Bush Has Record Low I.Q.
Everyone knows that George W. Bush is a blithering idiot, but now we finally have some data, albeit fake, to back it up.
Apparently the Lovenstein Institute (does not actually exist) has been tracking presidential I.Q. for some time and George W. Bush is right where he belongs at the bottom of the barrel. Coming in at 91, he’s just slightly dumber than his father who managed to come out some seven points ahead of him at 98.
It turns out that this is a hoax, but it makes for a pretty funny story anyhow…
Via the Original source:
Since 1973, the Lovenstein Institute has published its research to the educational community on each new president, which includes the famous “IQ” report among others. There have been twelve presidents over the past 50 years, from F.D. Roosevelt to G.W. Bush, who were rated based on scholarly achievements, writings that they produced without aid of staff, their ability to speak with clarity, and several other psychological factors, which were then scored using the Swanson/Crain system of intelligence ranking.
The study determined the following IQs of each president as accurate to within five percentage points:
In order by presidential term
147 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 Harry Truman (D)
122 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
174 John F. Kennedy (D)
126 Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
155 Richard M. Nixon (R)
121 Gerald Ford (R)
175 James E. Carter (D)
105 Ronald Reagan (R)
098 George Bush (R)
182 William J. Clinton (D)
091 George W. Bush (R)In IQ order
182 William J. Clinton (D)
175 James E. Carter (D)
174 John F. Kennedy (D)
155 Richard M. Nixon (R)
147 Franklin D. Roosevelt (D)
132 Harry Truman (D)
126 Lyndon B. Johnson (D)
122 Dwight D. Eisenhower (R)
121 Gerald Ford (R)
105 Ronald Reagan (R)
098 George Bush (R)
091 George W. Bush (R)The six Republican presidents of the past 50 years had an average IQ of 115.5, with President Nixon having the highest at 155. President G.W. Bush rated the lowest of all the Republicans with an IQ of 91. The six Democrat presidents had IQs with an average of 156, with President Clinton having the highest IQ, at 182. President Lyndon B. Johnson was rated the lowest of all the Democrats with an IQ of 126. No president other than Carter (D) has released his actual IQ, 176 (rated as 175 by the Lovenstein Institute).
Among comments made concerning the specific testing of President GW Bush, his low ratings are due to his apparently difficult command of the English language in public statements, his limited use of vocabulary (6,500 words for Bush versus an average of 11,000 words for other presidents), his lack of scholarly achievements other than a basic MBA, and an absence of any body of work which could be studied on an intellectual basis. The complete report documents the methods and procedures used to arrive at these ratings, including depth of sentence structure and voice stress confidence analysis. “All the Presidents prior to George W. Bush had a least one book under their belt, and most had written several white papers during their education or early careers. Not so with
President Bush,” Dr. Lovenstein said. “He has no published works or writings, which made it more difficult to arrive at an assessment. We relied more heavily on transcripts of his unscripted public speaking.”
The World Needs Fewer Cops
About a year ago, I was pulled over and given what I consider to be a frivolous ticket. I managed to beat it in court, but it got me thinking about how many police we have dedicated to making sure nobody is doing anything “wrong” with their car or skateboarding where it is prohibited. It seems that the vast majority of the police force is out patrolling roads rather than actually helping the people who need it or stopping real crimes.
Speed limits have not substantively changed since the 1950’s despite the fact that our vehicles have improved immeasurably in terms of breaking and handling ability. Why is this? Just follow the money. Think of all the tickets that are written each day. Think about how much those tickets cost, and then consider the fact that only 3% of all citations are contested in courts. This pretty much just amounts to a huge tax that only a tiny fraction of Americans seem to question.
In fact, because of all the fear mongering out there, most citizens have been deluded into thinking we need even more cops to “protect our safety” by pulling over even more terrifying criminals who are endangering our society by driving with a headlight out, or going 5 mph over the speed limit. Can you detect my sarcasm? Good! To me, if our cops don’t have anything better to do than set up speed traps and give kids a hard time for riding their roller blades, we have far too many of them as it is.
After getting that ticket, and before I beat it in court, I wrote this letter to my Governor, local and state representatives. Not a single one of them wrote me back. I imagine that they have all joined in society’s collective fear, and just didn’t know what to think about a person who is asking for fewer, rather than more police.
I am writing this letter to ask that you please investigate any and all means to prevent drug trafficking within the state of Vermont. Drug abuse is a major problem, and controlling it will undoubtedly have a positive influence on the quality of life in this state.
Having said that, I am asking that you please evaluate alternative options to hiring more state troopers. The reasons I am asking this of you are two-fold. First, we find ourselves facing unprecedented budgetary challenges, and with each new officer costing tax payers roughly $70,000 for the first year alone, creating more police positions is simply not fiscally responsible at this time. Secondly, it frequently appears that the state police we do have often lack enough work to keep them busy. Countless examples exist of officers issuing frivolous tickets, or hassling folks who are doing nothing illegal, or even suspicious, but who don’t quite fit the mold.
I moved to Vermont from New Hampshire because I value my freedom, my individuality, and my right to be left in peace. Even though it is an unintended consequence of otherwise well-meaning initiatives, it is my experience that a larger police presence can’t help but run counter to these values we share as Vermonters.
Please don’t impose more financial obligations on an already over-taxed state. Please help preserve the sanctity we share as law-abiding citizens. Finally, please impose tough, no-nonsense sentencing standards upon those involved in the illicit drug trade, but don’t ask tax payers to fund a larger police presence that is likely to spend nearly all of it’s time patrolling roads, not removing the drugs from our streets.
Thank you very much for your time.
After thinking more about it, perhaps a better way to go about reducing the number of cops would be to lobby for higher salaries. If we demand that our police officers are paid more, the departments will be able to retain fewer of them… It would keep Mr. and Mrs. Paranoid feeling secure, and we could be more selective in the type of troopers we are hiring.
Chavez Donates Oil to America’s Poor
My Father watches Fox News, so I’m pretty clear on the miserable slant to their reporting. I have to say, however, that I was a bit surprised to find that despite his hours in front of the Republican Propaganda channel, he had never heard anything about Hugo Chavez offering to donate oil to America’s poor in Boston and New York. I guess that just goes to show how Rupert Murdoch’s politics corrupt the reporting on this “news” channel.
My father didn’t even believe me when I mentioned it to him. Well, here is a section from an interview with Chavez where he speaks about his offer to the US. Is it just me, or is it a little strange that the richest, most powerful country in the world is somehow unable to help its own people pay for heat, but the leader of a small nation like Venezuela can? Apparently New York is happily accepting the offer.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Mr. President, welcome. Bien venido a los Estados Unidos. Your democratic revolution has a different aspect to it, in that your rich in oil, and the world badly needs oil. What do you do in Latin America to use oil as a weapon to assist the poor. Can you tell us a little more about what you are offering to the communities of the United States who are also suffering from high oil prices.
PRESIDENT HUGO CHAVEZ: This is the result of our awareness, that only through integration we can advance and we can progress among Latin American countries, breaking the paradigm of capitalism, of free trade, and neo-liberalism. In the year 2000, we started a cooperation program especially with the Caribbean and Central American countries, and some of the South American countries, with the Caracas Energy Accord, and there for the first time in history we included Cuba, because Cuba is considered like a country that is not part the Americas, and we think it is part of the Americas; Jamaica, nicaragua, grenada, many countries.
This mechanism includes the sale of oil and oil by-products with a discount of up to 25 percent. This discount becomes in the end a donation we give these countries, however, when the price of oil, starts increases, in the year 2000 we signed the Caracas Accord and the price at that time was 20, 25 dollars a barrel. When we realized that the prices started to increase and it goes beyond 40 and beyond 50, and I doubt very much the price is going to drop any time soon because this is part of the structural crisis, the world has to face it, it is a reality. There is a drop in the oil reserves, there is an increase in consumption and demand. The refining capacity is low.
The consumerism of the world is unbearable. The world of the U.S. people must come to understand, how this country with 5 percent of the world population only, consumes 25 percent of the oil and the energy of the world. I mean that type of consumption is totally unbearable and this planet cannot stand it any more. When we realized that the price of oil went up beyond 50 dollars, we initiated another cooperation scheme. We have created, therefore, Petrocaribe and we are going to start with small Caribbean and Caricom countries, and the larger Antillas such as Cuba, Jamaica, and Dominican Republic.
So we’re now providing, first we’re ensuring the supply of oil, direct supply of oil from state to state, in order to avoid the speculation of multinationals and traders. They buy gasoline in Venezuela and then they go to a Caribbean country, and they charge double so we are selling the products to the states directly. We are not charging for freight, we assume the cost of freight. But apart from that, this discount is not of 25 percent it goes to 40 percent of the total, and this money will be paid back in 25 years time, with 2 years of grace and 1 percent interest rates. So if you make all of the mathematical calculations, the donation percentage is almost 70 percent because it’s a long term adjusted 1 percent. So what Venezuela’s doing is supplying 200,000 barrels of oil to the Caribbean and other Central American and South American countries such as Paraguay, Uruguay and smaller nations in South America. 200, 000 millions of barrels, if you apply calculations, mathematical calculations by 1.5 percent of our GDP, 1.5 percent of the GDP is devoted to this cooperation. It means we are financing these sister nations that next year will reach 1.7 billion dollars a year, in 10 years is 17 billion dollars. It’s a way for us to share, to share our resources with these countries.
And what about the us population? Well after many meetings with the U.S. citizens, we decided to propose a scheme for poor populations and low-income populations in the us. We’ve seen that poverty in the us is growing everywhere. It’s close to 11 percent poverty according to some estimates and instead of the figures you have to go deeper into it because if you see Katrina, and you saw what’s happened, 100,000 people were abandoned and they are abandoned, and they’re just surviving.
So here we have CITGO, this oil company. We have the CITGO company here in the United States. This is a Venezuelan company, so let’s have a look at the U.S. map the distribution area of CITGO in the U.S. We are present in 14,000 gas stations in the U.S., and here we have a different refineries, asphalt refineries, eight refineries that we have in the U.S., the plants for filling units, the third, refineries, terminals, and so on.
We want to use these infrastructures to help the poor populations. We have made some progress. We have given instructions to the president of CITGO, Felix Rodriguez. We want that up to 10 percent we refine here. We supply every day to the us 1.5 million barrels of oil, crude and product and we refine, here, close to 800,000 barrels a day refined here in the us. So we would like to take 10 percent of what we refine those products and to offer these products in several modalities to the poor populations. And the pilot project will be starting in Chicago we are already operating in Chicago. Well let’s hope that there’s not going to be any obstacle by the government opposed to this project being implemented, but we will be working in those poor populations. We have some allies, local partners and we have a number of communities, and we are going to donate some heating oil, because the winter is close, and for the school transportation to school, for the Mexican neighborhood which is the largest in Chicago, La Villita, is the name of this neighborhood with close to 900,000 inhabitants, and so there are other neighborhoods with Hispanics and Latinos. October, the 14th we’re going to start with these pilot projects with small communities and schools, but there are other pilot projects that will start in November in Boston, and here in New York.
So different modalities, with local authorities, mayors, organized communities, religious groups. So we are very pleased to announce this. And to help just with a drop, and a grain of contribution to help these low-income populations, Blacks or Hispanics or also White population so we’re just starting with this project.
Republicans Love to Rewrite History
Sure you say… We all know how much Republicans love to rewrite history. The Bush administration has been little but a series of lies and coverups since 2000, but I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with Erich’s assessment over at pigeffer.com.
The long and short of Erich’s article is that Bush and Dick Cheney are angry about their approval ratings going down the toilet. They are so fed up by all the recent congressional critisisim over their pet war in Iraq that they are lashing out against Democrats and accusing them of “rewriting history”.
Erich, of course, asks the obvious question: What about the volumes of history the Bush administration has rewritten? The few members of his administration who can write, that is. This administration has been not only incredibly secretive, they have changed their reasoning for taking America to war three times, and attempted to bring the time-honored tradition of torture back to international affairs…
Hey, torture! Great family values people!
Here are some of the highlights from Erich’s article:
The latest Newsweek poll is showing that Bush’s approval ratings are below 36%, so in an effort to appear to be presidential, Bush is swinging back at his critics by accusing them of “rewriting history”. This is perhaps the most laughable and ironic accusation the president could have offered, considering that he has altered his reasons for going to war with Iraq three times.
At the time, he justified this action by claiming that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction, and was trying to acquire more. Unsurprisingly, Bush came this conclusion only a month after the attacks in New York City on 9/11. Desperately wanting to pin the attacks on Hussein to use a driver for invasion, he was unsuccessful as all evidence pointed clearly at bin Laden.
Keeping in mind that WMD’s were not found in Iraq, and the people of the United States felt they were lied to, Bush changed his message. Instead of focusing on the weapons of mass destruction, Bush was able to successfully redirect the peoples’ attention to the fact that “Saddam is a bad guy”.
Not long after the Iraqi congress was formed, our reasons for the war changed once again. Now, we were “promoting democracy”, and apparently we still are.
Erich wraps it all up by suggesting what we should be doing with our military presence in Iraq:
The best thing we can do for our troops is to pull them out of all cities, towns, and villages in Iraq and move them to the borders. From there, we can completely secure Iraq and protect the Iraqi people from foreign terrorists, such as the hundreds that are streaming in from Syria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran.
I can’t say that I completely agree with this approach, but I do agree that the long-term hopes for a settled Middle East are bleak at best.
Of course, the second we leave, no matter how far into the future, Iraq is going to revert back to what it’s always been: a nation of tribes warring with each other over religious differences. Maybe we shouldn’t delay the inevitable…
Well said Erich. I hope you’re wrong, but you certainly do have history on your side.
Corporate Lobbyists Sell Meetings With Bush
Apparently the Bush administration loves corporate lobbyists so much that they’ve started letting them sell meetings with the president.
From the New York Times:
WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 - The lobbyist Jack Abramoff asked for $9 million in 2003 from the president of a West African nation to arrange a meeting with President Bush and directed his fees to a Maryland company now under federal scrutiny, according to newly disclosed documents.
We’ve always known that Bush values the interest of multinational corporations above all else, but come on Mr. President, isn’t this a bit much? Allowing your corporate buddies to sell meetings with you for a whopping 9 million dollars! Hopefully you are at least living up to your record of corruption and demanding a cut.
I’ll ignore the bitter shiver of disenfranchised Americanism I just got, and move on to laugh (or is it cry) at the thought of what happens when someone calls the White House to try to get a meeting with W…
White House: Hello, White House.
Caller: Hi, I would like to meet with the President.
White House: Oh… We’ll have to direct you to his Enron office for that.
Caller: Enron office?
White House: That’s right, Enron is handling the President’s schedule now. In collaboration with members of the carlyl group of course.
White House: Bye now.
I know I should stop being amazed at how demonic and corrupt this administration is, but every time they sink to a new low it still makes me sick.
First 4 Internet and Sony - Big Brother is Watching
This clever fellow Mark Russinovich over at sysinternals.com has discovered that Sony has been selling CD’s that install a digital rights management rootkit on its unsuspecting customer’s computers. They seem to have contracted with a company called First 4 internet which produces the rootkit, and contracts it out to the recording industry.
I Googled the company name and came across this article, confirming the fact that they have deals with several record companies, including Sony, to implement Digital Rights Management (DRM) software for CDs.
I wonder if these slimy tactics will really prevent people from copying digital content, or turn former legitimate customers to piracy for fear of having malware and rootkits installed on their computers? I’m just glad I don’t use Windows.
Bush Attempts Damage Control
I’d like to remind everyone who believes that Bush is finally taking responsibility for responding poorly to Katrina that both he, and the republicans running congress have repeatedly thwarted attempts to form a bipartisian committe to investigate the National government’s failures surrounding the disaster. They favor instead, a republican-led committie that will undoubtedly stage another massive coverup for this corrupt government.
This is not taking responsibility; it is damage control. It’s like asking Enron to investigate its own accounting practices and deliver an unbiased report. It is simply foolish to believe that the republican-led congress will hold the president accountable, and it is important to acknowledge that his half-hearted acceptance of responsibility is a smokescreen to divert our attention away.
Don’t let him get away with it! Criminal negligence and negligent homicide are impeachable offenses.
All Fingers Pointing in The “Right” Direction
The fingers are pointing all over Washington, and the Bush administration somehow expects us to believe that the local governments in Louisiana and Mississippi should have had everything under control so his vacation would not have had to be tragically truncated.
The city of New Orleans was completely under water and this President has the nerve to be critical of local law enforcement and state government officials for not having the resources to handle, on their own, the single worst natural disaster this country has ever faced.
Sure, Mr. President… Perhaps you should not have appointed an incompetent GOP activist named Mike Brown to run FEMA. A person who had absolutely no experience to qualify him to run any government agency, let alone the one charged with saving lives in the face of massive disasters. Maybe you just thought you could give cushy jobs to the good ol’ boys network and coast on through with nothing to prove their disturbing lack of competence.
Perhaps if Condoleeza Rice had not found it more important to go shoe shopping in New York than to go back to Washington where she could get involved with the rescue effort, you might not find so many fingers pointing your way.
Some say the Left is “spinning” this against the Republicans, but I say we’re just calling it as we see it.
A poll taken on September 4, 2005 shows that only 12% of people give the federal response an excellent rating. 16% label it as good, while 25% call it fair and 45% call it poor.
Even among Republicans, there are serious doubts about the federal response to the hurricane. Only 47% of those in President Bush’s party say the federal response has been good or excellent, while Fifty-one percent say it has been fair or poor.
Rasmussen reports that only 45% of American adults now approve of the way Bush is performing in his role as President. A whopping 53% disapprove.
Gallup polling organization placed Bush’s approval at 40 percent, which is an all-time low. American Research Group has his approval as low as 36%.
in the latest Washington Post-ABC News poll, 57% of those surveyed disapproved of the president’s handling of the war in Iraq. 53% said the war was not worth it.
It is becoming more and more clear each day that, in almost every poll, a smaller and smaller minority of Americans are able to support President Bush and the Republican-led Congress. If you ask me, Bush is finally having to answer to his lack of moral fiber and astonishing incompetence.
Thanks to BlogCritics for the statistics.
Bloggers Run Condoleeza Rice out of NYC
All over the net, people are talking about how the Bush Administration’s failure to respond to Hurricane Katrina might prove to be the downfall of his administration. Based on his failures in Afghanistan, Iraq, Sudan, and the Gulf Coast, it is certainly clear Bush and his Neo-Conservative followers have become damaged goods, and some are even calling for him to “resign in shame“.
While reading Zach’s story “Is Katrina Bush’s Waterloo?” I found a link to a New York Times story that reports how bloggers, demanding answers about the Bush administration’s failure to act, chased Condoleeza Rice out of the city where she had been shopping for shoes and enjoying plays rather than responding to the death and devastation in New Orleans.
It would be one thing if President Bush and his inner circle - Dick Cheney was vacationing in Wyoming; Condi Rice was shoe shopping at Ferragamo’s on Fifth Avenue and attended “Spamalot” before bloggers chased her back to Washington; and Andy Card was off in Maine - lacked empathy but could get the job done. But it is a chilling lack of empathy combined with a stunning lack of efficiency that could make this administration implode.
Everywhere we look, this government has failed us. During his time in office, Bush has staged a war built on lies against an imagined enemy, perpetuated a fear of terrorism in order to exert social control, and eroded our civil rights, while padding the pockets of his executive campaign contributers. There can be no doubt that this administration is corrupt and incompetent, and I, for one, do feel he should resign.
Helping the Victims of Hurricane Katrina
With everything going to Hell in Washington, the White House has totally failed to provide any substantive help for the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Organizations we are supposed to trust; Organizations like the Federal Emergency Management Agency are actually encouraging donations to bloodthirsty Neo-Conservative radicals such as Pat Robinson, and we find ourselves in a situation where we want to aid in the relief effort, but we don’t know how to make sure our donations find their way to those who truly need help, and not into the pockets of the corrupt Washington establishment.
In some cases, National Guard units are activated, but simply waiting to be deployed, because there is no Federal funding to get them there.
The best way to help, and the way I will be helping for my part, is by giving to the American Red Cross, and by giving them the things on their list that are most needed. As I write this, they are looking for the following items:
- Bottled water (liter or larger)
- Nonperishable food
- Clothing (new or like-new condition)
- Infant supplies (formula, diapers, etc.)
- Snacks/protein bars
- First aid kits
- Transistor radios
- Batteries (AA, C, D, 9V)
- Flashlights
- Hygiene products (bar soap, shampoo, toothpaste, etc.)
- Dog/cat food
If you live in Vermont, as I do, you can bring these items to the following locations:
- BENNINGTON: Town Clerk’s Office
- DERBY: State police barracks
- HARTFORD: Fire and police departments
- MONTPELIER: Statehouse
- ST. ALBANS: Collins Perley Recreation Facility
- ST. JOHNSBURY: Municipal Office Building and Fire Station
- ROCKINGHAM: State police barracks
- RUTLAND: State police barracks
- VERGENNES: Vergennes High School
- WILLISTON: State police barracks
Or, if you would like to make a donation of money to the Red Cross, you can click here to do so.
Will Pat Robertson Be Extradited?
Christian radical Pat Robertson provoked outrage last week when he called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. The Bush administration, who seems to have close ties with Robertson has since been trying to distance itself from the TV evangelist by playing down the statement but has thus far, failed to renounce it publicly.
This lack of action by the US Federal government has prompted calls from Mr. Chávez for the extradition of Robertson to Venezuela, where he would be tried as a terrorist. The Rev. Jesse Jackson offered support for the for Venezuelan President on Sunday, saying a recent call for his assassination was a criminal act.
Chávez said:
His government would take legal action against Pat Robertson, stressing that “to call for the assassination of a head of state is an act of terrorism.”
Robertson is known for throwing out corrosive, Christian fundamentalist propoganda. For instance, in 2003, he earned the disdain of the State Department after suggesting:
“Maybe we need a very small nuke thrown off … to shake things up” in US diplomacy.
In 2001, as America reeled from the September 11 attacks, Robertson got into trouble after agreeing with comments by Christian right sidekick Jerry Falwell that
“America’s tolerance for lesbians, gays and abortionists had drawn God’s wrath.”
Earlier this year, he angrily commented on the ABC News “This Week” show.:
“I think the gradual erosion of the consensus that’s held our country together is probably more serious than a few bearded terrorists who fly into buildings”
Personally, I believe that he should be extradited. This is clearly a person that is out of control, and so blinded by the irrationalities of the religious right that he is beyond the sway of reasoned argument.
I’m also excited to see how Bush dances around this fire. Given his clear ties with Robertson, I have no doubt that he will be reluctant to act, however, should Chávez Formally seek extradition, Bush’s hand will be forced, and he will have to either defend Robertson or renounce him. Given Bush’s past allegiance to the Bin Laden family despite Osama’s acts of terrorism against the US, I have every reason to believe Bush will go to the end of the Earth to defend Robertson.
Thanks to Jon Emmons for pointing this story out to me >
Robertson and the Christian Right Crusade
I got this e-mail from Jim Dean at Democracy For America this morning, and while I usually hate to just republish content, I think this one is worth putting out there for more to see.
Not only has Robertson called for the assassination of the president of Venezuela, he has repeatedly prayed for vacancies in the Supreme Court, which pretty much amounts to him praying for the death of our most respected judges, since they are appointed for life terms. It looks like this guy is looking to start a neo-conservative crusade of Christian fundamentalists.
As far as I can tell, Pat Robertson is a terrorist!
From DFA:
The Bible tells us “thou shall not kill.” And we consider it a key value to live by. It’s a shame that Rev. Pat Robertson, self-appointed leader of America’s so-called Christian right, does not.
Robertson’s fatwah, calling for the assassination of the president of Venezuela — in the name of keeping access to a “huge pool of oil,” among other excuses — exposed the warped values of many religious radicals with the ear of the president of the United States.
From efforts to squelch the teaching of sound science in our schools, to the “Justice Sunday” rallies trying to impose religion on the courts, to the quixotic jihad against SpongeBob SquarePants, fundamentalist power grabs make the news and have a huge impact.
But they don’t have the teachings of any religion we know of — and they don’t have us. That’s why we’re sending Robertson a message: “Thou shall not kill.” Join your voice with ours, and we’ll print your name in Robertson’s local daily newspaper:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/robertson
Even Donald Rumsfeld — a man we hardly ever agree with — had the sense to play down the statement. “Certainly it’s against the law,” he told the press. “Our department doesn’t do that type of thing.”
But this calls for more than an offhand comment, because the allegiance that Republicans owe to Robertson and his Christian Coalition allies lets them influence the Bush agenda. Bush and company need to condemn Robertson’s outrageous statement.
Rather than wait on the White House though, we’ll set an example: we’ll reject Robertson ourselves. Join Americans across the land in telling Robertson it’s time he learned to love his neighbor as himself:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/robertson
Your feedback — and your name — will go into an ad in the Virginian-Pilot, the Norfolk area’s leading newspaper. We’ll put you on record with thousands of Americans rightly — and righteously — angry that Robertson keeps twisting our values to serve his petty political agenda.
“I don’t want to listen to the fundamentalist preachers anymore,” Howard Dean once told us. We don’t have to.
UPDATE: Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez calls for Robertson’s extradition.
Downing Street Memo picks up traction
Not to revisit recent topics, but I must say that I really am amazed that the mainstream press has finally started talking about the Downing Street Memo. More than two months after the memo was leaked, the so-called “liberal” media has finally gotten around to covering it, albeit not with much enthusiasm.
Not that they came to it on their own, mind you. Bloggers have bee covering it since it came out and congress has taken note with many House and Senate Republicans demanding an explanation from the White House. Democracy For America even has a petition with more than a half a million signatures calling for an independent investigation, yet somehow, up to now, the major news sources have fallen silent.
When bloggers, and the United States Congress cover a political scandal like the Downing Street Memo long before the major news sources we are supposed to be trusting for independent, objective reporting, we have to start asking ourselves about the integrity of our Nation’s media. We are living in a time when multinational conglomerates control both our politicians and our news sources. They used their money to finance the campaigns of their pocketed politicians, and their news channels to ensure the public maintains a favorable opinion of them. While voters maintain an illusion of the electoral final say, the truth is a disturbing flourish of Orwellian smoke and mirrors.
Sign the petition! >
Read the Memo! >
Bush Audio tapes Leaked
The quotes below are taken from a New York TImes article from Feb 19, 2005. Doug Wead is a personal friend of George Bush. During the course of writing a book about then future president he secretly recorded some private conversations.
NOTE: We are currently trying to acquire the entire transcripts of these tapes, as well as the audio files themselves. Check back regularly for updates.
>>Variously earnest, confident or prickly in those conversations, Bush weighs the political risks and benefits of his religious faith, discusses campaign strategy and comments on rivals. John McCain “will wear thin,” he predicted. John Ashcroft, he confided, would be a “very good Supreme Court pick” or a “fabulous” vice president. And in exchanges about his handling of questions from the news media about his past, Bush appears to have acknowledged trying marijuana.
>>Preparing to meet Christian leaders in September 1998, Bush told Mr. Wead, “As you said, there are some code words. There are some proper ways to say things, and some improper ways.” He added, “I am going to say that I’ve accepted Christ into my life. And that’s a true statement.”
>>But Bush also repeatedly worried that prominent evangelical Christians would not like his refusal “to kick gays.” At the same time, he was wary of unnerving secular voters by meeting publicly with evangelical leaders. When he thought his aides had agreed to such a meeting, Bush complained to Karl Rove, his political strategist, “What the hell is this about?”
>>Bush, who has acknowledged a drinking problem years ago, told Mr. Wead on the tapes that he could withstand scrutiny of his past. He said it involved nothing more than “just, you know, wild behavior.” He worried, though, that allegations of cocaine use would surface in the campaign, and he blamed his opponents for stirring rumors. “If nobody shows up, there’s no story,” he told Mr. Wead, “and if somebody shows up, it is going to be made up.” But when Mr. Wead said that Bush had in the past publicly denied using cocaine, Bush replied, “I haven’t denied anything.”
>>He refused to answer reporters’ questions about his past behavior, he said, even though it might cost him the election. Defending his approach, Bush said: “I wouldn’t answer the marijuana questions. You know why? Because I don’t want some little kid doing what I tried.”
>>He mocked Vice President Al Gore for acknowledging marijuana use. “Baby boomers have got to grow up and say, yeah, I may have done drugs, but instead of admitting it, say to kids, don’t do them,” he said.
>>Bush threatened that if his rival Steve Forbes attacked him too hard during the campaign and won, both Bush, then the Texas governor, and his brother, Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, would withhold their support. “He can forget Texas. And he can forget Florida. And I will sit on my hands,” Bush said.
>>Bush also regularly gripes about the barbs of the press and his rivals. And he is cocky at times. “It’s me versus the world,” he told Mr. Wead. “The good news is, the world is on my side. Or more than half of it.”
>>”I believe tomorrow is going to change Texas politics forever,” he told Mr. Wead. “The top three offices right below me will be the first time there has been a Republican in that slot since the Civil War. Isn’t that amazing? And I hate to be a braggart, but they are going to win for one reason: me.”
>>When Mr. Wead warned him that “power corrupts,” for example, Bush told him not to worry: “I have got a great wife. And I read the Bible daily. The Bible is pretty good about keeping your ego in check.”
>>Preparing to meet with influential Christian conservatives, Bush tested his lines with Mr. Wead. “I’m going to tell them the five turning points in my life,” he said. “Accepting Christ. Marrying my wife. Having children. Running for governor. And listening to my mother.”
>>…apparently ruling out potential vice presidents including Gov. Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania and Gen. Colin L. Powell, who favored abortion rights. Picking any of them could turn conservative Christians away from the ticket, Bush
>>…”Look, James, I got to tell you two things right off the bat. One, I’m not going to kick gays, because I’m a sinner. How can I differentiate sin?”
>>…convention of the Christian Coalition, a conservative political group: “This crowd uses gays as the enemy. It’s hard to distinguish between fear of the homosexual political agenda and fear of homosexuality, however.”
>>”This is an issue I have been trying to downplay,” Bush said. “I think it is bad for Republicans to be kicking gays.”
>> “No, what I said was, I wouldn’t fire gays.”
>>Bush had already identified one gay-rights issue where he found common ground with conservative Christians: same-sex marriage. “Gay marriage, I am against that. Special rights, I am against that,” Bush told Mr. Wead, five years before a Massachusetts court brought the issue to national attention.
>>”Sovereignty. The issue is huge. The mere mention of Kofi Annan in the U.N. caused the crowd to go into a veritable fit. The coalition wants America strong and wants the American flag flying overseas, not the pale blue of the U.N
>>”I don’t like it either,” Bush said of the Clinton investigations. “But on the other hand, I think he has disgraced the nation.”
>>When Mr. Wead warned that he had heard reporters talking about Bush’s “immature” past, Bush said, “That’s part of my schtick, which is, look, we have all made mistakes.”
>>He said he learned “a couple of really good lines” from Mr. Robison, the Texas pastor: “What you need to say time and time again is not talk about the details of your transgressions but talk about what I have learned. I’ve sinned and I’ve learned.”
>>”I said, ‘James’ - he stopped - I said, ‘I did some things when I was young that were immature,’ ” Bush said. “He said, ‘But have you learned?’ I said, ‘James, that’s the difference between me and the president. I’ve learned. I am prepared to accept the responsibility of this office.’ “By the summer of 1999, Bush was telling Mr. Wead his approach to such prying questions had evolved. “I think it is time for somebody to just draw the line and look people in the eye and say, I am not going to participate in ugly rumors about me, and blame my opponents, and hold the line, and stand up for a system that will not allow this kind of crap to go on.”
>>…used illegal drugs in the past …”I am just not going to answer those questions. And it might cost me the election,”
>>”It’s unbelievable,” Bush said, reciting various rumors about his past that his aides had picked up from reporters. “They just float sewer out there.”
>>”I like Ashcroft a lot,” he told Mr. Wead in November 1998. “He is a competent man. He would be a good Supreme Court pick. He would be a good attorney general. He would be a good vice president.”
>>When Mr. Wead predicted an uproar if Mr. Ashcroft were appointed to the court because of his conservative religious views, Bush replied, “Well, tough.”
>>”I want Ashcroft to stay in there, and I want him to be very strong,” Bush said. ” I would love it to be a Bush-Ashcroft race. Only because I respect him. He wouldn’t say ugly things about me. And I damn sure wouldn’t say ugly things about him.”
>>Evangelicals were not going to like him, Bush said. “He’s too preppy,” Bush said, calling Mr. Forbes “mean spirited.”
“Steve Forbes is going to hear this message from me. I will do nothing for him if he does to me what he did to Dole. Period. There is going to be a consequence. He is not dealing with the average, you know, ‘Oh gosh, let’s all get together after it’s over.’ I will promise you, I will not help him. I don’t care.”
>>When Mr. Wead suggested in June 2000 that Mr. McCain’s popularity with Democrats and moderate voters might make him a strong vice presidential candidate, Bush almost laughed. “Oh, come on!” He added, “I don’t know if he helps us win.”
>>Bush could hardly contain his disdain for Mr. Gore, his Democratic opponent, at one point calling him “pathologically a liar.” His confidence in the moral purpose of his campaign to usher in “a responsibility era” never wavered, but he acknowledged that winning might require hard jabs. “I may have to get a little rough for a while,” he told Mr. Wead, “but that is what the old man had to do with Dukakis, remember?”
More as we try to acquire the transcripts….
Clarke’s al-Qaeda Threat Memo Leaked
Yeserday, the National Security Archive posted the widely-debated, but previously unavailable, January 25, 2001, memo from counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke to national security advisor Condoleezza Rice.
The document was central to debates in the 9/11 hearings over the Bush administration’s policies and actions on terrorism before September 11, 2001. Clarke’s memo requests an immediate meeting of the National Security Council’s Principals Committee to discuss broad strategies for combating al-Qaeda by giving counterterrorism aid to the Northern Alliance and Uzbekistan, expanding the counterterrorism budget and responding to the U.S.S. Cole attack.
Despite Clarke’s request, there was no Principals Committee meeting on al-Qaeda until September 4, 2001. The memo has been declassified for some time, but only became available yesterday.
Original Secirity Archives Memo Page 1 >
Original Secirity Archives Memo Page 2 >
Original Secirity Archives Memo Page 3 >
