I'm wondering if an "Honest" person can get Elected

[beawr]

Much of what I see on these boards is a distaste for changing one's mind for political purposes and a championing for straight up blunt honesty. While these are admirable characteristics in a friend, I don't think it makes for good Presidents. I think even Lincoln was a little mealy mouthed prior to his election in order to get as many votes as he could. JFK inflated missle gap stats. And Clinton....

[Nederland]

1. Jimmy Carter? (nt)

[beawr]

3. I'll give you

Jimmy Carter, but then he barely beat Ford, the guy that pardoned Nixon and hardly presidential material. And then was beat by what was once an unthinkable candidate.

[Born_a_Democrat]

2. easy answer, yes, tough question: can he stay elected?

easy answer: NO!

[cspiguy]

4. intellectual question - what if * IS honest - it's just we hate him.

some people - especially texans - drive you nuts by believing and telling you the truth - their truth - when you know it cannot possibly be true. But they believe it. Simplistically.

[w4rma]

5. I know for a fact that Bush isn't honest. He says what the polls say that

folks want to hear and does exactly what he was going to do, especially when it was the opposite of what he said.

Also,

The Bush Administration and WMD: Then and Now

Then

8/26/02 Cheney: Simply stated, there is no doubt that Saddam Hussein now has weapons of mass destruction. There is no doubt he is amassing them to use against our friends, against our allies, and against us. (Remarks to VFW, 8/26/03).

9/02 Rumsfeld: Rumsfeld told Congress that Saddam’s "regime has amassed large, clandestine stockpiles of chemical weapons, including VX, sarin, cyclosarin and mustard gas…” (U.S. News 6/03).

9/19/2002 Rumsfeld: There are a number of terrorist states pursuing weapons of mass destruction -- Iran, Libya, North Korea, Syria, just to name but a few. But no terrorist state poses a greater or more immediate threat to the security of our people than the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. (Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing Transcript, 9/19/2002)

10/06/02 Bush: Saddam Hussein could strike without notice and inflict "massive and sudden horror" on America. (AP, 10/6/02)

1/28/03 Bush: “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” (The State of the Union Address, 1/28/03)

2/05/03 Powell: “Our conservative estimate is that Iraq today has a stockpile of between 100 and 500 tons of chemical weapons agent. That is enough agent to fill 16,000 battlefield rockets.” (Remarks, U.N., 2/05/03)

2/08/03 Bush: "We have sources that tell us that Saddam Hussein recently authorized Iraqi field commanders to use chemical weapons -- the very weapons the dictator tells us he does not have." (Radio Address, 2/08/03)

3/16/03 Cheney: “We believe has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons.” (The Washington Post, 5/20/03)

3/17/03 Bush: "Intelligence gathered by this and other governments leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised." (Address, D.C., 3/17/03)

3/30/03 Rumsfeld: "We know where they are. They're in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." (Remarks, ABC, 3/30/03)

Now

Spring 2003 Bush official: “The Iraqis may have poured it into the ground someplace.” (The Washington Post, 4/10/03; Newsday, 3/16/03)

5/04/03 Rumsfeld: "We never believed that we'd just tumble over weapons of mass destruction in that country." (Interview, Fox News, 5/04/03)

5/12/03 Rice: U.S. never expected that “we were going to open garages and find” WMDs.” (Reuters, 5/12/03)

5/27/03 Rumsfeld: "They may have had time to destroy them, and I don't know the answer."

(Remarks, Council on Foreign Relations, 5/27/03)

6/03/03 Lt. Gen. James Conway: “We were simply wrong…. It was a surprise to me then, it remains a surprise to me now, that we have not uncovered weapons … believe me, it’s not for lack of trying. We’ve been to virtually every ammunition supply point between the Kuwait border and Baghdad, but they’re simply not there.” (L.A. Times 6/03/03)

6/16/03 Bush: “And we acted in Iraq, as well. We made it clear to the dictator of Iraq that he must disarm. We asked other nations to join us in seeing to it that he would disarm, and he chose not to do so, so we disarmed him. And I know there's a lot of revisionist history now going on, but one thing is certain. He is no longer a threat to the free world, and the people of Iraq are free.” (Remarks, 6/16/03)

7/06/03 Former Amb. Joseph C. Wilson IV: “The vice president's office asked a serious question. I was asked to help formulate the answer. I did so, and I have every confidence that the answer I provided was circulated to the appropriate officials within our government. The question now is how that answer was or was not used by our political leadership.” (Op-Ed, The New York Times, 7/06/03)

7/09/03: Senator Pryor: When did you know that the reports about uranium coming out of Africa were bogus?

Rumsfeld: Well, within recent days, since the information started becoming available. (Senate Armed Services Committee Hearing, 7/09/03)

7/09/03: Question: Yes, Mr. President. Do you regret that your State of the Union accusation that Iraq was trying to buy nuclear materials in Africa is now fueling charges that you and Prime Minister Blair misled the public?

Bush: “here's no doubt in my mind, when it's all said and done, the facts will show the world the truth. There's absolutely no doubt in my mind. And so there's going to be a lot of attempts to try to rewrite history, and I can understand that. But I am absolutely confident in the decision I made.… One thing is for certain, he's not trying to buy anything right now.” (Remarks, 7/09/03)

7/13/2003: Mr. Russert: In March, you did say, "We know where they are?"

Rumsfeld: Yeah. The phrase was almost always suspect sites, and in -- the next day one would have to say where they were, not where they are, because things are moveable. And when you can take a relatively small amount of very lethal chemical or biological weapons or capability, and move it in an hour, and -- I mean, think of the person went out under their rosebush in the back yard of their private home and dug up things that he'd been told to bury there a decade.... (Meet The Press, 7/13/2003)
http://www.deanforamerica.com/site/cg/index.html?type=page&pagename=policy_policy_foreign_iraq_ontherecord