/07/bush_records/index.html

F. Nepotisim, The Return. Bush has removed a 2001 regulation that demanded corporations seeking government contracts must be in compliance with labor, environmental, antitrust and consumer protection laws. http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2002/01/14/smallb2.html

G. Halliburton. Nuff said.

VERDICT: Promise broken.


PROMISE #2: "I am a compassionate conservative."

EVIDENCE:

A. No Child Left Behind. Nuff said.

B. Tax cuts that only benefit the wealthy and have plunged the nation back into deficit spending. Nuff said.

C. Literal devaluation of human life. Bush prompted federal agencies to reduce the dollar value placed on human life, taking into account age and health. http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/barnett031703.html

D. Let them eat cake. Bush sought to redefine the federal government's treatment of those below the poverty line, throwing the fiscal burden back on the state, slashing funding to national programs and making the burden of proof for aid exponentially higher. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A45601-2003Feb8&notFound=true

E. "Gay" used to mean "Happy". Bush appointed a known homophobe, Jerry Thacker, who has characterized AIDS as "a gay plauge" and homosexuality as a "deathstyle" to lead the Presidential Advisory Committee on HIV and AIDS.

F. AmeriWhat? Bush announced that program was "expanding mightily", yet two months later, AmeriCorps announced that it was halting enrollment because his proposed expansion never came through.

G. Look what you made me do! Ashcroft nominated two women to the Justice Departments Committee on Violence Against Women. Both of these women, Nancy Ptotenhauer and Margot Hill, worked against the Violence Against Women Act when it was passed in 1994. This is relevant because Bush also tapped Ptotenhauer to be the delegate to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women. Ptotenhauer also lobbied against CAFE (Corprate Average Fuel Economy) and was rewarded with appointement to the Secretary of Energy's Advisory Board and also was added to the Secretary of Labor's Committe on Workplace Issues, despite her adimant disbelief of a gender wage gap. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A37952-2002Sep4&notFound=true

VERDICT: Half and half. Conservative? Certainly. Compassionate? Not likely.

Promise #3: "I am a uniter, not a divider."

EVIDENCE:

A. Token, token, all God's chillun need tokens. Bush's high level African-American appointees have extensive histories of working against civil rights issues, both for African-Americans in specific and human rights in general. http://www.freep.com/voices/columnists/etrev27_20030127.htm

and

http://www.commondreams.org/views01/0713-02.htm

B. Get that hippie out of here. Bush has orchestrated the composition of several traditionally bipartisan advisory boards, ejecting Democratic members, so that Rumsfeld could have his own private "yes man" coterie.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A4547-2002Apr17&notFound=true

C. That's a need to know issue. Bush responds directly to Republican Congressional letters but send form letters to Democrats. http://www.freep.com/news/politics/ding7_20010607.htm

VERDICT: Spinning like a beyotch. If you were united before, you probably stayed that way. If you weren't, you probably stayed that way.

Promise #4: "President of all the people, not just those who voted for me"

EVIDENCE:

A. Ignore it and it'll go away. The DoJ, under Ashcroft, has significantly reduced their prosecution of descrimination cases. http://www.freep.com/news/nw/rights11_20031211.htm

B. I've got my tokens, I don't need others. Bush flat out insulted NAACP leaders by implying that Condi and Powell were enough of a minority voice in his upper cabinent. http://www.guardian.co.uk/bush/story/0,7369,752357,00.html

C. Uppity broads. Bush has sought to shrink and eliminate federal agencies that exist to protect women's rights. http://www.madison.com/captimes/opinion/editorial/9368.php

D. American Muslims. Nuff said.

VERDICT: He is the President of all, but those who supported him will probably get more out of it.

Promise #5: "A reformer with results"

Evidence:

A. Wait, I thought that was Democrats? Under the Bush administration, governmental costs have skyrocketed with overall costs going up at least 16%. http://www.freep.com/news/nw/bush4_20031204.htm

B. He helps those who help themselves. Bush promised job help, but then moved to slash funding for job creation programs. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A17301-2003Sep2&notFound=true

C. We don't need no stinking clean air! Bush relaxed Clean Air Act standards on older coal-fired power plants which allowed pending cases against violators to go unpunished. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A10027-2002Jul15&notFound=true

D. It's a pretty glow! Bush slashed E.P.A. funding for the cleaning of 33 toxic sites under the Superfund cleanup program. http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=7194&mode=&order=0

E. An apple a day, keeps the CDC at bay. Bush's tensions with the CDC and intransigent positions on new health initiatives have seriously weaked the CDC's ability to respond to crisis situations. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A5672-2002Jun30&notFound=true


F. A President for Criminals? Bush sought cuts to popular Justice Department programs which pay for local law enforcement efforts across the country, such as drug task forces, violence task forces and officers in schools, as well as more officers on the streets. http://greenvilleonline.com/news/2002/04/02/2002040221539.htm

VERDICT: Well, I guess he kept this one. He did reform and there were results...

Promise #6: "It's the people's money, not the government's"

EVIDENCE:

A. Social Security Buh-bye. Bush's budget proposed to spend $9 billion in payroll taxes taken for Social Security. http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A3037-2001Aug27&notFound=true

VERDICT: As Bush is one of the "people", I guess it's mostly his money.

Promise #7: "Promises made to our veterans will be promises kept"

EVIDENCE:

A. Out with the Old and in with the old news. Bush supported a 1995 governmental decision to rescind lifetime free health care for veterans, angering veterans groups. http://www.thecarolinachannel.com/helenthomas/1873884/detail.html

B. We've got them, but you can't have them. Bush's budget further decimated an already fiscally strapped VA, prompting a top official in the Department of Veteran's Affairs to circulate a memo urging VA administrators to stop marketing their services and recruiting new enrollees. http://www.smirkingchimp.com/article.php?sid=7601&mode=&order=0

C. Just a link to put it all in perspective:

http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/11/con03325.html


VERDICT: Looks like he broke them to me, but perhaps Salishe and Thunderland and any other vets out there might be willing to look into this.

ULTIMATE VERDICT: Like all campaign promises, Bush spoke what people wanted to hear and then, depending on your particular spin, either upheld some or completely abandoned others.

Umm, what Berkylvania said..

Good research Berkylvania :)

ouch