Bush and Cheney

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Bush and Cheney
in

• The True Flip-FloppersorWho are you really
  voting for?

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Flip Flop 1
The War in Iraq
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said The
Duelfer Report will continue to show that Saddam
was a gathering threat that needed to be taken
seriously, that it was a matter of time before he
was going to begin pursuing those weapons of mass
destruction.

• Compare that to the words of Vice President Dick
  Cheney (news - web sites), in a speech on Aug.
  26, 2002, 6 1/2 months before the invasion
• "Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam
  Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction,"
  Cheney said then. "There is no doubt he is
  amassing them to use against our friends, against
  our allies and against us."

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Flip Flop 2
More War in Iraq

• In a speech on Oct. 7, 2002, Bush laid out what
  he described then as Iraq's threat
• "It possesses and produces chemical and
  biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear
  weapons."
• "We've also discovered through intelligence that
  Iraq has a growing fleet of manned and unmanned
  aerial vehicles that could be used to disperse
  chemical or biological weapons across broad
  areas."
• "Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely
  range of hundreds of miles far enough to strike
  Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey and other nations
  in a region where more than 135,000 American
  civilians and service members live and work.

And then 2 years later I recognize we didn't
find the stockpiles of weapons we all thought
were there." (Sept. 9, 2004) President Bush
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Flip Flop 3
Nation Building and the War in Iraq
During the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush argued
against nation building and foreign military
entanglements. In the second presidential debate,
he said "I'm not so sure the role of the United
States is to go around the world and say, 'This
is the way it's got to be.'"
The United States is currently involved in nation
building in Iraq on a scale unseen since the
years immediately following World War II.
During the 2000 election, Mr. Bush called for
U.S. troops to be withdrawn from the NATO
peacekeeping mission in the Balkans. His
administration now cites such missions as an
example of how America must "stay the course."
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Flip Flop 4
Iraq and the September 11 Attacks
In a press conference in September 2002, six
months before the invasion of Iraq, President
Bush said, you can't distinguish between al
Qaeda and Saddam when you talk about the war on
terror... they're both equally as bad, and
equally as evil, and equally as destructive.

• The Sept. 11 commission found there was no
  evidence Saddam was linked to al Qaeda or the
  9/11 attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.

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Flip Flop 5
The September 11 Commission
President Bush initially opposed the creation of
an independent commission to investigate the
Sept. 11 attacks. In May 2002, he said, Since it
deals with such sensitive information, in my
judgment, it's best for the ongoing war against
terror that the investigation be done in the
intelligence committee.

• Bowing to pressure from victims' families, Mr.
  Bush reversed his position. The following
  September, he backed an independent investigation.

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Flip Flop 6
Free Trade
During the 2000 presidential election, Mr. Bush
championed free trade. Then, eyeing campaign
concerns that allowed him to win West Virginia,
he imposed 30 percent tariffs on foreign steel
products from Europe and other nations in March
2002.

• Twenty-one months later, Mr. Bush changed his
  mind and rescinded the steel tariffs. Choosing to
  stand on social issues instead of tariffs in
  steel country Ohio, Pennsylvania and West
  Virginia the Bush campaign decided it could
  afford to upset the steel industry rather than
  further estrange old alliances.

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Flip Flop 7
Homeland Security Department
President Bush initially opposed creating a new
Department of Homeland Security. He wanted Tom
Ridge, now the secretary of Homeland Security, to
remain an adviser.

• Bush reversed himself again and backed the
  largest expansion of the federal government since
  the creation of the Defense Department in 1949.

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Flip Flop 8
Same-Sex Marriage
During the 2000 campaign, Mr. Bush said he was
against federal intervention regarding the issue
of same-sex marriage. In an interview with CNN's
Larry King, he said, states "can do what they
want to do" on the issue. Vice President Cheney
took the same stance.
Four years later, this past February, Mr. Bush
announced his support for an amendment to the
Constitution that defines marriage as being
exclusively between men and women. The amendment
would forbid states from doing "what they want to
do" on same-sex marriage.

• Citing recent decisions by activist judges in
  states like Massachusetts, Mr. Bush defended his
  reversal. Critics point out that well before the
  2000 presidential race, a judge in Hawaii ruled
  in December 1996 that there was no compelling
  reason for withholding marriage from same-sex
  couples.

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Flip Flop 9
The War On Terror
I don't think you can win it," Mr. Bush said of
the war on terror in August. In an interview on
NBC's "Today" show, he said, I think you can
create conditions so that . . . those who use
terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of
the world."

• Before the month closed, Mr. Bush reversed
  himself at the American Legion national
  convention in Nashville. He said "We meet today
  in a time of war for our country, a war we did
  not start yet one that we will win." He later
  added, we are winning, and we will win."

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Flip Flop 10
Campaign Finance Reform
President Bush was initially against the
McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill. He
opposed any soft-money limits on individuals to
national parties.
But Mr. Bush later signed McCain-Feingold into
law. The law, named for Senate sponsors John
McCain, R-Ariz., and Russell Feingold, D-Wis.,
barred both national parties from collecting soft
money from individuals.
During the 2000 race, Mr. Bush showed support for
the so-called 527 groups right to air
advertising.
In March 2000, he told CBS News' "Face the
Nation," "There have been ads, independent
expenditures, that are saying bad things about
me. I don't particularly care when they do, but
that's what freedom of speech is all about.
In late August of this year, in an effort to
distance himself from controversial anti-Kerry
ads by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, Mr.
Bush reversed his position, announcing he would
join McCain in legal action to stop these
"shadowy" organizations. Though it would close
the Swift Boat group's funding, court action
would also silence well-funded liberal 527
organizations like MoveOn.org and America Coming
Together.
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Flip Flop 11
Gas Prices
Mr. Bush was critical of Al Gore in the 2000
campaign for being part of the administration
that's been in charge while the price of
gasoline has gone steadily upward. In December
1999, in the first Republican primary debate, Mr.
Bush said President Clinton must jawbone OPEC
members to lower prices.
As gas topped a record level of 53 a barrel this
week, Mr. Bush has shown no propensity to
personally pressure, or jawbone, Mideast oil
producers to increase output.

• A spokesman for the president reportedly said in
  March that Mr. Bush will not personally lobby oil
  cartel leaders to change their minds.

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Flip Flop 12
Patients Rights
GOVERNOR BUSH VETOES PATIENTS' RIGHT TO SUE...
"Despite his campaign rhetoric in favor of a
patients' bill of rights, Bush fought such a bill
tooth and nail as Texas governor, vetoing a bill
coauthored by Republican state Rep. John Smithee
in 1995. He... constantly opposed a patient's
right to sue an HMO over coverage denied that
resulted in adverse health effects." Salon,
2/7/01
CANDIDATE BUSH PRAISES TEXAS PATIENTS' RIGHT TO
SUE... "We're one of the first states that said
you can sue an HMO for denying you proper
coverage... It's time for our nation to come
together and do what's right for the people. And
I think this is right for the people. You know, I
support a national patients' bill of rights, Mr.
Vice President. And I want all people covered. I
don't want the law to supersede good law like
we've got in Texas." Governor Bush, 10/17/00

• PRESIDENT BUSH'S ADMINISTRATION ARGUES AGAINST
  RIGHT TO SUE "To let two Texas consumers, Juan
  Davila and Ruby R. Calad, sue their managed-care
  companies for wrongful denials of medical
  benefits 'would be to completely undermine'
  federal law regulating employee benefits,
  Assistant Solicitor General James A. Feldman said
  at oral argument March 23. Moreover, the
  administration's brief attacked the policy
  rationale for Texas's law, which is similar to
  statutes on the books in nine other states."
  Washington Post, 4/5/04

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Flip Flop 13
Condoleeza Rice Testifies
BUSH SPOKESMAN SAYS RICE WON'T TESTIFY AS 'A
MATTER OF PRINCIPLE'... "Again, this is not her
personal preference this goes back to a matter
of principle. There is a separation of powers
issue involved here. Historically, White House
staffers do not testify before legislative
bodies. So it's a matter of principle, not a
matter of preference." White House Press
Secretary Scott McClellan, 3/9/04

• BUSH ORDERS RICE TO TESTIFY "Today I have
  informed the Commission on Terrorist Attacks
  Against the United States that my National
  Security Advisor, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, will
  provide public testimony." President Bush,
  3/30/04

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Flip Flop 14
Wanted?
BUSH WANTS OSAMA DEAD OR ALIVE... "I want
justice. And there's an old poster out West, I
recall, that says, 'Wanted Dead or Alive.'"
President Bush, on Osama Bin Laden, 09/17/01

• BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT OSAMA "I don't know
  where he is.You know, I just don't spend that
  much time on him... I truly am not that concerned
  about him."President Bush, Press Conference,
  3/13/02

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Flip Flop 15
Axis of Evil
Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)
once called Iran "the world's leading exporter of
terror," called for tougher sanctions, and stood
by President Bush when Iran was named a part of
the Axis of Evil.

• As chairman of Halliburton Co. in the 1990s,
  however, he pushed to lift U.S. trade sanctions
  against Tehran. During Cheneys tenure his
  company's offshore subsidiaries also expanded
  business in Iran.

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And so on and so on
Folks, there is so much stuff this is really
just the tip of the iceberg. Fox News and others
have tried to convince you that John Kerry is a
flip-flopper I hope that you now see who the
true culprit is.
Remember to have an open mind and think about
things. Being a good American means to question
what you hear and to use your vote to help guide
the country in a responsible way. I chose to show
you a wide variety of Bush/Cheney flip-flops
because nobody would vote for this guy if they
really new this is how it was and would be.
Well it is how it is going to be because it is
exactly as it has been, a pattern that has
repeated itself long before these two men invaded
the White House. This country needs your help,
and if you ever felt inclined to make a
difference, that time should be now. Share this
with your friends and families, especially those
who really need to see this! (You know who I
mean!)
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Helpful Reading and Viewing

• BOOKS
• The Best Democracy Money Can Buy by Greg Palast
• Disarming Iraq by Hans Blix
• Plan Of Attack by Bob Woodward
• Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them by Al
  Franken
• 1984 by George Orwell
• The 9/11 Commission Report by The 9/11
  Commission
• The Corporation by Joel Bakan

• MOVIES
• Bush Family Fortunes by Greg Palast
• Outfoxed Rupert Murdochs War on Journalism
  by Robert Greenwald
• Unconstitutional The War On Our Civil
  Liberties by Robert Greenwald
• Uncovered The Whole Truth About The Iraq War
  by Robert Greenwald
• Bushs Brain by Joseph Mealey and Michael
  Paradies Shoob