War President trying to change his tune to *compassionate*

[liveoaktx]

I could puke. First, his new commercial where he touts what he did as governor in Texas with education, which not only Texans but those who had his No Child Left Behind But Underfunded baloney foisted on them know is hooey.

So what's he got left? Karen Hughes probably telling him to go for the compassion stuff, on the basis that people like him. I saw some guy on MSNBC a bit ago say that people LIKE Bush. WHAT IS THIS BASED ON? (I wrote them an email). I'd say that at least HALF the people in this country do NOT like Bush, and it's been steady throughout his presidency. So where does MSNBC get off by saying that, generally, people like him? I get nauseous if I have to hear his voice for more than the time it takes to mute with the remote.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Heh...

If we cannot tear his "compassionate" spin apart like a woodchipper on crack, then we should just piss on the campfire and call in the dogs.

[adriennel]

2. war president & compassionate

are OXYMORANS!

I'm now convinced Karen Hughes is evil (ever since that pro-choice/terrorism nonsense)

Nor do I understand why Bush is so "likeable" I've never liked him, but as my mom recently said "he speaks as if we are all idiots"
she used to like him, but it seems this veneer is wearing thin

[flakey_foont]

3. I, for one,

definitely DO NOT like him

[orthogonal]

4. Fool me once....

This is how Shrub got selected first time around: "compassionate conservatism", "uniter not a divider", look at how well he got along with dems in the Texas legislature.

Then we got Ashcroft, and Rummy, and all the take-no-advice, admit-no-fault lackeys.

I hope America isn't fooled twice.

[Gothmog]

5. Bush's educations programs in Texas were a disaster

How Bush can be proud of screwing up the Texas public school system is beyond me.

[GumboYaYa]

6. I want to make a Tshirt with a picture of the dogs

attacking the Iraqi prisoner and write "Compassionate Conservatism?" underneath it.

[BillZBubb]

7. He's struggling to find something to save his ass

Last election he lied about what happened in Texas, but enough of the country bought the lies to get him in the WH. Now, he'll lie about what is happening in the US, but will the suckers buy it this time around?

I agree about the "people like Bush" propaganda. Some people like Bush, sure, since there are always clueless fools in any group. But, there are a large number of us who see him for the incompetent, ignorant, amoral, dissembler that he is.

[MallRat]

8. He's running on his TEXAS record?

In 2004? :crazy:

It's as if he's admitting that he hasn't done anything in the past four years to warrant his re-election...

-MR

[sdfernando]

9. Texas record

Oh that rich...I'll have to use that. Thanks!

[liveoaktx]

12. Reminder of what Molly Ivins said in 1999-he was NOT the power in TX

http://www.bushfiles.com/bushfiles/molly430.html

If the media want to address Bush’s character, then they should address his character, not his sex life. The main thing about Bush is that there’s not much there there.

This is not a person of great depth or complexity or intelligence; he does not have many ideas. (Actually, aside from tort reform, I’ve never spotted one.) I don’t think he knows or cares a great deal about governance. Nevertheless, he is a perfectly adequate governor of Texas, where we so famously have the weak-governor system. Bush was smart enough to do what Bob Bullock told him to for four years, and it worked fine.

....
Anyone who thinks Bush’s sound-bite slogan "compassionate conservatism" actually means something programmatic should study the latest reports on poverty in Texas. Hint to national media people (courtesy of the Center for Public Policy Priorities):

Texas has a much higher percentage of poor working families with small children than other states.
More poor Texas families have a full-time, year-round worker than similar families in other states.
Texas’ poor families are more likely to rely on earnings for a majority of their income, and less likely to rely on welfare, than similar families in the nation.
Poor working families in Texas are much less likely to be covered by health insurance. They are less likely to receive unemployment benefits. More than half the poor families are headed by a married couple. One out of six Texans is below the poverty level. The child poverty rate is 24.2 percent, compared to 20.4 percent nationally.
In other words, poor Texans are doing everything Bush thinks they should – they work, they marry, they rely on themselves, they don’t get help from the government – and the upshot is that the state has more poor people, and those poor people are much poorer and less healthy than poor people elsewhere. Now that’s an issue.

[Solly Mack]

10. that's "War CRIME President trying to change.......compassionate"

and I can't imagine anyone liking him...

[izzie]

11. That is what the prison should do. Make them selfs a tape of Bush

talking and play it for hours on end. Then we will find out every thing these guys know. Bet it will work for both sides.

[Zorra]

13. Compassionate? *snarf* Sometimes some friends and I call Bu$h

"Old Sparky" because of the large number people executed in Texas during his term as governor.

152 EXECUTIONS AS GOVERNOR OF TEXAS

Although he said he was anguished by the decision, in an interview in Talk magazine, writer Tucker Carlson described Bush mimicking the woman's final plea for her life. "'Please,' Bush whimpers, his lips pursed in mock desperation, 'don't kill me.'"
- Time Magazine
http://www.bushkills.com/

How about his "compassionate" environmental record while Governor of Texas?

Environmentalists point to the fact that during Bush's tenure, Texas has achieved the dubious distinction, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, of having the dirtiest air in America, of ranking 47th in water quality, and having the seventh-highest rate of release of toxic industrial byproducts onto its land.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/election/july-dec00/bush_environment_8-22.html

[opihimoimoi]

14. Yup, a weasel in Sheeps clothing not gonna do it for the shrub.

Still a lying weasel.

He had the warning but forgot to tell us about 9/11.

[Disturbed]

16. Funny if it were not pathetic

Bush's Broken Promises


"You can't say one thing and do another." — George W. Bush, 10/31/00

During the presidential campaign and his first year in office, George W. Bush made a number of promises affecting American families, but he has failed to keep them. From breaching the Social Security lockbox to making it harder for middle class families to pay for college and leaving out millions of seniors from his prescription drug proposal, Bush has made a habit out of saying one thing and doing another. Here is a catalogue of Bush's broken promises revealed in his FY 2003 budget and in other key policy areas. In contrast to Bush's failures, Democrats have a strong record of progress on these issues.

Summary of Bush's Broken PromisesDeficit
Bush said his tax cut would not cause deficits, even in a bad economy.

Bush's FY 2003 budget posts $106 billion deficit, the first deficit since 1997. The budget will return to balance in 2005, at the earliest.

Social Security
Bush said Social Security Trust Fund would remain in a lockbox.

Bush breached the Social Security Trust Fund and is on schedule to spend $1.65 trillion of it over the next ten years.

National Debt
Bush promised to pay down a record amount of the national debt.

Bush not only failed to pay down the national debt, he has been forced to request a $750 billion increase in the debt limit.

Education Reform
As part of the bipartisan education reform, Bush promised to spend more money on education.

Bush budget cut funding from his own "No Child Left Behind" law and provided the smallest education funding increase in seven years.
Pell Grants

Bush promised to increase the maximum Pell Grant award, thereby increasing access to higher education.

Bush froze Pell Grant limit below his promised level.

LIHEAP
Bush promised to "fully fund" LIHEAP (the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program).

Bush's budget cut LIHEAP by $300 million.

Medicare
Bush pledged to provide Medicare prescription drug coverage for all seniors.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that Bush's plan would cover only 6 percent of Medicare beneficiaries.

Yucca Mountain
Bush promised to listen to sound science and local officials before deciding to bury the nation's nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain.

Bush designated Yucca Mountain the site before all the science is in, flouting local officials.

Student Loans
Bush promised to make higher education more accessible by helping students with high costs.

Bush proposed pulling $1.3 billion from a program that allows students to consolidate education loans at federally subsidized interest rates.

[Pobeka]

15. We better start pointing out why Kerry is likeable, and fast.

You know the attack machine is going to start saying how he's a bastard, rude, etc.

They will have to try to make the case for Bush, largely on personality, since Bush can't claim he's a good manager of the government. One part of that strategy is to badmouth Kerry's personality often, and repetitively.