GWB "resume"... how true?

Factual Questions
1

I received this email from a cousin… needless to say, even though I’m against Bush, I am quite skeptical. I’m not very savvy when it comes to politics- can anyone shed some light on how true these things are, or whether a lot of them are liberties taken by uber-liberals?

(I’m putting this in GQ b/c I’m looking for facts, not opinions… but if one of them sparks debate, which very well might happen, then I guess it should be moved)
GEORGE W BUSH
The White House
USA

RESUME

PAST WORK EXPERIENCE:

I ran for Congress and lost.

I produced a Hollywood slasher B movie.

I bought and oil company, but couldn’t find any oil in Texas; company went bankrupt shortly after I sold all my stock.

I bought the Texas Rangers baseball team in a sweetheart deal that took land using taxpayer money. Biggest move: Traded Sammy Sosa to Chicago.

With my father’s help (and his name) was elected Governor of Texas.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

I changed pollution laws for power and oil companies and made Texas the most polluted state in the Union.

I replaced Los Angeles with Houston as the most smog ridden city in America. Cut taxes and bankrupted the Texas government to the tune of billions in borrowed money. Set record for the most executions by any Governor in American history.

I became president after losing the popular vote by over 500,000 votes, thereby becoming the only president to assume office without a plurality of support.

ACCOMPLISHEMENTS AS PRESIDENT:

I attacked and took over two countries.

I spent the budget surplus and turned into a huge deficit.

I shattered the record for biggest annual budget deficit in history.

I set economic record for most private bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period

I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.

I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

I am the first president in US history to enter office with a criminal record.

In my first year in office, I set the all-time record for most vacation days in a year by any president in US history.

After taking the entire month of August 2001 off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history.

I set the record for the most campaign fundraising trips (at taxpayer expense) than any other president in US history.

In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their jobs.

I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of- work Americans than any president in US history.

My presidency set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12 month period.

I set the record for the least number of press conferences than any president since the advent of television.

I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any president in US history.

I presided over the biggest energy crisis in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed.

I presided over the highest gasoline prices in US history and refused to use the national reserves as have past presidents.

I cut healthcare benefits for war veterans.

I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest against my policies (15 million) shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. (www.hyperreal.org/~dana/marches)

I dissolved more international treaties than any other president in US history.

My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.

Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The “poorest” multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her.)

I presided over the biggest corporate stock market frauds of any market in any country in the history of the world.

I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, against the will of the United Nations and the world community.

I created the largest government department bureaucracy (Homeland Security) in the history of the United States.

I set the all-time record for the biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any president in US history.

I am the first president in US history to preside over the United Nations removing the US from the Human Rights Commission.

I am the first president in US history on whose watch the United Nations removed the US from the Elections Monitoring Board.

I removed more checks and balances and have the less congressional oversight than any executive administration in US history.

I rendered the decisions of the United Nations Security Council irrelevant.

I withdrew the United States from the World Court of Law.

I refused to allow inspectors access to prisoners of war and by default no longer adhere to the Geneva Convention.

I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors to monitor during the 2002 US elections.

I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign contributions.

My biggest lifetime campaign contributor, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy and fraud events in world history. (Ken Lay, CEO of Enron Corp.)

I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history.

I am the first US president to establish a secret “shadow” government.

I took the largest expression of world sympathy for the US after 9/11 and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history)

With a policy of “disengagement” I created the most hostile Israeli-Palestinian relations in at least 30 years.

I am the first US president in history to have a majority (71%) of the people of Europe (our strongest allies) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability.

I am the first US president in history to have the people of South Korea feel more threatened by the US than by their immediate communist neighbor, North Korea.

I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals and corporations to be awarded federal government contracts.

I set the all time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling huge investments in corporations that bid for government contracts.

I am the only sitting US president whose father was, while his son was president, a director of a corporation and investment fund that directly benefits from US government defense contracts.

I failed to fulfill my solemn pledge to get Osama Bin Laden “Dead or Alive.”

I failed to capture the person or persons responsible for mailing envelopes of anthrax in an attempt to murder congressional leaders at the US Capitol building. After 18 months I have no leads, suspects, arrests, trials or convictions.

In the 18 months following the attacks of 9/11 I have successfully prevented any public investigation into the biggest security failure in the history of the United States

I removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history.

In just two years I have created the most bitterly divided country in decades (possibly the most divided since the Civil War.)

I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years reversed every single economic category to head straight down.

RECORDS AND REFERENCES:

I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine. (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available)

I was allowed to enter the Texas Air National Guard even though my test scores placed me in the lowest 25% of candidates.

I was AWOL for a year from the Texas Air National Guard and deserted the military during war time.

I refused to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use.

All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my father’s library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

All minutes of meetings for any public corporation I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view.

Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP) attended regarding public energy policy are in secrecy and unavailable for public review.

2

Well, that’s certainly something. I see it as two distinct lists. Relatively true selectively chosen facts, plus other items that are described in superlative terms like “first” or “most” to gain impact. The facts may be true, but I don’t think any research into the superlative items has been done.

For instance, “biggest drop in the stock market”, “biggest security failure”, “biggest energy crisis”, “most secretive” Presidency, “highest gasoline prices” all strike me as dubious.

I do like this one: “I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors to monitor during the 2002 US elections.” Also the last I would presume.

3

Unless I’m misreading this, this is certainly incorrect.

Rutherford B. Hayes won by 1 electoral vote, but lost the popular vote 4,033,768 to 4,285,992 against Samuel Tilden in 1876.

4

True, but he did lose the popular vote by half a million votes.

I remember hearing that Texas is now the most polluted state in the nation, and everyone knows about Texas and the death penalty. I think that most of the economic stuff is true, but it’s debatable how much control the president has over the economy.

5

I think there’s a misuse of the word plurality there, also. Isn’t the winner of a plurality the one who got the more votes than the other candidates, but still didn’t get a majority?

6

> I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner.

Well, McVeigh was convicted and sentenced under Clinton’s presidency. So technically true, but misleading.

>My presidency is the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history.

As vague as this one is, I still think it’s demonstrably untrue. Nixon and Harding spring to mind.

>In just two years I have created the most bitterly divided country in decades (possibly the most divided since the Civil War.)

? With all the problems going on, I wasn’t aware that country division was high up their on the list. The civil rights period also divided some people.

Most of the statements of fact are correct, though.

7

A lot of these fall into four dubious categories:

1) Little impact from Bush/would have happened anyway/this is true of any president. For example, “I set all-time record for biggest drop in the history of the stock market.” He didn’t do this, probably would have happened no matter who was in office. “I presided over the biggest corporate stock market frauds of any market in any country in the history of the world.” Another one. These frauds were well under way during the Clinton admin. They just came to light during the Bush yrs.

2) Without regard to inflation. For example, "My presidency set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12 month period. " There are more houses than there ever were before, so all else equal, there should be more foreclosures than ever before.

3) Disagreeable opinion. "I removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history. " Most would say that at least one other president (Lincoln) removed more (i.e., closing newspapers).

4) Wrong. “I am the first US president to establish a secret “shadow” government.” It was neither shadow nor government, nor was he the one to establish this. It was written by congress decades ago. It is a contingency group of administrators who would take over bureaucratic and emergency functions. The consitution already has means of appointing replacement presidents and congresspeople – what most people think of “government”.

But some are right. I’ll let others hash over what goes where.

8

In 1824, electoral college winner John Quincy Adams had 105,321 popular votes, while Andrew Jackson had 155,872 popular votes. In 1888, electoral college winner Benjamin Harrison had 5,444,337 popular votes, while Grover Cleveland had 5,540,050 popular votes.

Presidents play no part in the Constitutional amendment process. If an executive order contravenes the U.S. Constitution, that is for the federal courts to decide. Whoever wrote this tract fails to list any of President Bush’s executive orders that were found unconstitutional.

I gather that whoever wrote this was not around during the Energy Crisis of 1973, when the price of a gallon of gasoline jumped from 30 cents/gallon to over a dollar.

The same U.N. Human Rights Commission that kept China and Cuba as members in good standing. Also the U.N. Human Rights Commission now chaired by Libya.

International Red Cross inspects prisoners

9

Corporations have not been allowed to contribute to federal election campaigns since Theodore Roosevelt was president.

10

Ok, I don’t like Bush, but some of these range from distortions to real noggin-scratchers.

  1. The deficits have not yet materialized, they are projected. This is, in a temporal sense, inaccurate. (But come back in a few months, and we’ll check again.)

  2. Laws and Executive Orders do not amend the Constitution. Wrong.

  3. I can only name one treaty that Bush has “dissolved.” (He may have “walked away” from other treaties, but that’s not the same.) Reagan actually withdrew the United States from more than 30 treaties (I’m looking for my list, can’t find it right now). Those treaties were generally treaties of commerce and friendship, and I do not recall any controversy about withdrawing from them. I feel on pretty solid ground that this statement is completely false.

  4. I can’t find any organzation called the World Court of Law. There’s the International Court of Justice, which is part of the UN, and we haven’t withdrawn from the UN. There’s also the International Criminal Court, which I believe the allegation refers to, but we were never a member of the ICC because the Senate never ratified the Rome Statute creating the ICC.

  5. There are lots of arguments whether or not those prisoners we hold in Gitmo are POWs or not. I have no idea what “inspectors” they’re talking about - the Red Cross reports that they have not been denied access to the prisoners.

  6. and 7. Pretty silly. I just take exception to listing, as an “accomplishment,” items that begin with, “I failed to…”

11

For the record, the chair of this commission rotates on schedule alphabetically.

12

Bush was arrested for DUI in Maine. He supposedly pled guilty.

That, apparently, makes him the first President to enter the Presidency with a criminal record, so far as anyone can tell.

But while we’re on the subject, we should not forget that President Bush’s distant cousin was the first President to be arrested while in office, supposedly for running down a pedestrian while drunk-driving a carriage. Charges were dropped for lack of evidence.

13

Not true. From the Washington Times:

14

Derivatives and other slimy practices that led to the corporate scandals were the consequences of events that predate Bush’s tenure. So the bankruptcies and job loss can’t be put on him.

As I understand it, Houston and L.A. alternate between being the most polluted, with Mexican forest fires and the weather tipping the scale. This doesn’t mean Bush isn’t a friend of corporations, of course.

15

Cecil himself has confirmed these two.

16

The implication that it is Bush’s responsibility as president to solve crimes (and prosecute offenders) is pretty wacky. Is he supposed to be the chief executive or a Junior G-Man?

17

The average price of a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline in 1979 was $0.90. Adjusted for inflation, that would cost $2.39 in 2002. The actual average price in 2002 was less than $1.60.

18

May 3, 2003: Newsweek poll finds 65 percent of Americans give George W. Bush high marks for handling the presidency. 69 percent approved of the way Bush was handling Iraq.

19

The Clinton impeachement was a rather bitter divide as well.

20

I think its safe to assume that any email glurge you get is going to be dubious at best, and in all likelyhood completely full of crap.