Remember during the 2000 campaign? All the honesty and integrity that Shrub would bring to the White House...this bringing all Americans together. Darn! What a liar can do in only 18 months...
"Talk Is Cheap
July 3, 2002
By Eric Munoz
Honesty. Integrity. Principle. Humility.
These are the issues that George W. Bush ran on in 2000. Throughout George Bush's campaign we were bombarded with words like "integrity," "principle" and "honesty" to describe a Bush presidency. We were also endlessly exposed to the fallacy of Al Gore's penchant for fibbing and exaggerating. The media seemed to mock Al Gore's populist approach to the 2000 election; it ridiculed him for his supposed excessive credit mongering and delusions of grandeur. Yet time after time, the fallacies and the allusions to Mr. Gore were proven exaggerated or outright wrong.
Now, after 18 months, even Al Gore's populist approach has been vindicated, as business scandal after business scandal seems to dominate the front pages. After 18 months in office, George Bush has talked the talk but failed miserably to walk the walk. Now is the time to heed the actions and disregard the rhetoric.
Writing of a January 1999 Mark Craig sermon that he claimed called him to pursue the presidency, George Bush wrote, ''He talked of the need for honesty in government. He warned that leaders who cheat on their wives will cheat their country, will cheat their colleagues, will cheat themselves." It is no accident that Bush chose infidelity to highlight dishonesty, given Bill Clinton's shortcomings.
More importantly, Bush chose to characterize his calling as one based on honesty. Just how honest is George? In what has been an extraordinarily bad joke meant to deflect criticism of Bush's huge tax cut, Bush has repeatedly said that since the campaign trail he has held that national emergencies, war or recession might lead to a return of deficit spending. However, the administration has been unable to document even one instance of this being true.
In fact in February of 2001 before a joint session of Congress, George Bush said, "We should also prepare for the unexpected, for the uncertainties of the future. We should approach our nation's budget as any prudent family would, with a contingency fund for emergencies or additional spending needs. For example, after a strategic review, we may need to increase defense spending. We may need to increase spending for our farmers or additional money to reform Medicare. And so, my budget sets aside almost a trillion dollars over 10 years for additional needs. That is one trillion additional reasons you can feel comfortable supporting this budget."
So which is it, George? Does your tax-cut eviscerated budget take into account emergencies and additional spending needs or not?
In his campaign, George Bush also promised to impose caps on air pollution, vowed not to use the Yucca Mountains as a nuclear waste dump without sound scientific approval, vowed to increase access to secondary education, vowed to provide prescription drug coverage to all Americans, promised to pay down a record amount of the national debt and promised to fully fund LIHEAP, the low income energy assistance program.
What has he done? He has returned this nation to deficit spending, with a projected total budget shortfall over $100 billion, he has bypassed scientific surveys ad forged ahead with using the Yucca Mountains as a nuclear dump, he has frozen Pell Grant Awards, he has pulled $1.3 billion from a Student Loans program, he has practically gutted the Clean Air Act, he has added substantially to the national debt and cut $300 million from LIHEAP.
"Restoring honor and integrity to the White House" was the unofficial motto of the Bush campaign. Not a hint of impropriety, we were promised. They were right. There is not a hint of impropriety - there is a whole stinking bucket load of it. Bush's decision to let California go it alone against now debunked and humiliated Enron, the decision to open up the Yucca Mountains, appointing Harvey Pitt, Kenny-boy's first choice, to the SEC, shelving regulations aimed at protecting the environment and worker's safety, imposing voluntary clean air standards below current regulations, an energy plan so loaded with incentives for big oil and coal that Halliburton couldn't have written the plan any better and easing of restrictions on corporate accounting. Conflicts of interest abounded with Secretaries O'Neill and White, political advisor Karl Rove, even Dick Cheney's Halliburton has recently come under some scrutiny. Honor and integrity, the GOP way.
Principles like free trade, self-determination, democracy, states' rights and private property have also fallen victim during this presidency. Bill Clinton, an ardent free trader, refused to grant tariff protection to the steel industry for fear of the damage that would be imposed on the rest of America. With an eye to the upcoming elections and 2004, George Bush has betrayed his free trade principle by imposing steep tariffs on American Steel, signing a mega-billion dollar subsidy package through the Farm Bill and imposing tariffs on Canadian lumber.
In Venezuela, the democratically elected Hugo Chavez was ousted by a group of big business elites, the Bush administration could hardly contain its glee. When reinstated by popular uprisings, the Bush administration grudgingly recognized Mr. Chavez once again, albeit ironically with caveats to Mr. Chavez to respect the will of the people and the democratic processes. Saudi Arabia, perhaps one of the most oppressive regimes in the world and quite likely also the biggest sponsor of terrorism, continues to enjoy the support of this administration. The Bush administration has also opposed banning the importation of Iraqi oil, claiming that the oil for food program would be devastated. Cuba, China, the PLO, Pakistan, the inconsistencies are too many to recount.
States' rights have given way to the lobbying of the energy industry, and the ever pious John Ashcroft has challenged Oregon and California on euthanasia and medical marijuana laws adopted there. Even the holy grail of conservative politics, private property rights, has given way to special interests. Imminent domain could be used to seize private land for energy companies to build transmission lines.
Humility, we were promised, would be the guiding principle of American foreign policy. Nation building was the work of an arrogant nation imposing itself on other peoples. A Bush administration was to be strong yet humble, only intervening in other nations if there was significant cause to do so. How humble has this nation proven itself when it rejects treaties for the sake of its energy industry, abrogates an arms treaty for a foolish missile defense system or dooms a court of crimes against humanity from fear that its own citizens may some day find themselves there? This administration has said to other nations that the United States is not to be held to the same standards as other countries.
Mr. Bush's pre-emptive strike speech before West Point recently underscores the arrogance of the Bush administration. In order to avoid war we will strike first and we will strike those that may build weapons of mass destruction, albeit those weapons will not have a hundredth of the firepower our weapons have, we will strike nations that may want to strike us first, even though we could easily defeat any nation that chose to do so, we will avert war by starting war.
Honesty. Integrity. Principle. Humility.
Freedom is Slavery. War is Peace. Ignorance is Strength. Lying is Honesty. Impropriety is Integrity. Improbity is Principle. Arrogance is Humility. " |
