Well, let's not give him credit just for being in office when things happen, or you'll have to do the same for Kerry. So you're basically giving him 1)the tax cut and 2) higher spending on education and veterans and 3) faith based initiatives.
Fair enough, we can discuss these on their relative merits. I would add to your negatives that he spends money like a drunken sailor.
Overall, though, this doesn't seem like much more than what you would find on Kerry, and Kerry hasn't been president yet. I wonder what you would have found to commend him before he was elected.
How about 'he predicated an attack upon a soviergn country that lead to the deaths of thousands of innocents, based upon false proof that there is ample evidence Bush KNEW was false?'
You forgot that one, Fox.
Cycloptichorn
Okay, I had forgotten about John Kerry's unauthorized investigation of Oliver North. I found this. North was never charged or convicted of anything other than accepting a security fence and changing the date on a receipt for it, and that was subsequently thrown out of court. Kerry did inadvertently hang a few Democrats along the way though.
http://www.boston.com/globe/nation/packages/kerry/062003.shtml
Quote:Fox is a she, and I'm sure she's heard of google. Let's keep it civil.
Believe me, I'm trying to. I apologize for the gender confusion, Fox. But seriously, can you answer our response to your allegations rather than change your tone to Bush's accomplishments (or lack of) on this thread?
Quote:re positive for Bush, we can point to lower unemployement than when he took office
http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/article_1567.shtml
Quote:the fact that we have had no terrorist attacks on our own soil since 9/11,
And when was the last one?
Quote:the No Child Left Behind act has its problems and critics, but it is doing some good
http://dayton.senate.gov/~dayton/releases/2004/03/2004304258.html
Quote:Americans who paid taxes are paying lower taxes now and most of us appreciate that and the borderline poor are relieved of a tax burden
And at a time of war. Unheard of in modern times.
Sorry, Fox, but I just don't see ANYTHING positive about this man other than the fact that he's probably the most dangerous and uncurious leader of the free world I've ever experienced. I'd rather have a man who can think on his feet and who has a hell of a lot more experience in foreign AND domestic affairs. Bush's accomplishments, more often than not, are shrouded in a veil of secrecy and very little detail.
I have YET to read ANYTHING this man has written that's been published on the internet. If he rarely reads anything (including the newspaper), how are we expected to assume that he can write his thoughts out succinctly when he keeps destroying the english language at every turn?
I just don't get it.
Cyclop, don't forget that Congress, including John Kerry voted for - APPROVED - an attack on Iraq. For you to characterize it the way you just did is pure Democrat spin, and disingenous spin at that.
I have to get back to work now, but will list George Bush's accomplishments before he was elected president. It's a pretty impressive list actually. Not that those of you anti-Bush people will accept it and will try to put the blackest face possible on it.
Meanwhile, how about you guys listing John Kerry's successes and accomplishments up to this point? What has he put on his resume other than his now highly questionable military service? He has been a senator for 20 years. Most senators have a pretty good string of accomplishments in that length of time.
He was in Vietnam Fox...I think that's about it.
obviously, the people of Massachusetts respected Kerry enough and probably considered him effective enough to actually KEEP him around for that long. Anybody who sees an effectiveness in their Senator as a strong advocate for their interests would keep him/her on as a representative of their great state.
Quote:He was in Vietnam Fox...I think that's about it.
And where was George W. Bush?
Dookiestix wrote:obviously, the people of Massachusetts respected Kerry enough and probably considered him effective enough to actually KEEP him around for that long. Anybody who sees an effectiveness in their Senator as a strong advocate for their interests would keep him/her on as a representative of their great state.
That's hardly a good example. They keep electing Kennedy too.
Quote:Quote:He was in Vietnam Fox...I think that's about it.
And where was George W. Bush?
Drinking and staying safe in Alabama. Why? is that an accomplishment for Kerry? That he was too stupid to stay out of the war?
Quote:That's hardly a good example. They keep electing Kennedy too.
That's my point. I don't see George W. Bush staying with ANYTHING long enough to make any other difference other than to mess things up before he leaves for something else.
My guess is the same will happen this November.
Quote:That he was too stupid to stay out of the war?
Try telling that to John McCain, Max Clelland, and the families of the over 1,000 who have already died in Iraq over George W. Bush's failed policies.
I find your last statement despicable.
Obviously Kerry cant list his senate....um....investigative skills on his resume as the only folks he managed to hang there were Democrats. Now that I think about it, maybe thats why he is the most unpopular senator in the Senate?
Yes, George does seem to just keep moving up in position while Kerry seems content to stagnate for 20 years.
Foxfyre wrote:This past week for a school project, I was trying to help a young friend come up with something of substance to commend Kerry for over the last several decades and there was so little we could find in an hour of searching that he went back to school to ask for another assignment.
Ah, educating the young 'uns in true nonpartisan spirit ... that's what the kids need, to get to critically research both sides of an issue and identify strengths and weaknesses of either side ... good for the youngsters' exploration of what "objectivity" means.
To be fair, he did serve in Vietnam and has served his state as senator for a long time. Both are rather selfless things to do. With his wifes money, he could have retired long ago, but he wants to try to share his ideals with America.
Nimh, I will ignore your obvious sarcasm and invite you to help my young friend out and come up with something complimentary about Kerry he could use for his class. I gave him every Google key I could think of and he finally gave up in frustration saying there just wasn't enough there to use.
Foxfyre wrote:Obviously Kerry cant list his senate....um....investigative skills on his resume as the only folks he managed to hang there were Democrats. Now that I think about it, maybe thats why he is the most unpopular senator in the Senate?
So by your way of thinking, if the bad guys turn out to be in your own party, then the proper thing to do is look the other way?
Quote:Fought International Crime, Corruption and Drug Trafficking. John Kerry chaired the landmark hearings that uncovered the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) scandal - the largest banking corruption scandal in modern times. He led hearings which provided evidence that Haitian military officials were involved in drug trafficking to the United States. He also led hearings on corruption and drug trafficking by Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, and introduced legislation requiring the Reagan administration to cut off foreign aid to Panama because of drug-related corruption within its government.
Uncovered Government Corruption. John Kerry went on a fact-finding mission to Nicaragua and presented his findings to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Based in part on John Kerry's groundbreaking findings, the committee reached a consensus decision to investigate the Contra guerillas and their connection to drug trafficking in the United States. The resulting investigation uncovered the Iran-Contra scandal, a scheme that diverted profits from illegal arms sales to Iran to support the Contra guerilla fighters in Nicaragua.
Other Important Accomplishments
Took on the Task of Investigating POW/MIA Issues. John Kerry and John McCain "doggedly investigated" an important and volatile issue which some described as an "unglamorous task that nobody else wanted." Regarding the investigation, John McCain said, "John Kerry handled the chairmanship of that committee with tremendous skill." In 1994, John Kerry sponsored an amendment with McCain that urged the American government to lift its 25-year trade embargo with Vietnam. He then worked closely with McCain and President Clinton to facilitate full normalization of trade and diplomatic relations with Vietnam.
Source
Follow the Money: The Bush-bin Laden Connection
President Bush's September 2001 address to the American people will live on in infamy. In it, Bush roused the American people to a "war on terrorism," which was to consist of rooting out the financial sources of support for terrorist activities. A global effort ensued in the following weeks. Bush then signed an executive order freezing the financial assets of several alleged charities reputed to be "fronts" for the al-Qaida network. According to a report by Christopher Byron dated 9/24/01 entitled "Terrorists, dollars and a tangled web", however, one glitch got ahead of Bush's fanaticism: following this money trail would require investigators to "probe deep into the offshore activities of America's mightiest banks and the financial affairs of many of America's leading public figures," including George W. and George H.W. Bush. It all starts with the Bank for Credit & Commerce International, now infamous as the "BCCI Scandal." The BCCI, with its main offices in London and New York, was bankrolled by Saudi Arabian money handlers. The BCCI was engaged in widespread bribery of officials in Europe, Africa, Asia and the Americas; its criminal activities touched nearly every country on Earth. According to Byron, the BCCI "laundered money on a global scale, intimidated witnesses and law enforcement authorities, engaged in extortion and blackmail; supplied the financing for illegal arms trafficking and global terrorism; financed and facilitated income tax evasion, smuggling and prostitution." As Byron also explains, BCCI operated via secrecy through various front organizations, and "penetrated the top-most echelons of American business, co-opting and exploiting many of the most visible and influential public figures in America."
The tentacles of BCCI began to touch George W. Bush when he sold his young, struggling oil company to Harken Energy. This, according to Byron, "set in motion a chain of events that wound up entangling Bush, briefly but awkwardly, in the affairs of not just BCCI but of the bin Laden family itself." Specifically, what is the bin Laden connection?
James Bath, one of Bush's original partners in his oil company, had contacts in the Middle East. According to Byron, Bath was named in a 1976 trust document as the business representative for Salem bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's half-brother, who was killed in a private plane crash in Texas in 1988. William White has claimed that Bath was involved in a secret conspiracy to funnel Saudi money into the U.S., and that since 1976-the year Bush Sr. became head of the CIA-Bath had worked as a CIA liaison to Saudi Arabia. White has made the claim, which Bath denies, that "Bath ran an aviation business and obtained several aircraft from the CIA."
As Byron reports, Bath did run Skyway Aircraft Leasing Ltd., an aviation business based in the Cayman Islands, which was owned by Saudi banker Khalid bin Mahfouz. In 1977, bin Mahfouz joined up with Saudi front man for BCCI, Ghaith Pharaon, and became an investor in the Main Bank of Houston, in which Bath also held a stake.
When Harken Energy needed capital to expand, George W. - a member of Harken's board - assisted in obtaining a $25 million loan from the Union Bank of Switzerland. According to Byron, "Bush would doubtless have been astonished to learn that he was being surrounded by people with ties to the biggest and most crime-infested bank in the history of world capitalism. Bush would also have been astonished to learn that Bath's Persian Gulf patron, Khalid bin Mahfouz, was a large investor in BCCI. He would also have been surprised to learn that the bank that cut the $25 million check for Harken, the Banque de Commerce et de Placements, was only half owned by Union Bank of Switzerland. The other half was owned by BCCI." Yet, are rumors of Bush's "surprise" greatly exaggerated?
According to Byron, once the Harken financing was completed, Union Bank of Switzerland sold its interest in Harken to Saudi real estate developer Abdullah Bakhsh, whom The Wall Street Journal has linked to BCCI figures Pharaon and bin Mahfouz. In connection with BCCI, bin Mahfouz was fined $212 million and was barred from involvement in any American banking activity. In spite of this apparent "hand slap," bin Mahfouz is now believed to have provided financing to a "charitable front" that raises money for Osama bin Laden. He has reportedly been under house arrest in Saudi Arabia at the behest of U.S. authorities since at least March of 2000.
As Byron concludes: "These are the types of people Washington now needs to root out of the nation's-and the world's-financial systems if it is to cut off the flow of money to the terrorists who have attacked America. But the tentacles now reach into just about every major bank in the country, and have even brushed up against the early business affairs of the very man who is now rallying America to the fight. In the end, getting the dirty money out of America may prove every bit as hard as pulling bin Laden from the mountains of Afghanistan."
Another Bush family connection was reported on 9/28/01 by the Wall Street Journal. Bush Sr. is and has been in business with the bin Laden family via an international consulting firm: the Carlyle Group. The bin Laden family is a major investor in the Carlyle Group and Bush Sr. has met with the bin Laden family on at least two occasions. Osama bin Laden has supposedly been "disowned" by his family, but there is some indication that these reports are false. The FBI has subpoenaed the business banking records of the bin Laden family. Bush Sr.'s association with the Carlyle Group was exposed in March of 2001, and Judicial Watch - a public interest law firm that investigates government corruption - at that time called for Bush Sr. to resign from the firm. The group warned that Bush's involvement with the Carlyle Group constituted a "conflict of interest," and that it could cause foreign policy problems in the Middle East and Asia. Bush Sr. did not resign. Judicial Watch on 9/28/01 stated: "This conflict of interest has now turned into a scandal. The idea of the President's father doing business with a company under investigation by the FBI in the terror attacks of September 11 is horrible." Judicial Watch has stated that: "President Bush should not ask, but demand, that his father pull out of the Carlyle Group."
