Top 10 Reasons Why Bush Is So Bad
(in no Particular Order)1. He started the Iraq War. We all now know that the Bush Administration used bogus intelligence data to push America into a war that was increasingly unpopular when Bush was in the final stages of promoting it. In fact, it seems that Bush rushed to war, without waiting for further UN inspections and potential support from other nations, because he was worried that American public opinion was turning against him. So, he trumped up his case for a war that cost thousands and thousands of lives, created chaos in Iraq, reinforced the perception of our country as oil-grubbing and world-dominating, and more. (Yes, we're glad Saddam is out of power, but the war was a big mistake.)
2. His tax cuts threaten government as we know it. Bush has given trillions in tax cuts to the wealthiest citizens, while watching federal deficits rise to record highs. Bush is trying to dismantle the federal government, forcing vital programs to be cut in light of the deficits that his tax cuts spawned. By squeezing the federal budget, he's attacking the government like no president has done before him.
3. He's further disabling the news media. Bush's Federal Communications Commission has approved regulations allowing mega-media corporations to grow even larger. And the larger the media conglomerate, the less likely it will be to provide citizens with the substantive news. But it's clear why Bush favors this: the less criticism of Bush in the media, the easier it is for him to push ahead with his extreme agenda.
4. Bush's version of "wag the dog" is over the top. Politicians have wagged the dog before, but Bush and Karl Rove are worse than Orwellian. Former Bush Administration officials say that all decisions in the Bush White House are driven by politics, not policy. This adds credence to the argument that the Iraq invasion was simply a way for Bush to distract voters from the domestic mess he created prior to the 2002 elections. And it worked. The Republicans gained control of Congress because most swing voters trust Republicans on national security issues more than Democrats. So, if U.S. citizens are scared, the swing states are more likely to go Republican. Rove knows this, and he had the audacity to act on it.
5. He's attacking the environment like no President. Moderate Republicans care about the environment. But this hasn't stopped Bush from brazenly attacking environmental laws and policies whenever he can. He's trying to gut the Clean Air Act, passed under Nixon. He sees wilderness and he thinks oil. Fortunately, the Republican-controlled Congress will likely keep his extremism in check.
6. At home, even with the sucking economy, Bush is a threat to the poor. The wealthy in our country can ignore much of the Bush agenda and live happy lives, even while so much damage is being done at home and abroad. But the poor are vulnerable. Bush is a potential disaster for abortion rights, because of the likelihood that he will appoint anti-abortion Supreme Court justices. If abortion is made illegal, the rich won't be affected because they will be able to pay doctors sufficient money to perform safe abortions. But the poor will lose access to safe abortions. Bush also wants to dismantle Head Start, rather than increase funding to cover poor kids who are currently eligible but cannot enroll due to budget shortfalls. He is attacking health care for the poor. He's doing little or nothing for the uninsured and the unemployed.
7. He's undermining the international rule of law. The war on Iraq was awful for many reasons, but certainly one of the most horrible aspects of the war was our refusal to cooperate with the United Nations. In the end, our decision to abandon the UN and act unilaterally was repulsive to those of us who believe that our world's worst problems will be solved only through international cooperation. Bush's war was not only illegal under international law, but it legitimized the very behavior that our nation should abhor.
8. He thinks he can unsign international treaties. One of Bush's first acts as President was to "withdraw" America's signature from a treaty establishing the International Criminal Court. Then he refused to sign the Kyoto Accords. And he withdrew our nation from the Anti-ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty, despite worldwide objections. All treaties that America has signed are vulnerable.
9. He's turned the Pentagon into a feeding ground for defense contractors. As if the Pentagon budget was not rife with waste already, Bush has increased military spending above the average amount spent during the Cold War when America faced the Soviet Union. Under Bush, we continue building ships, planes, submarines, and more designed to fight the collapsed Soviets-and Congress refuses to object for fear of being labeled unpatriotic. Our nation spends fully half of discretionary spending on the Pentagon. Bush wants to spend only $10 billion on humanitarian foreign aid, while proposing to spend $400 billion on defense.
10. He'll be even worse if elected again. You can imagine what Bush will do if he's elected again and doesn't have to worry about getting re-elected. No oilfield will be off limits. He's already said that he will seek more massive tax cuts. The Supreme Court is vulnerable-as are all international treaties that our nation has signed. The attack on the federal government will intensify and get ugly, as poverty programs and social services get cut back to pay for more Pentagon spending and tax cuts. Bush's second term is a nightmare waiting to happen.(copied from www.repentantnadervoter.org's campaign email newsletter.)http://www.repentantnadervoter.org/pledge.html">SIGN THE PLEDGE TO OUST BUSH HERE
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