Here are the facts:

1. Unemployment is the worst it has been in over 20 years; the true unemployment rate is much higher than the official rate because people not receiving unemployment benefits don't count. Long term unemployment is very high; 43 percent of those unemployed between 2001-2003 are still unemployed. There are a million fewer jobs in the U.S. today than in 2001. Bush is the first President since Hoover to see job loss during his time in office. Despite that he favors continuing an open immigration policy as does Kerry. Wages for most workers have not kept pace with increases in the cost of housing, energy, insurance and groceries. At the same time, the rich are getting higher: 20 percent of the population makes 50 percent of the income. The ratio of CEO salary to average worker salary is astronomical.

2. Since 1998 the price of gasoline has doubled and will go higher. Bush does not seem concerned by this, probably due to his background as an oil man.

3. Bush came to office despite losing the popular vote. Thousands of votes for his opponent were disqualified in Florida due to a ballot problem, which probably changed the outcome of the election.

4. Clinton was impeached for lying about cheating on his wife under oath, but numerous scandals involving Bush and his administration (Enron, Halliburton, Iraqi prisoner torture, outing of a CIA agent whose husband critized Bush) have not produced any meaningful investigation much less punishment. Clinton was relentlessly investigated for the Whitewater bank fiasco, but when Bush's brother Neil became involved in a similar bank scandal, very little was said or done about it.

5. 9/11 occurred on Bush's watch, not Clinton's. Prior to the attack Bush said or did little about Al Qaida. Iraq was the priority from the beginning, mostly because of the oil. An earlier Al Qaida plot to blow up the Los Angeles airport was successfully thwarted during the Clinton administration.

6. Bush has referred openly to the wealthy and elite as his "power base." He has polarized the country more than any president before him. Even Clinton had a higher approval rating.

7. Although he claimed to support the war in Vietnam, like many wealthy conservative Americans, he chose not to serve in combat, allowing others to take his place.


8. The reason Bush visited Mexico first is because he is courting the Hispanic vote. Bush also favors outsourcing, which is hurting workers in the U.S.

9. The federal deficit is soaring; Bush's tax cuts heavily favor the wealthy and taxes will go up later on to pay off the debt.

This is just part of it. But the quality of life for most people in the U.S has declined since 2001 and there is no sign that it is going to improve. The 1990s are starting to look like the "good old days."

1) No argument from me here, since I'm one of those uncounted unemployed.  My unemployment claims ran out in May, 2003, so I can no longer file, and thus, I'm not part of the "offical" unemployment rate.  To be fair, this would be true no matter who was in office.  However, in Shrub's case, he sees my name fall off the unemployment rolls, and counts it as one more new job created!!!  When you brag about "creating" jobs that still don't come close to replacing all the ones lost since stealing office (a net loss of over 1 million right now), you're a complete idiot.  Fukky math, I mean, fuzzy math at its finest.

2) No argument here, either.  Dumbya continues to line his pockets because of these outrageous oil prices.

3) Winning the presidency while losing the popular vote has occurred in our history prior to Shrub (Benjamin Harrison in 1888), but not with the fraud and corruption involved in Shrub's theft of office.

4)  You can attribute the Clinton witchhunt and the "glossing over" of Dumbya et. al. indiscretions to a Republican controlled Congress.

5)  Shrub's obsession with Iraq and Hussein was not only for oil, but also because he had a personal hard-on for Hussein due to his old man's failure to finish the job the first time and Hussein's failed attempt to assassinate the senior Shrub.  9/11 was irrelevant in Shrub's master plan to oust Hussein.  Shrub's number one priority was to save the Shrub family name.  The war with Iraq would've happened no matter what, because Shrub was hell-bent on going after Hussein with the slightest excuse possible.  It turned out to be the non-existent WMDs.

6)  Clinton had a much higher overall approval rating during his time in office.  The longest continuous economic expansion in our history, and creating budget surpluses in the wake of eliminating the astronomical budget deficits built by Vegetable Reagan and Shrub I.  You can't argue with POSITIVE results.

7)  That's one of the basic principles you first learn if you sign up for Republican Hypocrisy 101.

8)  Supporting the shipment of American jobs overseas for the benefit of buiiding up the bottom line for big business is simply intolerable.

9)  I already posted a thread about the Dumbya administration officially announcing the biggest budget deficit in U.S. history (see below).  Shrub took Clinton's budget surpluses projected into the next decade, and eliminated them in less than a year after stealing office.  Moving America forward, my ass; into an oncoming train, maybe.

http://theeroticreview.com/msgBoard/viewmsg.asp?MessageID=7653&boardID=39

Before Shrub took office, I had a job, an IRA, and savings.  Today, I have none of the above.  I have about $50 to my name, while being over $100K in debt, and I'm on the verge of losing my apartment and car because I can't get one of those wonderful "newly created" jobs Dumbya is bragging about in order to pay for them.  Guess what my answer to the standard presidential election question, "Are you better off now than 4 years ago?" is?

NO!!!  NO!!!  NO!!!  NO!!!  NO!!!  NO!!!

"I'm George Dumbya Shrub; and I approved THIS MESSAGE!!!"

-- Modified on 8/21/2004 6:51:33 PM