Most Americans doubt Bush’s ethics and honesty
By on Nov 11th, 2005 at 8:11 am
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The American people are waking up. Yes! Yes! Yes!!!
November 11th, 2005 at 8:22 amWhy couldn’t the dumb-asses have woken up last year? Serves us right for being a mass of idiots…
November 11th, 2005 at 8:31 amWhat ethics? What honesty?
November 11th, 2005 at 8:42 amMaximus #2,
You write of great ideas. However, the companies you list thrive especially well in depressed areas of “red states”. They, in many markets, have taken over the market. It is not enough to raise the minimum wage, for example. Walmart can drive hundreds of competitors out of business because of the shear size of its buying power. Even if they were to pay more and be pressured into offering benefits to their millions of unskilled part time employees, they have a strong hold.
It is a product of capitalism. Unions don’t fix the damage this system does. Unions, in fact, often contribute to lower productivity and losing competitive edges in global markets.
I am not arguing with your stand. It is just, I believe a bit more complicated than you pose.
November 11th, 2005 at 8:54 amGW never had any ethics or honesty , his behaviour is one of an addict in dire need of a fix ….alcohol ….cocaine ….he needs continious attention to make up for his crave.He cannot stay in place long anough to govern that’s the reason he continioulsly run for office and let Rove and Cheney take of governing according to their misguided dogma. In essence GW is an empty puppet.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:01 amfinally, the rest of the country is catching up…
November 11th, 2005 at 9:03 amThe Dems need to take over in 2006 and 2008 and then we can impeachment Old Bushie, Cheney and their admin.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:08 amWhat has always amazed me is that many of the people who think (or used to think) that President Bush is a “man of honesty and integrity” believe that based solely on the fact that he believes in God and prays every day, as if that were proof of honesty or integrity. It is not.
Faith alone does not make one a good person. I won’t go with the obvious example (or else I would “automatically lose”), so I’ll give another one: Tomas de Torquemada. (Chief interrogator in the Spanish Inquisition.) He was a man of faith. I’m sure he prayed every day. But does that mean he was a good person? I don’t think anyone would say he was. Unless, of course, he were the type of person who supported the use of torture.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:10 am#9, WAS,
November 11th, 2005 at 9:20 amGood point. People (mostly in the Bible Belt) voted for him because he claimed to be “born again” and he spoke in simple language.
Some of us saw him as a “dry” drunk, a politician using Jesus Christ as a campaign prop, and an inarticulate, simple-minded, poorly learned man who made it to the top on his family name and influence.
People who put their faith on display are like the Biblical Pharasees – they talk the talk, but seldom walk the walk.
#10 Marie,
November 11th, 2005 at 9:25 amWhenever I see a poll that says that 37% of Americans believe that President Bush is a man of honesty and integrity, I just figure that somewhere there’s another poll that shows that only 63% of Americans understand the definitions of the words “honesty” and “integrity.” It would be the only possible explanation.
I hope people are waking up…but how long untill they fall asleep again? We need to keep the ball running. As usual though, it is that stubborn 38% crowd who refuse to admit Bush is a failure and a weak leader.
Some reminders from Bush’s resume:
- I spent the U.S. surplus and effectively bankrupted the U.S. Treasury.
- I shattered the record for the largest annual deficit in U.S. history.
- I achieved negative job growth for the first time in over a century. I did this partly with my agressive job exporting/outsourcing program.
- I am the all-time U.S. and world record-holder for receiving the most corporate campaign donations.
- I set an economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12-month period.
- set the all-time record for most foreclosures in a 12-month period.
- I’ve broken more international treaties than any President in U.S. history.
- I am the first President in U.S. history to have the United Nations remove the U.S. from the Human Rights Commission.
- I withdrew the U.S. from the World Court of Law.
- I am the first President in history to refuse United Nations election inspectors (during the 2002 U.S. election).
- I have cut health care benefits for war veterans and support a cut in duty benefits for active duty troops and their families — in wartime.
- Removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in U.S. history.
- I am the first President in history to have a majority of Europeans (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and security.
- I have so far failed to fulfill my pledge to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice.
http://mindprod.com/politics/bushresume.html
http://politicalhumor.about.com/library/blbushresume.htm
And that’s only up to 2004 on top of that, I didn’t even mention the failure of the Iraqi war, failure on the war on terror, failure with Katrina and the corruption in the administration. This guy is the worst president in history and will always be remembered that way.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:32 amThat’s a really good point #9. Alot of people put faith ahead of their own interests.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:37 amBush isn’t religious….that’s all a Rovian creation. That man hasn’t seen the inside of a church since Reagan passed. He wouldn’t know a bible passage if it was tattooed to his forehead.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:46 amThis thread is BS…c’mon “doubt” who the fvck in this country doen’t know with absolute certainty that there are no ethics or honesty in the WH, none what so ever…”doubt” I doubted him in 2000…if we don’t know by now…what will it take: a photographer busting in to the oval office while cheney is tapping bush and rove finger-cuffing miers…this administration has done nothing but negate honesty and ethics, but most Americans only “doubt” BS
November 11th, 2005 at 9:53 amBush is making history. Every second-termer eventually becomes a lame duck. But not even Nixon became a lame schmuck. Only Bush.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:05 amholy shit–this IS news. 37% think he’s honest and has integrity?? Jesus, where ARE these people living?
November 11th, 2005 at 10:06 amThe latest defense is Demorats voted for the war, too. So they have no right to complain. This also goes hand in hand with the Thank GOD there was only one indictment rationale.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:11 amThis is crucial, because it shows that the leaders again underestimate the intelligence of the people, including their moderate supporters. Moderates supported the war at one time, also. And when Neocons blame Dems for complicity in wrongdoing, they also blame moderate voters.
#17,
November 11th, 2005 at 10:12 amIn an alcoholic haze – they’re his drinking buddies.
#16
They tell themslves this is second-term blues. They got another thing coming.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:13 am#13 Thank you. Stayed up all night thinking of that one. (No I didn’t. Just kidding.)
But seriously, I think that when people seem to put faith ahead of their own interests, it’s because they believe that faith IS in their own interests. I can understand this because, after all, faith requires one to not question things. So when people of faith hear people like Dr James Dobson telling them that George W. Bush is a man of faith, they assume then that he must also have their interests at heart. But he doesn’t. And what these good people (who I believe really are good, honest people) need to understand is that they are being used and taken advantage of by someone who is exploiting their faith against them.
People of faith (especially Judeo-Christian faiths) do not believe in starting pre-emptive wars (generally). They do not believe that the poor are poor because they made bad choices in life, and should not be helped by others. They do not believe that the wealthiest among us are virtuous people simply because they are wealthy, and that they shouldn’t help out those less fortunate themselves by paying a little more into the general treasury (and no one is asking them to pay so much more that they end up just as poor as the rest of us.) People of faith do not believe (despite what Ann Coulter thinks) that the planet is ours for the taking and that we should exploit it for every bit of personal gain that we can. And they do not believe that lying and cheating and deceiving others is an acceptable way to achieve one’s goals.
So I cannot understand why people of faith think that President Bush is a man of honesty and integrity and that he is doing a good job running this country. If their faith is leading them to believe these things, then it’s high time they start questioning their faith’s leaders (not necessarily their faith itself.) Their leaders should explain these discrepancies to them, and let the faithful decide for themselves who is good and who is not.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:13 amThis is certainly big news, but progressives need to start moving beyond the “I hate Bush” position. If Reagan was “The Great Communicator” W is “The Lowest Common Denomonator” his style was always marked by his anti-intellectualism, and his phoney “I talk from the gut rhetoric.” Americans have finally come to realize that this was a shill..but for a progressive agenda to take shape we need to move the argument to more substantive issues…economic justice, global development etc…I’m still not sure that the citizens of our great nation are ready for this after 8 yrs of brainwashing…
November 11th, 2005 at 10:16 amAnd they have every right to. Please note that the president is going to be making veterans day speeches today, but not to, or about veterans in the main.
His theme today is to try and gain back some of the loss of the gloss because of the lies he and his underlings told in the run-up to the war in Iraq.
I will bet that he does not mention that a fellow neocon, rep. Buyer, Ind., has decreed that veterans and their organization will no longer be allowed to testify in front of the joint committee on veterans affairs.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:18 amMy concern is for the people that still believe him.
They need help and need it right away. Call Brownie, these folks need a heck of a lesson in reality!
New on EWM: “Operation Choke the Chickenâ€
November 11th, 2005 at 10:20 amDHS won’t be caught with its pants down by Avian Flu
Bush is so arrogant that he is blind to the consequences of his actions…he just doesn’t understand that he is pointing a gun at his own foot and squeezing the trigger. It would be funny if the consequences for America weren’t so tragic.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:31 am#22, art – i watched president carter on charlie rose last evening…he spelled out many ideas (for lack of a better word) that should be/are the democratic platform… nothing new, we all know what’s important, but they/we better soon be shouting them loud and clear and often…
November 11th, 2005 at 10:35 am#5
What Union or Unions will admit the “millions of unskilled part time employees” to their union if the Unions were successful in organizing Wal-Mart? While I do not necessarily approve of Wal-Mart labor practices I, also, do not work there so I have no authenticity in demanding a change. The same is true for the labor Unions. If they have no contract with Wal-Mart their recourse is to convince sufficient Wal-Mart employees that they would be better off in the Union. It isn’t going to happen because it is not true. However upsetting it may be to the labor unions, Wal-Mart has done a good thing in offering good jobs to people who would have difficulty finding work in the Union controlled marketplace. We should be more concerned with the exorbitant salaries paid management, administrators, and CEO’s than with the other end of the scale.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:40 amThe best snapshot of this presidency in my opinion.
November 11th, 2005 at 10:42 amHis 2nd inaugural motorcade speeding down the road in their brand new “everything proof” limos with dark tinted windows, passing a grandstand, every person with their back to him.
I will always remember that scene, as it says it all.
#28 – Agree 100%. Proof perhaps that progressives were way ahead of the game?
November 11th, 2005 at 10:47 amYou read this poll and yet Scott McClellan claims that the American people agree with the President on this and that. Helen Thomas speaks with the same point of view of the majority of those polled, but Scotty insists she’s anti-American and doesn’t speak for the majority.
They should start addressing him as Mr. Pants-on-fire.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:50 am#9
“based solely on the fact that he believes in God and prays every day”
I would argue that he in fact does not pray everyday. I would even go as far as saying I don’t think he has ever prayed.
Nothing he does or says indicates a born again Christian to me. My family is full of born agains and they don’t act like Bush.
November 11th, 2005 at 11:57 am#21
“And what these good people (who I believe really are good, honest people) need to understand is that they are being used and taken advantage of by someone who is exploiting their faith against them.”
These are good people. My mom voted for Bush. She is not a lunatic. She is just misinformed. I continue to give her the facts and she keeps voting anti-abortion. I really think that literally a space alien could run on the anti-abortion ticket and she would vote for it.
The problem is the NeoCons. Those are the scary ones. They are the reason why the founding fathers wanted seperation of church and state.
It is getting to be that it will soon be illegal to be Atheist.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:04 pm#33 And I hope that you can convince your Mom that a) even if Roe is overturned, if your state permits abortions, it can and will continue to; and b) the Republicans used people like her to get into power so they could do all the things that good people like your Mom would never support. She should never trust them again.
I know you’re a Gulf War vet (I’ve read your previous posts), but I’m sure that if abortion were not your mother’s primary criterion for choosing a president, she might take a closer look at how you and your fellow soldiers have been treated by our government since coming back home. And being a person of faith, I’m sure she would be disappointed at how this administration treats those less fortunate than ourselves. (I’m sure she didn’t think that the evacuees in the Houston Astrodome thought it was “really working out for them” – a la the president’s mother.)
There are those who believe that abortion is wrong under any circumstance. I can understand and respect that. But I hope that they understand that this is a decision that the individual woman must decide for herself. And she should be allowed under our legal system to make that choice. If she goes through with it and God is offended, then God will take care of that part. But our government should not be imposing the religious viewpoint on everybody regardless of their religious beliefs.
Sometimes I, too, feel that it will soon be illegal to be Atheist. Ironically, Atheists will be persecuted in a nation founded by people fleeing to escape religious persecution.
P.S. Thank you for your service to our country.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:31 pmI just finished watching chimpbush give his veterans day address.
What a bunch of crap. He gave a complete history of the terrist movement, hinted at other administrations doing nothing, but that he was determined to end the threat of terism.
He mad one blunder as far as I am concerned. He talked of Osama sending people on the road to paradise, but that Osama never followed. Chimp, you sent hundreds of Amurkan soldiers to their deaths, but none came from your administration.
He then went into a tirade against the people who are questioning his view of the intelligence on WMDs, saying that everyone had the same intelligence. He failed to mention that he withdrew the inspectors because they were not finding weapons of mass destruction.
What a turd this man is. He stumbled a lot in his speech, but please remember, his IQ is only 91, and he is a shirker of duty, a pot smoking, cocaine sniffing alcoholic desperately in need of a 12 step program.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:50 pm#35 “He then went into a tirade against the people who are questioning his view of the intelligence on WMDs, saying that everyone had the same intelligence. He failed to mention that he withdrew the inspectors because they were not finding weapons of mass destruction.”
Then he continued a right-wing lie that’s been going around when he said this. Because it is NOT true that “everyone had the same intelligence.” (I’ll skip the obvious joke that comes to mind.) The President had access to intelligence that many people did NOT have such as the Presidential Daily Brief and the Defense Dept’s special intelligence service (I forget the name of it.) It was in these other intelligence briefs that he was told what he wanted to hear, and they made sure that unclassified versions of the intelligence that “everybody had access to” were deceptively written to eliminate uncertainties. So, for example, if Saddam “might” have been doing something, the declassified intelligence said he definitely was doing it. This is why so many members of Congress voted to give him the authority to invade Iraq; because they were deceived. And no amount of right-wing spin is going to alter that fact.
And, yes, it was President Bush who ordered the weapons inspectors out of Iraq before they completed their mission, not Saddam as the right would have us believe.
November 11th, 2005 at 12:57 pmImagine everyone how stupid the people must be who still don’t feel bush is dishonest. Wait, we don’t have to imagine, the retard trolls show up every day to demostrate it! Bahahahaha
November 11th, 2005 at 1:48 pmAnd this from Bush today “These critics are fully aware that a bipartisan Senate investigation found no evidence of political pressure to change the intelligence community’s judgments related to Iraq’s weapons programs. ”
I think those that frequent Think Progress know that Bush is lying again. Well, technically no because the investigation wasn’t looking for evidence of political pressure until phase 2 which was subsequently dropped. What a tool. Come on TP, get a thread going.
November 11th, 2005 at 1:53 pm#34
I give my mom as much information as I can. I had about a 40 e-mail exchange with her last week and she sees where I am coming from. She understands now how Bush has used her. It was incredible that the day that I chose to tell my mom the truth about Bush and how they are using the religous right, just to get votes, was the same day that the Abrmoff Scanlon memo came out callin gthe religious right “wackos” I couldn’t have gotten better evidence at a better time.
You think god was involved? Hmmmmmmm.
November 11th, 2005 at 2:06 pmSpudgeBoy: Wayne went home already (we get out of work at 1:00 on Fridays, although we usually hang out to blog afterwords-no internet at home), but I’ll pass your post along to him. He’ll be very happy to hear that your mom ‘converted’, as am I. I think that Wayne (the atheist) would prefer to say that it was LUCK rather than a god’s intervention. Whatever, it was excellent timing!
November 11th, 2005 at 2:50 pmBush? Ethics and honesty? Since when did he ever have ethics and honesty? The Republican grave goes another foot deeper.
November 11th, 2005 at 3:00 pmBushie is the biggest liar on the planet.
Those who support him are liars too.
November 11th, 2005 at 9:54 pm