Actually, the recession is widely regarded as beginning after Bush was in office three months. The recession turned into a crash after Enron. I’ll try to dig up a cite.
This is what I sent to my co-worker. I’m not going to reformat it into quotes and so on; my comments are preceded by —>
Subject: I’m confused
Subject: Fw: I’m confused
Thus was passed to me, but I can’t understand it. Maybe you can. I’m
trying to get all this political stuff straightened out in my head so I’ll
know how to vote come November. Right now, we have one guy saying one
thing. Then the other guy says something else. Who to believe. Lemme
see; have I got this straight?
Clinton awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Yugoslavia - good…
Bush awards Halliburton no-bid contract in Iraq - bad…
—> This may be the only fact here. Both are bad. The perception of a conflict of interest should have been obvious especially to the current administration, since the VP was the CEO of Halliburton.
Clinton spends 77 billion on war in Serbia - good…
Bush spends 87 billion in Iraq - bad…
—> The 77 billion includes all NATO expenditures. The U.S. share may be about 20 billion, and that includes from 1995 to the present. The current cost for Iraq since the invasion is 191 billion.
Clinton imposes regime change in Serbia - good…
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad…
—> Clinton worked with NATO, with our allies. Milosevic was defeated in an election. The U.S. troops in the former Yugoslavia were never in Serbia. Bush promised that he would work with the U.N., with our allies. He lied.
Clinton bombs Christian Serbs on behalf of Muslim Albanian terrorists- good…
Bush liberates 25 million from a genocidal dictator - bad…
—> This is simply a blatant (and disgusting) play on religious prejudice. Approximately 600,00 Muslim men, women, and children of Bosnia and Kosovo were murdered by the Serbian Christians.
Clinton bombs Chinese embassy - good…
Bush bombs terrorist camps - bad…
—> Who says bombing the Chinese embassy was good? It was a mistake of war - shouldn’t have happened. Clinton bombed terrorist camps in Afghanistan in 1998. Republican attacked this measure, stating that he was merely attempting to distract attention from the Lewinsky scandal.
Clinton commits felonies while in office - good…
Bush lands on aircraft carrier in jumpsuit - bad…
—> Umm, what felonies? Bush was attempting to attach himself to a military victory, a “Mission Accomplished” that is still not accomplished.
No mass graves found in Serbia - good…
No WMD found Iraq - bad…
—> This is a lie. Mass graves have been found in all parts of the former Yugoslavia. Since Bush predicated his entire invasion of Iraq on the fact that WMDs were ready to be used against us at any moment, yes, the fact that none have been found is most certainly bad.
Stock market crashes in 2000 under Clinton - good…
Economy on upswing under Bush - bad…
—> The economy is on the upswing since when? Bush has presided over the loss of jobs over a term of office since Hoover. He has turned a record surplus into a record deficit.
Clinton refuses to take custody of Bin Laden - good…
World Trade Centers fall under Bush - bad…
—> Another false story. I’m surprised that this was even put in here - it’s been debunked so thoroughly.
Clinton says Saddam has nukes - good…
Bush says Saddam has nukes - bad…
—> That is exactly why the weapons inspectors were in Iraq, looking for nukes. They didn’t find any. There weren’t any. Bush either knew there weren’t any, or chose to cherry-pick the evidence. Neither is good.
Clinton calls for regime change in Iraq - good…
Bush imposes regime change in Iraq - bad…
—> Bush (as the Congressional resolution makes clear) was supposed to work with our allies and with the U.N. He instead chose to barge full speed ahead. Had he displayed patience and willingness, we would not now be bearing the brunt of this war, in both lives and money.
Terrorist training in Afghanistan under Clinton - good…
Bush destroys training camps in Afghanistan - bad…
—> <sigh> as above
Milosevic not yet convicted - good…
Saddam turned over for trial - bad…
—> Huh? Milosevic is expected to be convicted; so is Hussein. What’s bad about either?
Ahh, it’s so confusing!
Every year an independent tax watchdog group analyzes the average tax
burden on Americans, and then calculates the “Tax Freedom Day”. This
is
the day after which the money you earn goes to you, not the
government.
This year, tax freedom day was April 11th. That’s the earliest it has
been since 1991. Itslatest day ever was May 2nd, which occurred in 2000. Notice anything special about those dates?
—> Actually, it’s the earliest it’s been since 1967.
Recently, John Kerry gave a speech in which he claimed Americans are
actually paying more taxes under Bush, despite the tax cuts. He gave no
explanation and provided no data for this claim.
Another interesting fact: Both George Bush and John Kerry are wealthy
men. Bush owns only one home, his ranch in Texas. Kerry owns 4 mansions,
all worth several million dollars. (His ski resort home in Idaho is an old
barn brought over from Europe in pieces. Not your average A-frame).
—> Kerry’s wife owns those mansions. Kerry is not a rich man.
Bush paid $250,000 in taxes this year; Kerry paid $90,000. Does that
sound right? The man who wants to raise your taxes obviously has figured
out a way to avoid paying his own.
—> Bush had taxable income of 822,000, Kerry 395,00. Mrs. Kerry paid 750,000 on 2.3 million taxable income.