Methodists: No Bush Library at SMU DALLAS (AP) -- A group of Methodist ministers from across the nation launched an online petition drive Thursday urging Southern Methodist University to stop trying to land George W. Bush's presidential library. The petition, on a newly created Web site, http://www.protectsmu.org , says that "as United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate." ------ THE PETITION We the undersigned express our objection to the prospect of the George W. Bush library, museum, and think tank being established at Southern Methodist University. As United Methodists, we believe that the linking of his presidency with a university bearing the Methodist name is utterly inappropriate. We urge the Board of Trustees of Southern Methodist University and the South Central Jurisdiction of The United Methodist Church to reject this project.
On the House floor today -- "I will not spend time assessing blame and responsibility for the quagmire that our nation finds itself in, in Iraq . But I do find it curious that the opponents of this resolution want us to believe that the history of the Iraq War begins today. That it has no past - only a doubtful future. "This head in the sand attitude, while politically expedient, denies reality and truth. Rest assured that history and fact will not be kind to the decision-makers and deciders of this war. Nor will it be kind to a Congress that looked the other way. "The resolution before us today is a first, tentative step toward the removal of our troops from Iraq . The escalation proposed for Iraq is another desperate act opposed by the American people and former military leaders. "This resolution does not demoralize our troops or embolden the insurgents. This resolution offers hope to our troops that an end is in sight and that their elected representatives are not passing on their authority regarding the most important issue confronting our nation today. "I personally know families whose loved ones have been lost, badly injured or profoundly and tangibly affected by this war. Our commitment should be to those families and veterans who need the full measure of our support. Our gratitude should be measured in real resources for veterans and not empty platitudes and political rhetoric expounded to justify the irreparable failures of policy in Iraq . "The focus of this debate is not centered on our soldiers who are nobly doing their duty and following their orders. It is directed at those who set policy and who have produced a war without end, with no plan for success or exit, with no international strategy, and who now turn to a desperate and doomed escalation that only reinforces the failure and desperation of those policy makers. "The civil war in Iraq will not end with the influx of more American troops. "I believe this resolution should have teeth - we must send a message that binds all of us to real action, an unflinching message of opposition to the escalation and a message of support for our troops. Today marks a step in that direction. "How many more ways can the American people tell this Congress to act to prevent more loss of our blood and treasure in this war in Iraq ? Weren't the recent elections a strong message? Isn't the loss of confidence by the public in their elected leaders a strong message? Isn't the sacrifice and valor of our men and women fighting this war deserving of the respect of our government? Don't we have a duty to protect them, reunite them with their families immediately and, share the truth with them that the question is no longer if we get out of Iraq , but how and when? "For me and for many of their families, the sooner the better. "I could stand here before you and recite, one by one, all the polls that tell us about the public's overwhelming opposition to this war and the even stronger opposition to this escalation, but as I think about it, the most important poll for us who serve in Congress must be our conscience. "This resolution before us is simple and direct. It speaks, in a very clear way, to the frustration we all feel with this misadventure in Iraq . "I said I would not belabor the question of who is to blame, but I must address the obvious: Weapons of mass destruction - None Found Links of Iraq to 911 - didn't exist Misspent funds in Iraq - Ignored Mission Accomplished - premature political propaganda Strategy for Iraq - Non-Existent Funds for Education, Health Care, Our Towns and Cities and Investments in Our People - Spent in Iraq "The litany of failures and untruths goes on and on. "The lack of leadership by this administration requires - no, demands - that this Congress assert its Constitutional duty, to check and balance this Administration and to respond to the crisis in Iraq with purpose and resolve. "This resolution is one step in what I hope is a rapid process by Congress to bring the debacle in Iraq to an end. "I urge my colleagues to support H Res 63, and also to support H.R. 508 - The Bring Our Troops Home and Iraq Sovereignty Restoration Act." # Congressman Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) http://www.rawstory.com//news/2007/Democratic_Congressman_Rest_assured_that_history_0215.html
Happy Anniversary! How Bush will commemorate four years of war. “The White House, repeatedly asked if President Bush is planning anything to mark the fourth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq on Monday, has suggested that the president is going about business as usual. On Monday, that business includes playing host to the 2006 NCAA football champions, the University of Florida ‘Gators.’“
I can't even read posts or threads like these without my eyes watering. Its either rage or sadness that my country has been reduced to putting up with this man. I never thought I would live to see the day my country would be looked at as evil by so many people around the world after all the good we have done in the last 100 years. If you see that new commercial about the Marines, its the perfect example of what this country is all about. We have freed nations, fed the hungry, defended freedom, died for other peoples freedom, led during the darkest hours of human history. Yet, this mother****er in 5 years destroys that reputation. Unreal.
from lib-pig dr. paul craig roberts - assistant secretary of the treasury under reagan. http://www.vdare.com/roberts/070315_constitutional.htm Are We Experiencing The Last Days Of Constitutional Rule? The Bush administration’s greatest success is its ability to escape accountability for its numerous impeachable offenses. The administration’s offenses against US law, the US Constitution, civil liberties, human rights, and the Geneva Conventions, its lies to Congress and the American people, its vote-rigging scandals, its sweetheart no-bid contracts to favored firms, its political firing of Republican US Attorneys, its practice of kidnapping and torturing people in foreign hellholes, and its persecution of whistle blowers are altogether so vast that it is a major undertaking just to list them all. Bush admits that he violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and spied on US citizens without warrants, a felony under the Act. Bush has shown total disrespect for civil liberty and the Constitution and has suffered rebukes from the Supreme Count. The evidence is overwhelming that the Bush administration manufactured false "intelligence" to justify military aggression against Iraq. The Halliburton contract scandals are notorious, as is the use of electronic voting machines programmed to miscount the actual vote. The chief-of-staff to Vice President Cheney has been convicted for obstructing justice in the outing of a covert CIA officer. Proof of torture is overwhelming, and the Bush administration has even had the temerity to have permissive legislation passed after the fact that permits it to continue to torture "detainees." The Sibel Edmonds and other whistle blower cases are well known. The Senate Judiciary Committee has just issued subpoenas to Justice (sic) Dept. officials involved in the scandalous removal of US Attorneys who refused to be politicized. Yet the Democrats have taken impeachment "off the table." Many Democrats and Republicans and a great many Christians can contemplate illegal military aggression against Iran, but not the impeachment of the greatest criminal administration in US history. Far from being scandalized by what the entire world views as an unjust invasion and occupation of Iraq by the US, leading Democratic and Republican candidates for the 2008 presidential nomination rushed to inform the Israel Lobby, AIPAC, that they, if elected, will keep US troops in Iraq. The previous occupant of the White House could not escape being impeached by the House of Representatives for lying about a consensual Oval Office sexual affair. President Nixon and his vice president, a saintly pair compared to Bush-Cheney, were both driven from office for offenses that are inconsequential by comparison. Liberals branded Ronald Reagan the "Teflon President," but the neoconservatives’ Iran-Contra scandal was a mere dress rehearsal for their machinations in the Bush regime. What explains Bush-Cheney invulnerability to accountability? Perhaps the answer is that Bush has desensitized us. Like kids desensitized to violence by violent video games and movies and p*rnography addicts desensitized to sex, we have become desensitized by the avalanche of Bush-Cheney crimes, lies, and disdain for Congress, courts, and public opinion. Our elected representatives, if not the American people, now regard as normal such heinous actions as war crimes, the rape of the Constitution, self-serving use of government office, and the constant stream of lies and propaganda from the highest offices of the executive branch. Perhaps that is what disillusioned foreigners, who once looked with hope to America, mean when they say that America does not exist anymore. If the notion has departed that the highest political offices in the land are supposed to be occupied by people who are honest and faithful to their oath to the Constitution, then we are far advanced on the road to tyranny. In future history books, will Bush-Cheney mark the transition of the United States from constitutional rule to the unaccountable rule of the unitary executive who cancels out Congress with signing statements and silences critics with the police state means that are now part of the US legal code?
New Rule: Liberals must stop saying President Bush hasn't asked Americans to sacrifice for the war on terror. On the contrary, he's asked us to sacrifice something enormous. Our civil rights. Now, when I heard George Bush was reading my emails, I probably had the same reaction you did: George Bush can read?! Yes, he can. And this administration has read your phone records, credit card statements, mail, Internet logs. I can't tell if they're fighting a war on terror or producing the next season of "Cheaters." I mail myself a copy of the Constitution every morning just on the hope they'll open it and see what it says. So -so when it comes to sacrifice, don't kid yourself. You have given up a lot. You've given up faith in your government's honesty, the goodwill of people overseas, and six-tenths of the Bill of Rights. Here's what you've sacrificed: search and seizure, warrants, self-incrimination, trial by jury, cruel and unusual punishment. Here's what you have left: hand guns, religion, and they can't make you quarter a British soldier Bill Mahar 3-16-07
Ex-Aide Details a Loss of Faith in the President By JIM RUTENBERG AUSTIN, Tex., March 29 — In 1999, Matthew Dowd became a symbol of George W. Bush’s early success at positioning himself as a Republican with Democratic appeal. A top strategist for the Texas Democrats who was disappointed by the Bill Clinton years, Mr. Dowd was impressed by the pledge of Mr. Bush, then governor of Texas, to bring a spirit of cooperation to Washington. He switched parties, joined Mr. Bush’s political brain trust and dedicated the next six years to getting him to the Oval Office and keeping him there. In 2004, he was appointed the president’s chief campaign strategist. Looking back, Mr. Dowd now says his faith in Mr. Bush was misplaced. In a wide-ranging interview here, Mr. Dowd called for a withdrawal from Iraq and expressed his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s leadership. He criticized the president as failing to call the nation to a shared sense of sacrifice at a time of war, failing to reach across the political divide to build consensus and ignoring the will of the people on Iraq. He said he believed the president had not moved aggressively enough to hold anyone accountable for the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, and that Mr. Bush still approached governing with a “my way or the highway” mentality reinforced by a shrinking circle of trusted aides. “I really like him, which is probably why I’m so disappointed in things,” he said. He added, “I think he’s become more, in my view, secluded and bubbled in.” In speaking out, Mr. Dowd became the first member of Mr. Bush’s inner circle to break so publicly with him. He said his decision to step forward had not come easily. But, he said, his disappointment in Mr. Bush’s presidency is so great that he feels a sense of duty to go public given his role in helping Mr. Bush gain and keep power. Mr. Dowd, a crucial part of a team that cast Senator John Kerry as a flip-flopper who could not be trusted with national security during wartime, said he had even written but never submitted an op-ed article titled “Kerry Was Right,” arguing that Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat and 2004 presidential candidate, was correct in calling last year for a withdrawal from Iraq. “I’m a big believer that in part what we’re called to do — to me, by God; other people call it karma — is to restore balance when things didn’t turn out the way they should have,” Mr. Dowd said. “Just being quiet is not an option when I was so publicly advocating an election.” Mr. Dowd’s journey from true believer to critic in some ways tracks the public arc of Mr. Bush’s political fortunes. But it is also an intensely personal story of a political operative who at times, by his account, suppressed his doubts about his professional role but then confronted them as he dealt with loss and sorrow in his own life. In the last several years, as he has gradually broken his ties with the Bush camp, one of Mr. Dowd’s premature twin daughters died, he was divorced, and he watched his oldest son prepare for deployment to Iraq as an Army intelligence specialist fluent in Arabic. Mr. Dowd said he had become so disillusioned with the war that he had considered joining street demonstrations against it, but that his continued personal affection for the president had kept him from joining protests whose anti-Bush fervor is so central. Mr. Dowd, 45, said he hoped in part that by coming forward he would be able to get a message through to a presidential inner sanctum that he views as increasingly isolated. But, he said, he holds out no great hope. He acknowledges that he has not had a conversation with the president. Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said Mr. Dowd’s criticism is reflective of the national debate over the war. “It’s an issue that divides people,” Mr. Bartlett said. “Even people that supported the president aren’t immune from having their own feelings and emotions.” He said he disagreed with Mr. Dowd’s description of the president as isolated and with his position on withdrawal. But he said he was not surprised. Mr. Dowd has relayed the same sentiments to Mr. Bartlett in private conversations; they are friends. During the interview with Mr. Dowd on a slightly overcast afternoon in downtown Austin, he was a far quieter man than the cigar chomping general that he was during Mr. Bush’s 2004 campaign. Soft spoken and somewhat melancholy, he wore jeans, a T-shirt and sandals in an office devoid of Bush memorabilia save for a campaign coffee mug and a photograph of the first couple with his oldest son, Daniel. The photograph was taken one week before the 2004 election, and one day before Daniel was to go to boot camp. Over Mexican food at a restaurant that was only feet from the 2000 campaign headquarters, and later at his office just up the street, Mr. Dowd recounted his political and personal journey. “It’s amazing,” he said. “In five years, I’ve only traveled 300 feet, but it feels like I’ve gone around the world, where my head is.” Mr. Dowd said he decided to become a Republican in 1999 and joined Mr. Bush after watching him work closely with Bob Bullock, the Democratic lieutenant governor of Texas, who was a political client of Mr. Dowd and a mentor to Mr. Bush. “It’s almost like you fall in love,” he said. “I was frustrated about Washington, the inability for people to get stuff done and bridge divides. And this guy’s personality — he cared about education and taking a different stand on immigration.” Mr. Dowd established himself as an expert at interpreting polls, giving Karl Rove, the president’s closest political adviser, and the rest of the Bush team guidance as they set out to woo voters, slash opponents and exploit divisions between Democratic-leaning states and Republican-leaning ones. In television interviews in 2004, Mr. Dowd said that Mr. Kerry’s campaign was proposing “a weak defense,” and that the voters “trust this president more than they trust Senator Kerry on Iraq.” But he was starting to have his own doubts by then, he said. He said he thought Mr. Bush handled the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks well but “missed a real opportunity to call the country to a shared sense of sacrifice.” He was dumbfounded when Mr. Bush did not fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld after revelations that American soldiers had tortured prisoners at Abu Ghraib. Several associates said Mr. Dowd chafed under Mr. Rove’s leadership. Mr. Dowd said he had not spoken to Mr. Rove in months but would not discuss their relationship in detail. Mr. Dowd said, in retrospect, he was in denial. “When you fall in love like that,” he said, “and then you notice some things that don’t exactly go the way you thought, what do you do? Like in a relationship, you say ‘No no, no, it’ll be different.’ ” He said he clung to the hope that Mr. Bush would get back to his Texas style of governing if he won. But he saw no change after the 2004 victory. He describes the administration’s handling of Hurricane Katrina, and the president’s refusal in the summer of 2005 to meet with the war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose son died fighting in Iraq, around the same time that Mr. Bush entertained the bicyclist Lance Armstrong at his Crawford ranch as further cause for doubt. “I had finally come to the conclusion that maybe all these things along do add up,” he said. “That it’s not the same, it’s not the person I thought.” He said that during his work on the 2006 re-election campaign of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California, which had a bipartisan appeal, he began to rethink his approach to elections. “I think we should design campaigns that appeal not to 51 percent of the people,” he said, “but bring the country together as a whole.” He said that he still believed campaigns must do what it takes to win, but that he was never comfortable with the most hard-charging tactics. He is now calling for “gentleness” in politics. He said that while he tried to keep his own conduct respectful during political combat, he wanted to “do my part in fixing fissures that I may have been part of.” His views against the war began to harden last spring when, in a personal exercise, he wrote a draft opinion article and found himself agreeing with Mr. Kerry’s call for withdrawal from Iraq. He acknowledged that the expected deployment of his son Daniel was an important factor. He said the president’s announcement last fall that he was re-nominating the former United Nations ambassador John R. Bolton, whose confirmation Democrats had already refused, was further proof to him that Mr. Bush was not seeking consensus with Democrats. He said he came to believe Mr. Bush’s views were hardening, with the reinforcement of his inner circle. But, he said, the person “who is ultimately responsible is the president.” And he gradually ventured out with criticism, going so far as declaring last month in a short essay in Texas Monthly magazine that Mr. Bush was losing “his gut-level bond with the American people,” and breaking more fully in this week’s interview. “If the American public says they’re done with something, our leaders have to understand what they want,” Mr. Dowd said. “They’re saying ‘Get out of Iraq.’ ” Mr. Dowd’s friends from Mr. Bush’s orbit said they understood his need to speak out. “Everyone is going to reflect on the good and the bad, and everything in between, in their own way,” said Nicolle Wallace, communications director of Mr. Bush’s 2004 campaign, a post she also held at the White House until last summer. “And I certainly respect the way he’s doing it — these are his true thoughts from a deeply personal place.” Ms. Wallace said she continued to have “enormous gratitude” for her years with Mr. Bush. Mr. Bartlett, the White House counselor, said he understood, too, though he said he strongly disagreed with Mr. Dowd’s assessment. “Do we know our critics will try to use this to their advantage? Yes,” he said. “Is that perfect? No. But you can respectfully disagree with someone who has been supportive of you.” Mr. Dowd does not seem prepared to put his views to work in 2008. The only candidate who appeals to him, he said, is Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, because of what Mr. Dowd called his message of unity. But, he said, “I wouldn’t be surprised if I wasn’t walking around in Africa or South America doing something that was like mission work.” He added, “I do feel a calling of trying to re-establish a level of gentleness in the world.” http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/w...68218-cyyjPeRPtD7iIVo8lP6hOw&pagewanted=print
Pretty sad when your own dad is dogging your presidency. -- WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former President George Bush told CNN Monday that the electorate may be experiencing "Bush fatigue." And it may be the reason his son, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, is sitting out the 2008 presidential election, the 41st president said. "There's something to that -- there might be a little Bush fatigue now," former President Bush told CNN's Larry King when asked if he agreed with a recent assessment from GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney that Jeb Bush would currently be a frontrunner for the Republican party's presidential nomination if his last name wasn't Bush. http://www.cnn.com/POLITICS/blogs/p...4/bush-sr-bush-fatigue-may-be-setting-in.html
well its been a few hours since the mob has attacked its favorite scapegoat i guess its been building up.
Now now donkey, I've been off the board all weekend. (Had to clean up some downed trees from that freak ice storm at my house in the Catskills last week). But thanks for the thoughts! Hope you had a nice weekend too!
This will be the first time a president has done nothing for 8 years other than fight a unfightable opponet.
As usual, DonkeyShow can't actually defend Bush, just act like the most powerful man in the world is some victim. Why don't you post something positive about Bush instead of your ridiculously overblown sarcasm about people blaming Bush for everything.
no. you misunderstand me. i think its obvious there are problems but i dont think a sophomoric thread hurling insults and dissing someone is the most constructive. I'm all for busting someones balls but there is a point were things just become irrelevant and mean spirited insults and its safe to say that that line has been crossed.
Conquistador, which country?. I partly grew up in Central American myself and have a great interest in it. Bush I could probably eat bbq and watch the Astros while intermittently making calls to torture people. Sort of scary. Has excellent interpersonal skills. Funny story. I was at a tennis match at Westside and Bush I and Barb showed up in the black SUV's. They hopped out and went to the porta potty. They had to waive sheepishly as they came out of the portapotties.
Well people tend to get emotional about a moron who has ruined their own country, (the USA) wasted its forturne and good name and killed about 650,000 plus folks needlessly, even if most of them were mostly Iraqis. I guess you think that mean spirited criticism of Hitler,Stalin,Mao, and Pol Pot, other mass murderers is a lack of courtesy.
lol. i saw this coming a mile away. when in doubt, bust out the hitler argument. you can not like the situation, but getting emotional, hurling needless insults and overexaggerating is uncalled for, at least in a legit discussion. but i guess im wrong for assuming this actually is, or was ever intended, to be a legit discussion.
