Relatives condemn Bush 9/11 ads BBC NEWS

The four television advertisements, which began showing on Thursday across the US, marked the beginning of the Bush administration’s campaign for the 2004 presidential elections.

”I’m optimistic about America because I believe in the people of America.”

Among the images shown in two of the advertisements are images of firefighters carrying a body, draped in a US flag, from the rubble at Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center once stood. …

[R]elatives said they felt their loved ones were being used to score political points.

”Families are enraged,” victims’ advocate Bill Doyle, who lost his 25-year-old son in the attacks, told Reuters news agency.

”What I think is distasteful is that the president is trying to use 9/11 as a springboard for his re-election.”

”It’s entirely wrong. He’s had 3,500 deaths on his watch, including Iraq.”

‘Dishonest Dubya’ Lying Action Figure Doll – George W. Bush
(Thanks, cko!)

BushCartoon.com
(Thanks, sro!)

Bush ‘Welcomes’ Kerry into Race for Office By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

On Thursday, the Bush campaign was launching a $10 million television advertising blitz even as the president headed to Silicon Valley to gather more cash for a re-election operation that has already raised more than $153 million.

Bush, facing re-election in November, is trailing Kerry in opinion polls. …

”[W]e will win on the second of November,” Bush told the crowd of 600 at the Shrine Auditorium that added $800,000 to his campaign coffers.

The president’s comments came on the first day of a two-day swing through California scooping up millions for his campaign and those of fellow Republicans.

”He seems to be against every idea that gives Americans more authority, more choices, and more control over our own lives,” Bush said. ”It’s the same old Washington mind-set: They’ll give the orders, and you will pay the bills.” …

Bush later attended a private event at the fine art-bedecked home of A. Jerrold Perenchio, the chairman and chief executive of the Spanish-language media giant Univision.

Note Bush’s astonishing accusation that Kerry opposes choice and freedom. Are you more FREE under Bush? Free from debt? Free from oppression? Free from fear? Free to choose anything? mjh

Kerry lags far behind Bush in fund raising

Sen. John Kerry is a whopping $100 million behind President Bush in ready cash as he embarks on the next phase of his White House campaign, and dependent on outside groups he can’t legally control to help close the gap. …

Bush’s campaign committee reported cash on hand of $104 million as of Feb. 1, with no debt. The president continues to raise money, scheduling three fund-raisers in a little more than 24 hours in California on Wednesday. …

The two candidates are limited to spending $74.4 million apiece after receiving the nominations, meaning that Kerry must make his money last longer than Bush does.

Bush’s fundraising figures are interesting. He has raised $154 million but only has $104 million. Hmmm, it has cost him $50 million to raise $104 million — yet another failed business venture for Bush.

If the candiates are limited to $74.4 million after their conventions, Bush needs to spend no less than $30 million (possibly $80 million) before August.

You’d think the incumbent president wouldn’t need to buy the election.

Howard Dean taught us one very important message: the candidate with the most money can lose. As Bush will learn in Novemeber. mjh

Op-Ed Columnist: Maestro of Chutzpah by Paul Krugman, NYTimes

[T]he reason Social Security is in fairly good shape is that during the 1980’s the Greenspan commission persuaded Congress to increase the payroll tax, which supports the program.

The payroll tax is regressive: it falls much more heavily on middle- and lower-income families than it does on the rich. In fact, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates, families near the middle of the income distribution pay almost twice as much in payroll taxes as in income taxes. Yet people were willing to accept a regressive tax increase to sustain Social Security.

Now the joke’s on them. Mr. Greenspan pushed through an increase in taxes on working Americans, generating a Social Security surplus. Then he used that surplus to argue for tax cuts that deliver very little relief to most people, but are worth a lot to those making more than $300,000 a year. And now that those tax cuts have contributed to a soaring deficit, he wants to cut Social Security benefits.

The point, of course, is that if anyone had tried to sell this package honestly — “Let’s raise taxes and cut benefits for working families so we can give big tax cuts to the rich!” — voters would have been outraged. So the class warriors of the right engaged in bait-and-switch.

James writes:

I just wanted to be sure you caught the Krugman article today. This clear explanation of why Greenspan is the ultra-rich’s class warfare foot-soldier should be REQUIRED READING for all Americans. Krugman is THE man! (even though he once was an economist in the Reagan administration)

How many millions of dollars do you think someone like Bill Gates has saved since Duhbya assumed office? Now your retirement will be delayed AND your benefits — the money you contributed — will be cut. Because of the Radical Right’s insane mission to destroy the Federal government. mjh

Fearing ‘Unprecedented Land Grab’ During Election Year, Group Urges 60,000 Interior Department Employees to Use Tipline

Concerns Grow About Accelerated Industry Rush for Favors if Bush Re-election Appears Uncertain

WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire/ — The nonprofit Campaign to Protect America’s Lands (CPAL) announced that it is sending an email today to 59,684 Department of Interior employees urging them to use a confidential tipline (1- 866-LANDTIP or http://www.landtip.org) to report any new anti-environment rules or other steps related to America’s public lands, parks or wilderness areas that may crop up in the coming months. CPAL’s goal is to thwart a whole new round of special-interest proposals that are expected to clog Interior if panicked industry executives come to believe that President Bush is unlikely to serve a second term.

”Our concern is that industry demands for special treatment at Interior will go beyond the fever pitch they’ve been at already if companies start to worry that President Bush is fighting a losing re-election battle,” CPAL Director Peter Altman explained. ”These companies literally will start grabbing for anything that they can get their hands on, and the Bush Administration likely will go even further to subvert the democratic process in order to accommodate its powerful friends.”

From the first day, Bush has tried to change everything as fast as he can. He has always looked like someone who doubts he’ll get a second term. Keep an eye on the store while he is out showing his leadership. mjh