Emanuel: On baseball and Iraq, Bush is ‘0 for 2.’
Emanuel: On baseball and Iraq, Bush is ‘0 for 2.’
Today, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) took to the House floor to mark the fifth anniversary of President Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech. In both baseball and the war, Bush has said, “History will prove me right.” But as Emanuel pointed out, history has proven Bush wrong on both. Watch it:
Transcript:
“Madam Speaker, in 1993, when professional-baseball owners were deciding how to rehabilitate the reputation of baseball, after the player’s strike, they debated whether to enact a wild-card rule to allow a second-place team into the playoffs. Only one owner at the time voted against this: Texas Rangers general partner George Bush.
“When the rule passed 27-1, at the time the President said, ‘I made my arguments and went down in flames…History will prove me right.’ [Associated Press, 9/9/93]
“Since then, nearly a third of World Series champions have been wild-card teams, including the 2004 World Series Champion Boston Red Sox.
“The rule helped saved baseball as history has shown.
“And just like his baseball predictions, President Bush sings a very similar tune about Iraq, he says, ‘History will prove whether I’m right. I think I’ll be right…’ [Whitehouse.gov, March 29, 2006]
“Really?
“Five years today since his speech on “Mission Accomplished,” and let’s take stock.
“More than 4,000 lives have been lost.
“Tens of thousands of American men and women have been injured.
“We’ve spent over $475 billion in taxpayer dollars, with the price tag continually going up.
“History will be the judge of whether once again George Bush’s record and America’s reputation will go down in flames.
“At this rate he’s going to be 0 for 2.”
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0 for 2???
Rahm, you’re being a little bit generous to the Chimperor.
0 for 8 years is more like it.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:06 pmugh. what a tacky comparison.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:07 pmHow can you be an ‘o’fer when you’ve never stepped up to the plate?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:08 pmO for 3, Rahm. He failed as an oil company exec before that.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:12 pmAnd Bush’s idea of ‘winning the game’ will be to bomb Iran, starting WWIII, and he’ll get to be 0 for eternity.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:14 pmand congress is 0 for 1,000 in holding anyone accountable for W’s incompetence and lawlessness. heck, there’s even talk that the blue dog “democrats” are about to cut a deal on FISA and retroactive immunity (a bone to Trent Lott’s new lobbying gig no doubt). Great work there, guys and gals. Rahm, guess it’s time to hold another hearing, huh?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pmBush likes to compare himself to Truman when it comes to his approval ratings, and he likes to think that he will be vindicated by history, as Truman has.
Unfortunately, Truman has a few things going for him that Bush doesn’t — namely that he worked within the constitution, he didn’t lie to the American people over and over and over again, he didn’t mortgage the country up to the hilt, he didn’t take away the freedoms of Americans, and he DID get U.N. support for his war.
And, unlike Bush, Truman had some successes — the Marshall Plan, the Berlin Airlift, the racial integration of the armed forces, the recognition of Pakistan and Israel, the establishment of NATO, etc. What’s Bush going to honestly be able to point to as a success with his administration?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pmmisshusseinmolly Says:
What’s Bush going to honestly be able to point to as a success with his administration?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:17 pm
_____
The most well-staged photo-ops of any president in history?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pmThere has been no leadership from Bush since day one. He is a pawn. McCain will continue to take this country down in an never-ending spiral.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pmWhat have YOU done to IMPEACH bush, Mr.Rahm??????….”0″?
May 1st, 2008 at 4:25 pmShorter Rahm Emanuel:
Because Bush couldn’t grasp the politics of baseball in 1993, 475 billion dollars and over 4,000 US lives have been spent in another country 15 years later, so Bush totally sucks, neener neener!
And all that other stuff–torture, illegal war, illegal spying, financial crisis blah blah blah?—SOOO not relevant!
Please Illinois Democrats, do something about Rahm Emanuel this November!
May 1st, 2008 at 4:32 pmm-h-molly
though you’ve got to admit the whole Israel thing has been Phyrric.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:36 pmSo why haven’t Rahm & the “savior dems” sent bush, cheney, et. al. to th’ showers?
The current dem majority appears to be the equivalent of the 1919 Black Sox, with Shoeless John Conyers and Clueless Pelosi and Harry “Swede” Reid.
The fix is in….
May 1st, 2008 at 4:38 pmNo Child Left Behind US History Exam
1) George W. Bush is most like which previous awesome US presidents?
a) Lincoln
May 1st, 2008 at 4:43 pmb) Truman
c) Reagan
d) Hoover
e) None of the the Democratic Presidents who all suck
f) All of the above except (e)
That one heck of a lame comparison.
We need new Democratic leadership. That’s the best he could do???
How about: We had six years where the Republicans got EVERYTHING they wanted, and two years where they’ve gotten NOTHING they haven’t wanted, and LOOK AT THE MESS WE’RE IN!
What was the point of being so timid in the first six years if we’re not going to SHOUT THIS TO THE RAFTERS!
It is time that we made the case that our way is better. It is time that we tried to win over the country to a progressive agenda instead of trying our best to eke out a 50.1% majority victory. The time is ripe; a huge majority of the American people say we’re moving in the wrong direction. If Mr. Emanuel thinks this is our best argument, it is time for him to step aside. We can do better than that!
May 1st, 2008 at 4:44 pmAbout a month after President George W. Bush stood on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln before a banner proclaiming, “Mission Accomplished,” Fox News’ Neil Cavuto asserted to Senator John McCain that, “many argue the conflict isn’t over” in Iraq. McCain responded, “Well, then why was there a banner that said mission accomplished on the aircraft carrier?”
For a detailed history of John McCain’s predictions of a short war and claims U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators to his casual attitude towards casualties and his ongoing confusion over friend and foe in Iraq, see:
May 1st, 2008 at 4:48 pm“John McCain on the Mission Accomplished in Iraq.”
On the other hand, Bush is batting 1000% at being dead wrong.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:53 pmOil has increased 450% since Bush & Cheney stole office.
May 1st, 2008 at 4:55 pmleftright, you are sooooooooooooooooo wrong. the wet dream that is drilling in ANWR is not so that US consumers would realize any relief. No, it is so that US oil companies can export the crude to other places, such as China and Russia, where it would be much cheaper to transport. ANWR, ANWR, ANWR, if only ANWR . . . what a lame a$$ joke being played once again by W on those that continue to believe his vomit is pure snow. and as for gas prices doubling in the past year and a half, thank your boys W, Cheney et al and the prostitutes we call the GOPs in Congress. It’s their energy plan after all.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:03 pmPeter C is exactly right. For almost 20 years the public has been sold the Republican Brand. Namely….
…The goverment IS the problem, and is incapable of successfull solutions.
…Unfettered Market forces will always make things better.
…America does not need to work with the UN or any other foreign governments.
…Science viewed with suspicion, especially when it contradicts the “Book”.
…Enormous Amounts of tax money spent on cold war era weaponry will make us all safer.
…if someone fails in this economy, it is always their fault
…projects done for the Public Good are always wastefull boondoggles
…Taxes are inherently Evil
This kind of thinking, in the face of our current Problems, offers NO SOLUTIONS. No Solutions is NOT what the American people want to hear today.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:04 pmI wonder if Bush had been more successful with his baseball venture, he might have been satisfied with that and would not have needed to run for president to salvage his ego.
After all, some say that about Fidel Castro…
May 1st, 2008 at 5:24 pmRahm is a snake.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:32 pmleftright Says
May 1st, 2008 at 4:53 pm
gas has doubled since Democrats have controlled the House and Senate
Had former President Clinton not vetoed legislation opening ANWR to oil drilling in 1996, additional oil from the region would now be helping ease tight supplies and sky-high prices
__________________________________________
Had former President Clinton not vetoed legislation opening ANWR to oil drilling in 1996, we would have exhausted those supplies by now, AND have trashed the ecological balance in that area.
And how do you figure the Democrats are responsible for the oil prices? I have a friend who claims it’s been harder for him to get laid since the election of 2006 — should we blame the Democrats for that?
May 1st, 2008 at 5:37 pmI would say that bushie is approaching 0 for Infinity.
May 1st, 2008 at 5:41 pmhttp://zfacts.com/p/35.html
The average price of fuel in 2005 [Republican led congress] was 3.28. Where I am today, left right, is 3.49. The price of fuel has not doubled since 2006 when the Democrats gained control.
The average price of fuel today is: 3.62 reg unleaded.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:19 pmhttp://www.fuelgaugereport.com/
When bush took office, gas was around $1.52.
May 1st, 2008 at 6:33 pmAll oil, whether from Canada or the good old USA is sold on the open market before it’s refined.
The shit in your gas tank, you have no idea where it came from.
May 1st, 2008 at 10:49 pmBush was such a baseball genius he sent Sammy Sosa to Chicago and got little in return. Just as Bush shortchanged the Texas Rangers with that trade, Bush has shortchanged the American people in Iraq and the people of the Gulf Coast following Katrina. About the only one’s he hasn’t shortchanged is Halliburton and others in the oil patch.
May 2nd, 2008 at 2:23 pm