Sunday, October 24, 2004
8 simple resons why Bush has got to go
8 Simple reasons why George W. Bush should not be re-elected. (Well, actually 4)
by Shawn Heaton
Well in just over a week America will decide whether or not Bush gets to keep his job for four more years or gets sent back to Texas. Frankly, I have to admit I am amazed that the polls show the election will be a close one. Some polls even show Bush with a slight lead. It is frightening to think that almost half of America appears to be in deep denial along with our President. What are these people thinking? I do not know and I am not sure that even they could tell you. I can, however, give you eight reasons why George W. Bush should not be re-elected.
The first reason is the mess he has created in Iraq. Now I will not dispute that the world may not be a better place without Saddam Hussein in power. However, Bush and his team have botched this war from the start, and since they refuse to admit it, there is no indication that they are willing or able to do something to fix it. They relied on suspect intelligence from the start. They practically declared the war over more than a year ago, they did not provide enough troops according to their own former administrator, and they rushed in without a plan for long term stability. Until it became evident that his failure in Iraq might cost him the election, he did not even appear to take the situation seriously. While our soldiers were being killed, he made jokes about not finding the WMD’s and his opponents changing position on the war. Excuse me Mr. President, but let me remind you that our soldiers are still being killed in Iraq and nothing about this war, even your candidates position, is funny.
The second reason is the economy. Depending on who you ask, either several hundred thousand or around 1.6 million jobs have been lost under Bush’s watch. I fully understand that our President is not the Personnel director for America, but in tough economic times people do look to him for leadership. Bush’s response to the poor economy and job loss has been the same for the last four years. Tax cuts. This sounds exactly like the ‘voodoo economics of the Reagan years and I thought we had already established that it does not work in the long run. Mr. Bush, you have failed to provide the leadership our country needs to get our economy back on track. It’s not the tax cuts, stupid.
The third reason Bush should not be re-elected is one that many Democrats shudder to mention. The rest of the world, well most of the rest of the world, kind of hates us right now. You may have seen some polls online where citizens from other countries have ‘voted’ for their choice between Bush and Kerry. In the poll I saw, Bush only won in a handful of countries, and in many of those it was by a very thin margin. No, other countries should not be able to tell us how to run The United States, but yes, we should take our longstanding allies opinions into account before we act on a global basis. We pride ourselves on our freedom of choice, but we also pride ourselves on being good neighbors. President Bush, it could take years to repair the damage you have done to our international relations.
The fourth and final reason Bush should be sent home is that he promised to be a ‘uniter’ not a divider. This may be one of his biggest disappointments. I have never seen the country more divided. Mr. Bush, ‘uniters’ make sure that we have a prosperous economy that all citizens can share. ‘Uniters’ make sure that all citizens have access to affordable heath care, not just people who can afford it. And, Mr. President, ‘uniters’ under no circumstances, try to pass an amendment to our Constitution, the document that gives us our rights, that would take away the rights of any law abiding, tax paying, American citizen.
by Shawn Heaton
Well in just over a week America will decide whether or not Bush gets to keep his job for four more years or gets sent back to Texas. Frankly, I have to admit I am amazed that the polls show the election will be a close one. Some polls even show Bush with a slight lead. It is frightening to think that almost half of America appears to be in deep denial along with our President. What are these people thinking? I do not know and I am not sure that even they could tell you. I can, however, give you eight reasons why George W. Bush should not be re-elected.
The first reason is the mess he has created in Iraq. Now I will not dispute that the world may not be a better place without Saddam Hussein in power. However, Bush and his team have botched this war from the start, and since they refuse to admit it, there is no indication that they are willing or able to do something to fix it. They relied on suspect intelligence from the start. They practically declared the war over more than a year ago, they did not provide enough troops according to their own former administrator, and they rushed in without a plan for long term stability. Until it became evident that his failure in Iraq might cost him the election, he did not even appear to take the situation seriously. While our soldiers were being killed, he made jokes about not finding the WMD’s and his opponents changing position on the war. Excuse me Mr. President, but let me remind you that our soldiers are still being killed in Iraq and nothing about this war, even your candidates position, is funny.
The second reason is the economy. Depending on who you ask, either several hundred thousand or around 1.6 million jobs have been lost under Bush’s watch. I fully understand that our President is not the Personnel director for America, but in tough economic times people do look to him for leadership. Bush’s response to the poor economy and job loss has been the same for the last four years. Tax cuts. This sounds exactly like the ‘voodoo economics of the Reagan years and I thought we had already established that it does not work in the long run. Mr. Bush, you have failed to provide the leadership our country needs to get our economy back on track. It’s not the tax cuts, stupid.
The third reason Bush should not be re-elected is one that many Democrats shudder to mention. The rest of the world, well most of the rest of the world, kind of hates us right now. You may have seen some polls online where citizens from other countries have ‘voted’ for their choice between Bush and Kerry. In the poll I saw, Bush only won in a handful of countries, and in many of those it was by a very thin margin. No, other countries should not be able to tell us how to run The United States, but yes, we should take our longstanding allies opinions into account before we act on a global basis. We pride ourselves on our freedom of choice, but we also pride ourselves on being good neighbors. President Bush, it could take years to repair the damage you have done to our international relations.
The fourth and final reason Bush should be sent home is that he promised to be a ‘uniter’ not a divider. This may be one of his biggest disappointments. I have never seen the country more divided. Mr. Bush, ‘uniters’ make sure that we have a prosperous economy that all citizens can share. ‘Uniters’ make sure that all citizens have access to affordable heath care, not just people who can afford it. And, Mr. President, ‘uniters’ under no circumstances, try to pass an amendment to our Constitution, the document that gives us our rights, that would take away the rights of any law abiding, tax paying, American citizen.
