Posted on 05/26/2008 4:49:53 PM PDT by STARWISE
First, the White House spoke out against NBC News and its editing of Richard Engel's interview with President George Bush.
And, today, the White House takes on the New York Times editorial page for its editorial, "Mr. Bush and the GI Bill."
From the White House statement:
Once again, the New York Times Editorial Board doesn't let the facts get in the way of expressing its vitriolic opinions - no matter how misleading they may be.
In today's editorial, "Mr. Bush and the GI Bill", the New York Times irresponsibly distorts President Bush's strong commitment to strengthening and expanding support for America's service members and their families.
This editorial could not be farther from the truth about the President's record of leadership on this issue. In his January 2008 State of the Union Address, while proposing a series of initiatives to support our military families, President Bush specifically called upon Congress to answer service members' request that they be able to transfer their GI Bill benefits to their spouses and children.
In April, he sent a legislative package to the Hill that would expand access to childcare, create new authorities to appoint qualified spouses into civil service jobs, provide education opportunities and job training for military spouses, and allow our troops to transfer their unused education benefits to their spouses or children.
As Congress debates the best way to expand the existing GI Bill, Secretary Gates has laid out important guidelines to ensure that legislation meets our service members' needs and rewards military service.
First, since our servicemen and women have regularly requested the ability to transfer their GI bill benefits to their family members, legislation should include transferability.
Second, legislation should provide greater rewards for continued military service in the all volunteer force.
There are several GI bill proposals under consideration in both the House and Senate. The Department of Defense has specific concerns about legislation sponsored by Senator Webb because it lacks transferability and could negatively impact military retention.
The President specifically supports the GI Bill legislation expansion proposed by Senators Graham, Burr, and McCain because it allows for the transferability of education benefits and calibrates an increase in education benefits to time in the service.
Though readers of the New York Times editorial page wouldn't know it, President Bush looks forward to signing a GI bill that supports our troops and their families, and preserves the experience and skill of our forces.
~~~
Sure makes sense, but to hear Obama and the other slicksters and lame media, Pres. Bush is against helping our military, which couldn't be farther from the truth.
Perhaps the time has come to deal with these Copperheads as Pres. Lincoln dealt with them.
Reagan effectively ignored the press and took his case straight to the people. This was SO much more effective.
If Bush simply emulated Reagan's strategy of TALKING TO THE PEOPLE his popularity ratings would triple and people would be a whole lot smarter about the issues. So what idiot is advising the White House to throw Bush's weight behind stupid press statements “attacking” the press?
In a battle of wits, why attack an unarmed enemy?
Pity Bush has had such incompetent advice and staff for his entire Presidency, but especially over the past 4 years.
Johnson, Andrew 1865-69 (Democrat) let the minutemen wives and children starve. I have documented proof.
The first worthless Johnson to rise to high office.
It is about time, do you think he finally GREW A PAIR?
Even FDR did the same thing with his regular fireside chats when he promoted the New Deal and the WWII effort through earnest conversation with the public.
I'm sure the NYSlimes will print this press realease on the front page.....not. No one will ever see this effort except freepers and the Time's janitor who empties waste baskets in the editorial offices.
Ninety-Nine point Ninety Nine percent of Bush's woes (and by extention, those of the Republican Party) can be laid at the feet of a tone-deaf, stubborn, non-aggressive president devoid of aggressive leadership in the communications arena......along with the worst and most ineffective White House PR staff and speech writers since the hapless Herbert Hoover administration.
Leni
Thank you.
“It is about time, do you think he finally GREW A PAIR?”
-
There are none so blind as those who refuse to see (anatomically or otherwise):
GLAD BUSH IS STILL AROUND
By Paul Johnson (eminent British historian and author)
Looking back over the last few years, I find it hard to fault Mr. Bush on any major point. He has always been brave. He has never shown the slightest fear of unpopularity, putting the needs of the nation before his political fortunes. He has shown himself ready at all times to make big, risky and venturesome decisions, being persuaded they were in the U.S.’ (and the West’s) interests, and then sticking to them. Indeed, IF THERE’S ONE THING THAT EXCEEDS MR. BUSH’S COURAGE, IT’S HIS RESOLUTION, HIS PERTINACITY, HIS STEADFAST CONSISTENCY.
He is a leader who will not give way to threats, criticisms and abuse, A MAN OF VALOR WHEN TIMES ARE HARD. In this election year, when the Constitution demands that he must give way to another President, I salute him and applaud his conduct of affairs.
Some may call President Bush obstinate; others may say, with some reason, that he is not skilled in explaining his policies. But I insist that beneath it all he has been a heroic leader in a time of testing, and I am glad that he will still be in charge for the rest of this year.
You can read the entire commentary here:
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2008/0505/027_print.html
No. He had them long before your chromosomal makeup was still dice-roll.
He just uses them wisely. Again, it's an old-school thing. You wouldn't get it.
The people that write him off really have written themselves off as being incapable of appreciating true human greatness.
Bush has been slammed for not going on the offensive against biased press now you are slamming him for doing so..........
Damned if you do and damned if ya don't I guess.............
Long since past but I ain't holding out hope. Best case scenario for him is he veto's it and it gets overridden. But I expect he'll sign it since it's tied to Iraq funding.
Forget Obama, there were Freepers on this story a couple days ago who were attacking Bush and McCain for not supporting the Webb bill.
We are losing the education war when our own side is confused enough to attack the wrong people.
You need great communication skills to be able to do that. Unfortunately, in this one area, the President is severely lacking. I really don't think you can blame it on his staff. They are trying their best to do with what they've got (i.e. a Chief Executive with average communication skills).
Never happen...our country has too many sad sacks, and no politicians with the backbone to do the right thing.
Gotcher communications outreach right here on FR.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;q=quick;s=radio%20address
Yes, W could do better but the bias out there is breathtaking. W’s communication skills don’t bother me. Some of his policies do, although not Iraq.
The press is full of liberal liars. That just what they do.
I agree and thanks for link DrDeb
Unlike most politicians who babble and grandstand for hours and say absolutely nothing, when President Bush speaks I know exactly what he means. His communications skills don’t bother me in the least. He was right man at the right time.
Well, so do I. But he does not have to reach us. He has to reach the vast stupid masses, who are vulnerable to MSM propaganda.
In this first ever response to the MSM the White House appears to be following a leader. And who might that be? Why , your loveable Klintoons who have been attacking the media themselves.
The Clinton's attacking the media will do much more damage than we ever could.
Amen, Deb! The most attacked, fearless and relentless
leader ... polls, media, lib attacks and mockery
mean nothing to him. Only doing the right thing.
God bless him.
I love you, President Bush, but why now? Why not after the past seven years?
If a lame duck quacks in the forest...
Thank you, DrDeb. I’m sick of all the Bush bashing on this thread. They can thank God Al Gore didn’t win.
I’ll take a President Bush with his faults than a Bill Clinton with his wonderful communication skills. Integrity counts, you know.
Well said. The foundation of George W. Bush is religious faith - all the rest comes from that.
And how, exactly, did Reagan do that? He had that opportunity, because when asked, the networks gave him air time. He had, after all, won in a landslide.
Do you honestly think that the networks would give President Bush precious primetime minutes in order for him to lay out his case on any issue to the American People? The only times they've done that were after 9/11, and at the very start of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The President has always been limited by the fact that the media doesn't like him, doesn't like his policies, and don't consider him a 'legitimate' President. They bolster their arguments with their biased polls that are Democrat and 'non-voter' heavy, which will ALWAYS show more antipathy to the President. Then they tout those as 'news' and as a justification for not giving him air time. Of course, what they DON'T publicize is that, even with those biased poll participants, the President's personal approval ratings are in the 60's, which, even at this low point in Bush's Presidency, are higher than x42 ever had.
Consider that President Reagan did not have
1) Fox News
2) Rush Limbaugh
3) Sean Hannity
4) Other popular talk radio
5) the internet
6) Other alternative media that challenge or surpass the coverage of the lamestream
So your argument that Reagan had media access that Bush does not- rings a little false.
I don’t make the same money as President Bush pays his advisors to figure out way to get him in front of the American people. But I could probably figure out ways to get him access. I still contend they aren’t trying.
P.S.....GWB's approval rating is currently at 31%, not in the 60's as you stated. He apparently accepts this scary rating with his usual whimpish passivity as evinced by the fact he has mounted little to no aggressive PR campaigns on pertinent domestic issues that are turning the populace off on both his presidency and the Republican Party.
He's already used up most of the chits given to him for his stand on Iraq, IMO. He could turn a lot of this around in short order if he had the will and an inspired, talented PR staff. I think he's just putting in his time till he can go back to clearing brush. The future of his Party does not seem to be a priority with him, I'm afraid.
Leni
On any of those networks or talk shows, he’d be preaching to the choir. It’s not we who need to hear what he has to say; it’s the audiences of the other networks.
It's worse than that..!
The Reuters/Zogby poll last week found Bush's approval rating had fallen 4 percentage points to 23 percent, a record low for pollster John Zogby.
He apparently accepts this scary rating with his usual whimpish passivity as evinced by the fact he has mounted little to no aggressive PR campaigns on pertinent domestic issues that are turning the populace off on both his presidency and the Republican Party.
Agreed. Any body can see that. And since he won't address it...it is why we suspect that this IS his plan.
FYI: I rarely post on the BDS/Paulite infected threads at FR; HOWEVER, I do post ACCURATE and uplifting information about our President every night on the DOSE:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2022247/posts
WHEN YOU’VE READ OR HEARD FOR THE ONE BILLIONTH TIME THAT PRESIDENT BUSH IS “UNPOPULAR” AND/OR “RADIOACTIVE” (FOR REPUBLICANS) JUST REMEMBER THE FOLLOWING FACTOIDS:
Factoid #1:
According to RealClearPolitics (RCP), the President’s net job approval rating is 22 points HIGHER than that of the Democrat-controlled Congress — a fact the MSM choses to ignore. [FYI: Zogby destroyed his credibility years ago; his polling results are NOT included in polling averages produced by organizations like RCP!]
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/polls/
Factoid #2:
According to the new BattleGround Poll (May 19), the President remains PERSONALLY POPULAR:
“. . . like Ronald Reagan before him, voters seem able to disapprove of the President’s job performance (32%approve/63%disapprove // 41%favorable/58%unfavorable) and still approve of him as a person. When respondents are asked for their impression of George W. Bush as a person, 56% approve and just 36% disapprove. This feeling about the President personally is so pervasive that even 25% of Democrats approve of him personally.
Hispanic voters follow this same trend, while African Americans and young people do not.
This is an important distinction for Democrat candidates to the degree they plan to run against Bush this cycle. Not only is Bush not on the ballot, but the voters make a clear distinction between the man and his policies.
It is important to note that history tends to judge past President’s not so much on their success or failure in policy areas, but on the moral character of the individual. Former President Carter is perhaps our best living example. History will probably be kinder to President Bush. In focus groups throughout the country, voters continue to tell us that they view the President as a principled, honest and determined leader.”
http://www.tarrance.com/11633-GOP-analysis.pdf
I don't think so. Read those links in Dr. Deb's post
Thank you DrDeb, another great post.
LOL, You funny guy.
Ridiculous! Go to DU where you belong.
Not even close.
As of 2004:
~~~~~
***Abortion & Traditional Values
1. Banned Partial Birth Abortion — by far the most significant roll-back of abortion on demand since Roe v. Wade.
2. Reversed Clinton’s move to strike Reagan’s anti-abortion Mexico Policy.
3. By Executive Order (EO), reversed Clinton’s policy of not requiring parental consent for abortions under the Medical Privacy Act.
4. By EO, prohibited federal funds for international family planning groups that provide abortions and related services.
5. Upheld the ban on abortions at military hospitals.
6. Made $33 million available for abstinence education programs in 2004.
7. Supports the Defense of Marriage Act — and a Constitutional amendment saying marriage is between one man and one woman.
8. Requires states to conduct criminal background checks on prospective foster and adoptive parents.
9. Requires districts to let students transfer out of dangerous schools.
10. Requires schools to have a zero-tolerance policy for classroom disruption (reintroducing discipline into classrooms).
11. Signed the Teacher Protection Act, which protects teachers from lawsuits related to student discipline.
12. Expanded the role of faith-based and community organizations in after-school programs.
***Budget, Taxes & Economy
1. Signed two income tax cuts, one of which was the largest dollar-value tax cut in world history.
2. Supports permanent elimination of the death tax.
3. Turned around an inherited economy that was in recession, and deeply shocked as a result of the 9/11 attacks.
4. Is seeking legislation to amend the Constitution to give the president line-item veto authority.
5. In process of permanently eliminating IRS marriage penalty.
6. Increased small business incentives to expand and to hire new people.
7. Initiated discussion on privatizing Social Security and individual investment accounts.
8. Killed Clinton’s “ergonomic” rules that OSHA was about to implement; rules would have shut down every home business in America.
9. Passed tough new laws to hold corporate criminals to account as a result of corporate scandals.
10. Reduced taxes on dividends and capital gains.
11. Signed trade promotion authority.
12. Reduced and is working to ultimately eliminate the estate tax for family farms and ranches.
13. Fight Europe’s ban on importing biotech crops from the United States.
14. Exempt food from unilateral trade sanctions and embargoes.
15. Provided $20 million to states to help people with disabilities work from home.
16. Created a fund to encourage technologies that help the disabled.
17. Increased the annual contribution limit on Education IRA’s from $500 to $2,000 per child.
18. Make permanent the $5,000 adoption tax credit and provide $1 billion over five years to increase the credit to $10,000.
19. Grant a complete tax exemption for prepaid or college tuition savings plans.
20. Reduced H1B visas from a high of 195,000 per year to 66,000 per year.
***Character & Conduct as President
1. Changed the tone in the White House, restoring HONOR and DIGNITY to the presidency.
2. Has reintroduced the mention of God and faith into public discourse.
3. Handled himself with enormous courage, dignity, grace, determination, and leadership in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 hijackings and anthrax attacks. He almost single-handedly held this country together during those searing days:
Just three days after the attacks, in his address at the National Cathedral, the President reassured the nation when he said:
“War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder. This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing.”
On Friday, September 14, 2001, President Bush visited Ground Zero. Standing on a crushed and burned fire engine atop the smoldering pile at Ground Zero, he put his arm around a retired firefighter who had volunteered to help, and began speaking to the crowd.
Rescue workers shouted that they could not hear him. Someone handed him a small American flag and bullhorn. The President spontaneously shouted: “I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon.”
The crowd roared with cheers and chants of “USA! USA! USA!” Then he raised that American flag and rallied a nation.
***Education & Employment Training
1. Signed the No Child Left Behind Act, delivering the most dramatic education reforms in a generation (challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations). The very liberal California Teachers union is currently running radio ads against the accountability provisions of this Act.
2. Announced “Jobs for the 21st Century,” a comprehensive plan to better prepare workers for jobs in the new millennium by strengthening post-secondary education and job training, and by improving high school education.
3. Is working to provide vouchers to low-income students in persistently failing schools to help with costs of attending private schools. (Blocked in the Senate.)
4. Requires annual reading and math tests in grades three through eight.
5. Requires states to participate in the National Assessment of Education Progress, or an equivalent program, to establish a national benchmark for academic performance.
6. Requires school-by-school accountability report cards.
7. Established a $2.4 billion fund to help states implement teacher accountability systems.
8. Increased funding for the Troops-to-Teachers program, which recruits former military personnel to become teachers.
***Environment & Energy
1. Killed the Kyoto Global Warming Treaty.
2. Submitted a comprehensive Energy Plan (awaits Congressional action). The plan works to develop cleaner technology, produce more natural gas here at home, make America less dependent on foreign sources of energy, improve national grid, etc.
3. Established a $10 million grant program to promote private conservation initiatives.
4. Significantly eased field-testing controls of genetically engineered crops.
5. Changed parts of the Forestry Management Act to allow necessary cleanup of the national forests in order to reduce fire danger.
6. Part of national forests cleanup: Restricted judicial challenges (based on the Endangered Species Act and other challenges), and removed the need for an Environmental Impact Statement before removing fuels/logging to reduce fire danger.
7. Killed Clinton’s CO2 rules that were choking off all of the electricity surplus to California.
8. Provided matching grants for state programs that help private landowners protect rare species.
***Defense & Foreign Policy
1. Successfully executed two wars in the aftermath of 9/11/01: Afghanistan and Iraq. 50 million people who had lived under tyrannical regimes now live in freedom.
2. Saddam Hussein is now in prison. His two murderous sons are dead. All but a handful of the regime’s senior members were killed or captured.
3. Leader by leader and member by member, al Qaida is being hunted down in dozens of countries around the world. Of the senior al Qaeda leaders, operational managers, and key facilitators the U.S. Government has been tracking, nearly two-thirds have been taken into custody or killed. The detentions or deaths of senior al Qaeda leaders, including Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, the mastermind of 9/11, and Muhammad Atef, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command until his death in late 2001, have been important in the War on Terror.
4. Disarmed Libya of its chemical, nuclear and biological WMD’s without bribes or bloodshed.
5. Continues to execute the War On Terror, getting worldwide cooperation to track funds/terrorists. Has cut off much of the terrorists’ funding, and captured or killed many key leaders of the al Qaeda network.
6. Initiated a comprehensive review of our military, which was completed just prior to 9/11/01, and which accurately reported that ASYMMETRICAL WARFARE capabilities were critical in the 21st Century.
7. Killed the old US/Soviet Union ABM Treaty that was preventing the U.S. from deploying our ABM defenses.
8. Has been one of the strongest, if not THE strongest friend Israel has ever hand in the U.S. presidency.
9. Part of the coalition for an Israeli/Palestinian “Roadmap to Peace,” along with Great Britain, Russia and the EU.
10. Pushed through THREE raises for our military. Increased military pay by more than $1 billion a year.
11. Signed the LARGEST nuclear arms reduction in world history with Russia.
12. Started withdrawing our troops from Bosnia, and has announced withdrawal of our troops from Germany and the Korean DMZ.
13. Prohibited putting U.S. troops under U.N. command.
14. Paid back UN dues only in return for reforms and reduction of U.S. share of the costs.
15. Earmarked at least 20 percent of the Defense procurement budget for next-generation weaponry.
16. Increased defense research and development spending by at least $20 billion from fiscal 2002 to 2006.
17. Ordered a comprehensive review of military weapons and strategy.
18. Ordered a review of overseas deployments.
19. Ordered renovation of military housing. The military has already upgraded about 10 percent of its inventory and expects to modernize 76,000 additional homes this year.
20. Is working to tighten restrictions on military-technology exports.
21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
***Globalization & Internationalism
1. Challenged the United Nations to live up to their responsibilities and not become another League of Nations (in other words, showed the UN to be completely irrelevant).
2. Killed U.S. involvement in the International Criminal Court.
3. Told the United Nations we weren’t interested in their plans for gun control (i.e., the International Ban on Small Arms Trafficking Treaty).
4. The only President since the founding of the UN to essentially tell that organization it is irrelevant. He said: “The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of UN demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult and defining moment.
Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?” We all know the outcome and the answer.
5. Told the Congress and the world, “America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country.”
***Government Reform
1. Improved government efficiency by putting hundreds of thousands of jobs put up for bid. This weakens public-sector unions and cuts undeserved pay raises.
2. Initiated review of all federal agencies with the goal of eliminating federal jobs (completed September 2003) in an effort to reduce the size of the federal government while increasing private sector jobs.
3. Led the most extensive reorganization the Federal bureaucracy in over 50 years: After 9/11, condensed 20+ overlapping agencies and their intelligence sectors into one agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
4. Ordered each agency to draft a five-year plan to restructure itself, with fewer managers.
5. Converted federal service contracts to performance-based contracts wherever possible so that the contractor has measurable performance goals.
***Health
1. Strengthened the National Health Service Corps to put more physicians in the neediest areas, and make its scholarship funds tax-free.
2. Double the research budget of the National Institutes of Health.
3. Signed Medicare Reform, which includes:
A 10-year privatization option.
Prescription drug benefits: Prior to this reform, Medicare paid for extended hospital stays for ulcer surgery, for example, at a cost of about $28,000 per patient. Yet Medicare would not pay for the drugs that eliminate the cause of most ulcers, drugs that cost about $500 a year.
Now, drug coverage under Medicare will allow seniors to replace more expensive surgeries and hospitalizations with less expensive prescription medicine.
More health care choices: As President Bush stated, “…when seniors have the ability to make choices, health care plans within Medicare will have to compete for their business by offering higher quality service [at lower cost]. For the seniors of America, more choices and more control will mean better health care. These are the kinds of health care options we give to the members of Congress and federal employees. What’s good for members of Congress is also good for seniors.
New Health Savings Accounts: Effective January 1, 2004, Americans can set aside up to $4,500 every year, tax free, to save for medical expenses. Depending on your tax bracket, that means you’ll save between 10 to 35 percent on any costs covered by money in your account. Every year, the money not spent would stay in the account and gain interest tax-free, just like an IRA.
These accounts will be good for small business owners, and employees. More businesses can focus on covering workers for major medical problems, such as hospitalization for an injury or illness. At the same time, employees and their families will use these accounts to cover doctors visits, or lab tests, or other smaller costs. Some employers will contribute to employee health accounts. This will help more American families get the health care they need at the price they can afford.
***Homeland Security, Border Enforcement & Immigration
1. *See Government Reform above. Under President Bush’s leadership, America has made an unprecedented commitment to homeland security.
2. Has CONSTRUCTION in process on the first 10 ABM silos in Alaska so that America will have a defense against North Korean nukes. Has ordered national and theater ballistic missile defenses to be deployed by 2004.
3. Announced a 9.7% increase in government-wide homeland security funding in his FY 2005 budget, nearly tripling the FY 2001 levels (excluding the Department of Defense and Project BioShield).
4. Before DHS was created, there were inspectors from three different agencies of the Federal Government and Border Patrol officers protecting our borders. Through DHS, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now consolidates all border activities into a single agency to create “one face at the border.”
This not only better secures the borders of the United States, but it also eliminates many of the inefficiencies that occurred under the old system. With over 18,000 CBP inspectors and 11,000 Border Patrol agents, CBP has 29,000 uniformed officers on our borders.
5. The Border Patrol is continuing installation of monitoring devices along the borders to detect illegal activity.
6. Launched Operation Tarmac to investigate businesses and workers in the secure areas of domestic airports and ensure immigration law compliance. Since 9/11, DHS has audited 3,640 businesses, examined 259,037 employee records, arrested 1,030 unauthorized workers, and participated in the criminal indictment of 774 individuals.
7. Since September 11, 2001, the Coast Guard has conducted more than 124,000 port security patrols, 13,000 air patrols, boarded more than 92,000 vessels, interdicted over 14,000 individuals attempting to enter the United States illegally, and created and maintained more than 90 Maritime Security Zones.
8. Announced the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an internet-based system that is improving America’s ability to track and monitor foreign students and exchange visitors. Over 870,000 students are registered in SEVIS. Of 285 completed field investigations, 71 aliens were arrested.
9. This week, the US-VISIT program began to digitally collect biometric identifiers to record the entry and exit of aliens who travel into the U.S on a visa. Together with the standard information, this new program will confirm compliance with visa and immigration policies.
10. Eliminated INS bureaucratic redundancies and lack of accountability.
11. Split the Immigration and Naturalization Service into two agencies: one to protect the border and interior, the other to deal with naturalization.
12. Signed the workplace verification bill to prevent hiring of illegal aliens.
13. Established a six-month deadline for processing immigration applications.
14. Information regarding nearly 100% of all containerized cargo is carefully screened by DHS before it arrives in the United States. Higher risk shipments are physically inspected for terrorist weapons and contraband prior to being released from the port of entry. Advanced technologies are being deployed to identify warning signs of chemical, biological, or radiological attacks. Since September 11, 2001, hundreds of thousands of first responders across America have been trained to recognize and respond to the effects of a WMD attack.
***Judiciary & Tort Reform
1. Is urging federal liability reform to eliminate frivolous lawsuits.
2. Killed the liberal ABA’s unconstitutional role in vetting federal judges. The Senate is supposed to advise and consent, not the ABA.
3. Is nominating strong, conservative judges to the judiciary.
4. Supports class action reform bill which limits lawyer fees so that more settlement money goes to victims.
***Politics
1. His leadership resulted in Republican gains in the House and Senate, solidifying Republican control of both houses of Congress and the presidency.
2. Signed an EO enforcing the Supreme Court’s Beck decision regarding union dues being used for political campaigns against individual’s wishes.
***Second Amendment
1. Ordered Attorney General Ashcroft to formally notify the Supreme Court that the OFFICIAL U.S. government position on the 2nd Amendment is that it supports INDIVIDUAL rights to own firearms, and is NOT a Leftist-imagined “collective” right.
2. Signed TWO bills into law that arm our pilots with handguns in the cockpit.
3. Currently pushing for full immunity from lawsuits for our national gun manufacturers.
4. *See Globalization & Internationalism.
***Traditional Values, Compassion & Volunteerism
1. Endorses and promotes “The Responsibility Era.” President Bush often speaks of the necessity of personal responsibility and civic volunteerism. He said, “In a compassionate society, people respect one another and take responsibility for the decisions they make in life. My hope is to change the culture from one that has said, if it feels good, do it; if you’ve got a problem, blame somebody else — to one in which every single American understands that he or she is responsible for the decisions that you make; you’re responsible for loving your children with all your heart and all your soul; you’re responsible for being involved with the quality of the education of your children; you’re responsible for making sure the community in which you live is safe; you’re responsible for loving your neighbor, just like you would like to be loved yourself.”
2. Started the USA Freedom Corps, the most comprehensive clearinghouse of volunteer opportunities ever offered. For the first time in history, Americans can enter geographic information about where they want to get involved, such as state or zip code, as well as areas of interest ranging from education to the environment, and they can access volunteer opportunities offered by more than 50,000 organizations across the country and around the world.
3. Established the The White House Office and the Centers for the Faith-Based and Community Initiative — located in seven Federal agencies. The faith-based initiative supports the essential work of these important organizations. The goal is to make sure that grassroots leaders can compete on an equal footing for federal dollars, receive greater private support, and face fewer bureaucratic barriers. Work focuses on at-risk youth, ex-offenders, the homeless and hungry, substance abusers, those with HIV/AIDS, and welfare-to-work families.
4. The White House released a guidebook fully describing the Administration’s belief that faith-based groups have a Constitutionally-protected right to maintain their religious identity through hiring — even when Federal funds are involved.
5. Issued an EO implementing the Supreme Court’s Olmstead ruling, which requires moving disabled people from institutions to community-based facilities when possible.
6.Increased funding for low-interest loan programs to help people with disabilities purchase devices to assist them.
7. Revised the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Section 8 rent subsidies to disabled people, permitting them to use up to a year’s worth of vouchers to finance down payments on homes. HUD has started pilot programs in 11 states.
8. Committed US funds to purchase medicine for millions of men, women and children now suffering with AIDS in Africa.
9. Heeding the words of our own Declaration of Independence, the president laid out the non-negotiable demands of human dignity for all people everywhere. On January 29, 2002, he said, “No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them. We have no intention of imposing our culture. But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity.”
As stated by the President, they are a virtual manifesto of conservative principles:
Equal Justice
Freedom of Speech
Limited Government Power
Private Property Rights
Religious Tolerance
Respect for Women
Rule of Law
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1163304/posts
~~~
Bob Geldof has parachuted into the White House travel pool here in Rwanda, and will join us on the flight from Air Force One to Ghana tonight.
He’s going to interview President Bush for Time magazine and several European outlets, such as Liberacion, about aid to Africa for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and business development.
Mr. Geldof is an Irish rock and roll singer and longtime social activist who has helped, along with U2 rocker Bono, raise awareness about need in Africa. His most well known achievement is organizing the Live Aid concert in 1985, which raised money for debt relief for poor African countries.
But Mr. Geldof has remained closely engaged with African affairs since then, and he spoke off the cuff to reporters today who were waiting for a press conference with Mr. Bush and Rwandan President Paul Kagame.
Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement.
Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof, “has done more than any other president so far.”
“This is the triumph of American policy really,” he said. “It was probably unexpected of the man. It was expected of the nation, but not of the man, but both rose to the occasion.”
“What’s in it for [Mr. Bush]? Absolutely nothing,” Mr. Geldof said.
Mr. Geldof said that the president has failed “to articulate this to Americans” but said he is also “pissed off” at the press for their failure to report on this good news story.
“You guys didn’t pay attention,” Geldof said to a group of reporters from all the major newspapers.
http://video1.washingtontimes.com/fishwrap/2008/02/bob_geldof_in_rwanda.html
~~~
And any informed person knows full well all he has attempted to accomplish, in the face of constant attacks and obstacles by power hungry, partisan lib congresscritters and spineless RINO congresscritters from his own side.
Beyond what he’s done and tried to do, there is the essence of the man, who honors the Office with his fortitude, integrity and relentless pursuit of his primary goal of protecting this country.
These tumultuous years would have crumbled 90% of the leaders on the world stage today or at any time, but not this man of rock solid principles, unfaltering paternal love of country and humanity, deep respect for the office of President and CIC, an immense well of honor and devotion to our armed forces, indefatigable faith, the love and support of a loyal and wonderful family and circle of lifelong friends, and a will of pure steel.
God bless Pres. George W. Bush! Right man .. right time. We have been truly blessed. Only single-issue obsessives and BDS-ers would believe otherwise.
If the media puts out a story about some issue, and makes a prediction about what the President 'might' do, which is usually something conservatives won't like, those folks invariably jump in with "see, I told you so", even though there is no proof the President supports what the media contends. Then, when the actual statement from the President comes out, it's almost opposite of what was reported. They disbelieve the media about everything, except when it comes to bashing the President. They've been infected with BDS as badly as the Democrats.
So? The job performance is the one that is particularly relevant...not personal likes. President Reagan's recognized job performance became transcendant and undeniable with the successful military buildups and deployments and alliances, the fall of the Soviets, the end of inflation (during his term) the ballooning US economy, the total triumph of his policies...
I.e., his agenda and the job performance at implementing it...became recognized as stellar despite the media's 24/7 trashing of it.
GWB's job performance rating, with poor communications skills, grave doubts about his political spine...when he isn't trashing conservatives...the widespread and deepening inflation that has been concealed now becoming undeniable, plus the severe recession we are actually in, despite efforts to conceal that as well so as to continue the outsourcing Agenda...all happening. And these job misfeasances are thus not a short blip at all, hence his rating will go the other way, because he will leave the country worse off in many key particulars than when he took office.
His National Security credentials, the only thing that sustains him at 23%...is also getting thinner all the time:
When funny business with respect to his national defense procurement polices...catering to a Globalist Agenda... that he has clearly ordered, comes into broader awareness...hs performance rating will only go lower...
Check out this little Globalist outsourcing snafu:
Aerospace Notebook: Analyst questions Air Force tanker decision
Seattle Post-Intelligencer 05/28/2008
Author: James WallaceIT'S TIME FOR the Air Force to explain in far greater detail than it has why The Boeing Co. lost the tanker competition to the team of Northrop and EADS, a noted defense expert said Tuesday.
"Something is not quite right here," Loren Thompson, defense analyst with the private think tank the Lexington Institute, said in an interview.
In the past, Thompson has been widely criticized by Boeing supporters for being pro-Northrop on the tanker controversy.
But Thompson insisted he has only been reporting what Air Force sources have been telling him, and he had not taken sides in the dispute over whose tanker is better. Thompson said he's had three months since the tanker announcement to understand the issues and listen to all sides, and his latest report, which was posted on the Lexington Institute's Web site late Tuesday, represents the "conclusions I have come to."
The tanker-selection process was hardly as "transparent" as the Air Force has claimed, wrote Thompson, who has close contact with senior Air Force officers.
"Whatever else this process may have been, it definitely was not transparent," he wrote.
Boeing had been widely expected to win the Air Force competition with its 767 tanker, but instead the Air Force earlier this year picked Northrop and EADS, the European Aeronautic, Defense and Space Co., the parent of Airbus, to supply it with 179 tankers based on the far bigger and heavier Airbus A330.
Boeing has filed a protest of the Air Force decision with the Government Accountability Office, the watchdog agency for Congress. The GAO has a mid-June deadline to decide the merits of Boeing's protest. It would be highly unusual for the protest to be upheld.
But Thompson said that even if the GAO finds that only small mistakes were made by the Air Force, given Boeing's contention that the competition was very close, such a finding might be enough for Boeing's supporters in Congress to force the Air Force to hold another tanker competition.
Boeing claims that the Air Force changed its tanker requirements to help the bigger Airbus plane win the competition. Boeing has argued that the competition was "seriously flawed."
But Northrop has mounted an aggressive public-relations campaign, issuing almost daily statements about why its tanker is better than Boeing's. And Northrop has sharply criticized Boeing for suggesting the competition was unfair.
Previously, Thompson said Air Force leaders believe Boeing "is willfully misstating the facts in a bid to obscure the inferior performance of the plane it proposed."
But in the interview Tuesday, Thompson said he has been waiting for the Air Force to make a "slam-dunk" case to him about why Northrop and EADS won. But The Air Force has not been able to make such a case, he said.
"I never really got what I would consider an analytical explanation for the outcome, so what do we really know about what happened?" he said. "It just doesn't look good."
In his latest report, Thompson said the Air Force has failed to answer "even the most basic questions about how the decision was made."
"Whatever it finds," he wrote of the GAO review of Boeing's protest, "the Air Force has some explaining to do."
Thompson made the following points in his report and in the interview that he said raise serious questions about the Air Force decision:
The Air Force claims it would cost roughly the same to develop, manufacture and operate 179 tankers regardless of whether they are based on Boeing's 767 or the Airbus A330. But the Airbus plane is 27 percent heavier than Boeing's and burns a ton more fuel per flight hour, Thompson said. "With fuel prices headed for the upper stratosphere, how can both planes cost the same amount to build and operate over their lifetimes?""Even now, neither of the competing teams really understands why the competition turned out the way it did," Thompson wrote. "It would be nice to hear from the Air Force about how key trade-offs were made, because at present it looks like a double standard prevailed in the evaluation of the planes offered by the two teams."The Air Force claims it would be equally risky to develop the Boeing and Airbus tanker. But the Airbus tankers will be built at plants in Alabama that do not yet exist, Thompson noted. Boeing's tanker would be built on its long-running 767 assembly line.
It doesn't make "common sense," Thompson said, that the Northrop-EADS tanker production plan would not have greater risk than Boeing's.
"This is not plausible," he said.
The Air Force has said the Northrop-EADS team received higher ratings on past performance than the Boeing team. But Thompson noted that Boeing has built all 600 of the tankers in the Air Force fleet, and Northrop and EADS have never delivered a single tanker equipped with the refueling boom the Air Force requires.
"How can Northrop and Airbus have superior performance?" Thompson said.
The Air Force has said a computer simulation of how the competing tankers would function in an actual wartime scenario strongly favored the larger Airbus plane. But the simulation assumed longer runways, stronger asphalt and more parking space than actually exist at forward bases, Thompson said, and the simulation failed to consider the consequences of losing bases in wartime.
"How can such unrealistic assumptions be relevant to the selection of a next-generation tanker?" Thompson said.
He also wrote in his report that the Air Force refused to consider Boeing cost data based on 10 million hours operating the commercial 767, and instead substituted repair cost on the 50-year-old KC-135 tanker.
The Air Force also had said early on that it would not award extra points for exceeding key performance objectives, but then proceeded to award extra points, according to Thompson.
21. Brought back our EP-3 intel plane and crew from China without any bribes or bloodshed.
In fact, he let them abscond scot free with extremely damaging technical and code intelligence that endangers our national security.
They attacked and nearly destroyed the plane and crew of our flight over international waters. Thus no "bloodshed" for their act of war is not particularly commendable. And shame on you for so cavalierly claiming it was.
China intends to destroy us. No ifs, buts or maybes. And who has been busy guarding the Chicom's manipulated trade advantages...i.e., their terms of trade?
W has.
three quick points:
1.) It was Ronald Reagan’s PERSONAL APPROVAL ratings that won the day NOT his job approval ratings which were often mired in the 30s and 40s. Conversely, Clinton had a higher cumulative JA rating than Reagan, but a MUCH lower personal approval rating (than either Reagan or Bush). [BTW: You once again cite polling data from the completely debunked/discredited Zogby organization . . . This tells me all I need to know about your research credibility!]
2.) The 24/7 media cycle did NOT exist during Reagan’s tenure. If it had, his JA ratings would have been even lower. As it was, his ‘handlers’ kept him out of view as much as possible after both the 1986 election debacle and the Iran-Contra scandal — they absolutely refused to let him hold a press conference (so much for his vaunted ‘communication’ skills).
3.) Most of the performance outcomes that you cite for Reagan actually occurred on Bush 41’s watch just as many of Bush 43’s outcomes will become obvious on McCain’s watch. For ‘outcomes’ that are already obvious, read both Johnson’s analysis (posted previously) and STARWISE’s list.
AGAIN, there are none so blind as those who refuse to see!
Pot, meet kettle.
All of your three points were highly debatable.
The 24/7 media cycle did NOT exist during Reagan’s tenure
Tell that to CNN.
Most of the performance outcomes that you cite for Reagan actually occurred on Bush 41’s watch
So? Are you suggesting that he take credit for the results REAGAN had earned?
This tells me all I need to know about your research credibility!
Nope. Didn't cite anything by way of polling AGAIN. Sheesh. So much for your READING ability. You totally miss the Chinese debacle. Which debunks Starwise....and evidently you....since you go by association apparently.
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