9-11 Commission
May 2002: "President Bush took a few minutes during his trip to Europe Thursday to voice his opposition to establishing a special commission to probe how the government dealt with terror warnings before Sept. 11." [CBS News]
Sept 2003: "President Bush said today he now supports establishing an independent commission to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." [ABC News]
9-11 Commission - National Intelligence Director
1992: Then Defense Secretary Cheney urged veto of legislation which would have created a national intelligence officer with budget authority over Pentagon spy agencies. [Capital Hill Blue]
2 Aug 2004: "We expect that the National Intelligence Director would have significant input into the development of a budget, and that it would have to be a developed budget consistent with other agencies." [Chief of Staff Andrew Card]
24 Aug 2004: "A far-reaching proposal by Senate Republicans to dismantle the CIA and remove key intelligence agencies from the Pentagon ran into heavy political opposition yesterday ... Bush .... cautioned he would oppose any proposal that would create a new layer of bureaucracy in the president's national security team." [Washington Post]
8 Sept 2004: "We believe that there ought to be a national intelligence director who has full budgetary authority."
9-11 Commission - Time Extension
Jan 2004: "President Bush and House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) have decided to oppose granting more time to an independent commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." [Washington Post]
Feb 2004: "The White House announced Wednesday its support for a request from the commission investigating the Sept 11, 2001 attacks for more time to complete its work." [CNN]
Air Pollution
2000: When running against Al Gore, Bush said he would include carbon dioxide on a list of air pollutants requiring federal oversight. Campaign Web Site: "Governor Bush will work to... establish mandatory reduction targets for emissions of four main pollutants: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide."
March 2003: "I do not believe, however, that the government should impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon dioxide, which is not a 'pollutant' under the Clean Air Act."
Budget - Deficits
March 2001: "...Future generations shouldn't be forced to pay back money that we have borrowed. We pay back money that we have borrowed. We owe this kind of responsibility to our children and grandchildren..."
2004: Budget deficits have hit a record high; national debt hits record high and is passed on to future generations. The National Debt has increased an average of $1.69 billion per day from Sept 2003 - Sept 2004. Also, see Social Security.
Budget - Federal Debt Load
2001 Budget: "The President's plan will accelerate this trend to record rates by retiring an historic $2 trillion in debt over the next 10 years." [Budget, Web Site Document]
2004: All of President Bush's budgets have run deficits. The outstanding U.S. public/national debt as of 23 Sept 04 is $7.4 Trillion. The National Debt has increased an average of $1.69 billion per day from Sept 2003 - Sept 2004. [US Public Debt Clock]
Campaign Finance
Campaign 2000: "George W. Bush opposes McCain-Feingold...as an infringement on free expression." [Washington Post]
Jan 2000: George Will: "[W]ould you veto the McCain-Feingold bill, or the Shays-Meehan bill? Bush: "That's an interesting question. I — I — yes I would. The reason why is two — for one, I think it does respe — res — restrict free speech for individuals. As I understand how the bill was written, I — I - I think there's been two versions of it, but as I understand the first version restricted individuals and/or groups from being able to express their opinion." [ABC News This Week]
Mar 2002: "[T]his bill [McCain-Feingold] improves the current system of financing for Federal campaigns, and therefore I have signed it into law."
Campaign Finance - 527s
Campaign 2000: "That's what freedom of speech is all about. ... People have the right to run ads. They have the right to do what they want to do, under the -- under the First Amendment in America." [CBS Face the Nation, in response to 527 ads attacking Sen. John McCain]
Aug 2004: "I don't think we ought to have 527s... I hope my opponent joins me in condemning these activities of the 527 -- I think they're bad for the system." [Press Conference, reported by CNN]
Free Trade
Mar 2002: "I believe strongly that if we promote trade, and when we promote trade, it will help workers on both sides of this issue."
Mar 2002: Imposed tariffs on imported steel.
Dec 2003: "Facing a potential global trade war, President Bush on [December 4, 2003] lifted tariffs he imposed on foreign steel 21 months ago, declaring the U.S. steel industry healthy and ready to compete despite the industry's claim that it needs more time to recover." [Chicago Tribune]
Great Lakes - Diverting Water
July 2001: "Even though experts say 'diverting any water from the Great Lakes region sets a bad precedent' Bush 'said he wants to talk to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien about piping water to parched states in the west and southwest.'" [AP]
Aug 2004: "We've got to use our resources wisely, like water. It starts with keeping the Great Lakes water in the Great Lakes Basin...My position is clear: We're never going to allow diversion of Great Lakes water."
Health Care - Patient's Bill of Rights
1997: Texas Governor Bush opposed a patient's bill of rights [Houston Chronicle, 5/23/97]
Campaign 2000: Stated support in debate with Al Gore
Mar 2004: The administration fights it. [LA Times, 3/24/04]
Health Care - Prescription Drugs
November 2003: Administration pressure led Congress to pass a prescription drug bill that was supposed to cost no more than $400 billion, according to the White House.
January 2003: Almost immediately after passage, White House raised the estimated cost to $534 billion. [Washington Post]
Homeland Security
Oct 2001: "[T]he president has suggested to members of Congress that they do not need to make this a statutory post, that he [Ridge] does not need Cabinet rank, for example, there does not need to be a Cabinet-level Office of Homeland Security is because there is such overlap among the various agencies, because every agency of the government has security concerns." [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 10/24/01]
Mar 2002: "So, creating a Cabinet office doesn't solve the problem. You still will have agencies within the federal government that have to be coordinated. So the answer is that creating a Cabinet post doesn't solve anything." [White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, 3/19/02]
June 2002: "So tonight, I ask the Congress to join me in creating a single, permanent department with an overriding and urgent mission: securing the homeland of America and protecting the American people."
Mar 2004: "In just 12 months, under the leadership of your President...you faced the challenges standing up this new Department and you get a -- and a gold star for a job well done." [Remarks at one-year anniversary of DHS implies this was a Presidential initiative.]
Iraq - Funding
Feb 2004: "We do not anticipate requesting supplemental funding for '04"
May 2004: "I am requesting that Congress establish a $25 billion contingency reserve fund for the coming fiscal year to meet all commitments to our troops."
Iraq - Rationale
2002: Invasion needed to remove weapons of mass destruction.
2003: Invasion needed to support democracy in the Middle East.
Iraq - Terrorism/9-11
Sept 2002: "You can't distinguish between al Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on terror."
Sept 2003: "We've had no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved in Sept. 11."
Iraq - UN Vote
6 Mar 2003: "...yes, we'll call for a vote." Question: "No matter what?" Bush: "No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council. And so, you bet. It's time for people to show their cards, let the world know where they stand when it comes to Saddam. [News Conference, 3/6/03]
18 Mar 2003: "Bush "failed to win explicit [security] council approval for the use of force" in Iraq. Two days before bombs began to fall in Iraq, the Bush administration withdrew its resolution from the UN Security Council that would have authorized military force. Bush abandoned his call for a vote after it became clear that the US could muster only four votes in support of force." [LA Times]
Iraq - WMD
May 2003: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories...for those who say we haven't found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they're wrong, we found them."
Feb 2004: "David Kay has found the capacity to produce weapons. And when David Kay goes in and says we haven't found stockpiles yet, and there's theories as to where the weapons went. They could have been destroyed during the war. Saddam and his henchmen could have destroyed them as we entered into Iraq. They could be hidden. They could have been transported to another country, and we'll find out."
Jobs
Feb 2004: "...the President's Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) is forecasting about 320,000 new jobs will be created every month this year..." [Bush CEA Report]
Sept 2004: Most people think of private sector jobs when they think of or hear about job growth; this is because private sector job growth is sustainable and a key to economic recovery. However, private sector jobs have grown only a seasonally-adjusted average of 155,375 per month this year. There are fewer private sector jobs in Sept 2004 (109,910,000) than in January 2001 (111,560,000). Average seasonally-adjusted non-farm job growth for 2004 is 376,500 which is ahead of the forecast because of public sector job growth. There are slightly more "non-farm jobs" in Sept 2004 (131,202,000) than there was in January 2001 (130,433,000).
North Korea
Nov 2002: "We developed a bold approach under which, if the North addressed our long-standing concerns, the United States was prepared to take important steps that would have significantly improved the lives of the North Korean people. Now that North Korea's covert nuclear weapons program has come to light, we are unable to pursue this approach." [President's Statement, 11/15/02]
2003: "I have been charged by the President with making sure that none of the tyrannies in the world are negotiated with. We don't negotiate with evil; we defeat it." [Dick Cheney, quoted in American Progress]
June 2004: "[W]hat you would see would be some provisional or temporary proposals that would only lead to lasting benefit after North Korea dismantles its nuclear programs. So there would be some provisional or temporary efforts of that nature." [White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan]
Oil Prices
Campaign 2000: "What I think the president ought to do [when gas prices spike] is he ought to get on the phone with the OPEC cartel and say we expect you to open your spigots...And the president of the United States must jawbone OPEC members to lower the price."
Apr 2004: As gas prices in the US continued to rise, the Miami Herald reported that Bush refused to "personally lobby oil cartel leaders to change their minds."
Osama bin Laden
Sept 2001: The President says he wants bin Laden "dead or alive".
Mar 2002: "I just don't spend that much time on him. ... I truly am not that concerned about him." [Press Conference]
16 Jan 2003: "And one way to secure the peace is never to forget what happened to us on September the 11th, and hunt the killers down one by one and bring them to justice, which is what America is going to do." [Speech, Scranton PA]
Aug 2004: No mention of bin Laden in speech at Republican National Convention.
Social Security
Mar 2001: "We're going to keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from raiding the Social Security surplus." Also, " [F]or years, politicians in both parties have dipped into the Trust Fund to pay for more spending. And I will stop it..."
Feb 2002: The New York Times: "[T]he president's new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4 trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes."
Jan 2004: "In his first three budgets, Bush (who had the good fortune to take office at a time when the surpluses were growing rapidly) and Congress used $480 billion in excess Social Security payroll taxes to fund basic government operations — about $160 billion per year!" [Slate]
2005 Budget: Budget projections (Table S-10, receipts; Table S-12, outlays) show the entire Social Security surplus being used to fund the general government operations of government through at least FY 2009.
Troop Deployment - Nation Building
Campaign 2000: "If we don't stop extending our troops all around the world in nation-building missions, then we're going to have a serious problem coming down the road."
Campaign 2000: "I'm worried about an opponent who uses nation-building and the military in the same sentence. See, our view of the military is for our military to be properly prepared to fight and win war and, therefore, prevent war from happening in the first place." [6 Nov 2000]
Sept 2002:"The American people know my position. And that is that regime change [in Iraq] is in the interest of the world." [CNN]
Oct 2002: A senior administration official said, "The administration, with its international partners, is doing something akin to nation-building... "Secretary of State Colin L. Powell confirmed...that Bush was considering, among other options, installing a U.S.-led occupation government if Hussein's regime is removed." [Baltimore Sun]
Mar 2003: "We will be changing the regime of Iraq, for the good of the Iraqi people."
War on Terror
Apr 2004: "One of the interesting things people ask me, now that we're asking questions, is, can you ever win the war on terror? Of course, you can."
Aug 2004: "I don't think you can win [the war on terror]."
Aug 2004: "Make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win [the war on terror]." |
