I guess the mantra of the Bush opponents is unity. Let me clarify what they really mean; Bush needs to run to the left and do some of the things they want done. Here's what I mean by unity; there are many causes we all have in common but there can only be one path taken. President Bush and the Republican party won the election so there is a leadership that will make that path. The opposition can choose to obstruct or they can reach out and try to have some influence in the path to be taken.
Posted by Tim at November 4, 2004 08:26 AM
Just Because
MR. BUSH,
Just because you dodged the Viet Nam draft by going into the National Guard and then went AWOL and avoided punishment, doesn't necessarily mean you are unpatriotic,a coward,irresponsible or undisciplined .
Just because you were arrested for stealing a holiday wreath while a student at Yale and for drunk-driving in 1976,doesn't necessarily mean you are dishonest and lack self control.
Just because everything you worked on failed or required a bail out doesn't necessarily mean you are not a good decision maker.
Just because as Governor of Texas you got $1.4 million from officials whom you appointed to state office,and at the same time Texas was #1 In overall toxic releases
#1 In recognized carcinogens in the air
#1 In suspected carcinogens in the air
#1 In developmental toxin in the air (affecting brain and nervous-system development in children)
#1 Cancer risk
49th in spending for the environment
#1 In major discharge facilities with 575 major facilities
#2 In total number of minor Nipdes facilities, about 5,700.
3,000 Miles, or one third, of Texas rivers and 44% of Texas bays are polluted to the point that they do not meet the standards set for recreational and other uses.
13 Texas lakes were covered by advisories or bans on fish consumption in 1996.
#1 in use of Deep Well Injectors as method of Waste Disposal
#1 in Total Number of Hazardous Waste Incinerators
#1 in Environmental Justice Title 6 complaints
#1 in production of Cancer causing Benzene & Vinyl Chloride
#1 Largest Sludge Dump in Country
#1 in the Emission of Ozone Causing Air Pollution Chemical
The state of Texas under your leadership was ranked 50th in spending for teachers salaries
41st in per capita spending on public education
43% of Texas teachers planned to leave or were considering leaving teaching.
Money that could have gone into raising teacher salaries went into tax cuts for the rich.
The high school dropout rates in Texas were 30% overall
The high school dropout rate in Texas was 50% among minorities
Missing students and other mirages in Texas enrollment statistics profoundly affected both reported dropout statistics and test scores.
At the start of every school year, school began with literally hundreds of classrooms without teachers
You appointed a teacher certification board that, instead of working on improving the standards for the teaching profession and improving teacher quality, you decided instead to allow people who have poor credentials to enter into the teaching profession
One in five Texas high school teachers were not certified
About 41,000 of 63,000 vacancies in Texas public schools were unfilled in 1999
Since about 1982, the rates at which Black and Hispanic students are required to repeat grade 9 have climbed steadily, such that by the late 1990s, nearly 30% of Black and Hispanic students were "failing" grade 9.
Texas charter schools were even poorer than public schools. Even though the racial mix was skewed to non-white, and the number of schools (66) is small, the economically disadvantaged rate was very similar, the percent of special ed students was less in the charter schools, and the test scores were uniformly substantially lower.
On national tests (NAEP), with one exception (4th grade math), Texas scores have remained flat over the period you were governor
After you took office, Texas' own state test TASP (a college readiness test) results showed a sharp decrease (from 65.2% to 43.3%) in the percentage of students passing all three parts (reading, math, and writing).
Performance on the SAT in Texas did not improved since the early 1990s, (compared with SAT takers nationally)
79% of Texans who are 25 or older have a high school diploma or equivalency certificate and 24% have bachelor's degrees - both lower than the national average
147,000 people in state prisons. Counting state jails and on parole, there are 545,000 people in the system.
On any given day 450 people were on death row. Since 1976 Texas has executed 138 people - some of which were people who were mentally ill, profoundly retarded, and people who are innocent.
48th in per capita funding for public health
47th in delivery of social services
5th in percentage of people living in poverty
#1 in percentage of poor working parents without insurance
#1 in children without health insurance
Many industry legislative initiatives during your term as Governor followed parallel themes: limiting liability for polluters, reducing public input on regulatory decisions, allowing 'voluntary' instead of mandatory compliance with environmental laws, and, allowing polluters to design their own anti-pollution programs."
Doesn't necessarily mean you would do the same to the Nation as a whole as President.
Just because you,your brother Jeb and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris used a patently obvious technique in Florida to discriminate against voters,using a scrub list" of 173,000 names that were targeted to be knocked off the Florida voter registry and thousands of voters lost their right to vote based on a flaw-ridden list that included purported "felons" provided by a private firm (ChoicePoint) with tight Republican ties,thereby stealing the 2000 election from Al Gore. Doesn't necessarily mean you have corrupted our Democratic process and became President of the United States of America illegitamately.
Just because you stopped an investigation into Osama Bin Laden just before he attacked on 9/11 doesn't necessarily mean you are not capable of making good decisions in the war on terror.
Just because at the news of the attacks on 9/11 you froze for seven minutes doesn't necessarily mean you are confused and indecisive.
Just because you pulled most of our troops and resources out of Afghanistan,unlawfully without informing Congress,before getting OBL doesn't necessarily mean you lack the focus and commitment to get the job done as Commander in Chief.
Just because you were wrong about Iraq's uranium enrichment program, long range missiles, remotely powered aircraft, mobile biological laboratories, chemical and biological weapons, ties to the 9-11 attack or anything that could be considered a clear and immediate danger to our country doesn't necessarily mean you have invaded a country in a manner that is illegal under international law.
Just because you withdrew from the control of international human rights treaties, the Geneva convention, and war crimes courts and told the soldiers to get information from prisoners "by any means necessary" doesn't necessarily mean you were setting up a culture that was conducive to war crimes and torture.
Just because you "Shocked and Awed" a contained,sovereign county, destroying their roads, electrical grid, water supply communications and killed their women and children,doesn't necessarily mean you don't understand how to win the battle for the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people.
Just because you took what you said was a projected $6.4 trillion surplus and turned it into more than a projected $2 trillion deficit doesn't necessarily mean you are not a fiscal conservative.
Just because you pulled out of the Kyoto accord and reversed almost all the environmental protections of our air, water and wilderness doesn't necessarily mean you don't understand the importance of a clean and healthy environment to the quality of life.
Just because your $1.35 trillion package of tax breaks gave the richest 1 percent of U.S. taxpayers nearly half of the loot.
Doesn't necessarily mean you paid off your super-rich campaign contributors by handing out as much money as possible to the very richest Americans.Or that you didn't want to use the money to help working people suffering through one of the worst economic slumps since the Great Depression by being fair with the working poor and middle class.
Just because your drug bill benefits the drug companies and HMOs at the expense of the sick and elderly doesn't necessarily mean you are not compassionate.
Just because you have polarized the country more than any leader in history doesn't necessarily mean you aren't a uniter.
Just because you have alienated our traditional allies and energized our enemies doesn't necessarily mean you lack diplomatic skills.
Just because the jobs you have promised have not materialized,(the reletively few that have pay 40- 60% on average less then those lost and have no benefits) while more and more have been outsourced,with a substantial net loss of jobs within your first term(more than any other President since Hoover during the great depression) does not necessarily mean you do not care about the circumstances of the working man.
Just because you were against the 9-11 investigation for 18 months and stonewalled the CIA leak for longer and then under pressure reversed your position doesn't necessarily mean that you FLIP-FLOP or that you have anything to hide.
Just because you have already spent more on smearing your opponent than any candidate in history doesn't necessarily mean you are afraid to run on your record.
Just because you violated the law by allowing private insurers to limit choices of some patients in a trial program of managed health care under Medicare, congressional investigators said.Doesn't necessarily mean you do not have the best interest of American seniors and tax payers at heart.
Just because you were made aware as early as 2001 that the aluminum tubes used as critical evidence to justify an invasion of Iraq were most likely not for nuclear weapons.And that the government's nuclear foremost experts had concluded that the tubes were most likely not for nuclear weapons at all.And chose not to tell the American public.Doesn't necessarily mean you are deceiving or lying to us.
Just because your ad referred to Kerry's comment in the debate that a pre-emptive strike must pass "the global test where your countrymen, your people understand fully why you're doing what you're doing and you can prove to the world that you did it for legitimate reasons."called it the "Kerry doctrine," and asked: "So we must seek permission from foreign governments before protecting America?"When,in fact Kerry also said first in the debate Thursday,Sept.30,2004 that he would not cede the United States' right to a pre-emptive strike and that he will "hunt and kill the terrorists wherever they are."
Doesn't necessarily mean you are distorting the facts because you can't handle the truth.
Just because,during the debate you cited as a sign of progress in Iraq that the US is "spending reconstruction money," when in fact the slow pace of spending has become a major problem for US officials.And you also said "100,000 troops" and other Iraqi security personnel have been trained to date.But you failed to mention that according to testimony of Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage many trainees have received nothing more than a three-week course in police procedures -- what Armitage referred to as "shake-and-bake" forces.When actually Only 8,000 of the total are police who have received a full eight-week course of training.
Doesn't necessarily mean you distort the truth for personal political gain.
Just because you lied about moral issues and deviously used Americans Faith as a wedge to win re-election by demonstrating through your actions that you are without compassion and devoid of true morality,doesn't necessarily mean you are in fact an evil person.
No, Mr. President, none of those necessarily mean anything, but I have reached the inevitable conclusion that you're a lying,incompetent,arrogant,sanctomonious,hypocritical idiot. Why?
Just because.~ GOD help us ~
