While the press repeats the Bush campaign’s criticisms of Kerry, Bush talks out of both sides of his mouth and puts our nation at risk.
Will the real flip flopper please stand up?
By
Glenn Stoddard
Many in the media have repeated and allowed the Bush campaign to get away with its unfair charge that Senator John Kerry has changed his positions on certain issues, yet very little attention has been focused on President Bush's much more troubling "flip-flops" on important issues--particularly terrorism and homeland security.
Clearly, if anyone has played both sides of important issues it is President George W. Bush. On the environment he has proposed National Forest logging policies and air pollution control policies (the Orwellian-named "healthy forests" and "clean skies" initiatives) that are really anti-environmental deregulation schemes. On the economy Bush has advocated tax cuts for the rich and the outsourcing of American jobs while pandering to the unemployed, the working poor and the shrinking middle class. On health care Bush gives the issue lip service but has opposed real reforms. On stem cell research he has played both sides of the issue but cut off vital federal research funds to appeal to his “base” on the religious right. On gun control Bush supported extending the assault weapons ban and closing the "gun show" loophole for background checks in his 2000 campaign, but has since pandered to the NRA and stonewalled this legislation. And on the Iraq war, Bush keeps upping the price and can’t get his story straight on why we went in to begin with. The list goes on and on.
Meanwhile, on one of the most important issues facing the nation--the threat of terrorism and the need to improve homeland security--Bush has been a serial flip-flopper who has played both sides of the issue over and over again.
On August 6, 2001, while vacationing in Texas, Bush was warned in his President's Daily Briefing that Osama Bin Laden and his network might use commercial aircraft to attack civilians inside the United States. What did Bush do to prevent such a catastrophic event in light of this warning? Nothing. He did not alert the public or put our federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies on high alert. In fact, no such action was taken until after 9/11, when it was too late to save the nearly 3,000 people who were killed in those terrible attacks. Of course, after 9/11 Bush decided that protecting Americans from domestic terrorism would be one of his major priorities! So that was his first flip flop on terrorism.
Later, when support was growing in the U.S. Congress for Senator Joe Lieberman's bill to create a new Department of Homeland Security--based on the recommendations of a blue ribbon panel led by former senators Warren Rudman and Gary Hart--Bush was opposed to the idea. Only after the political pressure became too strong did Bush decide to flip-flop on this issue. He then suddenly embraced the idea, but only after forcing a deal to all but preclude the employees of the new department from becoming unionized. This was Bush’s second major flip-flop on terrorism and homeland security.
The President's third flip-flop on the issue came when the families of 9/11 victims requested that a special commission be appointed to investigate the 9/11 attacks and recommend actions the government should take to prevent such attacks from ever happening again. Unfortunately, as if he was trying to hide something from the public, Bush opposed the creation of such a commission. Again, only when the political pressure grew too strong did Bush change his mind and do another 180. All of a sudden Bush was for the commission.
The next 180 came after the 9/11 Commission began holding hearings and taking evidence. Actually, this flip-flop involved a whole series of flip-flops and position changes by Bush and his staff. The series included indecisiveness, delays and stonewalling on the request for declassification of documents by the 9/11 Commission, and on whether or not and under what circumstances President Bush, Vice-President Cheney and key White House staff like National Security Advisor, Condoleeza Rice, would testify or appear before the commission to give evidence and answer questions. So, Bush's flip-flop number four was a whole stream of indecisiveness and flip- flops.
Bush’s fifth flip-flop came just recently, when the 9/11 Commission released its final report. Bush reacted by giving the report only a lukewarm embrace, stating that he planned to "study" it. This came in stark contrast to Senator John Kerry’s strong support of the 9/11 Commission's major recommendations and his pledge that, if elected president, he would act to implement them immediately after taking office. Because of Senator Kerry’s strong support for the commission’s recommendations, Bush found himself behind the proverbial eight ball once again on the critical issue of national security. Consequently, Bush straddled the fence and flip-flopped once more. In doing so, Bush has shown the nation what a truly weak and dangerous person he really is.
Needless to say, this story is not over. We should all pay attention because Bush is still the president and the nation remains at risk from terrorist attacks. As a result, we should expect much more indecisiveness and flip-flopping. The scary thing is that they are continuing to put our nation at risk and will continue to do so as long as they remain in office and as long as the press continues to look the other way.
August 3, 2004
post a letter about this article »
read letters on this article (0)
Glenn Stoddard lives in McFarland and is a partner in the law firm of Garvey & Stoddard, S.C.
