Latest Update (10/09/04): 2004 Reasons to Boot Bush

Reasons #1-1000
Reasons #1001-2004

What are the reasons to boot Bush? Oh, let us count the ways:

1. George W. Bush has lost more than one million American jobs since taking office. If the Bush economy keeps on going like it's going, George W. Bush will be the first man since Republican Herbert Hoover in 1933 under whose watch the total employment rolls in the country actually shrank. (Source: New York Times July 3, 2003)
   
   
2. The Voice of Experience cries "Horror!" Cele Keeper writes: "He's the worst President with the most dangerous administration in my memory and I'm 76 years old. There were a few lousy ones before my memory kicked in, but W takes the Horror Award". (If Cele can do it, you can do it: give us a reason to boot Bush.)
   
   
3. Although he couldn't wait to spend hundreds of American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars to halt a fictitious WMD threat, George W. Bush took pains to prevent safer arsenic standards for our drinking water from being enacted. Bush's "radical" opponent in this instance? The National Academy of Sciences, which had endorsed the standards. (Source: The Nation September 25, 2003)
   
   
4. Oh, by golly! How could we forget Bush's reliance on slick, yet strangely ham-handed public relations professionals to mislead the American public about his trade policies? We're talking about BoxGate, that photo-opportunity at which Bush's aides slapped "Made in U.S.A." labels on boxes that were really stamped "Made in China", created a fake backdrop of more boxes, and relied on an audience of workers who were forced to attend the event by their bosses. How's that for honesty and honor in the White House? (Source: Washington Post January 29, 2003)
   
   
5. While presidential candidate Howard Dean gathered more than a hundred thousand Americans to participate in his neighborhood meetups, George W. Bush couldn't even muster enough grassroots support to get more than 12 Americans to sign up for a meetup on his birthday! Without popular support, how can Bush make decisions that are in line with the needs of everyday Americans?
   
   
6. We agree with Al Franken, and we know better than to believe Republicans' lies and the lying liars who tell them. That goes for Fox News as well, even if they sue us. There are so many of Bush's lies to document that we'll take the time to spell them out, one by one.
   
   
7. It's not just that Bush lies; it's what he lies about. Clinton's Lies were about consensual private sex; Bush Lies about consequential policy. Bush's lies are much more serious because he lies to get people to go along with his political agenda. When Bush lies, lives are at stake.
   
   
8. "He wasn't really elected -- he was appointed by the Supreme Court." These words sent in by a resident of central Florida sum up an oldie but a goodie. If you dig through the fine print of the corporate media, ignoring broad proclamations and admonishments that we should move on instead of sifting through real reporting of facts (silly things, those), you'll find this inescapable truth: If all votes had been counted, Gore would have not only won the popular vote -- he would have won Florida and hence the electoral vote, too. It's too late to cry over spilled chads, but it's not too late to make sure Bush doesn't slide into office again. (Source: Newsday November 15, 2001)
   
   
9. If we get rid of Bush, we get rid of Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, and dozens more of his lousy appointees. Bonus!
   
   
10. It's worth it to get out and vote just so we won't have to look at his stupid little self-satisfied smirk on the news every night.
    
    
11. While we're at it, we won't have to put up with Rumsfeld's superior Ward-Cleaver-on-Acid smirk, either.
    
    
12. Couldn't we use a first lady with a backbone and a voice again? Theresa Heinz Kerry calls it like she sees it. Laura Bush remains largely silent and dresses like June Cleaver. Who's the better role model for American girls?
    
    
13. It's hasta la vista Bush or buenos dias police state--you decide Under Bush, terror "suspects" have been imprisoned indefinitely without due process of law. In 2004, let's show him that nobody is above the law.
    
    
14. Are you better off than you were four years ago? We didn't think so.
    
    
15. A president should help govern the country - not try to rule the world.
    
    
16. A vote against Bush will help the Dixie Chicks feel better about being from Texas.
    
    
17. A vote to dump Bush will let Americans travel in Europe again without fear of being snickered at.
    
    
18. A vote to get rid of Bush will help the French to visit America in the name of cultural exchange without fear of being pelted by rotten vegetables.
    
    
19. One term was good enough for the father, and it's good enough for the son.
    
    
20. In a democracy, the president derives power from the consent of the governed. When he lies to obtain that consent, Bush has stolen power from the people. Let's take that power back in 2004.
    
    
21. Moderates everywhere know that balance is a good thing in life and in politics. The American federal government is out of balance right now, with the legislative, judicial and executive branches dominated by right-wing extremists. We need someone in the White House to act as a check on the nuttiest elements of the Congress and Supreme Court.
    
    
22. As the likes of Fox News, MSNBC, the Wall Street Journal and US News and World Report use their corporate sponsors' deep pockets to promulgate their increasingly extremist bias in reporting, we need a moderate voice from the bully pulpit of the Oval Office to balance them out. Bush is not the man to do it.
    
    
23. We have to get rid of Bush before the French start referring to cowboy hats as "honest hats" and to Texas barbecue as "truth barbecue."
    
    
24. When Bush asked America's youth to put their lives on the line in Afghanistan and Iraq, he forgot to ask his own daughters Jenna and Barbara.
    
    
25. We need a president who will crack down on white collar criminals and corporate welfare bums, and Bush won't do it.
    
    
26. Should we be reduced to guessing whether a president is telling the truth this time?
    
    
27. Aside from two wars and a recession, what has Bush given us?
    
    
28. Wouldn't you just love to hear his concession speech?
    
    
29. Every man needs an episode of disappointment in his life to gain wisdom and empathy. George has been protected from the negative consequences of his actions by his parents, his party and the Supreme Court. Let's give George a disappointment they can't fix in 2004. It'll build character.
    
    
30. Because on the day that Hamas and Israel declared that the "road map to peace" was falling apart, Bush responded by immediately flying out to Washington State, where he took credit for improved salmon runs. (Source: Christian Science Monitor September 9, 2003)
    
    
31. 'Cause all my exes live in Texas: ex-presidents, that is.
    
    
32. If you had an employee who agreed to take a few hundred dollars less in salary, then borrowed several thousand dollars that you would have to pay back, would you think that was a good deal? That's what Bush is doing with his tax cuts and record deficits, and it's a raw deal.
    
    
33. Because shaving and painful waxing procedures are not the only ways to get rid of Bush.
    
    
34. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
    
    
35. Because Dick Cheney still won't tell us who he met with in 2001 to discuss U.S. energy policy. Whoever it was, it didn't prevent thousands of shareholders from going broke in the Enron collapse, or millions of people from losing power in the worst blackout in decades. (Source: New York Times January 3, 2003)
    
    
36. Just after 9/11, the Bush administration pressured the EPA into declaring that the air in New York was safe. It wasn't. Then they tried to convince us that Iraq posed an imminent terrorist threat to the U.S. There's no evidence it did. First they lied and told us we were safe, then they lied and told us we were in danger. (Source: New York Newsday August 23, 2003)
    
    
37. Half the time Bush can't even read his cue cards without stumbling over the big words. This indicates an unfamiliarity with such words, and is a symptom of his lack of intellectual engagement. We cannot afford to have such a disengaged man in the seat of the presidency.
    
    
38. Bush's friends are already rich enough.
    
    
39. Somewhere out there, someone else is more honest, smarter, and cares more.
    
    
40. Bush is always trying to scare us about everything except himself and his creepy team of advisors.
    
    
41. Bush's environmental policy of preventing wildfires by cutting down our national forests makes about as much sense as toasting sobriety with a glass of champagne.
    
    
42. If we're winning the war on terrorism, why do we keep going up to orange alert?
    
    
43. Kicking off Iraq's program of reconstruction by blasting radioactive ammunition all over the place was a pretty dim idea.
    
    
44. "No child" has been "left behind," but their schools have been left without funding. $18 billion was scheduled in Mr. Bush's own legislation for the 2003-2004 fiscal year, but that year's budget only provided $12 billion. (Source: New York Times 8/26/03)
    
    
45. The Bush administration's habit of systematically distorting intelligence reports for selfish political reasons does not make us safer.
    
    
46. Just for the heck of it, let's try electing a smart president. We certainly can find a smarter one out there.
    
    
47. If Bush keeps invading countries at this rate, our armed forces will be occupying half a dozen conquered nations by the time he leaves office in 2009.
    
    
48. Nobody that calls himself "the education president" should take so much pride in his ignorance.
    
    
49. If Bush likes wars so much, why didn't he go to Vietnam?
    
    
50. The American people are not as arrogant and ignorant as Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush does not represent us in person, and he should not represent us politically.
    
    
51. Wasn't that whole thing with England a couple hundred years ago about overthrowing hereditary monarchy? Dethrone King George II!
    
    
52. It's time to restore integrity to the White House. High time.
    
    
53. As Jon Lovitz pointed out in 2000, George W. Bush hired Dick Cheney to find him the best vice president out there. Dick Cheney's report back to Bush: "I'm the best guy I could find." Bush bought it! Can we afford to have such a gullible president?
    
    
54. George W. Bush has authorized the American ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer, to hire Saddam Hussein's Mukhabarat government agents. The Mukhabarat agents were infamous for their brutal repression of the Iraqi people during the rule of the Baath Party, administering a reign or terror that helped keep Saddam Hussein in power. Now, instead of prosecuting these goons as the criminals that they are, George W. Bush has hired them to help him put the people of Iraq in their place again. Can America trust a President who is willing to use the most cruel torturers available to keep himself in power? (That's a rhetorical question.) (Source: Reuters August 24, 2003)
    
    
55. George W. Bush's handlers never let him out in front of an audience without a script. Even in the handful of "news conferences" that Bush has mustered, the order and source of questions has been pre-determined by his advisors. The appearance of Bush's sponteneity, like most other aspects of Bush's presidential behavior, is micro-managed by others. Don't believe us on this: believe his own spokesman, Ari Fleischer, who admitted to setting out an assigned list of reporters for Bush. My momma calls someone like that a "puppet" -- when the strings fit.... (Source: White House Press Briefing March 7, 2003)
    
    
56. On the eve of war against the nation of Iraq, a war that has cost tens of thousands of lives, George W. Bush pumped his fist for the camera, smiled, and said "I Feel Good!". American news media edited this footage out. (Source: Chicago Tribune March 20, 2003)
    
    
57. Under Bush, the Republican Party continues to encourage its members to engage in plagiarism. The Republican National Committee has planted hundreds of letters in newspapers across the country that are actually written by staffers but are signed under the names of regular local folks, perpetuating the illusion that Bush has widespread grassroots support.
    
    
58. When George W. Bush entered office in 2001, he quickly moved to abandon Clinton's efforts at brokering peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Instead, the Bush Administration called for the bickering sides to sort things out "on their own." Fighting almost immediately escalated and has been going on ever since. (Source: New York Times 2/9/01)
    
    
59. While American soldiers put their lives on the line to purse the Bush-Rumsfeld policy of pre-emptive war, the Bush administration tried to cut those same soldiers' pay and benefits. (Source: Stars and Stripes August 23, 2003)
    
    
60. Bush has decided to allow thousands of the nation's dirtiest coal-belching industrial plants to renovate their facilities without upgrading to cleaner, more environmentally-friendly equipment, as previous EPA regulations require. (Source: Washington Post August 23, 2003)
    
    
61. George W. Bush said in 2000 that Jesus Christ is his favorite political philosopher. Last time we checked, Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." That, and "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth." God, Earth, Peacemakers, the Meek. Little details like that. Apparently, W. doesn't read the Bible much.
    
    
62. Breaking the only promise to protect the environment he made during his 2000 campaign, Bush decided not to do anything to reduce the level of carbon dioxide emissions. Honor and integrity, indeed. (Source: The Independent March 15, 2001)
    
    
63. Month-long vacations for Bush at his dude ranch while millions endure indefinite vacations from the workforce? That's not just rude: it's wrong.
    
    
64. The man who sits in the Oval Office sets goals that just don't match with what's going on in the real world. In August 2003, Bush says that "We've got a year and a while during my first term to make the world a more peaceful place, and we'll do it." From a man who said his war would rid the world of Evildoers, this is not too surprising. But surprising or not, it betrays a dangerous lack of connection with reality. He's had his chance. He blew it. (Source: The Guardian August 25, 2003)
    
    
65. Hundreds of Americans die after George W. Bush says "Bring them on!" to Iraqi attacks against Americans. In the ensuing months, hundreds more follow a course to the grave. (Sources: Associated Press July 2, 2003 and Iraq War Casualty Count at http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx)
    
    
66. In Fall of 2002, George W. Bush says "I am not willing to risk one American life." By the end of August 2003, 136 Americans are dead. What kind of American life was he referring to? Apparently not the lives of soldiers. And as we all know now, that was just the beginning. (Source: Cincinnati Enquirer October 8, 2002 and and Iraq War Casualty Count at http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx)
    
    
67. George W. Bush continues to refuse to express any apology, regret, respect toward, or even mention of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who are not Saddam Hussein and who are yet, oddly enough, dead in the war in Iraq.
    
    
68. $1 Billion less for AIDS than promised. George W. Bush hugged AIDS babies in Africa in the Summer of 2003 and promised $3 billion a year for 5 years. Later that summer, his budget only asked for $2 billion (Source: New York Times, August 26, 2003).
    
    
69. Bush Trashes the National Parks. Nearly 130 members of Concerned National Park Service Retirees say "the founders of the Park Service must be turning in their graves at what is happening to the Service and the parks" under the watch of the Bush Administration. The group decries Bush's campaign of drilling, pollution and privatization. (Source: Campaign to Protect America's Lands).
    
    
70. Deficit Update! The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office's record-breaking deficit estimate for 2003: $401 Billion. (Source: New York Times August 26, 2003)
    
    
71. Deficit Update, Yet Again: The CBO's record-breaking deficit estimate for next year: nearly half a Trillion dollars. A hundred billion here on my kid's back, a hundred billion there on your kid's back, and gee, it all starts to add up. (Source: New York Times August 27, 2003)
    
    
72. George W. Bush is the head of the Republican Party. Absolutely none of the Republican members of the Senate or House of Representatives are Black. None. Zip. Zero. Nada. When was the last time you heard George W. Bush address this disturbing fact?
    
    
73. Forensic technicians have had to re-calibrate their lie-detectors to measure the magnitude of Bush's deceptions of the American people.
    
    
74. At the non-professional level, Bull Shit Detectors long employed by residents of Sunnyvale, Montana to ferret out cheating lovers, falsified report cards and unfortunate drinking habits will have to be completely thrown out and replaced, their sensors overwhelmed by White House fibs coming over the radio.
    
    
75. Just like in the stories our parents told us, we're no longer in the mood to listen to the boy who cried "Code Orange"!
    
    
76. We have no respect for an American President who is sending other Americans to fight and die in his place just in order to enhance his own tough-guy image.
    
    
77. In August 2003, 10,000 people took to the street to rally for a Bush alternative, Howard Dean, in New York City. Another 10,000 did the same in Seattle. Such large displays, previously unheard of more than a year before the election, demonstrate the depth of American discontent George W. Bush has inspired. (Source: New York Newsday August 28, 2003)
    
    
78. In August 2003, over at Howard Dean's website, they heard that George W. Bush had gathered another million dollars for his campaign hosting a dinner for 500 people who each gave the maximum legally allowed: $2,000. The Dean camp decided to try and match that $1,000,000. In order to raise the $1,003,620.00 the campaign had mustered two hours before their deadline ended, 17,115 people put in their donations. Doing the math, that means that the average donation was $58.64.
    
    Dean motivated thirty-four times as many people into contributing as Bush did. This indicates that Dean's base of strong supporters was significantly wider than Bush's. And the sort of folks who supported Dean are middle-class folks: those who can spare a few bucks, but not those with money to burn. Had the 17,115 Dean donors been able to give their maximum of $2,000, Dean would have raised a whopping $34,230,000.
    
    Bush isn't going for a large number of supporters like Dean did; Bush would rather have the backing of a few people with deep pockets. That perfectly illustrates the difference between Bush and the rest of us.
    
    
79. Potemkin Village, here we come. When George W. Bush travels out to see "The People," he makes sure that no people who oppose him are nearby. Bush's Secret Service agents search the crowd for dissenting signs and corral those individuals to "free speech zones" which are typically out of sight of the President, rendering the dissent purposeless. Members of the crowd who support the President get to stay. (Sources: St. Petersburg Times 10/13/2002, St. Petersburg Times 11/3/2002, Fort Worth Star-Telegram 8/18/2002)
    
    
80. In his administration, Bill Clinton prohibited the paying of cash bonuses to political appointees in the executive branch of the U.S. government. The Bush administration reinstated cash bonuses for political appointees. (Source: New York Times 12/4/2002).
    
    
81. Read my lips: No record deficits! There is an alternative to Bush's record-deficit ways. Actually, there are a number of alternatives, articulated by a number of Democratic presidential contenders. All of the major Democratic presidential contenders not only criticized Bush's debt-ridden ways, but also took the positive step of articulating plans to get out of this burgeoning mess. Bush's plan: do nothing and hope for the best.
    
    
82. Bush's idea of a "war on evil" is simplistic, naive, and downright apocalyptic.
    
    
83. Why boot Bush? So that government of Enron, by Halliburton, and for Bechtel shall not be established upon this earth.
    
    
84. My children haven't even been born yet, and already George Bush is borrowing money from them.
    
    
85. We'll never prevail against terrorists who hide in the shadows with a president who only sees the world in black and white.
    
    
86. If George Bush leaves Washington, D.C. at 9:30 am on a train to Crawford, Texas going at 50 miles per hour and never comes back, calculate just how cool that would be.
    
    
87. We need to win Florida by a substantial margin this time, so it doesn't have to change its state motto to "Florida: The Dangling Chad State."
    
    
88. All that drinking and drug abuse back in the 70's really seems to have put the zap on Bush's head.
    
    
89. If we're fighting a war against evil, why isn't Ken Lay being held at Guantanamo?
    
    
90. It's going to take years to get back the constitutional rights we've lost under Bush. The sooner we get started, the better.
    
    
91. While our soldiers went to Afghanistan and Iraq to fight for freedom, Bush is back here taking freedom away.
    
    
92. If wars, recessions and lies are your thing, by all means stay the course. Otherwise, isn't it time for a change?
    
    
93. I don't care what Bush or the Republican pundits say, if the Germans are reluctant to go to war, that's fine with me.
    
    
94. Corporate welfare erodes the moral fiber of the rich.
    
    
95. I'm "shocked and awed" at just how poorly "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is going.
    
    
96. Our foreign policy could do with a little more negotiation and a little less assassination.
    
    
97. I believe in the rich! They are intelligent, resourceful people who can make it without another Bush handout.
    
    
98. During Iraq War II, defense contractors fired journalist Peter Arnett for telling the truth on Iraqi television. But you'd better believe those same contractors will put up millions for Bush's re-election campaign, even though Bush lied on American television. (Source: The Guardian March 31, 2003)
    
    
99. While unsuccessfully trying to convince members of the United Nations Security Council to back a war with Iraq, the Bush Administration's National Security Agency bugged the phones of Security Council delegation offices. Amazingly enough, when word leaked out, Security Council nations got angry! Wonder why. (Source: The Observer 3/2/2003)
    
    
100. Because if I have to spend four more years listening to the man say "Nookyular," I'll probably tear my head off.
     
     
101. Frat boys already get to be presidents of their universities' student councils. Isn't that enough?
     
     
102. Intelligence agencies are investigating whether the Bush administration was duped by Iraqi defectors into believing bogus claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. We can't trust the Bush administration to tell the difference between truth and lies. (Source: Los Angeles Times August 28, 2003)
     
     
103. Nobody married to a librarian should be that stupid.
     
     
104. "Bring 'em on!" is not a line fit for a professed Christian (or President of the United States, for that matter)
     
     
105. If we give Bush the boot in 2004, perhaps in time Canadians and Europeans will want to visit our country again. Our tourism industry is suffering enough already -- who wants to pay money to see an ugly American in the White House?
     
     
106. Susan from Asheville, NC writes us with this reason: "Because Bush #2 is the worst President in the history of the United States, period." Susan can't be dismissed as a "left coast" Californite or "East Coast" effete. No, she's a resident of state that went for Bush, living in the mountains, surrounded by rural Southern towns. It's sad that Bush and his Republican Party flacks love to dismiss people because of where they're from. But Susan belies even that tired line. People from all over the country, even what Republicans call "real America," are getting just plain fed up with Bush's performance.
     
     
107. Because the Bushies are annoyingly self-satisfied while they wreak havoc on the Iraqis.
     
     
108. As the protest signs read across the world, there is a village in Texas missing an idiot. Let's help that village out and send him home. We can even give him directions. (Source: South Africa's News 24 June 10, 2003)
     
     
109. Bush has the ring and Frodo wants it back....
     
     
110. Carol Moseley Braun didn't grow up with a silver spoon in her mouth, but she has built successful careers in politics, academics and business. George W. Bush was born into the Lucky Sperm Club, has repeatedly been given the assistance of his daddy's name and the money of his daddy's pals, but still can't get it right, running multiple businesses and now the United States of America into the ground. Carol Moseley Braun would have made a better President than George W. Bush.
     
     
111. Dennis Kucinich has a plan to give every American access to medical care. George W. Bush has neither a plan nor a clue. Dennis Kucinich would make a better President than George W. Bush.
     
     
112. John Kerry has a plan to boost the AmeriCorps program, in which Americans engage in service projects to make this country even greater and its people stronger. John Kerry would make a better President than George W. Bush.
     
     
113. While we're on the subject, George W. Bush promised in his State of the Union address to increase the AmeriCorps budget. Then he cut it. Typical. (Source: Christian Science Monitor 8/11/03)
     
     
114. Bush can't even keep his lies straight. Bush once said: "I've been to war. I've raised twins. If I had a choice, I'd rather go to war." Ha, ha! Problem is, Bush hasn't ever been to war (Source: Houston Chronicle 1/28/02).
     
     
115. We've got to stop Mad Cowboy Disease before it spreads out of control.
     
     
116. Because after pushing for a constitutional amendment to criminalize flag desecration, George W. Bush has repeatedly desecrated the flag himself. Whoopsie. (Source: Washington Post August 31, 2003)
     
     
117. Al Sharpton is running against George W. Bush and has developed a foreign policy strategy to end the slave trade in Sudan. George W. Bush hasn't done a thing about the Sudan slave trade. Yes, Al Sharpton would make a better President than George W. Bush.
     
     
118. Do you know what the W. in George W. Bush stands for? Well, then, I'll tell you. It stands for Walker, in honor of the last name of of George W. Bush's great-grandfather. This guy was a documented Nazi collaborator. That means he lent his support to Adolf Hitler. Not only did George W.'s grandparents choose to honor this Nazi sympathizer by making "Walker" one of the middle names of George Herbert Walker Bush, but the first President Bush decided to repeat this honor to the Nazis by naming his own son George Walker Bush. We think it's creepy that the President of the United States has support for the Nazis as his middle name. That's why we say America needs to dump George W. (Nazi Collaborator) Bush! (Hey, perhaps you don't believe us on this one. It does sound really far out there. That's why we've come prepared with a reference to this fact. We recommend that you go ahead and read the important book Fortunate Son, which among other things, documents the link between the Bush family and the Nazis.) (Source: Fortunate Son by J.H. Hatfield)
     
     
119. Two years on the case, and in spite of John Ashcroft's super duper new powers to spy on the private lives of ordinary American citizens, the Bush Administration still has absolutely no clue who sent deadly anthrax spores to prominent American politicians and media personalities. What use are Bush's new government programs to spy on Americans if they don't help catch murderers in our midst? Dump that Bush! (Source: American Daily October 2, 2003)
     
     
120. Because the American Committee on Accuracy in Naming Things (A.C.A.N.T.) has unofficially changed George W. Bush's name for the war in Iraq, Operation Iraqi Freedom, into "Operation: A Rocky Freedom", in honor of the war's underwhelming results.
     
     
121. George W. Bush is a convicted drunk driver. Well, it's true. (Source: Dallas Morning News November 3, 2000)
     
     
122. For years, George W. Bush would not admit to the American people that he has been convicted of driving drunk. He kept this secret to himself even after he had been elected to public office as governor of Texas. Bush only acknowledged that he is a convicted drunk driver after investigative reporters found about his conviction on their own. (Source: Dallas Morning News November 3, 2000)
     
     
123. Billions of people all around the world want to get rid of Bush, but don't have the opportunity to vote against him. Get out there and cast your vote against him, for your country and your world.
     
     
124. The children of America, who will suffer most of the long-term effects of Bush's policies, aren't old enough to vote. Let's vote Bush out in their name.
     
     
125. Show me a guy who's out fighting "the enemies of civilization," and I'll show you a dangerous nut with delusions of grandeur. (Source: National Security Strategy of the United States of America, September 2002)
     
     
126. After two wars, a recession, record deficits, rollbacks of civil liberties, erosion of environmental protections, and lie upon lie upon lie, I'm not just tired. I'm Bushed!
     
     
127. Because the victims of the August 29 bombing of the Imam Ali Mosque in Iraq had asked the U.S. for protection and permission to arm 2000 guards. We provided neither. (Source: Washington Post September 1, 2003)
     
     
128. Even George Bush wants George Bush to go. Bush says we must get rid of evil. Bush lied. Lying is evil (especially if people die as a result). Therefore we must get rid of Bush.
     
     
129. Bush says of his "war on terror" that "we will continue until we have rid the world of evil." Well, if that's the case, we worry that Bush has a conflict of interest in executing this war.
     
     
130. Because Iraq is not Vietnam, it's just another oil company scam. Take a look at who is to benefit from war profiteering in Iraq and you'll see oil, oil, oil. Wait a minute, wasn't that the industry in which George W. Bush and Dick Cheney used to work? (Source: Washington Post October 9, 2003)
     
     
131. The war's not over in Afghanistan, either. Two American soldiers were killed fighting the Taliban on August 31, 2003--a year and a half after we invaded. On October 8, 2003, more than 60 Afghan soldiers were killed or wounded in battle. Dare we say quagmire? Or should that be plural - quagmires? We hope not, but if so we know who needs to be held to account. (Sources: Associated Press September 2, 2003 and Reuters October 9, 2003)
     
     
132. Because perpetual war abroad gives Bush an excuse to restrict freedom at home. A constant state of war also serves to distract us while Bush loots the treasury on behalf of his rich buddies. Let's put a stop to these shenanigans.
     
     
133. In the 1980's, we supported Manuel Noriega, Osama bin Laden, and Saddam Hussein. Nobody paid much attention. Then they turned on us, and we heard about them. What murderers is the United States cozying up to now? Well, there's the Mukhabarat. Can we trust them not to turn on us? Of course not. Is George W. Bush losing sleep over the possibility? Of course not. (Source: Reuters August 24, 2003)
     
     
134. George W. Bush is low-balling the cost of occupation and reconstruction in the Middle East (who'd have thought that $87 Billion a year would be low-balling?), making unreasonable assumptions that the world community will spring to his financial aid when so recently he rejected that community as irrelevant. (Boston Globe September 16, 2003)
     
     
135. Bush not only refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol; he refused to articulate any international alternative to it. The de facto Bush policy on the international environment has been to do nothing.
     
     
136. Bush has relentlessly pursued his intent to destroy our wildlife by bulldozing our forests and drilling in Alaska. The only thing standing in his way has been Democratic opposition. Can we afford to give Bush four more years to push his radical agenda through?
     
     
137. Appointing Christie Whitman as head of the EPA looked like one of the few moderate actions of George W. Bush back in 2001. But despite her somewhat reasonable environmental past, Whitman bent over backwards to let pro-dozer, anti-environmental extremists get their way in the Bush administration.
     
     
138. Ever notice that both he and his father used the same strategy of picking a running-mate that people would be terrified to see taking over as president (Quayle because he was such an obvious simpleton and Cheney because he had numerous heart attacks before he even took office)? Can we really trust a president who picks his V.P. as insurance against impeachment?
     
     
139. How many ways can you say it? Bush has closed-minded, sheltered, backward, anachronistic, religion-based, legally ignorant, prudish views towards homosexuals and same-sex marriage. On this issue, Bush represents the past, not the present, and not the future.
     
     
140. Because Bush and the Republican Party continue to oppose a minimum wage for workers right here in the United States.
     
     
141. George W. Bush says he thinks Arnold Schwarzenegger would make a great governor for California. What's next? A nomination of Bill O'Reilly for the Supreme Court? (Here's hoping Karl Rove doesn't get wind of that suggestion) (Source: Reuters August 20, 2003)
     
     
142. Bush is an embarrassment to the country. He can't even speak English properly, which is embarrassing not only to him, but to our country. It's hard to be taken seriously as a world power when the commander in chief says things like, "There are some concern about overstating a numbers, you know, invest in my company because the sky's the limit. We may not be cash flowing much, but the sky's the limit." George said it. (Source: White House News Releases February 20, 2003)
     
     
143. The aggravating idiocy of the Bush team is dangerous in a number of indirect ways. Listening to Bush mangle policy and the language at the same time can be dangerously distracting to drivers.
     
     
144. What does Bush think about when he goes to sleep at night? The nearly three million American jobs lost since he took office? The tens of thousands of dead in a war he started? Environmental regulation? Campaign finance? The next cabinet meeting? No, according to Bush, "Sometimes when I sleep at night I think of 'Hop on Pop.'" George said it! (Source: White House News Releases April 4, 2002)
     
     
145. Ron writes in: "Everytime I hear Bush's voice on the radio or see him on the tube, I feel myself losing IQ points. It is starting to concern me. Can a voice or an image really drain my intelligence, as I feel it is surely doing?"
     
     
146. Because Bush's unspoken campaign slogan seems to be "REPEAL THE NEW DEAL!"
     
     
147. This is a piece of love mail we just got from a Ms. Crickenberger. It's typical of correspondence from Bush supporters -- doesn't that say something?
     
     

     "GO TO HELL!!!! Take this anti-american crap off the web.....If you are not supporting our president and our country then go live in Iran. I back our president in going to war against Hussian. Saddam is/was a threat to humanity whether here in the United States or abroad. If you are too Clinton stupid and blind to that fact then you do not deserve to live in "my" great and proud country, the USA. So make me a bumper sticker that says "Bush all the way" Put that in your turban. Ms. America and damn proud of it."

     
     
     
148. When asked in August 2002 why George W. Bush was simultaneously complaining about Iraq as an imminent threat but saying he wouldn't have any suggestions for action until he returned from a month-long vacation in Texas, Bush's chief of staff Andrew Card replied: "From a marketing point of view, you don't introduce new products in August." For those of us who think war shouldn't be marketed as a product, the Bush team is clearly not an option (Source: New York Times, September 7 2002).
     
     
149. Why dump Bush? Well, here's reason number one hundred and sixty-six: Both you and I can think of a hundred better ways to spend the more than EIGHTY BILLION DOLLARS that George W. Bush is asking for just the next year of his occupation of Iraq. How many years will the occupation take when in the first half-year, the situation has gone from bad to worse?
     
     
150. Reason number one hundred and sixty-seven: it's not just that George W. Bush is asking us to spend more than EIGHTY BILLION DOLLARS in the next year alone in Iraq. An argument can be made that in order to fix the country Bush so profoundly broke, it is the moral duty of all Americans to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into its pacification and reconstruction. The problem with George W. Bush is that his fool-hardy, impatient, evidence-free behavior not only got a whole lot of people killed, but committed us all to his new big government program. Whoever takes over for Bush in 2004 will have to spend a lot of money and effort setting everything aright.
     
     
151. As Bush might say, let's get perticuler: The latest wad of cash requested by George W. Bush is meant to plug up an ever-widening drain of death, destruction and disorganization in Iraq. The clean-up of Bush's Mess may be necessary now, but it wouldn't have been if we had followed a cautious, sensible course of diplomacy, inspection and creative intervention. Reason number one hundred and sixty-six comes straight from the Los Angeles Times (September 9, 2003): "The $87 billion that President Bush seeks to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan is more than the $78 billion that all 50 states would need to balance their budgets next year." It's too late to fix that now, but it's not too late to change the administration that put us in this pickle.
     
     
152. Adding the $87 Billion for Bush's War to the $79 Billion already appropriated by Congress in the spring of 2003, we get a price tag of $166 Billion for Bush's War... so far. Let's assume there's not a dollar more in expense (riiiiiight). Had Bush pursued diplomatic ends, we could have used all that money to give $20,000 scholarships for college education for for 8,300,000 kids turning 18 this year. Imagine how that would have changed the world. But, alas, it was not to be. Instead, we've got Iraqis without basic standards of living and Americans getting picked off in ones and twos.
     
     
153. For the hedonists among us: That $166 Billion sunk into the Iraq Quagmire could have been used buy each and every woman, man, child, baby, grandma and grandpa in this country a TV and DVD player.
     
     
154. For the hockey fans among us: That $166 Billion being used to bail us out of Bush's Folly could have bought 5 rinkside tickets to a Buffalo Sabres game for each and every citizen of the United States. That's assuming we didn't get any group discounts, mind you. Then we could have all seen the blood getting spattered everywhere over and over with the peace of mind that nobody got permanently hurt.
     
     
155. With that squandered $166 Billion, we could have bought 369 aspirin for each and every one of the six billion human beings on the planet, giving us all a year's respite from the headaches that follow from listening to Bush speak on a daily basis. But instead, he's just given us more headaches and stiffed us with the bill.
     
     
156. That $166 Billion could have obtained lead paint test kits with lab fees pre-paid for each of the 104,705,000 households in the United States. Assuming that 10% of those households tested positive for lead paint, we'd still have enough leftover funds to buy 40 gallons of paint for each of those households so that the lead paint would be covered and kids made safer. Just in case the paint didn't take care of the problem, we'd still have enough money leftover to test each of these at-risk households again one year and yet again ten years later. And for the nearly 400,000 children who have already suffered lead poisioning, we would still have had enough money to hire nearly 400,000 teachers specializing in learning disabilities for ten years at the livable wage of $40,000 per year. Yes, that's a student-teacher ratio of 1 to 1. That's what we could have done if Bush had held his horses.
     
     
157. With the $166,000,000,000 Bush has just spent on his war of choice so far, we could have bought a 2 Gigahertz computer for each of the 60 million or so people in the United States aged 10-25 years. But that's not all -- we could have bought them high speed internet access for five years. Imagine the learning our nation's youth could have engaged in with this kind of investment. Imagine the long-term productivity growth. Imagine all you want -- now that Bush has sent the money down the sinkhole, it ain't gonna happen.
     
     
158. With that $166 Billion of Bush's play money for his Iraq War, we could have hired 3,320,000 new public school teachers at the attractive pay rate of $50,000 a year. But now that the money's gone, it ain't gonna happen.
     
     
159. With the $166 Billion that we'll need just this year to bail Bush out of the consequences of his war of choice, we could have simply reduced Bush's record deficits by a sizeable chunk. As it is, our children and grandchildren will end up owing $166 Billion more -- plus a hefty load of interest to boot.
     
     
160. Instead of being elected the President of the United States, George W. Bush has only been selected as the Resident of the White House.
     
     
161. In addition to being the Resident of the White House, George W. Bush is the Military Dictator of Iraq and Afghanistan, and even with the power of a supreme dictator over those countries, he can't keep them under his control!
     
     
162. Before he invaded Iraq, George W. Bush promised to the American people in a nationally-televised speech that he would insist that the members of the United Nations Security Council "put their cards on the table" and force them to vote on a resolution explicitly authorizing an invasion of Iraq. Then, within a week, George W. Bush broke his promise to the American people and withdrew that resolution from the United Nations Security Council so that none of the member nations ever had the chance to "put their cards on the table". America doesn't need a Commander-In-Chief who's infamous across the world for talking tough, but then turning tail and running away when he can't back up his tough words with the tough-minded diplomacy it takes to really get things done.
     
     
163. Before he invaded and started the American occupation of Iraq, George W. Bush complained that there was no time to be patient with weapons inspectors because Iraq had huge stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction with which he could attack the United States at any time. Now, when those weapons of mass destruction cannot be found, and Bush's plan for a stable American dictatorship over Iraq has fallen apart, Bush begs the American people to be patient with him, saying "This will take time." A responsible leader encourages patience in the interests of peace, not as an excuse to prevent criticism of a reckless rush to war. (Source: ABC News September 8, 2003)
     
     
164. As he began his War Against Evil, George W. Bush peppered every speech with the name of Osama Bin Laden, telling the American people that the wars were necessary in order to capture the "eviloder." Now that he has failed to even find, much less get rid of Osama Bin Laden, George W. Bush refuses to mention his name in his speeches. America needs a President who doesn't try to restate the goals of his wars when things don't go his way.
     
     
165. Bush says that the continuing American military occupation of Iraq is "critical to our security". But he doesn't mention that Iraq only became a real threat to American security after the American invasion and occupation began. Oops. (White House Press Release September 12, 2003)
     
     
166. Bush says that "The terrorists thrive on the support of tyrants and the resentments of oppressed peoples." Um, there's still no democracy in Iraq, and the people of Iraq are feeling resentment at being oppressed by the American military dictatorship over their country, a dictatorship that routinely guns down unarmed civilians, including Iraqi children. By his own standard, hasn't Bush's invasion of Iraq actually helped terrorists to thrive? (Washington Times September 8, 2003)
     
     
167. Since George W. Bush began his supposed War On Terror, the number of terrorist attacks has increased, not decreased. The American voter has got to answer the question: "Is that working for you?" (Source: Iraq Coalition Casualties at http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx)
     
     
168. George W. Bush tells the American people that "the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans." However, the plain fact is that in the decade before the invasion and occupation of Iraq by the American military, Iraqis were responsible for precisely zero killings of Americans. Now, in less than half a year since the beginning of Bush's war in Iraq, Iraqis have killed hundreds of Americans. Is this what Bush calls "the surest way to avoid attacks on our own people?" Now, for people outside the Bush White House, hundreds is a bigger amount than zero. Apparently, Bush himself disagrees with that calculation. Folks, we need a President who doesn't engage in this kind of dangerous fuzzy math. (Source: Denver Post September 8, 2003)
     
     
169. While he's messing up the task of rebuilding Iraq, Mr. Bush apparently doesn't have the time to rebuild the American economy that has fallen apart under his watch.
     
     
170. Under direction from the Bush Administration, the EPA announced on May 14, 2003 that it would further delay the implementation of smog requirements designed to make it easier for millions of Americans to breathe. (Source: San Jose Mercury-News May 14, 2003)
     
     
171. The Bush Administration announced this spring that it would restrict the implementation of wilderness protection over 6 million acres of federal lands. (Source: Salt Lake Tribune August 30, 2003)
     
     
172. The Bush Administration overturned rules keeping jack-hammer loud, pollution-spewing snowmobiles and their inconsiderate operators from ruining Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks for the rest of us (including the young Moose). To give you an idea of how bad the problem is, rangers have been wearing respirators and earplugs on the job to deal with the smoggy onslaught. But there's no hydrocarbon or hydrocarbon-based machine (or is that just hydrocarbon-based industry?) that George W. Bush won't fight for. Bush administration officials tried to make a field day out of claims that a new generation of snowmobiles would run cleaner and quieter -- but independent tests showed that the new generation of chuggers were actually more polluting and louder than older machines! (Source: Los Angeles Times September 4, 2003)
     
     
173. Because this is the sort of thing anonymous Bush supporters are writing in public: "Any complaints just keep them to yourself that [sic] called freedom of expression." If Bush attracts this kind of supporter, doesn't that give a hint as to the quality of the man himself? (Source: personal correspondence from Bush Supporter September 2003)
     
     
174. Bush Administration "Expert" on Iraq Paul Wolfowitz told Congress in the Spring that "We are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." Either Wolfowitz didn't know what he was talking about or he was misleading Congress. Neither of these is a good option. (Source: New York Times September 9, 2003)
     
     
175. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says that "I do think that this administration did a miserable job of planning in a post-Saddam Iraq." That a Republican Senator would say this speaks volumes. The Bush administration has pursued two gigantic policy initiatives: big tax cuts for the rich and war against Iraq. If the Bush administration can't get the details on one of its two major initiatives right, how can we trust it to do a competent job anywhere else? (Source: Arizona Republic September 6, 2003)
     
     
176. Bush let Microsoft get away with establishing a monopolistic control over the single greatest source of personal and systematic power in the coming decades: The computer. Just when the federal government was poised to gain victory in its ongoing anti-trust lawsuit against Microsoft, George W. Bush came to occupy the White House, and ordered the lawsuit to be abandoned. Microsoft was instead allowed to settle with the federal government, in a sweetheart deal. (Source: Money in Politics Alert September 6, 2001)
     
     
177. The administration of George W. Bush has systematically moved to destroy the balance of powers between the executive and judicial branches of the federal government, the balance that is established in the United States Constitution. Under Bush's watch, Attorney General John Ashcroft has moved to reduce the ability of judges to deliberate when sentencing individuals convicted of a crime. Judges are there to restrain the baser impulses of the executive branch -- and the Bush-Ashcroft team wants to take them out of the picture. (Source: Associated Press September 30, 2003)
     
     
178. Bush sold out the heart of America, the National Mall in Washington D. C., to be staging grounds for a giant and illegal commercial advertisement for corporate contributors to the Republican Party, with Britney Spears as its main spokesmodel. It's against the law for commercial activities to take place on the National Mall, but George W. Bush is willing to bend the law when big business contributes big money to the Bush campaign for re-election. In fact, George W. Bush took the time to relay a video message endorsing the Pepsi commercial event. The National Mall belongs to the American people, not to the President, and it's time we got someone back in the White House who understood the difference. (Source: US News and World Report September 10, 2003)
     
     
179. When he was selling his war against Iraq, Bush sent administration officials to Congress to dismiss worries about the cost of the occupation after the war by saying that revenues from Iraqi oil would pay for it all. Now, Bush is coming to American taxpayers with an 87 billion dollar bill just for the next year of the occupation. (Source: Boston Globe September 9, 2003)
     
     
180. Where's the oil revenue going from the Iraq occupation going?? To Halliburton, a multi-national corporation that just happened to have been run by Dick Cheney until he became Vice President. Just a coincidence, we're sure. Oh, and Mr. Bush, how is that oil revenue going to pay for the hundreds of American lives that have been lost during the occupation so far? The answer: it's not, of course: oil revenues -- after Halliburton takes its cut of the dough, of course -- will not even pay for the re-establishment of clean drinking water in Iraq. (Source: Philadelphia Inquirer August 31, 2003)
     
     
181. And now it comes out that Vice President Dick Cheney has been receiving payments from Halliburton since he came into office. But hey, we're sure that had nothing to do with Halliburton getting that gazillion-dollar no bid contract. Absolutely sure. (Source: Reuters September 16, 2003)
     
     
182. Before George W. Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq, Bush told the American people that the reason his arguments for war didn't seem to make sense was that he was in possession of "secret evidence" about Iraq's possession of vast quantities of weapons of mass destruction and links to Al Qaeda. Now, after Bush's war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars, we find out that the supposed "secret evidence" was just as flawed as the junk documents that the Bush Administration tried to pass by the American people in public. It appears that this "evidence" was kept secret in order to cover up its extremely poor quality, not in order to protect national security. We need to dump Bush in 2004 because America needs a President who is honest enough to give us the facts before our nation is sent off on a risky adventure.
     
     
183. To what tasks did the Bush Administration devote its attention in the Spring of 2003? Planning for war's aftermath? No. Instead, Air Force One's in-flight menu was revised to remove references to "French Toast" and to offer "Freedom Toast" instead. That'll show 'em! (Source: Reuters March 26, 2003)
     
     
184. When President Bush's mouthpieces can't deny the truth of the criticisms his opponents make, they whine about style. "This is political hate speech!" frothed Republican National Committee Ed Gillespie after Democrats had the temerity to criticize Bush's policies. "Political hate crime!" fumed Republican House Majority Leader Tom Delay when a Bush nominee was rejected by Democrats after the White House wouldn't let them see, of all things, the nominee's files. Whine, whine, whine. How annoying! More importantly, how insubstantial! I just can't stomach voting for a President who employs professional whiners. (Sources: Dallas Morning News September 10, 2003 and New York Times September 4, 2003)
     
     
185. Laws sure can be inconvenient. Bush and Cheney lied about where Cheney lived (he lived in Dallas and claimed the property tax exemption for it as his primary residence) so that Cheney could get on the ballot--the 12th Amendment to the United States Constitution specifies that both can't be from the same state (Source: Associated Press November 28, 2000).
     
     
186. George W. Bush is a typical reformed drunk in his moral worldview. Don't get us wrong; Bush should be admired for keeping apparently keeping his alcoholism under control for the past few years. What we have a problem with is typical for the reformed drunk: the conversion from hedonist to sermonizer. Now that he's managed to exert some modicum of self-control, he can't help but lord it over everybody else, telling them how to live their lives, be righteous, and defeat evil. Will someone tell this guy that the world isn't just black and white?
     
     
187. Another apparent lesson Bush took from his decades-long inability to control his appetites: since I couldn't trust myself, I can't trust anyone else, and therefore arrangements based on trust won't work. Bush's foreign policy schemes are based on the premise that you've got to exercise violent might in order to protect yourself. On the schoolyard, this is called bullying. On the world stage, it's called "might makes right" unilateralism, and it relies on constant warfare (or the threat thereof) for survival. Is this the kind of world we want our children to inherit?
     
     
188. With Bush in the White House, the looniest of Republican politicians in the Congress have been set free. And what are our Republican representatives doing with their time? Balancing the budget? No. Fully funding education programs they themselves passed? No. Figuring out how to get back the millions of American jobs that Bush has lost? No. Developing consistent mental health policy? Lord, no. The Republican-controlled Congress is spending its time renaming lunch items in the House Office Building cafeterias. That's right. With all the problems in our country that need to be addressed, Republican members of Congress have instead been spending their days and nights putting up signs, passing out leaflets, and calling news conferences declaring that "Freedom Fries" are now being served for lunch. Oh, that'll fix things! (Source: Associated Press March 11, 2003)
     
     
189. The bad news: According to a report by the inspector general at the Defense Department released in the year 2000, the Defense Department has completely lost track of one trillion and one hundred billion dollars of taxpayers' money. The even worse news: This number is only a rough estimate, because the Defense Department uses approximately 2,300 different accounting methods to keep track of its money, according to the United States General Accounting Office. The news gets worse: The Defense Department has continued to lose track of more money in the three years since the report was released. Worse, worse, news: Even though George W. Bush knows about the report, he has done nothing to recover the missing taxpayers' money or reform the accounting systems in the Defense Department. Worst of all: Knowing that a substantial percentage of money in the Defense Department's budget is lost every year, George W. Bush decided to give the Defense Department the largest budget increase since World War II (Source: Department of Defense Agency-Wide Financial Statements Audit Opinion).
     
     
190. The best argument in 2003 that Bush's minions could come up with against a John Kerry Presidency: "He Looks French." Zut alors! (Source: Boston Herald April 23, 2003)
     
     
191. They're at it again: now in 2004, Bush's Commerce Secretary Donald Evans has taken to observing that "John Kerry looks French." This is a statement worthy of an eighth grader, not a cabinet official responsible for international economic relations. For goodness' sake! (Source: Washington Post March 23, 2004)
     
     
192. In Oregon, those dying of an incurable and terminal disease can make the decision to spare themselves a final week of severe pain, if they are certified as terminally ill and mentally competent by two doctors. Bush's Attorney General, John Ashcroft, pushed to have any doctors acting under the Oregon law placed under arrest. (Source: Bloomberg News April 27, 2002)
     
     
193. George W. Bush talks all the time about how fiscally irresponsible Democrats are. But the facts are not on the Republican Party's side. In constant dollars:
     • Democratic Presidents Kennedy and Johnson contributed less to deficits than Republicans Nixon and Ford, both in total and on an average yearly basis.
     • Democratic President Carter borrowed less than Republican Presidents Reagan and Bush, both in total and on an average yearly basis.
     • It was Democratic President Bill Clinton who brought us out of deficit territory back to surpluses.
     • It is Republican George W. Bush who is surging back to record deficits.
     We need to get a Democratic President back in the White House to get our fiscal situation back under control. (Source: Office of Management and Budget, Table 1.3: SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS; IN CURRENT DOLLARS, CONSTANT (FY 1996) DOLLARS, AND AS PERCENTAGES OF GDP: 1940-2008)
     
     
194. As the son of a millworker, John Edwards knows what it's like to work hard for a living. As the son of a President who repeatedly failed in life despite being handed ready-made, pre-funded businesses to him, George W. Bush hasn't a clue. With the experience of the American people in his blood, John Edwards would have made a better President than George W. Bush.
     
     
195. No matter how many times he poses in ratty jeans next to a stump somewhere outside Waco, George W. Bush and his band of Republican Radicals are not the outsiders they pretend to be. Bush and his cabinet are insiders, drawn from the corporate boardrooms and lobbyist backrooms of America. Does he think the American people are so stupid as not to notice?
     
     
196. Bush's drive to amass the greatest campaign warchest of money in the history of American presidential campaigns is based on the premise that votes can be bought. Howard Dean's drive to enlist the greatest number of people ever in meetups and other locally-organized grassroots campaigns is based on the premise that in a democracy, the activity of citizens is the best way to boost a candidate. George W. Bush's campaign exploits the worst of what our society currently is. Howard Dean's campaign enlists the best of what our society can be.
     
     
197. Beware a man who inhabits the Oval Office and who cannot bear to say that he was wrong, or that he is sorry.
     
     
198. Beware a Secretary of Defense who cannot bear to say that he was wrong, or that he is sorry.
     
     
199. Beware an Attorney General who cannot bear to say that he was wrong, or that he is sorry.
     
     
200. In their bizarre defense of Bush's lie to Congress in the State of the Union address, conservatives note that it was only 16 words. Funny, the previous inhabitant of the Oval Office was impeached for just 9 words: "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." Do these conservative paragons of virtue really believe that the number of words uttered in a lie matter? Or is Bush the sort of man whose supporters will say anything to get their guy off the hook? Excuse me for a moment, my B.S. detector is ringing...
     
     
201. George W. Bush has squandered the goodwill of the world in the wake of September 11, 2001. Do you remember how, in the days following the attacks on the World Trade Center, they marched in the streets of nation after nation (including France and Germany) to demonstrate their solidarity with the United States? How they played the American national anthem and flew American flags? What could we have done to change the world for the better, to unite nations in a common positive purpose, had George W. Bush not soured it all with his flaccid bravado?
     
     
202. Under Bush, Republican politicians have swallowed the idea that in solving the world's problems, we just can't do any better than war. An increasing number of Democratic voices are saying yes, we can. Willingness to work hard for better solutions than the ones we have today is quintessentially American. Defeatism is not.
     
     
203. Bush wants to send America's best medical researchers to jail. I'm not kidding: George W. Bush wants to ban somatic cell nuclear transfer research, which would create medically precious stem cells by moving patients' own skin cells into the nucleii of donated eggs. This is not the cloning of babies we're talking about -- no Frankenbabies would be created in the process. It's simply the creation of stem cell lines tailored to each individual's genetic makeup, which could be used to help people walk again, recover from strokes, battle Parkinson's disease and lead healthier lives in ways we can't even yet imagine. But Bush will have none of that. If his policy is enacted, any researcher, health care provider or patient using such a treatment would have to fork over up to a million dollars and spend up to ten years in jail. How petty and backward-minded. (Sources: New York Times April 23, 2003 and New York Times May 2, 2003)
     
     
204. When Bush couldn't get his own U.S. Senate to go along with his plan to ban somatic cell nuclear transfer research, he pushed the United Nations to ban the research world-wide, regardless of the lack of agreement in the United States that this is a wise course of action. (Source: Reuters December 9, 2003)
     
     
205. In a show of hubris typical for members of the Bush administration, Donald Rumsfeld insisted for a time that as Defense Secretary he have final say in determining the shape of Iraq's occupation. Bush gave it to him, and look what happened. If the Bush team were in Kindergarten, their report card would read "does not share well with others." (Source: Washington Post September 14, 2003)
     
     
206. Would you like evidence that the administration had no clue what they were getting into in Iraq? Alright, then. In May 2003 Vice President Dick Cheney was asked by Tim Russert to react to the statement of a top Army general "that we would have to have several hundred thousand troops there for several years in order to maintain stability." Cheney responded: "I disagree. To suggest that we need several hundred thousand troops there after military operations cease, after the conflict ends, I don't think is accurate. I think that's an overstatement." (Source: Meet the Press May 16, 2003)
     
     
207. The Bush Administration uses doubletalk in its continuing effort to mislead the public into thinking there was a connection between Iraq and September 11 when there is no evidence even suggesting that was the case. Case in point: in a September 14, 2003 interview with Tim Russert, Vice President Dick Cheney said the following: "If we're successful in Iraq, if we can stand up a good representative government in Iraq, that secures the region so that it never again becomes a threat to its neighbors or to the United States, so it's not pursuing weapons of mass destruction, so that it's not a safe haven for terrorists, now we will have struck a major blow right at the heart of the base, if you will, the geographic base of the terrorists who have had us under assault now for many years, but most especially on 9/11." But there is no evidence that Iraq was ever a geographic base of the terrorists who had America under assault on 9/11. None, Zip, Zero. As Dick Cheney was forced to put it when directly asked by Russert in the same interview about an Iraq-9/11 connection, "we don't know." (Source: Meet the Press September 14, 2003)
     
     
208. Who needs three branches of government? Not George W. Bush. No, he seems to think judicial review of executive branch actions is needless. Bush's latest policy push is to allow members of his administration's Justice Department to issue subpoenas to seize citizens' records or compel their testimony WITHOUT the permission of a judge, based solely on the judgment of John Ashcroft or his underlings that the target is a danger to society. But wait, it gets better. If Bush's law gets passed, the citizen who has been slammed with an Ashcroft subpoena can't tell anyone but his or her lawyer that the subpoena even exists, under threat of a five-year prison term. If we value a free society (and it's clear Bush and Ashcroft don't), this sort of insanity has got to be stopped. (Source: Associated Press September 14, 2003)
     
     
209. ...and here's the real rub. At the same time George Bush and John Ashcroft pushed for their subpoena without mercy measures or judicial review (see the point above), Ashcroft himself appealed to a judge with the argument that he doesn't himself need to respond to a subpoena laid down by that judge. According to his lawyer, a subpoena is an "extraordinary step" and unnecessary to the pursuit of justice. Oh, the hubris of it all! (Source: Associated Press September 13, 2003)
     
     
210. The justifications for any of the major Bush Administration policies resemble nothing more than one of those Mad Libs sheets I used to fill out on car trips when I was a kid. [Adjective] [Tyrant] is in possession of [Nifty Secret Weapon], so we need to bomb [Third-World Country]. We can't show you the evidence because that's just what [Adjective] [Tyrant] would want, you [Adjective] [non-patriotic Noun]. We need another tax cut to [Stimulate/Maintain/Rein In] the [Current Economic Condition], rescue [cute animal] from the clutches of the [not cute animals], and cure [nasty debilitating disease].
     
     
211. CBS News reports: "Former weapons inspectors now say, five months after the U.S. invasion, that what the U.S. alleged were "unaccountable" stockpiles may have been no more than paperwork glitches left behind when Iraq destroyed banned chemical and biological weapons years ago." Gee, just what the Iraqis said last year! What happened to the secret evidence that according to the Bush administration said otherwise? (Source: CBS News September 15, 2003)
     
     
212. Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer's "reminders to all Americans that they need to watch what they say, watch what they do." reminds us instead of the Bush administration's disdain for the Bill of Rights. (Source: Press Briefing by Ari Fleischer September 26, 2001)
     
     
213. George W. Bush often justifies his domestic and foreign policy decisions with references to his faith in God and his beliefs about what course of action is most consistent with his understanding of God's standards. The problem is that faith by its very nature transcends logic and reason; if one can justify a policy path by means of logic combined with broad and deep knowledge of a problem, then faith is not required. In his reliance on faith, George W. Bush is asking us to trust his own trust that he has a good bead on God's existence and will. Given Bush's trustworthiness on other issues, we think we'll pass. (Source: Christianity Today May 2003, Newsweek March 10, 2003)
     
     
214. In 1999, George W. Bush revealed that "I believe God wants me to be President." We're highly dubious that if there's a supreme ruler of hundreds of billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, many with multiple planets, that this supreme ruler would be particularly interested in the outcome of a Presidential contest in one year for one of the hundreds of countries on one of those multiple planets around one of those hundreds of billions of stars in one of those hundreds of billions of galaxies. It sounds just a bit iffy. More importantly, it betrays by how much Bush inappropriately magnifies the sense of his own scale. (Source: Religious News Service February 12, 2003)
     
     
215. In September 2003, just as Bush's ratings in the polls slipped further, the Bush Administration issued a new warning: Al Qaeda is going to poison our food! Problem is, the FBI says there's actually no evidence that any such attack is imminent. We're sure that the terrorist warning and Bush's dip in the polls was a mere coincidence. Sure it was. (Source: CBS News September 12, 2003)
     
     
216. Have you ever noticed that when Bush is done winding his way through a moderately difficult sentence or has just noted a fact of any particularity, he does one of two things? Sometimes he smirks off to the side, as if to say to himself "Yeah, I made it!" Sometimes he bobs his head forward with a self-satisfied look, as if to say to his audience "See? See?" These personal mannerisms betray Bush's low standards for himself. We need someone in the Oval Office who shoots for, and surpasses, a higher bar.
     
     
217. Vice President Dick Cheney says "I am a deficit hawk... so is the President." If a multi-trillion dollar budget deficit over the next few years makes Dick Cheney a deficit hawk, then I guess my $2100 paycheck last week makes me a millionaire (Source: Meet the Press September 14, 2003).
     
     
218. Colin Powell suggests that the real reason that George W. Bush rushed an invasion of Iraq was a chemical weapons attack in the north of Iraq back in 1988. Oh, how I wish I were making this up, but no, I read it right in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle on September 17,2003. Colin Powell says that a chemical weapons attack within Iraqi borders by the Iraqi government fifteen years ago is adequate proof there was an immediate danger of a chemical weapons attack against the United States this spring. Actually, American soldiers have found no evidence that Iraq has had any chemical weapons at all in recent years (Washington Post September 16, 2003).
     
     Under Mr. Powell's logic, the fact that the United States dropped nuclear bombs on Japanese cities in the 1940s proves that there is the threat of an imminent American nuclear attack against Mexico, and justifies the violent overthrow of the American government and occupation of the United States by the Mexican military.I can't wait to hear what these guys are going to think of next.
     
     
219. Every month, we get a new "real reason" that we invaded Iraq. We're told with a straight face that no, this is the real reason now, not that other real reason we heard about last month, or the other really real reason they told us a month before that, or the other one the month before that. It's becoming increasingly obvious that the Bush administration wouldn't know reality if it stepped in front of them wearing a t-shirt that said "This is reality. Right here!" in foot-high letters.
     
     
220. Americans already have the Comedy Channel. We prefer that the material that comes out of the White House has more of a grounding in reality than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Oh, I know we ask a lot.
     
     
221. George W. Bush says that trees cause forest fires, and that if we would just cut a lot of trees down, we wouldn't have as many forest fires. That's about as logical as saying that it's journalists who cause George W. Bush to lie, and if we just cut down on the number of journalists writing about the Bush White House, Bush would lie less often. Does Bush believe that one too?
     
     
222. We can see that Mr. Bush would have much better time applying his unusual management style to a Texas baseball team than he does sitting around the Oval Office. If he were mis-managing Texas sports teams again, instead of running up multi-trillion dollar budget deficits, Bush could just draft a new pitcher every now and then. Letting Bush follow his true passion would save us all a lot of pain. We may not be conservative, but we are compassionate. Let's extend Bush's month-long vacations and make them year-round.
     
     
223. The Bush-Cheney re-election team shows the same twisted moral compass as the Bush-Cheney policy team. At George W. Bush's official election web site, visitors are encouraged to appropriate text written by campaign staffers and pass it off as their own original letter to the editor at dozens of papers at a time. There's a word for this: plagiarism. And there's a word for that: unethical. (Source: Irregular Times at http://irregulartimes.com/astroturf3.html)
     
     
224. "Mission Accomplished"? Not yet, bucko. As John Kerry put it, "Being flown to an aircraft carrier and saying mission accomplished doesn't end a war." (Source: Associated Press September 3, 2003)
     
     
225. The Bush team wasted taxpayer money keeping the USS Abraham Lincoln idling offshore so Bush could land on it in a fighter jet and a flight suit. Bush used an expensive fighter jet to land, claiming that the aircraft carrier was out of helicopter range. But, of course, that turned out to be a lie. (Source: CBS News May 8, 2003)
     
     
226. Diane of Texas writes: "Why oust Bush? Because single moms trying to get off welfare struggle enough without having child care assistance cut." It's a central conundrum for single parents of young children that in order to get a job, the kids have to go to child care. But often, child care costs more than any job that a single parent might find, or at least so much that it's not possible to pay for child care and rent and food. In 2001, George W. Bush tried to cut funding for low-income child care. While child care costs rose in 2002, George W. Bush proposed increasing the work hours required for single parents on welfare -- with no increase in the funds to help single parents find child care. (Sources: New York Times March 26, 2001 and USA Today April 8, 2002)
     
     
227. Bush's tough-on-the-Constitution Attorney General John Ashcroft has been publicly mocking librarians for their opposition to provisions of the Patriot Act. Substance aside, that's just plain stupid. Didn't Mr. Ashcroft learn anything in school? Unless you're itching for trouble you should never, ever, mock a librarian. (Source: New York Times September 15, 2003)
     
     
228. In its breathless rush to war in the fall of 2002, the Bush Administration asserted that Iraq had a fleet of unmanned "drone" aircraft designed to fly over cities and release chemical or biological weapons. Bush cabinet member Colin Powell even suggested that the tiny drones might somehow wind their way after multiple refuelings to the United States where they would attack us mercilessly. Horrors! Well, guess what? The drones exist! But wait: American scientists have determined that their range was highly limited and that they were incapable of carrying chemical or biological weapons. (Source: Associated Press August 25, 2003)
     
     
229. Got some aluminum pipes and a balsa-wood model airplane sitting around in your garage? That about all Saddam seems to have had. It turns out that intelligence sources were warning the Bush Administration last fall that the pilotless drones being droned about were harmless. But, surprise surprise, the Bush Administration ignored those warnings and went ahead with Operation Freak Out America. George W. Bush has never let the facts get in his way. (Source: Associated Press August 25, 2003)
     
     
230. "CCB" sends this one in:

     Karl Rove is a despicable Machiavellian Svengali. He has left a trail of broken lives and ruined careers of honest people in his wake. He will do and/or say absolutely anything to gain and maintain power for Republicans and the billionaires who love them. This man, more than any other, is the single reason why the republican party has succeeded in controlling almost absolutely all branches of our government and is moving rapidly to further expand that power until it is all but untouchable. Karl Rove doesn't just promote his candidates, he spreads vicious lies and rumors about his opponents, starts phony investigations against them and anyone remotely connected with them, and even goes as far as destroying anyone he THINKS might someday conceivably be a threat to his candidates.
     
     And now, unprecedented in U.S. history, this uber-creep political operative has an office at the right hand of President DimSon. This guy controls what gets to Smirky, and so controls the policy and direction of the country. Rove cares about and eats, sleeps, and breathes only one thing. Politics and how it can help Bush and Republicans. That's fine, but in his position, he controls the country (Bush is so easily led, it's not even funny.) So what is being done at the White House is completely controlled by political advantage and expedience, NOT, I repeat, NOT, by what is best for the nation or it's citizens.

     Bush must go, but getting rid of Rove is almost as important.
     
     
231. When George W. Bush went to war, he was so desperate to create the appearance of a worldwide coalition that his ridiculously administration pumped up the numbers of nations entering as members of his coalition. The Bush administration published a list of supporting nations including the Solomon Islands. Solomon Islands Prime Minister Allan Kemakeza quickly retorted that his nation was not a member of any coalition and had not in fact offered any support to President Bush in its invasion of Iraq. Whoopsie. (Source: The New Zealand Herald March 27, 2003).
     
     
232. Among the powerhouse nations listed in the big big "Coalition of the Willing" supporting George W. Bush: the Micronesian Island of Palau. It's a pretty place. Palau provided moral support. That's George W. Bush's diplomatic power for you. (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune March 21, 2003).
     
     
233. George W. Bush's diplomacy leading up to his war against Iraq was so botched that 15 of the 45 nations numbered as providing support to Bush's invasion of Iraq actually weren't, um, listed by name. That's right, they were too embarrassed on the world stage to stand with George W. Bush. (Source: Ottawa Citizen March 26, 2003).
     
     
234. George W. Bush's powers of persuasion are so weak that of the 45 mostly small nations providing "support" to Bush's invasion of Iraq, only 3 sent troops to participate in the actual invasion. (Source: Ottawa Citizen March 26, 2003).
     
     
235. The Bush administration likes to toot its horn about how now, after the invasion, 26 nations have sent troops to Iraq. What a grand coalition! Well, not so grand, actually. As of September 2003, that set of 26 includes nations like Slovakia (sending a total of 82 troops) Albania (which has sent 70 troops), New Zealand (61 troops) and Kazakhstan (26 troops). Lithuania has sent 90 troops, but hey, they're thinking maybe of sending 50 more. Well, that will certainly fix things. Thanks for rallying the world to our side, George. Good work. (Source: Associated Press September 19, 2003)
     
     
236. Stephen writes in, "He lied to my mother and has her believing him, when everything he does undermines her ability to pursue life, liberty, and happiness. She is of the snookered middle class." Hey, nobody gets away with lying to our mothers!
     
     
237. Because if the Republican controlled House of Representatives chose to put the interests of the nation over the interests of the Party, he would be impeached.
     
     
238. Because if anything ever happened to Karl Rove the 25th Amendment would kick in (after all, without Rove Bush is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office) and Dick Cheney would be President. We don't need another Republican President named Dick.
     
     
239. On the job training hasn't worked, and we can't afford any more training time.
     
     
240. Because not even one person got so much as publicly reprimanded for the failures on September 11th.
     
     
241. Because every time there's an emergency Bush runs away and hides, from September 11th when he flew around the nation hiding at military bases to when he ran away to Camp David rather than face Hurricane Isabel. (Sources: Washington Times September 21, 2003 and the Daily Telegraph September 10, 2003)
     
     
242. Aboard the Aircraft Carrier on May 1, 2003 he said "In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the Taliban, many terrorists, and the camps where they trained." Meanwhile, the Taliban keeps attacking our troops. (Source: National Review May 2, 2003)
     
     
243. Aboard the Aircraft Carrier on May 1, 2003 he shamelessly connected Iraq and the September 11th attacks to justify his war when he said "The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed that they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed." Bush said this even though he knew the allegation of an allegiance between Iraq and Al Qaeda was baseless (Source: National Review May 2, 2003).
     
     
244. Because aboard the Aircraft Carrier on May 1, 2003 he shamelessly connected Iraq and the September 11th attacks to justify his war when he said the following: "The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because the regime is no more. In these 19 months that changed the world, our actions have been focused and deliberate and proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the victims of September the 11th -- the last phone calls, the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble. With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got. Our war against terror is proceeding according to principles that I have made clear to all: Any person involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks against the American people becomes an enemy of this country, and a target of American justice." Bush said all this, even though he knew the claim of connection between September 11 and Iraq was false! (Source: National Review May 2, 2003)
     
     
245. Aboard the Aircraft Carrier on May 1, 2003 Bush declared, "Any person, organization, or government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes." How odd that Bush looks the other way when it comes to the Saudi government and actually gives money to prop up the Pakistani government. (Source: National Review May 2, 2003)
     
     
246. So we can stop the stupid policy of attacking the neighbors of nations that directly supported the September 11th attackers and deal with those nations directly.
     
     
247. So we can stop our nasty, addictive habit of invading the poorest nations of the world.
     
     
248. Because we have 130,000 troops in Iraq. Because the plan is to have 110,000 troops in Iraq in September of '04. Because if we follow this mis-leader we will always have troops in Iraq. (Source: Wall Street Journal September 9, 2003)
     
     
249. Because the free Iraqi Council Bush had Bremer appoint just won't do as its told.
     
     
250. Because Bush has shown that he thinks so little of the American military that they can be used as cannon fodder.
     
     
251. Because while the rest of us have moved on to the Twenty-First century, George is somehow still living in the Dark Ages. Will someone tell him the Crusades are over?
     
     
252. Because Americans refuse to live in the perpetual state of fear he demands of us.
     
     
253. Because Dick Cheney needs to go cash in his chips over at Halliburton and Junior needs to go join his Dad on the Saudi speakers tour. Let's help them jump-start their revolving-door careers!
     
     
254. Because he makes Reagan look sane.
     
     
255. Because he's so inexperienced and inept that I find myself longing for the days his father was in office!
     
     
256. Because The Carlyle Group needs new Board Members so the Reaganites can retire.
     
     
257. So we don't have to listen to Cheney mis-speak any more.
     
     
258. So we don't have to listen to Rumsfeld mis-speak any more.
     
     
259. So we don't have to listen to Wolfowitz mis-speak any more.
     
     
260. So we don't have to listen to Powell mis-speak any more.
     
     
261. So we don't have to listen to Armitage mis-speak any more.
     
     
262. So we don't have to listen to Rice mis-speak any more.
     
     
263. SO WE DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO BUSH MIS-SPEAK ANY MORE.
     
     
264. Because I cannot find one completely honest, accurate statement the man has made. Well, let me be fair and take that back. Once he did say "Hello, my name is George W. Bush." That's true. But other than that, it's really hard to say.
     
     
265. Because Osama been forgotten.
     
     
266. Because Bush said: "One year ago today, the time for excuse-making has come to an end." Washington, D.C., Jan. 8, 2002. (Source: U.S. Department of State International Information Programs -- and a tip of the pen on this and the preceding 38 reasons to Dan of Mansfield, Massachusetts!)
     
     
267. Because it's under the Bush Administration that the American government has formally established ways to use its own agents to torture its enemies. No longer does the government just allow foreign countries to do its dirty work. American taxpayers are now directly funding training for American agents so that they can become career torturers. In fact, Mark Bowden, author of "The Dark Art of Interogation", has suggested in an interview with Atlantic Monthly that George W. Bush is presiding over a period of American history in which torture is becoming so common that it "will produce some of its own theory and practice" of torture. So, Bush is helping to define the standards of torture for generations to come - how about we not cast a vote for that? (Source: Atlantic Monthly September 2003)
     
     
268. George W. Bush has caused the people of Texas a lot of embarrassment, but the truth is that he's not a native Texan. No, as a matter of fact, George W. Bush was born and bred into a rich, socially-exclusive community in Connecticut. I feel pretty uncomfortable voting for an American who won't even be honest about which state he's from. I mean, that's not very patriotic of him, is it?
     
     
269. One should never vote for a son of a Bush.
     
     
270. In the summer of 2003, Bush's justice deputy, John Ashcroft, ordered all federal prosecutors to seek the death penalty whenever possible. Even if you believe in the death penalty, prosecutorial discretion about recommending its usage is one way for complexities of the circumstances surrounding a crime to be considered. Complexity is apparently too much for Ashcroft to handle. (Source: Washington Post September 22, 2003)
     
     
271. In the fall of 2003, John Ashcroft ordered federal prosecutors broadened his rigid pursuit of the death penalty to all federal criminal cases, ordering prosecutors to seek the maximum available penalty in all cases and avoid plea bargains if possible. This rigid approach not only insults the professional judgment of prosecutors, turning them into Ashcroft automatons, it also shoves cases into trial that may not belong there, costing the budget aplenty. (Source: Washington Post September 22, 2003)
     
     
272. According to a report by the Congressional Budget Office, of the $4 Billion a month being spent in 2003 for Bush's War in Iraq, $1.5 Billion cannot be accounted for (Source: Associated Press September 18, 2003).
     
     
273. In September 2003, Senator Edward Kennedy said the following regarding Bush's War in Iraq: "There was no imminent threat. This was made up in Texas, announced in January to the Republican leadership that war was going to take place and was going to be good politically. This whole thing was a fraud." He further noted of the $1.5 Billion in unaccountable spending, "my belief is this money is being shuffled all around to these political leaders in all parts of the world, bribing them to send in troops."
     
     George W. Bush's did not respond on a factual basis to Senator Kennedy. He could have let us know where the mystery $1.5 Billion is going, but he didn't. Instead, he attacked Senator Kennedy's patriotism for questioning him: "I don't think we're serving our nation well by allowing the discourse to be come so uncivil that people say -- use words that they shouldn't be using."
     
     It is dangerous to have a President in office who calls questions about hidden money and policies of war unamerican and uncivil. (Sources: Associated Press September 18, 2003 and Boston Globe September 22, 2003)
     
     
274. George W. Bush isn't just the king of a restored American monarchy, he's also the king of lamebrain ideas. Here's one idea that proves the legitimacy of Bush's claim to the lamebrain throne: He says America ought to train Iraqis to take over security for American soldiers, but then when those Iraqis are trained to provide security, he won't provide them any guns because he doesn't trust them. You know that car bomb that went off outside the United Nations headquarters in Iraq yesterday, killing an Iraqi security guard? Well, the Bush Dictatorship in Iraq refused to allow that security guard to have a gun. Source: San Francisco Chronicle, September 23. What can Iraqi security forces do to establish order in their country, if they're not entrusted with the ability to defend themselves?

     Apparently, George W. Bush believes that Iraqis can end the chaos triggered by the American invasion through mere assertiveness. For example, here's a member of the Iraqi security force, trying to stop a guerilla attack through force of will alone: "Hey, guys? Um, stop that. No, I mean it. Wait! I really, really mean it now! Halt! Hey, put that bomb away, or else! I'll tell on you! Hey, the Americans say not to do that! No, I really, really, really mean it now! Hey, that's going to put someone's eye out! Ow! Ow! Augh!" It's by thinking that strategies like this are going to work that George W. Bush became the King of Lamebrain Ideas.

275. In his September 26, 2003 letter to Bush campaign supporters, Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie yet again demonstrates the willingness of the Republican Party leadership to engage in bald lies in order to defend Bush's missteps.
     
     After referring to criticism of a President as "hate speech," Ed Gillespie lays down the mission of the recipients, conservative political activists called "GOP Team Leaders": "As Team Leaders, we are dependent upon you to make sure communities across this great nation get the FACTS." It's too bad that Gillespie's "FACTS" are not, in fact, factual.
     
     In order to diffuse criticism of the mounting costs of Bush's War in Iraq, Gillespie says "Compared to similar conflicts the cost of fighting the war in Iraq is small. The cost for this war amounts to approximately 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product, compared with 130% for World War II and 15% for the Korean War."
     
     Gillespie gets these estimates from an article entitled The Economic Consequences of a War with Iraq by Yale Economist William D. Nordhaus. Reading his Table 2 and surrounding text in which the figures for Korea and World War II are calculated, we find to arrive at this figure, the total cost of the war (no matter how long it takes) is divided by the average annual Gross Domestic Product during the war. This tells us how to make a parallel calculation.
     
     So, is it true that the cost of Bush's War in Iraq is only 0.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP)? In order to figure this out, we need to know what the Gross Domestic Product is. We can't know for 2003, since that year is still underway. A reasonable guess would be to go with the U.S. GDP for 2002, which was 10.4462 trillion dollars (source: Bureau of Economic Analysis at http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dn/gdplev.xls). How much has Bush's War in Iraq cost so us so far? Let's be generous and not count the costs involved in long-term medical care for wounded American soldiers, or the cost of buying new bombs, missiles and bullets to replace the ones that are being used, or any other indirect costs. No, to be nice to Gillespie let's make an absurdly conservative calculation of costs and just focus on the costs of war having directly to do with Iraq: invasion, occupation and reconstruction. $79 Billion were appropriated by the U.S. Congress for Bush's War in Iraq in the spring of 2003. Bush has already asked for another $71 Billion just for Iraq (the $87 Billion figure is widely quoted, but includes continuing multibillion-dollar costs for Afghanistan). That makes for $150 Billion already, which is 1.5% of the last available annual U.S. GDP. That's three times Gillespie's figure, not including any indirect but real costs of the Iraq war. Ed Gillespie reads the newspapers. He knows these numbers. Ed Gillespie is lying.
     
     Of course, the war in Iraq is, unfortunately, not over. A bipartisan group of U.S. Senators estimates that we'll be in Iraq for five years. Let's be extra nice and not only ignore the indirect costs of Bush's Iraq War but also assume that the cost of Bush's war will be cut in half each year, so that in year 2 we'll only need to fork out $35 Billion, then $17 Billion in year 3, then $8 Billion, then $4 Billion, and then nothing at all afterward (riiiight...). This brings the total cost of the war to $214 Billion, or 2% of annual U.S. GDP. That's four times Gillespie's figure, making the nicest of assumptions on Gillespie's behalf. Gillespie isn't a fool. Even to his own political shock troops, Gillespie is a liar.
     
     (Sources: CNN September 17, 2003, Washington Times September 25, 2003, Reuters , Bureau of Economic Analysis, The Economic Consequences of a War with Iraq by William Nordhaus)
     
     
276. A sermon a day makes me want Bush to go away.
     
     
277. Jim Toy of Seaside, California contributes this humdinger:

     The Bush Administration came up with a plan to "reform" Amtrak. His plan is to turn responsibility for funding Amtrak over to the states. Route planning, including interstate routes, would also become a state responsibility. Since most Amtrak routes cover several states, coordination and funding will become a logistical nightmare. Most interstate rail services will be eliminated as a result.
     
     Bush's plan theoretically offers 50-50 matching funds to states for rail infrastructure improvements, but provides no source of funds for the federal portion (highways and airports receive 80% federal funding from dedicated trust funds).
     
     In formulating this plan, the administration did not consult with either Amtrak or the states.
     
     Add to all of this a dose of hypocrisy. When Bush was Governor of Texas he was asked to help fund Amtrak's Texas Eagle. At the time he refused and stated that "a national rail service was the responsibility of the federal government."

     (Sources: Stateline September 10, 2003 and National Association of Rail Passengers Hotline May 9, 2003)
     
     
278. According to a disgruntled senior Bush administration figure, the Bush White House leaked the name of a secret CIA operative to the press in order to get back at that operative's husband, who had criticized Bush's plans for going to war in Iraq. The White House's actions not only jeopardized the safety of that CIA operative, but also the safety of the operative's helpful contacts in countries around the world. (Source: Washington Post September 28, 2003)
     
     
279. After the CIA requested an investigation into the above matter, the Bush Administration neglected to authorize such an investigation for two months until the public furor over the matter became undeniable. (Source: Associated Press September 29, 2003)
     
     
280. After conceding that any White House staff member involved in betraying the identity of a CIA operative would "at a minimum" deserve to be fired and also face criminal charges, White House Spokesman Scott McClellan noted that George W. Bush refuses to ask any of his White House staff whether they were the source of the leak. (Source: White House Press Briefing September 29, 2003)
     
     
281. When the heat finally got turned up enough for the Bush Administration to say they'd look into the possibility that an individual or individuals in their ranks had exposed the identity of a CIA agent, they initially refused to appoint an independent investigator. Instead, they assigned John Ashcroft. Given Ashcroft's approach to justice, this is more than a bit like asking a fox to guard the chicken house. (Source: Reuters September 29, 2003)
     
     
282. You haven't heard any updates on the Ashcroft investigation into the illegal White House leaks, have you? That's because there's been nothing but silence from the White House and the Justice Department for months. Can you say "buried"? Well, a senior White House official can. While refusing to be named, the official commented that ""We have let the earth-movers roll in over this one." (Source: Financial Times of London December 5, 2003)
     
     
283. How many ways can they try to spin the truth? The Bush Administration, in scrambling desperation, tried again to explain why it sent hundreds of thousands of young Americans off to kill and be killed in Iraq when it had no solid evidence that there was any need to do so:
     
     Condoleeza Rice, George W. Bush's National Security Advisor, justified the invasion and occupation of Iraq by saying, "nothing pointed to a reversal of Saddam Hussein's very active efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction, to have very good programs in weapons of mass destruction."
     
     Lack of evidence that a crime has not occurred is not the same thing as evidence that a crime has occurred. If there's a man who lives next door to me who has a history of embezzling money from work, would I be justified in having him arrested on suspicion of doing it again, just because I didn't have any evidence that he was not?
     
     Of course not! This isn't the American way of doing things, although Bush and company would like us to forget it. Here in America, our legal and ethical traditions are based upon giving the benefit of the doubt, when there is a lack of evidence that we should do otherwise. If there is no evidence that a person or group of persons has committed a crime, we do not assume that there is a crime and start the punishment. That's just not the way Americans do things. (Source: Boston Globe September 29, 2003)
     
     
284. In 2002, the number of Americans lacking health insurance rose by 2.4 million, introducing not only personal danger into the lives of these citizens, but also high costs for society when these people get acutely sick after a lack of preventative care. Does Bush have a plan to get these people insured? What do you think? (Source: New York Times September 30, 2003)
     
     
285. The number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.7 million in 2002. It seems Bush's first big tax cut didn't exactly work as planned. (Source: New York Times September 27, 2003)
     
     
286. In July of 2003, ABC News aired a story about soldiers opposed to the war in Iraq who were calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The Bush White House responded by letting it leak out that the reporter covering the story was "Gay" and "Canadian." Will someone tell Dubya he's not in middle school anymore? (Source: Toronto Star July 19, 2003)
     
     
287. Bush's notorious Attorney General John Ashcroft has directed executive agencies to obstruct, by all legal means possible, Freedom of Information requests by the public. Democratic President Bill Clinton, by contrast, had set in place a policy directing the same agencies to comply with, whenever legally possible, Freedom of Information requests about government activities. (Source: New York Times January 3, 2003)
     
     
288. In February of 2003, George W. Bush referred to an impending war against Iraq as a "game." That's sick. (Source: Toronto Star February 9, 2003)
     
     
289. While delivering his talking points on how great Bush's War in Iraq would be, Secretary of State Colin Powell depended on a blue curtain to obscure what really stood behind him: Pablo Picasso's Guernica. See, the painting showed images of war: dead people and stuff. That's a really pesky thing for people to see when you're trying to get them to invade a country. (Source: Toronto Star February 9, 2003)
     
     
290. When people tried to tell George W. Bush that his tax cuts would break the bank, he replied with indignance that those people didn't know what they were talking about, that "we can proceed with tax relief without fear of budget deficits, even if the economy softens." Well, the people were right, George was wrong to the tune of $500 Billion -- but of course it is the people who will have to pay the price. (Source: Washington Post July 2, 2002)
     
     
291. Lloyd Grove of the New York Daily News uncovered a "frequently asked questions" memo from the Bush-Cheney campaign to their fundraisers in New York City. Excerpted text follows:

     ---

     Question: "Can I use my personal aircraft for campaign business?"
     
     Answer: "No, you may not use your personal aircraft for campaign business. Corporate aircraft may be used, but only if each person boarding the plane pays the equivalent of a first-class airplane ticket."
     
     Q: "Can I have a fund-raising cocktail party for my friends at a private club or hotel and pay for the party?"
     
     A: "No. You may have them come to your house and treat them up to $1,000 in expenses per adult in the household without it counting against your $2,000 contribution limit."
     
     Q: "Can I use my executive assistant to help with my fund-raising activities?"
     
     A: "Any person can volunteer to help. Employees may volunteer a maximum of 1 (one) hour per week during working hours and an unlimited amount outside of the office."

     ---

     (Source: New York Daily News September 30, 2003)
     
     
292. It doesn't take a weathervane to tell which way the wind is blowing. Just watch the Republicans. Prominent New Hampshire Republican Hilary Cleveland, who served in official capacities in the campaigns of both George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, will not be campaigning for George W. Bush this time around. Instead, she started a statewide Republicans for Dean movement that garnered significant support. Cleveland's move shows that you don't have to be a Democrat to find the Bush record unacceptable (Source: Associated Press September 26, 2003)
     
     
293. Bush makes the entire US population look like half-wits before the world when he stands at podiums challenging everyone with his patent lies. What must they think of us that we elected him? Wait, no, we didn't. But you know what I mean.
     
     
294. He's neither bright eyed nor Bushy-tailed -- but he is awfully squirrely when it comes to his past.
     
     
295. When a man points to air, and he says something's there, there is nothing to call him but strange.
     
     
296. It's tune time! Everybody sing along (to the tune of "Pistol Packin' Mama"): "Oh, lay that pistol down, George, lay that pistol down; Drunk-drivin' prep-school cowboy, lay that pistol down..."
     
     
297. (to the tune of "Have You Forgotten?"): "Have you forgotten about Vietnam, 'bout that two-year old girl crying, covered with napalm? Have you forgotten about My Lai, that sad day in the jungle, when we were the bad guy? I know we all are angry, and we're itching for a fight, but we just need to make damn sure what we're fighting for is right. (And Bush, we still ain't even caught bin Laden, have you forgotten?)"
     
     
298. As Drew Carey remarked after visiting Graceland, there's "nothing like getting ripped off by a dead hillbilly." Unless, of course, you get ripped off by some snotty prep-school idiot pretending to be a hillbilly.
     
     
299. A "shoot first and ask questions later" attitude isn't a sufficient basis for a decent character in a B-grade spaghetti western movie, let alone sound foreign policy for the United States.
     
     
300. Would you trust this guy to watch your kids while you ran out to the supermarket?
     
     
301. While we're at it, would you trust Dick Cheney to watch your kids while you ran out to the supermarket? Eeeeesh.
     
     
302. Ever wish you could work together with millions of other Americans to promote a healthy economy, better schools, peace on earth, constitutional rights, a cleaner environment, and domestic security all in one second? You've got your chance in 2004--vote Bush out. Punch out that chad for Bush's opponent. Punch it good and hard.
     
     
303. Heck, would you trust this guy to watch your dog while you went out of town for a week?
     
     
304. We can win. Look at it this way: If a good 30% of eligible voters are firmly opposed to Bush (recent polls suggest the number is much higher), and voter turnout is about 50% of eligible voters, that means that if every eligible voter who opposes Bush votes against him, 60% of the vote will go to his opponent.
     
     
305. Who needs the help of France, Russia, Germany and China to acheive their international objectives anyway? Um, we do. And Bush just keeps ticking them off.
     
     
306. Who profits when Bush goes to war? Oil companies and defense contractors who make big soft-money campaign contributions. Who loses when Bush goes to war? Kids from some small town or inner city who joined to army to try to scrape together enough money for college.
     
     
307. Why do we have to boot Bush? Because we can't just close our eyes and make him go away.
     
     
308. Because I just had this weird dream where it was just like twelve years ago, and George Bush was president again, and somebody blew up the World Trade Center, and then there were these letters with anthrax in them, but we never caught the guys behind any of it, so people were still afraid, then we invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, but Saddam and Omar and bin Laden all got away, but our troops kept getting killed, like, every day almost, and the stock marked crashed and there were a bunch of corporate scandals but Bush just said we'd "let the market take care of it," and Bush gave rich people a big tax cut and the budget surplus was gone and we had huge deficits again, and lots of people were out of work, just like twelve years ago. Then I woke up and I was like, that was a weird dream, but then I realized I was still in the dream and I went around trying to convince people to vote Bush out of office so I could get out of the dream.
     
     Ever have a dream like that?
     
     
309. Here's a riddle for you: Q: What do Hitler, Napoleon, Lyndon Johnson and George W. Bush have in common? A: They all tried to fight land wars in Asia. Ha ha. (Sorry, I wish it was funny, but it isn't really, is it? When will he ever learn? When will he ever learn?)
     
     
310. Here's another riddle for you: Q: How is George W. Bush different from Hitler, Napoleon, and Lyndon Johnson? A: Bush tried to fight two land wars in Asia. (I know, still not funny...)
     
     
311. The only reason I keep on laughing at George W. Bush is to keep from crying.
     
     
312. We're electing a U.S. president here, not an upper-class twit of the year.
     
     
313. Because every time I drive near Pennsylvania Avenue in DC, I get the urge to turn on my "hazard" lights.
     
     
314. Would you trust this guy to water your plants while you were out of town?
     
     
315. OK, so what does Condi Rice do, anyhow? I mean, I know she doesn't review intelligence reports and advise the president on the content of his speeches or anything, so what does she do? For instance, how come when 9/11 happened and everybody was running around saying "we should have somebody in the cabinet in charge of the security of the nation," she didn't pipe up and say, "Well, I am actually in charge of 'national security,' it's in my job title and everything," I mean, did she forget what her job was, or what? If we vote Bush out, Condi goes back to her old job as a college administrator, where she can continue to do absolutely nothing--for the students, faculty and staff of Stanford University.
     
     
316. Would you trust this guy just to feed your guppies while you were out of town?
     
     
317. If a free sample at the supermarket left as bad a taste in your mouth as the last three years, would you buy more of the product and take it home to your family?
     
     
318. Because in 2000, Bush ran against peace and prosperity. Now that he's made it abundantly clear where he stands on those issues, the choice is clear: yes to peace and prosperity, no to Bush.
     
     
319. If George W. Bush were a kid offering to mow your lawn, would you wince before you said "OK?" Would you even say "OK" at all? All right, then. Now imagine that YOU are the flower bed of shasta daisies...
     
     
320. Because the president is a role model for kids. You want millions of kids running around trying to be like Bush?
     
     
321. If you loaned this guy fifty bucks, would you count on getting it back?
     
     
322. I'm becoming convinced that getting this clown elected president was the ultimate fraternity prank. This prank ended up costing thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and trillions of dollars out of peoples' life savings. It's gone way too far. Couldn't they have just stolen a street sign or something?
     
     
323. America is a shining beacon of hope for the world. But when we lie and kill, or let a few corrupt people loot our treasury, the golden glow of that beacon is tarnished. Instead of holding forth hope for the world, we engender fear. It is not in our long term interest to be feared. Boot Bush in 2004, and help make the United States a country the world can look up to again.
     
     
324. From the October 11, 2000 Debate at Wake Forest University:
     
     "Q: What is the role of the U.S. in the world?
     
     Bush: I'm not sure the role of the United States is to go around the world and say this is the way it's got to be.... I'm not sure where the vice president's coming from, but I think one way for us to end up being viewed as the ugly American is for us to go around the world saying, we do it this way, so should you. I think the United States must be humble and must be proud and confident of our values, but humble in how we treat nations that are figuring out how to chart their own course." ...
     
     "Q: Should the people of the world fear us, or see us as a friend?
     
     Bush: If we're an arrogant nation, they'll resent us.... If we're an arrogant nation, they'll view us that way, but if we're humble nation, they'll respect us."
     
     We couldn't agree more. It is tragic that Bush has not followed his own advice.
     
     
325. The Bush Administration's interpretation of the Homeland Security Act is that model rocketry hobbyists must be fingerprinted. (Source: Quad Cities Times March 24, 2003)
     
     
326. Bush ran for President in 2000 on the apparent success of the Texas school system. He even appointed Houston School District Superintendent Rod Paige his Secretary of Education based on the supposed "Texas Miracle" in that city following from Bush's purportedly miraculous education policies in the state. But it turns out that the "Miracle" that Rod Paige produced in Houston was anything but miraculous. Paige set up a system in which school principles got bonuses for low dropout rates. Principles simply underreported dropouts to get their bonuses, creating the illusion of a Miracle that never actually existed. (Source: Palm Beach Post September 27, 2003)
     
     
327. People are getting so fed up with Bush's pattern of, er, misrepresentations that they're sending a flatbed truck around the country with a twelve foot-high flaming statue of the man, with the words "Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire." I kid you not. (Source: WCAX News October 1, 2003)
     
     
328. Tellingly, the response of Republican Politicians to charges that Bush is a liar is not to deny that he has been lying. No, instead they trot out phrases like this: "When you start throwing out words like lies and liars, i think that offends people." Well, yes, it does offend people. But not in the way that Bush partisans might like. (Source: WCAX News October 1, 2003)
     
     
329. George W. Bush says that the lesson of "September 11" is that there are bad guys and we have to make them pay. Also, George W. Bush says that "September 11" "changed everything", which seems to mean that he gets to do whatever he wants and the Constitution doesn't count any more. From the people in charge of the American government, the explanations of "September 11" don't get much deeper than that. We need a deeper appreciation of what has (and what has not) changed in this country since the attcks that took place on that day.
     
     
330. One of the most forgotten details of the American response in the weeks weeks after September 11, 2001 is that the government of Afghanistan offered to give in to George W. Bush's demands. The government of Afghanistan offered to hand Osama Bin Laden over to the American government, through Pakistan.
     
     Why didn't George W. Bush take Afghanistan up on its offer? Oh, what an excellent question that is.
     
     Bush refused to take Osama bin Laden into custody from Afghanistan because the Afghan government wanted to negotiate the way in which this transfer would take place. Bush said that he would not conduct any negotiations with the Afghan government, even if it meant that the American government could get Osama Bin Laden as a prisoner. Then, Bush said he'd had enough of talk with the Afghans.
     
     Bush wanted to attack.
     
     The government of Afghanistan pleaded with the Bush Administration, saying that it wanted to talk to him about handing over Osama bin Laden into American custody. Bush refused. Bush said he wouldn't talk about it. Bush wanted a war more than he wanted Osama bin Laden. Bush made a choice to let Osama bin Laden go.
     
     America didn't have to invade Afghanistan. Bush made the choice that he wanted to fight for Osama bin Laden instead of negotiating for him. For Bush, fighting felt better. And that makes Bush a dangerous leader. (Source: Washington Post October 29, 2001)
     
     
331. If Afghanistan didn't get rid of Osama bin Laden, then at least it got rid of Al Qaida and the oppressive Taliban, right? Right? Wrong. Al-Qaida and the Taliban are still in Afghanistan. In fact, they still rule in parts of Afghanistan. In fact, they're still attacking and killing American soldiers.
     
     Hamid Karzai, the American-appointed "President" of Afghanistan only really controls a small part of Afghanistan. Elsewhere, independent warlords rule, and some of those warlords seem more loyal to the Taliban than to the American occupation force. (Source: CBS News September 11, 2003)
     
     
332. OK, if Afghanistan didn't get rid of Osama bin Laden or Al Qaida or the Taliban, then at least women aren't oppressed in Afghanistan any more, right? Unfortunately, no. Amnesty International reports that in the two years since Bush invaded Afghanistan, conditions for women have barely improved at all, with forced marriages, rapes, domestic violence and the burka still dominating most women's lives. Bush promised a changed Afghanistan for women -- but then he got swept away by the next great war. (Source: Associated Press October 5, 2003)
     
     
333. Because Laura Bush married beneath her -- a librarian having a "non-curious" husband who doesn't read a single newspaper and gets his important information in 'sound bites' from staffers can only mean she missed her calling ... she should have gone into puppetry.
     
     
334. Because every time W says "we" he's talking to himself. His 'we' doesn't pertain to anyone I know -- we're not "his people," so we can be summarily dismissed. As were the many thousands of Americans who marched for peace, 'we' are just the worlds largest "special interest group" in his eyes.
     
     
335. Because since his first weeks in office, no matter how innocuous an announcement the Texas Bush makes, you can bet that it will reduce your safety, your opportunity, your freedom, or your welfare. His track record in reducing 'quality of life' for the average American is astounding.
     
     
336. In the spring of 2003, Sheriff Bush's loyal deputy Paul Wolfowitz testified before the United States Congress that "we are dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon." But lo and behold, it turns out that well before the war, a secret task force (another one?) made a report determining that Iraq's oil infrastructure was in a decrepit state. Administration officials confirmed that Wolfowitz was aware of the task force's existence. So when he testified in front of Congress, did he lie, obfuscate the truth or just forget it? None of these options are acceptable. But neither is any of them, sadly, a surprise. (Source: New York Times October 5, 2003)
     
     
337. How far have we fallen? A contrast:
     John F. Kennedy: Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.
     George W. Bush: Big tax giveaway to the rich. Yum, yum!
     
     
338. Another contrast:
     Franklin D. Roosevelt: We have nothing to fear but fear itself.
     George W. Bush: Orange Alert! Orange Alert! Quick! Grab your duct tape and plastic sheeting! Orange Alert!
     
     
339. Still more contrast:
     Abraham Lincoln: A nation of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this Earth.
     George W. Bush: Come to my fundraiser. It costs two thousand dollars per ticket.
     
     
340. Yet another contrast:
     George Washington: I cannot tell a lie.
     George W. Bush: What I said about there being an imminent threat of a nuclear attack from Iraq was technically correct.
     
     
341. Constitutional Contrast:
     Patrick Henry: Give me liberty or give me death!
     George W. Bush: There ought to be limits to freedom.
     
     
342. When George W. Bush said "There ought to be limits to freedom" on May 21, 1999, he was trying to justify his efforts to shut down a critical web site. Even before he assumed the presidency, Bush couldn't tolerate anyone making fun of him. (Source: Dallas Morning News May 22, 1999)
     
     
343. When George W. Bush couldn't get his pals to shut down the web site making fun of him, he had Karl Rove buy up dozens of internet domain names that included the word "Bush" with the idea of stemming the tide of anti-Bush web sites. Clearly, the idea didn't work. But it betrays the extent to which these "free market" Bushies just can't handle a free market of ideas. (Source: Dallas Morning News May 22, 1999)
     
     
344. In more evidence of where the wind is blowing, a Republican attracted attention for his blog, Republicans Against Dean, against the Bush administration and for his chief rival at the time, Howard Dean. He writes:
     
     "I am a Republican Speaking out against a Regime which is sending our nation over a cliff, and has many reasonable Democrats using the word "Fascism...." The last time we had a Republican President who lied this much to the American people, we threw Dick Nixon's ass straight out of the White House. Bush has lied to you, he has lied to me, he has lied to our allies, and no one is talking about it. Republicans are walking around in a malaise, fearing that Abdul will blow up their mom's chess club meeting, because Bushy and Rummy want you to be afraid."
     
     Although Howard Dean's candidacy has submerged, the writer continues to write in opposition to George W. Bush at The Moderate Republican.
345. Under George W. Bush's push to fund "faith-based intiatives" (translation: religious programs) with taxpayers' money, The Reverend Pat Robertson's Christian organization Operation Blessing received $500,000 from the federal government. This organization's mission statement declares that "We believe that the Holy Bible is the inspired, infallible, and authoritative source of Christian doctrine and precept... We believe that the only hope for man is to believe on Jesus Christ, the virgin-born Son of God, who died to take upon Himself the punishment for the sin of mankind and who rose from the dead so that by receiving Him as Lord, man is redeemed by His blood." This is the ministry your taxpayer funds have paid for. (Source: Washington Post October 3, 2002)
     
     
346. July 2003 brought news from the government that Al-Qaeda was planning to attempt more hijackings of airplanes within the United States this summer. How did George W. Bush reacted to this news? He announced that he would cut funds for the air marshals that protect American flights from terrorist attack. The reason? He said there's just not enough money to pay for them, so a large number of air marshals would just have to be fired, even as new air terror alerts were sounding. Where did all the money go? That's right, the money went into Bush's gigantic tax giveaway to the top richest one percent of Americans. (Source: CBS News July 31, 2003)
     
     
347. Because in two billion years, when alien lifeforms come to Earth and uncover the historical records of our extinct society, no one will be there to tell them "No, Bush the Second wasn't really elected by the popular vote." Flipping a few years forward through our records, these aliens will look at us with certain disgust if we re-elect (Oops, did we say re-elect? A typographical mistake.) this man.
     
     
348. Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, killed in Bush's invasion of Iraq, April 4, 2003. His widow is quoted as asking, "What is the Medal of Honor? What is it to me? What is it to Paul? Maybe it's something to the