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And as Arnold has a history of admiring disgraceful
leaders, President Bush is no exception.
In his speech Thursday, President Bush told quite
a few of his own “True Lies.” One of which
was, “I am running with a compassionate conservative
philosophy: that government should help people improve
their lives, not try to run their lives.”
Of course, as the New York Times notes, "he
supported a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage,
declaring that such a measure was the only way to
protect the status of marriage between man and woman,
which he called 'the most fundamental institution
of civilization.'"
Bush says he believes that Americans should have
control over their own lives, yet promoted a bill
that explicitly dictated the way gays and lesbians
should run their own lives.
'True Lies' on the Economy
“This changed world can be a time of great
opportunity for all Americans to earn a better living,
support your family, and have a rewarding career.
And government must take your side.”
So, the government must be on the side of the working
American? That’s funny. If Bush truly believed
this then why did he support tax cuts for companies
that take jobs overseas?
His Council of Economic Advisors chairman N. Gregory
Mankiw said that job outsourcing is just another form
of international trade and that it is a good thing.
How is the loss of 1.2 million American jobs since
Bush took office a good thing in the context of the
President’s speech?
Bush also repeatedly talked about the creation of
“new” jobs. Economists have predicted
that 2.6 million new jobs would be created this year,
but by last July only 184,000 jobs had been created,
a distant cry from of what Bush would have us believe.
Of the few economic accomplishments that have transpired
during the Bush presidency, the one he took credit
for wasn’t even his doing.
“Thanks to our policies, homeownership in America
is at an all-time high,” Bush remarked.
This is the work of the Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan. Homeownership is at an all-time high
due to the lowering of the discount rate by Greenspan
and the Federal Reserve. This is the product of monetary
policy, not the stewardship of President Bush.
'True Lies' on the War on
Terror
My favorite “True Lies” were about the
war on terror.
“So we have fought the terrorists across the
earth – not for pride, not for power, but because
the lives of our citizens are at stake,’ and
“we are working to advance liberty in the broader
Middle East, because freedom will bring a future of
hope, and the peace we all want. And we will prevail.”
I am glad he said that—or else I would have
never known this wasn’t a war for power, seeing
as Dick Cheney’s company Halliburton is making
a fortune off of military contracts in Iraq.
Add to that the fact that the U.S. installed Hamid
Karzai, former advisor to an American oil company,
Unocal, as the leader of post-invasion Afghanistan,
knowing that Unocal had been planning a natural gas
pipeline through Afghanistan which Karzai, as the
new leader of Afghanistan, rapidly approved.
Remarked Cheney in 1998, when he was head of Halliburton,
of a pipeline in the region where the Taliban thrived,
“The good Lord didn't see fit to put oil and
gas only where there are democratically elected regimes
friendly to the United States. Occasionally we have
to operate in places where, all things considered,
one would not normally choose to go. But we go where
the business is."
I couldn’t have said it better myself, Dick.
When it didn’t work out with the Taliban, you
had to do the dirty work ourselves.
Bush remarked that “we knew Saddam Hussein's
record of aggression and support for terror…
And we know that September 11th requires our country
to think differently: We must, and we will, confront
threats to America before it is too late.”
Threat? What threat? Hussein never once threatened
to attack America, after more than a thousand days
we still haven’t found any Iraqi WMDs or al
Qaeda ties. In fact, our takeover of Iraq has transformed
it into a terrorist training ground, and spawned legions
of new terrorist cells which will only continue breed
more terrorists—terrorists who actually ARE
planning attacks on America. In fact, the State Department’s
own report on terrorist attacks has shown that terrorism
has risen – not fallen – since Bush occupied
Iraq.
But my favorite “True Lie” about the
war in Iraq has to be: “We went to the United
Nations Security Council, which passed a unanimous
resolution demanding the dictator disarm, or face
serious consequences. Leaders in the Middle East urged
him to comply. After more than a decade of diplomacy,
we gave Saddam Hussein another chance, a final chance,
to meet his responsibilities to the civilized world.
He again refused.“
To this day we have found no WMDs! How could Saddam
disarm what he didn’t have? I hate Saddam as
much as the next red-blooded American, but seeing
as there were no WMDs in Iraq, it’s hard to
argue that he didn’t comply.
I, like many Americans, am still waiting for Bush
to stop trying to justify a war fought under false
pretenses and simply admit, “I made a mistake.”
But why should he admit he was wrong when it’s
so easy to feed the American public “True Lies?”
Joshua
Watson also writes for CureIgnorance.com.
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