dubyaMD bush has a loooong history of lying...even under oath.
During the 2000 election campaign, Bush claimed that, during the Vietnam conflict, "My first impulse and first inclination was to support the country". His first impulse seems, in fact, to have been to avoid both the draft and active duty. George W Bush was, at best, a bit free with the truth.
Bush said no one to his knowledge helped him get into the National Guard. In fact, according to testimony by Texas Speaker of the House Ben Barnes, Houston businessman (and Bush family friend) Sid Adger requested that Barnes refer Bush’s name to a high-ranking Guard official, Gen. James Rose. Rose got Bush into the Guard ahead of 500 other applicants (most far more qualified than Dubya). George W Bush lied.
Bush claims to have "some recollection" of turning up for the drills required of Guardsmen during his last year of duty. In fact, there is no record that he showed up at all - and testimony from his commanding officer that he never saw Bush once during that period. George W Bush lied - and deserted.
Early last year, Bush told Bob Kiss, Speaker of the West Virginia House of Delegates, that he had "been to war". In fact, he has never been to war - he's just trying to send tens of thousands of other people to war. George W Bush lied.
Bush has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in his sale of Harken stock preceding their disclosure of more than $23 million in losses, which caused the stock to fall 20 percent. In fact, on June 11, 1990, Bush attended a meeting on Harken's plan to sell off two subsidiaries to avert bankruptcy. The Haynes and Boone law firm advised Harken officers and directors on June 15, 1990, that if they possessed any negative information about the company’s outlook, a stock sale would be considered illegal trading. On June 22, 1990, Bush sold 212,140 shares (originally purchased 40% below face value) to a still-unidentified buyer (rather than on the open market) for four dollars per share. They are now worth two cents apiece. George W Bush lied, cheated, and broke the law.
For years, Bush claimed that he sent the reports of that stock sale and three others in on time and that the SEC had lost them. Last year, he shifted the blame to Harken’s lawyers for the late filings, before changing his story again to say that he simply didn’t know what had happened. In fact, we still don't know why he missed the deadlines by up to eight months, but we do know that, regarding having sent the reports in on time, George W Bush lied.
Bush has repeatedly avoided answering questions about his cocaine abuse and possible addiction. He has never outright denied it, but has consistently refused to acknowledge his abuse. Three independent sources now report that Bush was arrested in 1972 for cocaine possession and taken to Harris County Jail, but avoided jail or formal charges through an informal diversion plan involving community service with Project PULL, an inner city Houston program for troubled youths. Another witness admits to having sold Bush cocaine. George W Bush has refused to be honest or truthful.
Bush cited the expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program as an example of his bipartisan efforts as Governor of Texas. In fact, Bush vehemently opposed the expansion of CHIP and, after losing the legislative battle (which did, indeed, have bipartisan support - just not Dubya's), he claimed credit for the CHIP expansion and his success in working with Democrats during the 2000 election campaign. George W Bush lied.
Bush cited as his most significant environmental accomplishment as Governor the setting of new rules for grand-fathered industrial plants, previously exempt from Texas clean air laws. In fact, those plants were asked only to voluntarily comply with the clean air rules with no penalties for industries that didn’t seek a permit under the law; it was the kind of standard that polluting industries might have written for themselves (and as it turned out, they had). George W Bush lied.
During the October 11, 2000, debate, Bush stated that the Clinton-Gore administration "took 40 million acres of land out of circulation without consulting local officials," an example of their administration "just unilaterally acting without any input." In fact, according to the Sierra Club, "the Forest Service conducted 600 public meetings about the proposal nationwide and more than one million Americans urged the administration to strengthen the proposal. There was ample opportunity for local officials and others to comment on the proposal." George W Bush lied.
On his own record in Texas, Bush also claimed that "our water is cleaner now". In fact, the discharge of industrial toxic pollution into surface waters in Texas increased from 23.2 million pounds in 1995 to 25.2 million pounds in 1998, the last year with data available. George W Bush lied.
As Danya has pointed out, Bush contends that he doesn't needed focus groups or polls to tell him what to think. "We've got too much polling and focus groups going on in Washington today," Bush said. "We need decisions made on sound principles." In fact, his campaign spent roughly $1 million on polls and focus groups, about equal to the Gore campaign’s spending, according to a report by NBC News. Indeed, Bush changed his campaign slogan from "Compassionate Conservative" (another egregious lie) to "Real Plans for Real People" because of poll analysis. Mike Allen describes Bush as "preoccupied by public perceptions of the war, looking at polling data from Rove, even after pretending to have no interest." George W Bush lied.
In the first presidential debate, Bush claimed that the Gore campaign had "out-spent me". In fact, Bush had raised and spent more than twice as much money in the election at that stage as Gore had raised and spent. George W Bush lied.
During the final presidential debate, Al Gore accused Bush of opposing a patients' bill of rights. "Actually, Mr. Vice President, it's not true," Mr. Bush replied. "I do support a national patients' bill of rights. As a matter of fact, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to do just that in the state of Texas, to get a patients' bill of rights through." He added that Texas was "one of the first states that said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage." In fact, in 1995 Bush vetoed the first version of the patients' rights bill that the Legislature sent him and two years later he let the section of the bill granting the right to sue go into effect without his signature. George W Bush lied.
While on the campaign trail, Bush promised that "as soon as I take office I will begin the process of moving the US ambassador to the city Israel has chosen as its capital." In fact, six months after taking office, signed a memorandum delaying the congressionally mandated relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. George W Bush lied.
Last May, Bush claimed to have read a 268-page report by the Environmental Protection Agency on global warming. In fact, as Ari Fleischer later had to point out, he did not read the report. George W Bush lied.
In his infamous "trifecta" joke, Bush claimed repeatedly that he stated during the 2000 campaign that he would keep the budget balanced except in event of war, recession, or national emergency. In fact, he never made such a statement: Bush contended that he would balance the budget without qualification. Some guy by the name of Gore, however, did use those three items as examples of what could force the government back into deficit spending. George W Bush lied about his statement, plagiarized from Gore, and broke his promise about balancing the budget.
When the SCI scandal broke in Texas, Bush swore in a July, 1999 affidavit, that he "had no conversations with [SCI] officials, agents, or representatives concerning the investigation or any dispute arising from it." In fact, according to SCI's boss, Robert Waltrip, and his lawyer, Johnnie B. Rogers, they visited Bush in the Governor's office and discussed the investigation. Bush and Joe Allbaugh later admitted that this was the case. George W Bush lied under oath.
Regarding stem cell research, Bush stated that his Great Compromise was "way beyond politics... it will lead at once to breakthrough therapies and cures... and do so without crossing a fundamental moral line." In fact, his decision was completely about politics; it will slow the progress to breakthrough therapies and cures; and it did force the pro-life movement he ostensibly endorses to cross a fundamental moral line. George W Bush lied and lied and lied.
Regarding Enron, Bush contended, in effect, "I did not have corporate relations with that man, Kenneth Lay." He claimed that he only "got to know" Mr. Lay in 1994. In fact, according to the Chicago Tribune, "President Bush had business ties with Enron and its predecessor companies, and first met Kenneth Lay, its chairman, sometime in the late 1980s... Previously, the president had not mentioned his business dealings with Enron and had said that he got to know Lay after he was elected governor of Texas in 1994. On Tuesday, White House communications director Dan Bartlett told the Tribune that Bush's relationship with Lay probably started when Bush was in Washington in 1987 and 1988, working on his father's presidential campaign. It could have started earlier, he said.George W Bush lied.
Bush also claimed that Kenny Boy "was a supporter" of Governor Ann Richards. While Richards simply laughs this off ("It was so silly. Why didn't he just say Ken Lay was a strong supporter and gave him a half-million dollars and is a good friend, and he's really sorry Ken's in these terrible circumstances?"), Mr. Lay, in fact, told Frontline last year that he "did support Mr. Bush over Ms. Richards" in their Texas race. George W Bush lied.
Bush claims to be "very supportive" of the Nunn-Lugar program and, according to Condi Rice, "The funding was not cut.. All the way back in the campaign, the president talked about perhaps even increasing funding for programs of this kind." In fact, the administration's budget request cut the Department of Energy part of the Nunn-Lugar program from $872 million to $774 million and the Department of Defense portion by another $40 million; the "materials protection and accounting" program was cut $35 million; the program to subsidize research facilities another $10 million. If Condoleeza Rice can be believed, George W Bush lied.
A few months into his presidency, Bush wrote to the Senator Chuck Hagel, arguing that carbon dioxide was not a pollutant and was not considered as such by the Clean Air Act. In fact, carbon dioxide is specifically mentioned in two passages in the Clean Air Act. George W Bush lied.
According to the Bush-Cheney "National Energy Policy", "no more than 2,000 acres will be disturbed" by the development of Area 1002 of ANWR. In fact, the Bush-Cheney plan would render over 1,000 square miles of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge useless for anything other than drilling and support activities. Bush-Cheney lied.
Bush promised the world a "humble" foreign policy, "leading by example". Need I comment? :lol:
And, oh yeah, as outlined by Quarkie in the Clinton thread - he lied repeatedly about his DUI conviction.
That was easy. I could, in fact, go on - and on and on and on and on and on - I haven't even touched on the misrepresentations, exaggerations, and cooked intelligence surrounding his demonization of Saddam Hussein and Iraq - but I'm getting tired (and disgusted). I think it is obvious to those who are capable of rational thought, that George W Bush has an extremely tenuous relationship with the truth - and that his lying is, perhaps, more chronic than any president in US history, Richard Nixon included. Those, on the other hand, who accept his infallibility as a matter of faith, will never be convinced that Dubya suffers from Munchausen Syndrome on an epic scale.
On the whole, I'd prefer a man who lied about cheating on his wife - or a man who was misquoted on the Love Canal story and the creation of the Internet - to a man who refuses to acknowledge his drug abuse, lies about his history of heavy drinking, lies about his military record, lies about his illegal business practices, lies about his corporate ties, lies about his political record - even under oath, lies about foreign policy, lies about national security, lies about his criminal record, repeatedly breaks his campaign promises, and doesn't even seem to know the difference between lying and telling the truth. But, hey - that's just me. The "liberal media" obviously looks at things somewhat differently.
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