Empty Rhetoric from a Vacuous Presidency
Op-Ed News | 01.02.2006 19:13
Bush's Propaganda to the Union address, which demonstrated his uetter contempt for the average American, went exactly as predicted.
Empty Rhetoric from a Vacuous Presidency
by Anthony Wade
http://www.opednews.com
January 31, 2006
It is not that the emperor has no clothes; just that he has no credibility left. It often gets so disheartening to cut through the plethora of misdirection and subterfuge in the speeches of George W. Bush([search]). This State of the Union contained more of the same from Bush that we have heard over the past years. Unfortunately, most of his rhetoric does not match his record. You must understand as citizens that it is time to hold this president to his record, not his word.
The Rule of Law – President Bush tonight looked America in the eye, and lied. There is no other way to state his ridiculous position on the NSA spying scandal. Bush stated that previous presidents had used this power but this is patently false. In the past, president’s have used the authority to wiretap FOREIGN individuals, NOT Americans. He further stated that he had the statutory authority to engage in the wiretapping but this is also untrue. He appears to be basing his authority on the Congressional mandate to have him pursue the war on terror. Congresspersons from both sides of the aisle have denounced this notion is absurd. The fact is that Bush was not given any such mandate to bypass congressional oversight and violate the federal law. Lastly, to further justify this illegal activity, the president made the erroneous claim that if this wiretapping had existed prior to 9-11, we would have been able to prevent two of the hijackers and possibly thwarted that horrible day. Playing upon the fear and sadness of a nation, Bush grossly misrepresented the truth on this matter. We knew about these two terrorists prior to 9-11 and it has already been confirmed that it was bureaucratic problems that prevented their detention. Bush himself was also briefed on the al Qaeda’s plans, but went on vacation. The larger issue though on this point as well as all of Bush’s rhetoric in regards to the NSA spy scandal, is that no one is suggesting al Qaeda spying should be shut down, just that Bush should follow the law. Prior to the Bush administration, there were over 19,000 requests to the secret FISA court for wiretaps and only FIVE were denied. This court also allows a president to start a wiretap and seek court approval within 36 hours. No, there is no excuse for why this president chose to violate the federal law and then brag about it to the nation. Faced with the mounting criticism Bush is left with no choice but to wrap up his illegal spying in 9-11 and pray that America falls for it again.
The Economy – Never one to be bothered with facts, the president proceeded to parrot the right-wing talking points about the economy being somehow “robust”. Nonsense. Job growth under Bush remains the lowest since World War II. Bush likes to talk about the tax cuts as being helpful, without addressing the fact that the deficits they create negate any potential gains. Further, they are grossly skewed to the richest Americans, a revival of the failed Reagonomics, or “trickle-down” economics, which Bush’s father once correctly referred to as “voodoo economics.” The fact is that rich people do not become rich by giving their money to the poor. Bush insisted again tonight to make these irresponsible tax cuts permanent, but did not mention that would cost this country 3.4 trillion more dollars over the next ten years. The Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center has summed up the effect of making these unfair cuts permanent as such, “If Bush’s tax cuts are made permanent, the top one percent of households will gain an average of $71,420 a year when the tax cuts are fully in effect. By contrast, people in the middle of the income spectrum would secure average tax cuts of just $870.” The Bush folks will scream class warfare when presented with these facts. Nonsense again. These are the numbers period, they do not lie. Real people know this economy is not growing. The jobs touted by the president tonight still are not enough stem the tide of a collapsing economy. The jobs created today are not comparable to those created in administration’s past and the cost of healthcare has risen to unaffordable rates. Faced with these sobering facts, the president chose to face America tonight and tell you that you are mistaken; the economy is doing just fine. This despite the poverty rate increasing each year under Bush with 12.7% of the population living in poverty today.
Corruption – The president tonight spoke tough on corruption. Nice sound bites to placate a public he thinks will continue to buy the snake oil he sells. The facts are that his administration has repeatedly stalled investigations into the Katrina aftermath, has not cooperated with the Plamegate CIA leak scandal, and not been forthcoming about his own involvement with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. There is a culture of corruption in the Republican Party and Bush is the leader of that culture. His regime has seen cronyism at nauseating levels, which directly resulted in the Katrina aftermath and the loss of life that ensued. Again, it is about saying the right things for the camera, and then having Scott McClellan say “no comment” the next day. America is weary of this nonsense.
Education – Only this president would have the hubris to trumpet his commitment to education only three weeks after he sliced 14 billion from Pell Grants and has devastated the federal student loan program. You must realize that when President Bush brags about cutting programs, these are often vital services that the neediest in this country need. There are real people behind the cuts. His No Child Left Behind initiative has been massively under-funded, leading most localities to speak out against it. This president remains a massive failure on education. His fiscal year 2006 budget called for the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
There were so many other issues tonight the president was misleading on. As well as issues not even addressed like the environment and the growing problems with his failed Medicare prescription drug catastrophe. The numbers however, bear out what this president stands for. In dealing with his war and national security President Bush used the word “terror” nineteen times and “democracy” only three times. A telling statistic for the president who sells himself as a champion of democracy, but only sells us fear. What I am left with however to truly capture this administration is what happened before the president walked into the room. Cindy Sheehan was arrested and removed from the gallery in handcuffs. Cindy Sheehan, who gave the life of her son to this country and was an invited guest of her local Congresswoman, was dragged out of the people’s house in chains. Why? Because she had the temerity to wear a tee shirt that read, “2245, How Many More?” The shirt referenced the amount of dead American soldiers in Iraq([search]). When smiling pretty for the cameras, Bush can’t allow the truth to interfere with the rhetoric of a vacuous presidency that no longer has the credibility to sell us the snake oil we are no longer buying. Don’t hold him to his word America, hold him to his actions.
Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess. Anthony Wade’s Archive: http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm Email Anthony: takebacktheus (at) gmail.com
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__060201_empty_rhetoric_from_.htm
"Americans, the beatings will continue until morale improves"
To:
President George Bush
February 1, 2006
Mr. Bush (not my President),
Regarding your speech tonight...
As usual, my expectations were very low going into your speech, so I wasn't too disappointed when you followed through with the usual half-truths and other sheeple friendly nonsense. My only afterthought is that you could have done your whole 'Disgrace of the Union' speech in ten seconds or less, had you just told the truth:
"Americans, the beatings will continue until morale improves".
That would have summed things up accurately, because just when you think things can't get any worse and morale couldn't possibly get any lower in this country, you offer up seconds on craploaf in front of the whole world.
Call me a "defeatist" if you like, but you are without a doubt the worst leader this country has ever known. History is waiting, and it won't have anything nice to say about you once you arrive.
At this point, disappointment with my fellow America hurts more than your continuous lies. I am deeply saddened by all the supportive letters on congress.org, approving of you and your speech tonight; and therefore approving of all the damage you have done to this country. The damn flag-wrapped sheep in this stumbling country can't think for themselves but somehow manage to figure out how to get on the internet, navigate to congress.org, and then send you an electronic "ata boy". I can't believe how fast people are drinking the Kool-aid in this country. If ever there was a need for stem cell research, it's now - before it's too late.
Oh and, the Rapture is not an exit strategy people. Bring our troops home.
Vic Blazier, Operation Iraqi Oil Veteran (2003)
axisofasses (at) yahoo.com
http://www.spaces.msn.com/members/tipofthespear/
Marion , OH
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=20004&letter_id=597848511
Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Proof That Bush Policies Have Made Global Terror Worse
Staying forever on his misleading message about how well the war on terror is going, George W. Bush decided to go with a familiar refrain in his State of the Union speech last night and declared “we are in this fight to win and we are winning.” White House spokesman Scott McClellan has been doing his best Gary Cooper imitation lately when he is asked about Osama bin Laden’s most recent podcast saying, “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business.”
And, at every speech given by the president before his hand-picked audiences, he uses the same money lines about “freedom on the march” and “terrorists on the run.”
Sadly, we all know too well the most obvious signs that Bush and his crew are full of crap. The first thing that leaps to mind is the fact that on Friday bin Laden will be celebrating day 1,600 of freedom since our tough-talking president vowed to get him “dead or alive.” In addition, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) has been touring the country pointing out the waste of money and lives on a pointless war in Iraq, while al Qaeda is still running free and gaining strength.
“Al Qaeda remains active in 60 countries around the world and continues to recruit, train, and develop new strategies to inflict harm on the United States,” said Feingold in a recent radio interview. “Extremist organizations are present in another 20 countries and are developing new threats to the United States and our allies. The President needs to realize that his misguided, Iraq-centric policies are draining our military and intelligence capabilities and are undermining our efforts to combat al Qaeda and its allies.”
But even knowing all of that doesn’t get to the real heart of how badly Team Bush has done. To truly understand why we all feel less safe – no matter how many times the GOP tells us we’re “winning” – you simply need to pay a visit to the government’s own National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) and make a few queries on the Terrorism Knowledge Base.
Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the NCC is a non-profit agency tasked with being, as their web site says, “..the primary center for US government analysis of terrorism.”
When you take even a brief look at the terror statistics since Bush took office, you find that no matter which way you look at the numbers, worldwide terrorism has gotten much worse, not better, as the president claims.
Between 2001 and 2005, worldwide terrorist incidents increased by an astounding 159 percent, going from 1,733 attacks in 2001 to 4,483 last year. And, under the Bush administration, it’s getting worse as each year goes by, with terror incidents increasing by 70 percent in just 12 months between 2004 and 2005.
And, despite Bush and all of his cronies using every opportunity to tell us how much safer they’re making the world, the government’s own numbers show that they’re selling the American people a dangerous bill of goods. Of the 13,403 global terror incidents that have taken place since 2001, one-third of that total took place in 2005 alone.
Of course, deaths caused by this rapid jump in terrorist activity have also increased dramatically. Terror-related fatalities jumped a whopping 64 percent over the five-year period, going from 4,555 in 2001 – that total includes those killed on September 11 – to 7,484 in 2005. And, in just one year ending 2005, deaths from terrorism jumped almost 50 percent.
So if we're really winning the war on terror, shouldn't all of those numbers be going down?
Hardly a press briefing goes by where Scott McClellan doesn’t lecture us about how the president’s primary job is to “protect the American people.” He inevitably follows that with wild claims about how much safer the Bush administration is making the world.
They might want to check in with the Department of Homeland Security because, based on the empirical evidence offered by that agency, the president and the Republican Congress are doing nothing but pursuing policies that make the world an even more hazardous place. And, while they fail at the true war on terror, they use that very effort as their primary excuse for why they need to illegally spy on us to protect us.
The numbers don’t lie and these figures should be memorized by every Democrat going into the 2006 election cycle.
http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2006/02/proof-that-bush-policies-have-made.html
This is, of course, just what the aggression of the US Under PNAC was intended to produce. How can you fight a long-planned Perpetual War if there's nobody to kill? How can you profit from conflict if there is no war?
by Anthony Wade
http://www.opednews.com January 31, 2006
It is not that the emperor has no clothes; just that he has no credibility left. It often gets so disheartening to cut through the plethora of misdirection and subterfuge in the speeches of George W. Bush([search]). This State of the Union contained more of the same from Bush that we have heard over the past years. Unfortunately, most of his rhetoric does not match his record. You must understand as citizens that it is time to hold this president to his record, not his word.
The Rule of Law – President Bush tonight looked America in the eye, and lied. There is no other way to state his ridiculous position on the NSA spying scandal. Bush stated that previous presidents had used this power but this is patently false. In the past, president’s have used the authority to wiretap FOREIGN individuals, NOT Americans. He further stated that he had the statutory authority to engage in the wiretapping but this is also untrue. He appears to be basing his authority on the Congressional mandate to have him pursue the war on terror. Congresspersons from both sides of the aisle have denounced this notion is absurd. The fact is that Bush was not given any such mandate to bypass congressional oversight and violate the federal law. Lastly, to further justify this illegal activity, the president made the erroneous claim that if this wiretapping had existed prior to 9-11, we would have been able to prevent two of the hijackers and possibly thwarted that horrible day. Playing upon the fear and sadness of a nation, Bush grossly misrepresented the truth on this matter. We knew about these two terrorists prior to 9-11 and it has already been confirmed that it was bureaucratic problems that prevented their detention. Bush himself was also briefed on the al Qaeda’s plans, but went on vacation. The larger issue though on this point as well as all of Bush’s rhetoric in regards to the NSA spy scandal, is that no one is suggesting al Qaeda spying should be shut down, just that Bush should follow the law. Prior to the Bush administration, there were over 19,000 requests to the secret FISA court for wiretaps and only FIVE were denied. This court also allows a president to start a wiretap and seek court approval within 36 hours. No, there is no excuse for why this president chose to violate the federal law and then brag about it to the nation. Faced with the mounting criticism Bush is left with no choice but to wrap up his illegal spying in 9-11 and pray that America falls for it again.
The Economy – Never one to be bothered with facts, the president proceeded to parrot the right-wing talking points about the economy being somehow “robust”. Nonsense. Job growth under Bush remains the lowest since World War II. Bush likes to talk about the tax cuts as being helpful, without addressing the fact that the deficits they create negate any potential gains. Further, they are grossly skewed to the richest Americans, a revival of the failed Reagonomics, or “trickle-down” economics, which Bush’s father once correctly referred to as “voodoo economics.” The fact is that rich people do not become rich by giving their money to the poor. Bush insisted again tonight to make these irresponsible tax cuts permanent, but did not mention that would cost this country 3.4 trillion more dollars over the next ten years. The Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center has summed up the effect of making these unfair cuts permanent as such, “If Bush’s tax cuts are made permanent, the top one percent of households will gain an average of $71,420 a year when the tax cuts are fully in effect. By contrast, people in the middle of the income spectrum would secure average tax cuts of just $870.” The Bush folks will scream class warfare when presented with these facts. Nonsense again. These are the numbers period, they do not lie. Real people know this economy is not growing. The jobs touted by the president tonight still are not enough stem the tide of a collapsing economy. The jobs created today are not comparable to those created in administration’s past and the cost of healthcare has risen to unaffordable rates. Faced with these sobering facts, the president chose to face America tonight and tell you that you are mistaken; the economy is doing just fine. This despite the poverty rate increasing each year under Bush with 12.7% of the population living in poverty today.
Corruption – The president tonight spoke tough on corruption. Nice sound bites to placate a public he thinks will continue to buy the snake oil he sells. The facts are that his administration has repeatedly stalled investigations into the Katrina aftermath, has not cooperated with the Plamegate CIA leak scandal, and not been forthcoming about his own involvement with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. There is a culture of corruption in the Republican Party and Bush is the leader of that culture. His regime has seen cronyism at nauseating levels, which directly resulted in the Katrina aftermath and the loss of life that ensued. Again, it is about saying the right things for the camera, and then having Scott McClellan say “no comment” the next day. America is weary of this nonsense.
Education – Only this president would have the hubris to trumpet his commitment to education only three weeks after he sliced 14 billion from Pell Grants and has devastated the federal student loan program. You must realize that when President Bush brags about cutting programs, these are often vital services that the neediest in this country need. There are real people behind the cuts. His No Child Left Behind initiative has been massively under-funded, leading most localities to speak out against it. This president remains a massive failure on education. His fiscal year 2006 budget called for the first reduction in education spending in a decade.
There were so many other issues tonight the president was misleading on. As well as issues not even addressed like the environment and the growing problems with his failed Medicare prescription drug catastrophe. The numbers however, bear out what this president stands for. In dealing with his war and national security President Bush used the word “terror” nineteen times and “democracy” only three times. A telling statistic for the president who sells himself as a champion of democracy, but only sells us fear. What I am left with however to truly capture this administration is what happened before the president walked into the room. Cindy Sheehan was arrested and removed from the gallery in handcuffs. Cindy Sheehan, who gave the life of her son to this country and was an invited guest of her local Congresswoman, was dragged out of the people’s house in chains. Why? Because she had the temerity to wear a tee shirt that read, “2245, How Many More?” The shirt referenced the amount of dead American soldiers in Iraq([search]). When smiling pretty for the cameras, Bush can’t allow the truth to interfere with the rhetoric of a vacuous presidency that no longer has the credibility to sell us the snake oil we are no longer buying. Don’t hold him to his word America, hold him to his actions.
Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites. A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess. Anthony Wade’s Archive:
http://www.opednews.com/archiveswadeanthony.htm Email Anthony: takebacktheus (at) gmail.com http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_anthony__060201_empty_rhetoric_from_.htm "Americans, the beatings will continue until morale improves"
To:
President George Bush
February 1, 2006
Mr. Bush (not my President),
Regarding your speech tonight...
As usual, my expectations were very low going into your speech, so I wasn't too disappointed when you followed through with the usual half-truths and other sheeple friendly nonsense. My only afterthought is that you could have done your whole 'Disgrace of the Union' speech in ten seconds or less, had you just told the truth:
"Americans, the beatings will continue until morale improves".
That would have summed things up accurately, because just when you think things can't get any worse and morale couldn't possibly get any lower in this country, you offer up seconds on craploaf in front of the whole world.
Call me a "defeatist" if you like, but you are without a doubt the worst leader this country has ever known. History is waiting, and it won't have anything nice to say about you once you arrive.
At this point, disappointment with my fellow America hurts more than your continuous lies. I am deeply saddened by all the supportive letters on congress.org, approving of you and your speech tonight; and therefore approving of all the damage you have done to this country. The damn flag-wrapped sheep in this stumbling country can't think for themselves but somehow manage to figure out how to get on the internet, navigate to congress.org, and then send you an electronic "ata boy". I can't believe how fast people are drinking the Kool-aid in this country. If ever there was a need for stem cell research, it's now - before it's too late.
Oh and, the Rapture is not an exit strategy people. Bring our troops home.
Vic Blazier, Operation Iraqi Oil Veteran (2003)
axisofasses (at) yahoo.com
http://www.spaces.msn.com/members/tipofthespear/ Marion , OH
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?id=20004&letter_id=597848511 Wednesday, February 01, 2006
Proof That Bush Policies Have Made Global Terror Worse
Staying forever on his misleading message about how well the war on terror is going, George W. Bush decided to go with a familiar refrain in his State of the Union speech last night and declared “we are in this fight to win and we are winning.” White House spokesman Scott McClellan has been doing his best Gary Cooper imitation lately when he is asked about Osama bin Laden’s most recent podcast saying, “We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business.”
And, at every speech given by the president before his hand-picked audiences, he uses the same money lines about “freedom on the march” and “terrorists on the run.”
Sadly, we all know too well the most obvious signs that Bush and his crew are full of crap. The first thing that leaps to mind is the fact that on Friday bin Laden will be celebrating day 1,600 of freedom since our tough-talking president vowed to get him “dead or alive.” In addition, Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) has been touring the country pointing out the waste of money and lives on a pointless war in Iraq, while al Qaeda is still running free and gaining strength.
“Al Qaeda remains active in 60 countries around the world and continues to recruit, train, and develop new strategies to inflict harm on the United States,” said Feingold in a recent radio interview. “Extremist organizations are present in another 20 countries and are developing new threats to the United States and our allies. The President needs to realize that his misguided, Iraq-centric policies are draining our military and intelligence capabilities and are undermining our efforts to combat al Qaeda and its allies.”
But even knowing all of that doesn’t get to the real heart of how badly Team Bush has done. To truly understand why we all feel less safe – no matter how many times the GOP tells us we’re “winning” – you simply need to pay a visit to the government’s own National Counterterrorism Center (NCC) and make a few queries on the Terrorism Knowledge Base.
Funded by the Department of Homeland Security, the NCC is a non-profit agency tasked with being, as their web site says, “..the primary center for US government analysis of terrorism.”
When you take even a brief look at the terror statistics since Bush took office, you find that no matter which way you look at the numbers, worldwide terrorism has gotten much worse, not better, as the president claims.
Between 2001 and 2005, worldwide terrorist incidents increased by an astounding 159 percent, going from 1,733 attacks in 2001 to 4,483 last year. And, under the Bush administration, it’s getting worse as each year goes by, with terror incidents increasing by 70 percent in just 12 months between 2004 and 2005.
And, despite Bush and all of his cronies using every opportunity to tell us how much safer they’re making the world, the government’s own numbers show that they’re selling the American people a dangerous bill of goods. Of the 13,403 global terror incidents that have taken place since 2001, one-third of that total took place in 2005 alone.
Of course, deaths caused by this rapid jump in terrorist activity have also increased dramatically. Terror-related fatalities jumped a whopping 64 percent over the five-year period, going from 4,555 in 2001 – that total includes those killed on September 11 – to 7,484 in 2005. And, in just one year ending 2005, deaths from terrorism jumped almost 50 percent.
So if we're really winning the war on terror, shouldn't all of those numbers be going down?
Hardly a press briefing goes by where Scott McClellan doesn’t lecture us about how the president’s primary job is to “protect the American people.” He inevitably follows that with wild claims about how much safer the Bush administration is making the world.
They might want to check in with the Department of Homeland Security because, based on the empirical evidence offered by that agency, the president and the Republican Congress are doing nothing but pursuing policies that make the world an even more hazardous place. And, while they fail at the true war on terror, they use that very effort as their primary excuse for why they need to illegally spy on us to protect us.
The numbers don’t lie and these figures should be memorized by every Democrat going into the 2006 election cycle.
http://bobgeiger.blogspot.com/2006/02/proof-that-bush-policies-have-made.html This is, of course, just what the aggression of the US Under PNAC was intended to produce. How can you fight a long-planned Perpetual War if there's nobody to kill? How can you profit from conflict if there is no war?
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