Baghdad Bob in the White House
Happy Friday.
Baghdad Bob was the Iraqi spokesman who, as televised reports showed U.S. forces approaching the outskirts of Baghdad, famously denied reality, exclaiming: "They are not any place. They are on the move everywhere. They are a snake moving in the desert. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."
The one lesson the current administration has taken from Iraq is, when all else fails, lie like Baghdad Bob:
LIE: The Bush administration claims you’ll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in a private account, to replace Social Security, to your children or grandchildren. (White House website.)
FACT: “Most lower-income workers will be required to purchase government lifetime annuities, financial instruments that provide a guaranteed monthly payment for life but that expire at death. Money in these annuities cannot be passed on to heirs.” (NY Times 2/3/05.)
LIE: In signing the No Child Left Behind Act, Bush declared “We’re going to spend more on our schools and we’re going to spend it more wisely.” In his 2004 State of the Union speech, he claimed “I refuse to give up on any child and the No Child Left Behind Act is opening the door of opportunity to all of America’s children.”
FACT: Bush’s FY2005 budget under funds the No Child Left Behind (“NCLB”) program by $9.4 billion – or 27 percent less than authorized by Congress. Bush under funded the NCLB program by $15 billion during his first three years in office. Most of the under funding is in the area of Title I of the Act which provides funds to schools with low income or disadvantaged students. (The Daily Distortion 10/24/03; New Democratic Network 12/02/03; Center for American Progress 02/03/04.)
LIE: The Bush administration claims it has imposed “stringent new rules on power plant emissions.”
FACT: The new Bush rules gutted Clean Air Act restrictions to allow utilities to avoid having to install expensive new anti-pollution equipment when they modernize their plants. The EPA’s civil enforcement chief resigned in protest, while another senior EPA lawyer wrote to former director Christine Todd Whitman complaining that the administration “seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce.” A study commissioned by the administration demonstrated that current, weakened policies on power plant emissions have led to the death of 24,000 people a year. (Center for American Progress 12/13/03; NY Times 06/10/04.)
LIE: President Bush claimed there is insufficient scientific evidence of global warming as part of his justification for withdrawing from the Kyoto Treaty.
FACT: The National Academy of Science’s 2001 report stated that there is “general agreement that the observed warming is real and particularly strong within the past 20 years” and that most of the warming “observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.” Similarly, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that global temperatures were rising dramatically due in part to human-induced emissions. A Pentagon study stated that the threat posed by global warming “vastly eclipses that of terrorism.” The study said that climate change should be considered immediately as a top political and military issue and warned of catastrophic results between 2007 and 2020. (NY Times 01/12/03; The Nation 10/13/03.)
LIE: Bush told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that “Veterans are a priority of this administration . . . and that priority is reflected in my budget.”
FACT: In 2003, Bush killed an emergency funding request that included $275 million for Veterans’ medical care, while his 2004 budget request fell $1.9 billion short of maintaining what the American Legion called “an inadequate status quo.” Bush’s 2005 budget cuts Veteran funding by $13.5 billion over 5 years. (The Daily Mis-Lead 10/21/03; The Center for American Progress 02/04/03.)
LIE: The Bush administration claimed its Medicare prescription drug cards would provide “significant price reductions off typical retail prices” for seniors.
FACT: A Congressional report found that the drug prices available to beneficiaries using the “discount cards” are no lower than existing prices and even higher than prices available in Canada, under the U.S. Federal Supply Schedule, and through discount pharmacies such as Drugstore.com. Moreover drug companies raised their prices by 3 times the rate of inflation immediately prior to the release of the “discount cards.” (Daily Mis-Lead 05/04/04; “New Medicare Drug Cards Offer Few Discounts,” House Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff April 2004, AP 07/01/04.)
LIE: During the debates, Bush claimed he would not seek to overturn the FDA’s approval of RU-486.
FACT: Bush later insisted he would not accept the FDA’s approval decision and would seek to appoint an FDA commissioner who would “make sure the FDA considered the risk”. (ABC News.com 10/4/02.)
Baghdad Bob was the Iraqi spokesman who, as televised reports showed U.S. forces approaching the outskirts of Baghdad, famously denied reality, exclaiming: "They are not any place. They are on the move everywhere. They are a snake moving in the desert. They hold no place in Iraq. This is an illusion."
The one lesson the current administration has taken from Iraq is, when all else fails, lie like Baghdad Bob:
LIE: The Bush administration claims you’ll be able to pass along the money that accumulates in a private account, to replace Social Security, to your children or grandchildren. (White House website.)
FACT: “Most lower-income workers will be required to purchase government lifetime annuities, financial instruments that provide a guaranteed monthly payment for life but that expire at death. Money in these annuities cannot be passed on to heirs.” (NY Times 2/3/05.)
LIE: In signing the No Child Left Behind Act, Bush declared “We’re going to spend more on our schools and we’re going to spend it more wisely.” In his 2004 State of the Union speech, he claimed “I refuse to give up on any child and the No Child Left Behind Act is opening the door of opportunity to all of America’s children.”
FACT: Bush’s FY2005 budget under funds the No Child Left Behind (“NCLB”) program by $9.4 billion – or 27 percent less than authorized by Congress. Bush under funded the NCLB program by $15 billion during his first three years in office. Most of the under funding is in the area of Title I of the Act which provides funds to schools with low income or disadvantaged students. (The Daily Distortion 10/24/03; New Democratic Network 12/02/03; Center for American Progress 02/03/04.)
LIE: The Bush administration claims it has imposed “stringent new rules on power plant emissions.”
FACT: The new Bush rules gutted Clean Air Act restrictions to allow utilities to avoid having to install expensive new anti-pollution equipment when they modernize their plants. The EPA’s civil enforcement chief resigned in protest, while another senior EPA lawyer wrote to former director Christine Todd Whitman complaining that the administration “seems determined to weaken the rules we are trying to enforce.” A study commissioned by the administration demonstrated that current, weakened policies on power plant emissions have led to the death of 24,000 people a year. (Center for American Progress 12/13/03; NY Times 06/10/04.)
LIE: President Bush claimed there is insufficient scientific evidence of global warming as part of his justification for withdrawing from the Kyoto Treaty.
FACT: The National Academy of Science’s 2001 report stated that there is “general agreement that the observed warming is real and particularly strong within the past 20 years” and that most of the warming “observed over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities.” Similarly, an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found that global temperatures were rising dramatically due in part to human-induced emissions. A Pentagon study stated that the threat posed by global warming “vastly eclipses that of terrorism.” The study said that climate change should be considered immediately as a top political and military issue and warned of catastrophic results between 2007 and 2020. (NY Times 01/12/03; The Nation 10/13/03.)
LIE: Bush told the Veterans of Foreign Wars that “Veterans are a priority of this administration . . . and that priority is reflected in my budget.”
FACT: In 2003, Bush killed an emergency funding request that included $275 million for Veterans’ medical care, while his 2004 budget request fell $1.9 billion short of maintaining what the American Legion called “an inadequate status quo.” Bush’s 2005 budget cuts Veteran funding by $13.5 billion over 5 years. (The Daily Mis-Lead 10/21/03; The Center for American Progress 02/04/03.)
LIE: The Bush administration claimed its Medicare prescription drug cards would provide “significant price reductions off typical retail prices” for seniors.
FACT: A Congressional report found that the drug prices available to beneficiaries using the “discount cards” are no lower than existing prices and even higher than prices available in Canada, under the U.S. Federal Supply Schedule, and through discount pharmacies such as Drugstore.com. Moreover drug companies raised their prices by 3 times the rate of inflation immediately prior to the release of the “discount cards.” (Daily Mis-Lead 05/04/04; “New Medicare Drug Cards Offer Few Discounts,” House Committee on Government Reform, Minority Staff April 2004, AP 07/01/04.)
LIE: During the debates, Bush claimed he would not seek to overturn the FDA’s approval of RU-486.
FACT: Bush later insisted he would not accept the FDA’s approval decision and would seek to appoint an FDA commissioner who would “make sure the FDA considered the risk”. (ABC News.com 10/4/02.)
posted by Happy Friday | 7:07 AM
3 Comments:
President Bush's trip to Crawford is his longest stretch yet away from the White House, and, by historical standards, it is the longest presidential retreat in at least 36 years. The August getaway is Bush's 49th trip to his cherished ranch since taking office and Tuesday was the 319th day that Bush has spent, entirely or partially, in Crawford -- roughly 20 percent of his presidency to date, according to Mark Knoller, a CBS Radio reporter known for keeping better records of the president's travel than the White House itself.
Bush's Approval Rating on Iraq Drops in Poll
Six Out of Ten Believe Country Is on Wrong Track
By WILL LESTER, AP
WASHINGTON (Aug. 5) - Americans' approval of President Bush's handling of Iraq is at its lowest level yet, according to an AP-Ipsos poll that also found fewer than half now think he's honest.
A solid majority still see Bush as a strong and likable leader, though the president's confidence is seen as arrogance by a growing number.
Approval of Bush's handling of Iraq, which had been hovering in the low- to mid-40s most of the year, dipped to 38 percent. Midwesterners and young women and men with a high school education or less were most likely to abandon Bush on his handling of Iraq in the last six months.
American troops have suffered heavy casualties in Iraq in recent days. On Wednesday, 14 Marines were killed in the Euphrates River valley in the worst roadside bombing targeting Americans since the war began in March 2003.
William Anderson, a retired Republican from Fort Worth, Texas, said Bush "has the right intentions, but he's going about them the wrong way.''
"Iraq is one of the issues that everybody has a problem with,'' Anderson said. "There are some big discussions about it around town. Everybody's got their agreements and disagreements. It seems like there's no end. Is it going to end up another Vietnam?''
Continuing worries about Iraq may do more than drag down Bush's standing with the public. They could become a major issue in the 2006 midterm congressional races, and if the war is still going in 2008, they could be a factor in the presidential race.
Bush's overall job approval was at 42 percent, with 55 percent disapproving. That's about where Bush's approval has been all summer but slightly lower than at the beginning of the year.
The portion of people who consider Bush honest has dropped slightly from January, when 53 percent described him that way while 45 percent did not. Now, people are just about evenly split on that issue - with 48 percent saying he's honest and 50 percent saying he's not.
The drop in the number of people who see Bush as honest was strongest among middle-aged Americans as well as suburban women, a key voting group in the 2004 election. A further erosion of trust could make it tougher for Bush to win support for his policies in Congress and internationally.
"The reason that trust is so important has to do with the long-standing belief that you could trust him, even if you don't always agree with him and don't understand what he's doing,'' said Bruce Buchanan, a political scientist at the University of Texas. "The honesty dip is partly caused by a loss of faith in his credibility on Iraq.''
The president said Thursday from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that threats from al-Qaida's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri, "make it clear that Iraq is a part of this war on terror, and we're at war.'' Bush pledged to "complete this job in Iraq.''
Almost two-thirds in the poll described Bush as strong and likable.
"He's a man of character,'' said Cheryl Cheyney, a school bus driver from Cumming, Ga., and a Republican. "He's very honest in the things he says. I agree with his belief system, the way he believes in God and is not afraid to show it. That's very important to me.''
But the portion of people who view his confidence as arrogance has increased from 49 percent in January to 56 percent now.
"This country is a monarchy,'' said Charles Nuutinen, a 62-year-old independent from Greenville, Wis. "He's turning this country into Saudi Arabia. He does what he wants. He doesn't care what the people want.''
Six in 10 said they think the country is headed down the wrong track, despite some encouraging economic news in recent weeks.
"Iraq is just a great weight holding down perceptions of an economy that is quite robust,'' said Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst at the American Enterprise Institute. "Whenever you have troops in harm's way, people are anxious about things in general.''
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted Aug. 1-3 by Ipsos, an international polling firm. It has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Yeah, it's not like most of the business of government isn't conducted by Secure Video Teleconference anyways, and that they don't have those in Crawford.
The only reason for any President, Democrat or Republican, to be physically located in DC is because Congress is in session, and guess what, Congress is on recess 20-25% of the year.
For whatever criticisms you may have of the President's policies, the vacation thing is about the weakest argument out there.
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