Shots Across The Bow

One last time, for old times sake.

SKBubba, a man I know and respect, has catalogued what he sarcastically calls a list of Bush accomplishments. It is quite a recitation of machiavellian manipulation combined with boneheaded incompetence designed to make a liberal's toes crack with outrage.

There's only one slight problem.

Much of it is wrong, some of it is out right deceptive, and whatever kernals of truth the list contains are drowned out by the blast of bias and venom.

There are legitimate issues for the libs to oppose Bush; I even share some of them. But when they are enveloped in spurious attacks characterized by distortion and misinformation, their legitimacy is lost in the noise.

Let's take a look at the list, item by item, and see if we can find those kernals of truth. Hang on; it could be a bumpy ride.

The Bush Administration Record of Accomplishment (so far):

• Engineered a coup in conspiracy with brother Jeb in Florida to take office
  

  Unfounded. This issue has been discussed exhaustively over and over again. There simply isn't the evidence to prove a conmspiracy which would have to stretch over several years, be able to pinpoint the key state in an election 2 years away, and put the mechanisms in place to effectively steal that state. The ballot recounts showed Bush won. The overvotes were not counted in accordance with the law of the state of Florida, it being impossible to determine voter intent when two valid votes exist. The purging of the voter rolls is a questionable area, but considering that more connections between Saddam Hussein and al Qaida have been documented than between Republicans and ChoicePoint, and we know how credible liberals find that connection.

  
  

• Administration made up of former executives involved in illegal arms sales, trading with the enemy in violation of U.S. law, and corporate financial scandals, and their companies are now profiting from war
  

  Distortion of the facts, if not an outright lie. Halliburton was convicted of selling arms to Iran, however, Dick Cheney was not a part of the company when the ofense occurred. For an exhaustive discussion of Halliburton past and present, go here, and follow the included links.

  
  

• Stonewalled Federal judge requesting files in relation to White House official's involvement in corporate finance scandal
  

  Bush acted in accordance with advice from the White House Counsel, advice which mirrored that produced by the Clinton White House when similar demands were made. Protecting Executive privilege is a legitimate function of the President. If you believe that power is being abused, you'll have to come up with evidence.

  
  

• Representing party of smaller government and less Federal spending, creates largest bureaucracy in U.S. history and supports largest entitlement spending program in U.S. history
  

  True, but incomplete. Much of the expansion in social spending comes from compromise with the liberals in Congress, in order to pass a budget. Is it a wise tactical move to criticize a president for advancing your agenda? As for the largest bureaucracy, 9-11 has something to do with that, although the effectiveness of that bureaucracy is questionable, and a legitimate campaign issue.

• 26% loss in Dow Jones Industrial Average, 48% loss in NASDAQ, 33% loss in S&P 500, trillions in wealth wiped out.
  

  For these numbers to be meaningful, you'd have to show causation, identifying specific actions of the President which caused the loss in market value. This will prove difficult, since the market peaked prior to the election, and most analysts attribute the drop to the collapse in tech stocks after the dot com bubble burst. Add the effects of 9-11 to that downward pressure, and there's not much blame left to attribute to Bush. Add to that the fact that the market has bottomed and is rebounding and the market becomes a very weak issue.

  
  

• 9% increase in consumer debt to all time high of $1.74 trillion
  

  Misleading and meaningless. Obviously, with rare exceptions, consumer debt as an absolute number will increase over time, as the number of consumers increases over time. However, let's take a closer look at the numbers and see how Dubya rates among recent presidents. During Dubya's first two years, consumer debt rose 10.4%. By contrast, during Bill Clinton's first two years, consumer debt rose a whopping 22.8%, and 21.6% during his second two years. He fell off his stride during the first half of his second term; consumer debt rose a modest 11.1%. He closed strong, though, finishing up with a 17.6% gain. Going back to Bush the Elder, I found that he had an increase of 6.9% during his first two years, and a decrease of 0.2% to finish up. By these numbers, it looks like Dubya has cut the rate of growth of consumer debt by nearly 50%. You can run against that if you'd like, but it might be difficult.

  
  

• 25% increase in overall bankruptcy filings, 8% increase in business filings, 26% increase in personal bankruptcy filings
  

  This chart shows that the bankruptcy rate has been increasing at a steady pace since 1984, allowing for the effects of economic downturns. This table gives the numbers behind the chart, and shows that the bulk of the increase (19%) occurred during the first year of his term, when reverberations from the dot bomb, Enron, and Worldcom were still ravaging the economy. It is notable that bankruptcies were up only 5% during the last full year. The question becomes this: What effect does the President have on the filing of personal bankruptcies?

  
  

• Two and a half million jobs lost and counting

• Unemployment claims at eight year high, nearly nine million people out of work
  

  Looking at the statistics from the Bureau of labor, we see that again, the majority of job losses came during the peak of the recession during Bush's first year. The rate of job loss has dropped to nearly zero, and most economists are predicting a strong second half. 16% of corporate CEO's are expecting to hire new workers during the next 6 months, up from 9% last month. Should the recovery continue and grow stronger, it will be very difficult for dems to run on. But you're welcome to try.

  
  

• Record budget deficits, $450 billion and growing
  

  Record by number, but not as a percentage of GDP, which is a more informative number. However, given the events of the last two years, running a deficit is not altogether unexpected. In fact, back when Newt was running his Contract with America, of which one of the primary planks was running a balanced budget, dems were livid, claiming they needed the ability to run a deficit in times of economic downturns or war.

  
  

• Proposed tax cut could pay for hiring all nine million people out of work and pay them $80K per year instead of benefiting wealthy
  

  Gross factual error. This canard has been demolished before, but for those weak in basic math:
  

  9,000,000(unemployed)X80,000(salary)X10(years for the tax cut to produce savings of 350 billion)= 7,200,000,000,000

  
  or 7.2 trillion dollars. Even using the dem's assumption that the tax cut will save 850 billion over the next ten years, it is clear that the statement above is flat out wrong.
  But it goes further than that. Notwithstanding the math error, the characterization that this tax cut benefits primarily the wealthy is also wrong, as discussed here. I'm getting a 50% tax cut, and I'm not wealthy by a long stretch.

  
  

• Gutted clean air regulations, allowing utilities and factories to continue polluting the atmosphere

  
  

• Rolled back wilderness protections, opening up wilderness areas to logging, mining, other development

  
  

• Rolled back wetlands protection, reducing or eliminating regulations prohibiting pollution of wetlands
  

  Bush is not as strong on the environment as some would like. The accusations here are valid, but are they important? Most surveys rate the environment well down the list of priorities when it comes to picking a President.

  
  

• Proposed school vouchers to take taxpayer money away from public education and give it to wealthy families to send their kids to private schools
  

  More distortion. The vouchers are not earmarked for the rich, but to allow families to pull their kids out of underperforming schools. Wealthy families already send their kids to private schools. Saying that vouchers are a sop to the rich is simply invoking class warfare in a area where it doesn't belong. As for vouchers, I have my doubts about whether they will work, since I don't believe the failure of our educational system is due to a lack of money, but it least it provides alternatives where there were none.

  
  

• Worst terrorist attack in history, worst attack on U.S. soil occurred on current administration's watch, mounting evidence of numerous warnings that could have prevented it

• Administration stonewalling investigators and attempting to suppress report of intelligence and law enforcement failures leading up to worst terrorist attack in history
  

  The evidence is clear with advantqage of hindsight. I'm still waiting for anyone to show that there was evidence that would create a reasonable suspicion of 9-11, and detail reasonable measures that would have prevented it. Given the difficulties Israel has had supressing terrorism, even with their restriction on civli liberties, I'm skeptical that such reasonable measures exist. As for the so-called stonewalling, I've seen nothing different from any other administration protecting itself from a partisan witch hunt.

  
  

• Made speeches promising more funding for shipping container inspections at U.S. ports to look for nukes and other WMD, then eliminated funding from budget
  

  Valid point

• Passed sweeping laws violating individual civil rights guaranteed by the Constitution
  

  Actually, Congress passed the laws. If the laws do violate civil rights, a point which is a legitimate concern, I expect to see several SCOTUS challenges in the near future.

  
  

• Holding hundreds or thousands of prisoners without probable cause, charges, or access to legal counsel
  

  Valid point. Whiule I understand the motive, and the concerns, I cannot support holding people, particularly American citizens or legal immigrants indefinately, and without counsel.

  
  

• Allowed North Korean sale of Scud missiles to Yemen
  

  So? The sale was legal. What pretext did we have to stop it?

  
  

• Conducted illegal preemptive unprovoked military invasion of sovereign state resulting in hundreds of military casualties and thousands of civilian deaths, deceived Congress and UN Security Council to justify
  

  Malicious distortion of the facts bordering on lies. Military action was authorized by the US Congress, and by the UN. Additionally, extensive violations of the terms of the cease fire from the Gulf War provided all the provocation required for resumption of hostilities. As for deception of Congress and the UN, Colin Powell's presentation to the UN provided confirmation of info provided by UNMOVIC and Hans Blix. If evidence exists of Bush deceiving Congress, it has yet to be found. We've heard claims and counter claims, but no proof either way. Once again, if you make claims of malfeasance, the burden of proof is on you.

  
  

• Proposes sweeping cuts in veteran's benefits, instructs Veteran's Administration to deceive veterans with regard to benefits available
  

  Shameful

  
  

• Pissed off the Dixie Chicks
  

  Laughable

  
  

• Made deal with Iranian terrorist organization
  

  Problematic, but pragmatic.

  
  

• Dressed in fighter pilot costume and flew military jet to aircraft carrier for stunt landing and political fundraising/campaign event despite having ticket pulled and being grounded for failing to take required physical and drug test and being AWOL from post during Vietnam conflict
  

  More distortion of fact. This charge too has been dealt with extensively here, and here. He was not AWOL as his home command knew where he was, and he wasn' grounded for missing his physical; he didn't take his physical because he was serving in a non flight status at the time.

  
  

• Declares victory, yet soldiers die in Iraq every day, half the country has no electricity or water, attempts to install democracy failing miserably, Saddam and his alleged WMD cannot be found, neither can Osama
  

  More distortion, accompanied by an egregious mistake or an outright lie. President Bush has never declared victory in Iraq. He has declared an end to major combat, which is accurate. He has also said that Iraq remains a dangerous place, which is also accurate. Attempts to bring democracy to the Iraqi people are proceeding as a steady pace, in spite of continued opposition from Saddam loyalists. BAghdad and other cities have Iraqi city councils, and the nation as a whole has a newly constituted governing council. Considering that the US rebuilding of Japan took 7 years, I'm not ready to declare failure in 7 weeks.

  
  

• Unable to get assistance from France, Germany, or India to provide troops for additional security and peacekeeping in Iraq
  

  No surprise here. france and Germany have no intention of helping the US, as their primary focus is becoming the center of an anti US cabal. They want to counter US power. With that aim, the best diplomat in the world wouldn't get help from them. Yes, Chirac said he'd be willing to send French companies in to help with reconstruction, with the price that the new Iraqi gov't would honor french oil contracts made with the Hussein regime. I don;t think the US would endear themselves with the Iraqis by allowing accomplices of the Hussein regime to continue raping them.

  
  

• Proposes development of tactical nuclear weapons in violation of 1992 Senate ban
  

  Proposing is not a violation of the ban. I disagree with tactical nukes, but it is an option that should be discussed.

  
  

• Proposes privatization of Medicare disguised as prescription drug benefit, rejected by Congress
  

  This is a legitimate campaign issue, since it reveals two different philosophies for preserving Medicare benefits.

  
  

• Tax cuts already passed would fund health insurance for all 43 million uninsured Americans, including nearly ten million uninsured children
  

  Again, this reveals two different philosophies. By stimulating the economy, Bush hopes to employ more people, allowing them to get their own insurance, rather than simply providing the insurance, which provides no economic stimulus and creates no jobs.

  
  

• Pushes legislation to eliminate overtime pay for up to eight million American working people
  

  More distortion. The legislation, according to giov't estimates, may cost up to 2 million people their overtime, at the same time making it available for about 2 million more. The 8 million number is a liberal estimate. The issue is legitimate, but it would have been nice to see the whole issue explored, rather than just part of it.

  
  

• Admits phony intelligence on Iraq nuclear program, but maintains it was technically not a lie because some other guy said it and he was just repeating it
  

  More distortion. The quote was: "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." As of today, the Brits still stand by that claim, indicating that they had evidence beyond the forged documents. I'll be interested in seeing that evidence.

• Claims two trailers used to make helium for balloons and some junk buried in some guy's rose garden are "proof" of Iraqi WMD programs. 25,000 liters of anthrax, 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX nerve agent still missing. Trots Rumsfeld out on Meet the Press to claim these are small things that can be easily moved and hidden, holding out his hands to illustrate something the size of a Mason jar, a magical Mason jar that can hold 63,000 liters or 500 tons.
  

  More distortion, combined with lack of knowledge. The claim that the trailers were used to make hydrogen for artillery balloons, even if accurate, does not preclude the fact that the trailers could be used for the production of chemical weapons, which makes them a banned item. The presence of high speed centrifuges, integral to a uranium enrichment program, buried under a scientists rose garden, along with his testimony that they were being hidden for use when the inspections ended are in fact proof that hussein maintained a nuclear program in defiance of UN resolutions, including the cease fire.

  25,000 liters is about 6,600 gallons. The standard gasoline tanker holds 12,500 gallons. Obviously, it would be very easy to move two gasoline tankers or hide them in thousands of miles of desert. Or slip them over the border into Syria.

  
  

• Expands Department of Homeland Security terrorist fighting activities to include spying on American citizens suspected of posessing child pornography
  

  Valid point

  
  

• Pushes legislation to limit medical malpractice claims to $250K, even if an incompetent doctor kills your wife or cuts off your legs instead of removing your appendix
  

  Not true. The legislation does not limit compensatory damages, only punitive damages.

  
  

• Installs new Senate majority leader with ties to health care industry to shepherd through legislation benefiting corporate insurance and pharmaceutical pals
  

  Putting people in place to advance his agenda.....and this is wrong why?

  
  

• Pushes legislation to limit bankruptcy protections for consumers targeted by predatory lenders, but proposes no reforms for rogue corporations such as Enron that blow off creditors, employees, and investors at pennies on the dollar
  

  from the chart referenced above, note that while persoanl bankruptcies have grown as a staggering rate, corporate bankruptcy rates have remained fairly stable, actually decreasing slightly over time, even as the number of businesses increased. The rise in persoanl bankruptcy vs the relatively stable corporate bankruptcy rates indicates abuse of current personal bankruptcy laws. Reform is clearly needed.

  
  

• Pushes legislation to fund faith based social programs, Congress rejects it, Bush issues executive order to allow Federally Funded local and state programs to hire or fire based on religion or ideology and to promote religion as part of delivering services
  

  Valid issue. Again, this represents a difference in philosophy.

  
  

• Declines invitation to NAACP convention, but sends videotaped greeting to Southern Baptist Convention, calling them faithful servants and praying for them, while they adopt a policy that "homosexuals can find freedom from this sinful, destructive lifestyle" by accepting Jesus as their savior
  

  Since when is the President not allowed religious freedom?

• Comments on Supreme Court homosexual rights decision, declares "marriage should be between a man and a woman"
  

  As did others, including Howard Dean, Joe Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, and John Kerry

  
  

• Files amicus brief with Supreme Court urging them to strike down Affirmative Action programs, celebrates Strom Thurmond's "remarkable life" and says he was a friend
  

  The amicus brief concerned the University of Michigan admissions programs. The court partially agreed with the brief, striking down the undergraduate admissions process.

  
  

• Plans on spending $200 million plus to get re-elected against challengers the GOP says are unelectable
  

  Just because the money's raised doesn't mean it will be spent. Besides, campaign bravado is one thing; the campaign is another altogether.

  So there we have it. Several hours spent digging for facts and analysing claims, and what do we have left? A few legitimate issues buried in a morass of anger, venom and distortion of fact, along with a little innuendo to liven up the mix.

  Dems are making the same mistake reps made with Clinton; the primal scream of fury drowns out the sound of any truths that may be expressed.

  The title of this piece is The Last Time for a reason. These charges have been placed on the President time and again, and refuted time and again. I don't expect to change any minds with this, but from here on out, when the list is thrown up, I, and anyone else who wants to, can just link to this and end the debate.
  

  Posted by Rich at July 16, 2003 9:36 PM | TrackBack