THE DECIDER: A Brief History Of Bush In Action (Inaction?)

[BLUSH]

1. September 11, 2001

Seven Minutes of Shame

On the morning of September 11, 2001 , President George W. Bush sat in a classroom listening to a children's story and reading along. Andrew Card went up to him and whispered in his ear that the nation was under attack from terrorists.

For the next seven minutes, the President sat, mute and motionless.

http://www.omnithoughts.com/sevenminutes.htm


2. Katrina

President Bush had that My Pet Goat look last Friday, Sept. 2, as he was briefed in an airplane hangar in Mobile, Ala. The clenched jaw, the grimace, the thousand-mile stare. Was this the expression of a man who was about to finally take charge, or a man in over his head? He stood before the cameras while the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Michael Brown, who just four years ago was essentially fired from his post as the judges-and-stewards commissioner of the International Arabian Horse Association, described to the commander in chief in alarmingly simple terms the disaster that covered the map spread before them. This was for show. The president already knew exactly how bad it was. Which made it an incredibly stupid photo op, an unintentional symbol of his weeklong failure. If you took this event at face value, the president of the United States ostensibly was just then getting up to speed on the unprecedented devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which had swept through five days earlier.

http://www.seattleweekly.com/news/0536/050907_news_katr...


3. Global Warming

Scientific Leader Blames Bush for Inaction on Global Warming

The BBC has interviewed John Holdren, presideint of the American Association for the Advancemnt of Science, on global warming. Holden reports that the climate is already changing, and places the blame for inaction on George Bush.

He blamed President Bush not only for refusing to cut emissions, but also for failing to live up to his rhetoric on harnessing technology to tackle climate change.

http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=220


4. Iraq

George Bush, a.k.a. the Decider, seems to be struggling with what to do with in Iraq. He can't decide. He was supposed to announce his decision on a "new way forward" last week. But, he put it off. Late last week the indications were that he was going to increase the troops in Iraq -- a surge of 20,000 to 30,000 additional troops -- in an effort to get control of Baghdad and then move on to other areas of Iraq. But then The Washington Post reported that the Joint Chief of Staff unanimously opposes additional troops.

What is the decider to do?

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Dec06/Zeese21.htm


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[BLUSH]

1. A decisive year for "the decider"

By Walter Shapiro

Dec. 26, 2006 | WASHINGTON -- "In this decisive year, you and I will make choices that determine both the future and the character of our country."

-- George W. Bush, State of the Union address, Jan. 31, 2006

Rarely in the annals of American democracy has a president spoken with such godlike prescience about the year to come. The choices made by the voters in the 2006 elections altered the future of the nation and asserted the character of the country. A religious man, Bush undoubtedly appreciates these words of Jesus: "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country." But, as seems evident, Bush never expected this biblical statement to apply directly to him and his tragic misadventure in Iraq.

... mostly this was a decisive year for a president who may wonder why he sought a second term. Now, mired in an unpopular war and deprived of the protection of a Republican Congress, George W. Bush -- the only true "decider" per self-proclamation -- must decide how to handle his final two years in office. For even amid the splendid isolation of the White House, Bush cannot escape the big message of 2006: The American people have offered a stinging vote of "no confidence" in his presidency.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/12/26/year_in...

[BLUSH]

3. More Inaction

5. North Korea

Former Clinton Secretary of Defense William Perry
Wednesday, October 11, 2006; Page A19

North Korea's declared nuclear bomb test program will increase the incentives for other nations to go nuclear, will endanger security in the region and could ultimately result in nuclear terrorism. While this test is the culmination of North Korea's long-held aspiration to become a nuclear power, it also demonstrates the total failure of the Bush administration's policy toward that country. For almost six years this policy has been a strange combination of harsh rhetoric and inaction.

"Our government's inattention has allowed North Korea to establish a new and dangerous threat to the Asia-Pacific region. It is probably too late to reverse that damage, but serious attention to this problem can still limit the extent of the damage."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/20...


6. Chemical Security

Chronology of Bush Inaction and Flip-Flops on Chemical Security

This timeline documents the failure of the Bush administration to take actions to protect the country from toxic chemicals.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/press/reports/chronology-...

[caffeinefwee]

2. JACK CAFFERTY, "the decider has decided not to decide"

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/12/sitroom....

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, President Bush apparently in no hurry now to come up with a change of strategy in Iraq.

I mean, hey, what's the rush? Things are going to sell over there, right?

Last week he got the Iraq Study Group report amid expectations that he might announce a change in strategy sooner rather than later. Now it looks like it's going to be later.

Instead of a Christmas present to the nation and the people of Iraq in the form of a way to stop the insanity, the decider has decided not to decide until January.

In the meantime, American troops get butchered every day. The American death toll approaching 3,000 now, as December looks to be a very bloody month. Forty-seven soldiers and Marines have been killed in Iraq since December the 1st. And since the start of the war now, 2,937 U.S. troops have been killed.

And for innocent Iraqi civilians, it is much, much worse on a daily basis. Today, 71 Iraqis looking for a job, hoping to find a day's work so they could feed their families, were slaughtered by a suicide truck bomber in Baghdad and 220 additional Iraqi civilians were injured.

And yet President Bush told Brit Hume over at the "F" word network in an interview the other day that the load of the war in Iraq is "not heavy." He called it a joyful, not a painful, experience, because millions of Americans are praying for him.

So, as our soldiers get ready to spent their fourth Christmas in this hellhole, here's the question -- how long should it take President Bush to figure out what to do in Iraq?

[BLUSH]

4. The Decider's New Year's Resolutions

“I resolve to pay close attention to the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group’s report, as soon as it comes out on a books-on-tape version.

“I resolve to learn how to use the Internets, especially the Google.

“I resolve to invite Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to a peacemaking lunch at Taco Bell.

“I resolve to clear all of the brush at my Crawford ranch, except for that patch I use to hide from Cindy Sheehan.

“I resolve to continue my opposition to gay parents, unless one of them is named Cheney.

By Andy Borowitz

more at
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16358033/site/newsweek /

[ariellyn]

5. "Response" to Saddam's execution: Sleepy time.

[BLUSH]

7. He has to go to bed early so he can get up early

Refreshed and ready to do more damage

[radfringe]

6. Ohhhh, but he did decide

he's going with burgandy drapes for his LIE-brary

[BLUSH]

8. those will look nice in his JAIL CELL!

[BLUSH]

9. On Iraq, Bush hardly the decider

On Iraq, Bush hardly the decider
By DAVID BRODER
Washington Post

An element of unreality has infected the speculation about President Bush’s decision on a new strategy for Iraq. In the weeks since the Iraq Study Group issued its report and the president said he was going to canvass a variety of other sources before making up his mind, the assumption has grown that he will declare the next steps himself.

In reality, Bush’s ability to act on his own is severely limited. His hands are tied at home and abroad. At most, he can suggest what he would like to do, but he is dependent on others actually to do it.

The overseas constraints begin in Iraq itself, where any policy depends on the cooperation and dubious capacity of the struggling government in Baghdad. That government is consumed by factional fighting and has yet to find the will to deal with its own thuggish Shiite elements or to reach any kind of accommodation with the rebellious Sunni minority.

Cleaning up the corrupt and violence-prone national police force would be the first precondition for any plan to bring order to Iraq, and that is something that only the Iraqis can do. Bush can wish it, but he cannot order it.

http://www.thestate.com/mld/state/news/opinion/16378760...

[BLUSH]

10. Voices: Six years and no direction

We are about to enter the seventh year of top White House control without leadership or diplomacy and without direction. ... We have two more years of the “Decider,” which is not a good prognosis. Based on his past performance, we will lose many more soldiers and many more civilians will perish in this ill-conceived criminal fiasco by a self-proclaimed “Decider” and “War President.”

Such leadership is not in the best interest of our nation or its citizens. It has eroded, and continues to erode, the trust of our allies and their support of our questionable leadership. This administration has and will continue to ignore and erode our Constitution to suit their intended goals and circumvent any advice which counters their self-serving intentions.

The American people should not be held hostage to a president who, “cannot lead, and will not follow.” This president is “no statesman,” and has displayed the “oratorical skills” of a third-grade dropout and the arrogance of a grade-school bully. He has taken our nation to the edge of no return. “Impeachment proceedings should be initiated immediately.”

Albert A. Midoux

http://www.joplinglobe.com/editorial/local_story_004215...

[BLUSH]

11. today's the day!

The Decider Decides!!!!