Bush Secrecy Introduction

‘Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix.’ Harry S. Truman

Harry Truman understood the importance of open government in a free society. George W. Bush does not.

From the first days of his administration, President Bush has taken steps to tighten the government’s hold on information and limit public scrutiny of its activities. … Here, Public Citizen chronicles and documents the administration’s obsession with secrecy, as well as the steps we, and others, are taking to fight it. … In the long run, we don’t think Americans will put up with a government that operates on the principle of keeping them in ignorance. The more light we shine on these actions, the less likely they are to succeed.

USATODAY.com – The GOP doesn’t reflect America By Michael Moore

I’ve often found that if I go down the list of ‘liberal’ issues with people who say they’re Republican, they are quite liberal and not in sync with the Republicans who run the country. Most don’t want America to be the world’s police officer and prefer peace to war. They applaud civil rights, believe all Americans should have health insurance and think assault weapons should be banned. Though they may personally oppose abortion, they usually don’t think the government has the right to tell a women what to do with her body.

There’s a name for these Republicans: RINOs or Republican In Name Only. They possess a liberal, open mind and don’t believe in creating a worse life for anyone else.

So why do they use the same label as those who back a status quo of women earning 75 cents to every dollar a man earns, 45 million people without health coverage and a president who has two more countries left on his axis-of-evil-regime-change list?

I asked my friend on the street. He said what I hear from all RINOs: “I don’t want the government taking my hard-earned money and taxing me to death. That’s what the Democrats do.”

Money. That’s what it comes down to for the RINOs. They do work hard and have been squeezed even harder to make ends meet. They blame Democrats for wanting to take their money. Never mind that it’s Republican tax cuts for the rich and billions spent on the Iraq war that have created the largest deficits in history and will put all of us in hock for years to come.

Staying angry: Eight loathsome things about the GOP By Michael Manville, Freezerbox

I’ll vote for Kerry because for all that is wrong with the Democrats, the Republican Party is something else altogether. What was once the Party of Lincoln has become the party of obstreperous children, alternately pouting and bullying, dismissive of complicated problems that aren’t easily resolved and fixated instead on the simplistic and the irrelevant. …

This false face of moderation is one of two grand lies perpetuated by the national GOP. The second lie is victimhood, capital-V Victimhood, forever, victimhood. The party of big money and big business laments endlessly that it is marginalized and persecuted, that the government works continuously against it, that the press distorts and ignores its positions. Only sheer repetition could make this scenario plausible. … Thus a spokesman for House Speaker Dennis Hastert says with a straight face, “it’s extremely difficult to govern when you control all three branches of government.” …

Gott mit uns: On Bush and Hitler’s rhetoric By Bob Fitrakis, Columbus Free Press

President Bush told Texas evangelist James Robinson that “I feel like God wants me to run for President. I can’t explain it, but I sense my country is going to need me. Something is going to happen . . . I know it won’t be easy on me or my family, but God wants me to do it.”

With 49.3% of New York City residents in a recent Zogby poll believing that some people in our government knew of the 911 attack in advance and allowed it to happen, the President as right-wing evangelical prophet is under siege in his Madison Square Garden bunker. Convention watchers should take careful note of the theocratic nationalist rhetoric at the Republican convention this week.

When was the last time a Western nation had a leader so obsessed with God and claiming God was on our side?

Current Electoral Vote Predictor 2004

It’s time to get busy, people. Write those letters, get out the signs and bumperstickers, help register new voters. Two months left. mjh

Consumer confidence plunges more than forecast – Aug. 31, 2004

Worries about the job market sent consumer confidence tumbling in August, a research group said Tuesday, in a report that could spell more trouble for the economy ahead. …

Confidence is an important indicator of consumer willingness to spend, especially on big-ticket items. About two-thirds of the nation’s economy is driven by consumer spending. …

Consumers were also less optimistic about the general business climate. The survey found 23.2 percent who believe business conditions are “good,” down from 25.2 percent. Those claiming conditions are “bad” rose to 20.1 percent from 19.1 percent.

After Citing Doubt, Bush Declares ‘We Will Win’ Terror War

In a speech to the national convention of the American Legion, Bush said, “We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win.

That statement differed from Bush’s earlier comment, aired Monday in a pre-taped television interview, that “I don’t think you can win” the war on terror.

I hesitate to fling feces over this because I’m happy (and stunned) to see Bush speak thoughtfully. And, he is right that there will never be a victory in the ‘War on Terror’ any more than we have been victorious in the Wars on Poverty or Drugs. This has simply become a tool for holding onto power.

However, the Right has made his constancy an issue, even though it is evidence of unreasonableness. So, this is just the latest flip-flop from Bush, just one of many. mjh

Where Is The Shame? By BOB HERBERT, NYTimes

What is incredible is that these attacks on men who served not just honorably, but heroically, are coming from a hawkish party that is controlled by an astonishing number of men who sprinted as far from the front lines as they could when they were of fighting age and their country was at war.

Among them:

Mr. Bush himself, the nation’s commander in chief and the biggest hawk of all. He revels in the accouterments of combat. The story was somewhat different when he was 22 years old and eligible for combat himself. He managed to get into the cushy confines of the Texas Air National Guard at the height of the Vietnam War in 1968 – a year in which more than a half-million American troops were in the war zone and more than 14,000 were killed.

The story gets murky after that. We know the future president breezed off at some point to work on a political campaign in Alabama, skipped a required flight physical in 1972 and was suspended from flying. He supported the war in Vietnam but was never in any danger of being sent there.

Vice President Dick Cheney, another fierce administration hawk. Mr. Cheney asked for and received five deferments when he was eligible for the draft. He told senators at a confirmation hearing in 1989, “I had other priorities in the 60’s than military service.” Many draft-age Americans had similar priorities – getting an education, getting married and starting a family.

Attorney General John Ashcroft. He is reported to have said, “I would have served, if asked.” But with the war raging in Vietnam, he received six student deferments and an “occupational deferment” based on the essential nature of a civilian job at Southwest Missouri State University – teaching business law to undergraduates.

Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy defense secretary and a fanatical hawk on Iraq. He was not fanatical about Vietnam and escaped the draft with student deferments.

There are many others.