# Pitting Bush for stuff that doesn't seem to rate its own thread **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 8, 2004, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131 "2004-07-08T16:11:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/101 "2004-09-28T12:36:16Z")
_Sigh_ Cool thread. A good read and some funny fuckups in it. Pity your boy can’t fight worth shit. Bush looks like he’s gonna win. Buckle up people. I fear a 2nd term Bush. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/102 "2004-09-28T20:52:53Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > _Sigh_ > > Cool thread. A good read and some funny fuckups in it. > > Pity your boy can’t fight worth shit. He fights well and hard, but you’re not hearing about it. Unless you seek out what Kerry is saying, you’ll hear precious little of it on the news. The media has no interest in letting you hear how Kerry is fighting. How many of these speeches have you heard in their entierty? How many have you only heard one or two short soundbites from? Kerry doesn’t do well in soundbites, and that’s a problem. [http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/](http://www.johnkerry.com/pressroom/speeches/) [http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/](http://blog.johnkerry.com/rapidresponse/) Germain to this thread, it doesn’t help when Kerry’s words are twisted: > [@](#): > > [http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=269](http://www.factcheck.org/article.aspx?docID=269) > Bush Ad Twists Kerry’s Words on Iraq > > Selective use of Kerry’s own words makes him look inconsistent on Iraq. A closer look gives a different picture. > > Kerry has never wavered from his support for giving Bush authority to use force in Iraq, nor has he changed his position that he, as President, would not have gone to war without greater international support. But a Bush ad released Sept. 27 takes many of Kerry’s words out of context to make him appear to be alternately praising the war and condemning it. > > Here we present this highly misleading ad, along with what Kerry actually said, in full context > … ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/103 "2004-09-29T00:01:11Z")
Damn that liberal media! ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/104 "2004-09-29T00:50:08Z")
> [@rjung](#): > > Damn that liberal media! At least they kan spel, unlike me, but otherwise, yeah, “liberal media bias” is a myth. If anyone, anywhere on the TV or in print says anything negative about Bush, that’s automatically “liberal bias,” which is bullshit. The war’s not going well in Iraq? LIBERAL BIAS! People complain because a CIA agent is outed for no reason other than to intimidate her husband who pointed out a negative truth about Bush? LIBERAL BIAS! It’s reported that Bush’s daddy got him into the National Guard and he didn’t complete his service? LIBERAL BIAS! The ecomony is tanking? LIBERAL BIAS! Any truth that’s a negative is a “liberal bias” to them. It’s sickening. What the media would look like if all “liberal media bias” (the way RWers define it) were eliminated… 1. If a Republican is in office, there’d be absolutely no criticism of the President, his staff, the administration, or any Republican/Conservative cause. None. Anything that makes the President look diminished, wrong or “misunderstood” would be heavily edited and spun to look like a positive. (we’re getting there on that last) 2. Every little thing that a Democrat/Liberal does would be subject to intense scrutiny and criticism, lies about them would always go unchallenged, and every “liberal” social cause, from the environment to Head Start, would be lambasted day in, day out, with none of the positives of such things given. (we’re almost already there) If a Democrat is in office, see #2. I’d highly recommend the book **[“The Republican Noise Machine : Right-Wing Media and How It Corrupts Democracy”](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1400048753/qid=1088554942/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-9839762-1708945?v=glance&s=books)** by David Brock. He explains exactly how we got to this point. It’s been 30 years in the making. ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/105 "2004-09-29T01:10:16Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > If a Republican is in office, there’d be absolutely no criticism of the President, his staff, the administration, or any Republican/Conservative cause. None. Anything that makes the President look diminished, wrong or “misunderstood” would be heavily edited and spun to look like a positive. (we’re getting there on that last) Sounds closer to a dictatorship than a democracy to me ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/106 "2004-09-29T01:46:01Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > They’ve already started the switch of the bait and switch. > > [http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/24/iraq.main/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/24/iraq.main/index.html) I think he was talking about the US election that’s to be held only in certain parts of the country. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/107 "2004-09-29T02:23:33Z")
I’m not repeating the whole thing, the above is just for reference. That’s why it’s blank. But, it looks like you’ve been paying attention, and it isn’t when or if, it’s already happening. > [@Capacitor](#): > > I think he was talking about the US election that’s to be held only in certain parts of the country. Keep in mind, that this past summer there WAS talk about “postponing” the election, under the “threat” of some unspecified attack or threat. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/108 "2004-09-29T02:26:38Z")
Dammit, the first quote reference was supposed to point to Equipoise’ words about those eeeeeevil liberals and their eeeeevil liberal media. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![jshore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@jshore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jshore)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/109 "2004-09-29T02:37:49Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > If anyone, anywhere on the TV or in print says anything negative about Bush, that’s automatically “liberal bias,” which is bullshit. The war’s not going well in Iraq? LIBERAL BIAS! From [this blog](http://www.ithadtobeyou.net/carpe/archives/000917.html). (Maybe someone can find a link to the full Daily Show piece?): > [@](#): > > I watched “The Daily Show” last night and thought Rob Corddry hit it on the head when he said something like, “Face it, Jon, the facts are biased. The cost, the corruption, the increasing levels of resistance, the lack of security, the dead and the wounded: the facts in Iraq simply have an anti-Bush bias.” ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2004, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/110 "2004-09-29T02:45:59Z")
> [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](#): > > Sounds closer to a dictatorship than a democracy to me So says The Man: > [@](#): > > [http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html](http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html) > Transition of Power: President-Elect Bush Meets With Congressional Leaders on Capitol Hill > Aired December 18, 2000 - 12:00 p.m. ET > > … > GOV. GEORGE W. BUSH (R-TX), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I told all four that there were going to be some times where we don’t agree with each other. But that’s OK. **If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.** Oh, George made a funny! Ha Ha. I’m not paranoid, much, but the “retard” (as Brutis fondly calls me) in me thinks it’s looking like fascism-wannabeism. I like this fascinating article, with its great (and chilling) quotes from Henry Wallace: > [@](#): > > [When Fascism Comes to America](http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/09/far04031.html) > > I. When Fascism Comes to America, It Will Be Embraced by FOX News > > “The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public. . .”– Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the New York Times, April 9, 1944 > … > > II. When Fascism Comes to America, American Fascists Will Get Richer > > “Most American fascists are enthusiastically supporting the war effort. They are doing this even in those cases where they hope to have profitable connections with German chemical firms after the war ends. . .[They] do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion. American fascists of this stamp were clandestinely aligned with their German counterparts before the war, and are even now preparing to resume where they left off, after ‘the present unpleasantness’ ceases.” – Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the New York Times, April 9, 1944 > … > > III When Fascism Comes to America, We Will Have Been Warned > > “[American fascists] use every opportunity to impugn democracy. . . They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution…” – Former Vice President Henry A. Wallace, the New York Times, April 9, 1944 > … ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/111 "2004-10-05T01:16:21Z")
**Bush to Expand Abstinence-Only Sex Program to Our Men In Uniform** > [@](#): > > Visiting prostitutes would be court-martial offense as part of effort to halt sex trafficking. > … > Defense officials have drafted an amendment to the manual on courts-martial that would make it an offense for U.S. troops to use the services of prostitutes, said Charles Abell, a Pentagon undersecretary for personnel and readiness. > If approved, it would be a military offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice to have contact with a prostitute. [Hookers may be off-limits for GIs](http://www.indystar.com/articles/7/181734-5057-010.html) [Troops say proposed UCMJ change unfair in **prostitution-legal** Germany](http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23729&archive=true) ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/112 "2004-10-05T11:46:44Z")
Latest Bush flip-flop, boldin mine. From Thursday’s debate… > [@Bush](#): > > And finally, he says we ought to have a summit. Well, there are summits being held. Japan is going to have a summit for the donors; $14 billion pledged. And Prime Minister Koizumi is going to call countries to account, to get them to contribute. > > \*\*And there’s going to be an Arab summit, of the neighborhood countries. And Colin Powell helped set up that summit. \*\* In today’s NY Post > [@Bush](#): > > “He has no plan,” Bush added, brushing aside Kerry’s proposal to convene a summit to solicit international support in Iraq. > > “I can imagine him walking in to the leaders of the world saying, ‘We need your help. But Iraq’s a mistake’ . . . \*\*A summit won’t solve the problem.” \*\* These people think we’re fucking Leonard from Memento or something. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/113 "2004-10-05T14:11:26Z")
[http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/05/iraq.main/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/10/05/iraq.main/index.html) Bremer: ‘Not not enough troops’ in Iraq after Saddam’s ouster \ Ha Ha! \ A sinking ship. ---
**Author:** ![gobear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8dc957/32.png) [@gobear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gobear)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/114 "2004-10-05T14:40:29Z")
BTW, has anybody noticed how closely Dubya [Berzelius Windrip](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0451525825/qid=1096986793/sr=2-1/ref=pd_ka_2_1/103-0116134-7559012)? > [@](#): > > Aside from his dramatic glory, Buzz Windrip was a Professional Common Man. > > Oh, he was common enough. He had every prejudice and aspiration of every American Common Man. He believed in the desirability and therefore the sanctity of thick buckwheat cakes with adulterated maple syrup, in rubber trays for the ice cubes in his electric refrigerator, in the especial nobility of dogs, all dogs, in the oracles of S. Parkes Cadman, in being chummy with all waitresses at all junction lunch rooms, and in Henry Ford (when he became President, he exulted, maybe he could get Mr. Ford to come to supper at the White House), and the superiority of anyone who possessed a million dollars. He regarded spats, walking sticks, caviar, titles, tea-drinking, poetry not daily syndicated in newspapers and all foreigners, possibly excepting the British, as degenerate ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/115 "2004-10-05T15:55:17Z")
Another George Bush incident was when he made fun of the NBC reporter David Gregory for “speaking French to the French president in France,” (as David Gregory described it). This was in 2002 at a press conference with French President Chirac and after asking a question of President Bush, Gregory asked the French president to comment: > [@](#): > > (Asked in French.) And, Mr. President, would you maybe comment on that? > > PRESIDENT BUSH: Very good. The guy memorizes four words, and he plays like he’s intercontinental. (Laughter.) > > Q I can go on. > > PRESIDENT BUSH: I’m impressed. Que bueno. Now I’m literate in two languages. (Laughter.) The incident is widely described at anti-Bush sites, but I wanted a more balanced description of it. So here is a [link](http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/05/20020526-2.html) to the transcript from the White House website. ---
**Author:** ![Merijeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@Merijeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merijeek)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2004, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/116 "2004-10-05T16:21:32Z")
Look, if them damned feriners won’t speak American, how’s that Bush’s problem? If American was good enough for G\_d in the bible, it should be good enough for them! -Joe ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/117 "2004-10-06T00:53:35Z")
[U.S. flu vaccine supply cut in half](http://www.newsday.com/news/health/ny-hsflu1006,0,49256.story?coll=ny-top-headlines) The number of American vaccine makers has been waning for several years now. Bush attempted to address this problem last year: [DHHS 2004 budget description:](http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2004/hhs.html) > [@](#): > > Pandemic Influenza. The budget includes $100 million for a new effort to protect the American people against the possibility of pandemic influenza. To ensure the reliability of vaccine production and increase our ability to quickly produce greater quantities of vaccine in the case of a pandemic, some American vaccine production capacity must be converted from the current egg-based methods to cell-based technology. HHS will work with manufacturers to ensure that cell-based vaccine production capacity is established. [Program Details](http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20030319a.html) > [@](#): > > “If we wait until a pandemic begins, it may be too late to act to minimize the loss of life in our country and across the world,” Secretary Thompson said. “While vaccines cannot be prepared in advance and stockpiled, we must plan and prepare for an outbreak now to ensure we have the ability to quickly produce fresh vaccine that is effective against a pandemic flu strain.” I hope that this isn’t the year a biological mushroom cloud sprouts over America’s cities. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/118 "2004-10-06T03:24:04Z")
"I watched “The Daily Show” last night and thought Rob Corddry hit it on the head when he said something like, “Face it, Jon, the facts are biased. The cost, the corruption, the increasing levels of resistance, the lack of security, the dead and the wounded: the facts in Iraq simply have an anti-Bush bias.” " Or, as Shrillblog said, “Objective reality is shrill.” I love it! ---
**Author:** ![ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b4bc9f/32.png) [@ZombiesAteMyBrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZombiesAteMyBrain)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/119 "2004-10-06T15:26:28Z")
I’m sitting here listening to a Bush speech on TV in the next room - and I’m amazed that people are applauding after every sentence - regardless of the banality or inanity of what he’s saying. He’s speaking in a monotonous voice - and I wonder is the crowd seeded with party workers armed with pins to stick into the audience if they nod off and forget their sacred duty to applaud every golden word. A few minutes ago he said something really inane about ‘changing the conditions under which someone becomes a suicide bomber’\* Gawd knows what he meant - I certainly don’t know - but the crowd applauded on cue. I swear he could be up there reading the Mcdonalds menu and they’d applaud. \*sorry if these aren’t the exact words - it took me by surprise - but that appeared to me to be the content. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2004, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131/120 "2004-10-15T04:44:33Z")
There are rumors that some dopers are fiscal conservatives, so this may end up as its own thread, but I don’t want to start it, and this tidbit belongs _somewhere_: As U.S. Debt Ceiling Is Reached, Bush Administration Seeks to Raise It Once Again > [@](#): > > Less than a day after President Bush implied that Senator John Kerry lacked “fiscal sanity,” the Bush administration said on Thursday that **the federal government had hit the debt ceiling set by Congress and would have to borrow** from the civil service retirement system **until after the elections.** > … > Since Mr. Bush took office in January 2001, the federal debt has increased about 40 percent, or $2.1 trillion, to **$7.4 trillion**. Congress has raised the debt ceiling three times in three years, raising it most recently by $984 billion in May 2003. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pitting-bush-for-stuff-that-doesnt-seem-to-rate-its-own-thread/254131.md?page=7)