Gephardt: Bush is the Worst President in Modern History

[StlMo]

Gephardt calls Bush ‘worst President’

By RILEY YATES
Sunday News Correspondent


DURHAM — Presidential hopeful Richard A. Gephardt yesterday blasted President Bush on issues ranging from health care to his State of the Union Address, calling Bush the “worst President” he has served with since being elected to Congress in 1976.

Standing in a home crowded with about 60 Democratic activists, the former House leader from Missouri highlighted a recent Zogby poll that showed Bush’s popularity has declined to its lowest since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Gephardt said the results show what he’s been saying all along: Bush’s policies hurt the average American.

“George (W.) Bush is the worst President I’ve served with,” Gephardt said, “and I’ve served with five. I’m becoming nostalgic even for Reagan. . . . I might even be nostalgic for Nixon.”

Mostly Gephardt’s criticism came on the economic front, where he stressed jobs and health care. But his comments on the later retraction of a statement Bush made in his 2003 State of the Union Address brought the most rise from those gathered.

...

http://www.theunionleader.com/prez_show.html?article=23896

[sfecap]

1. He didn't think bush was so bad when he supported the Iraq

attack, did he?

[Ishoutandscream]

2. Amen. Gep just looks at the polls

Why wasn't he saying these things a few months back? Gep and Daschle are both pink tutu wearing Democrats who have whored for this administration.

[StlMo]

4. Bull Shit

If you look at Gephardt's record, he is quite progressive and outspoken.
It is worth noting that Gephardt did stand up to Bush and indications are that Democrats won control of the House of Representatives in 2002.


Don't buy the Media spin.
Gephardt is a strong Liberal/Progressive/Populist.


A mini-article posted on DemocraticUnderground:

10 15 2002

WASHINGTON (StlMo) - Today Minority Leader Richard Gephardt attacked Bush for his “abdication of leadership” on the economy. Gephardt pointed out the Bushies are “playing politics with the economy and denying the disastrous consequences of their actions.” Gephardt called for a reversal of economic policy away from tax cuts for the rich. He proposed tax cuts aimed instead at working families and middle class Americans. Gephardt also called for an increased investment in Education and Health Care. Plans include $25 Billion for new school construction and $75 Billion to provide insurance for those who lost jobs to the Bush recession and to increase the federal contribution to Medicare. The Minority Leader demanded a cut of $100 Billion in corporate welfare. He also argued that the minimum wage must be raised to a level people can actually live on. "The fact is America faces a clear and present danger to the economic life of working families," Gephardt said. "But all this president and the Republican House have offered is an extremist ideology of trickle-down economics and ineffective gimmicks." Gephardt was adamant that laws must be passed to make CEO’s responsible for their crimes. He said that current laws were inadequate to protect pension plans, small investors and workers. Gephardt also pledged to oppose Bush’s effort to make tax cuts to the rich permanent. He refused to hand Republicans a campaign issue by explicitly denouncing the tax giveaway, but gave the clear impression that he will work to repeal Bush’s failed plan. Republican pollsters expressed great concern that voter outrage at the state of the economy will cause a disaster for the GOP. Gephardt expressed confidence that Republicans would indeed lose.

Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Democrats-Economy.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-2092051,00.html
http://reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=politicsnews&StoryID=1579860

© 2002 StlMo


Dick Gephardt: The Record

From Vote-Smart.org:
Gephardt

The ratings are the most current available at press time.

Education
NEA Rating
Gephardt 100%

Environment
League of Conservation Voters
Gephardt 93%

Honest Government
Common Cause
Gephardt A

Health
American Medical Association
Gephardt 100%
AIDS Action Council
Gephardt 100%

Labor
Service Employees International Union
Gephardt 100%
BCTGM
Gephardt 100%
American Postal Workers Union
Gephardt 100%
International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Worker
Gephardt 88%
United Food & Commercial Workers
Gephardt 100%
United Auto Workers
Gephardt 100%
American Federation of Government Employees
Gephardt 100%
International Brotherhood of Boilermakers
Gephardt 100%
American Federation of Teachers
Gephardt 100%
American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees
Gephardt 100%
AFL-CIO
Gephardt 100%
Transportation Communications Union
Gephardt 100%
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers
Gephardt 83%

Preserving Social Security and Medicare
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Gephardt 100%

Women
American Association of University Women
Gephardt 100%
National Organization for Women
Gephardt 90%

Civil Liberties
American Civil Liberties Union
Gephardt 75%

Civil Rights
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
Gephardt 86%
National Hispanic Leadership Agenda
Gephardt 91%
Arab American Institute
Gephardt 75%
Human Rights Campaign
Gephardt 100%

Liberalism
U.S. Public Interest Research Group
Gephardt 85%
National Committee for an Effective Congress
Gephardt 90%
Americans for Democratic Action
Gephardt 95%
Public Citizen's Congress Watch
Gephardt 100%

Election 2002:
The Democrats face an incredibly conservative mainstream media and a gargantuan money gap against the super rich Republicans.
VNS data disappears. Unverifiable voting machines give Republicans a narrow victory. Media Whores cover it up.

Toughness:
Gephardt: On possible LIHOP, “What did the President know and when did he know it?”

Bush plan to invade entire Middle East:
Gephardt turns a minority position into a bill banning invasion of Iran, Saudi Arabia, Syria, etc. in exchange for a symbolic endorsement of diplomacy backed by force. Will the Bushies torpedo the diplomacy? Of course, but they already had the ability to invade Iraq with the same legality before – (fake self defense a la Gulf of Tonkin). The Republicans gave up real concessions for a symbolic move.

Gephardt is a better leader than most people give him credit for.
Dick Gephardt would be a great nominee.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

5. We don't need the media to tell us that Dickie is a coward

and a stooge.

Dick Gephardt's ineffectual leadership in the house has consistantly lost us seats.

Dick Gephardt was the first Democratic Leader to sign on for George W. Bush's Iraqi butchery. For that he deserves political obscurity for the rest of his life. The moment when we most needed his leadership, the moment of his political career where his courage was most needed, the moment of his life where the choice between right and wrong was crystal clear, he failed us. He failed us, he failed America, he failed his principles, he failed his values, he failed himself.

He has proven to me that he is corrupt and filled with cowardice.

[StlMo]

6. You are wrong on both accounts.

ThorsteinVeblen, I doubt very much that anything could convince you to vote for a liberal, but if you are interested, you welcome to look up the information I posted and post a rational response.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

7. I am beyond rational when it comes to Gephardt

Everytime I see him I feel sick. I have a visceral, physiological response to that coward.

Are you saying he wasn't the first Democratic leader to commit to signing the Iraqi resolution?

[StlMo]

8. No, I am saying that the resolution was better than what Bush wanted

(and nearly got)

I believe that if the resolution had not been introduced that the Republican House and the Republicans in the Senate (with the help of Zell Miller and possibly others) would have passed Bush's original draft - allowing Bush to invade any country in the Middle East - including several nations which NeoCons (who control Bush's policies) were fully prepared to invade.

[sfecap]

10. So, it was the lesser of two evils, huh?

But evil nonetheless.

Like Gov. Dean says..."we won't beat bush if the Democrats vote with him 85% of the time...."

[StlMo]

18. No, it was not at all evil.

Remember, Bush already had the power to invade Iraq.
The "use of force" resolution amounted to a symbolic endorsement limited to military action as a last resort - a path Bush did not take.

[newsguyatl]

14. c'mon guys

i'm no huge gephardt fan either, but damn, let's give credit where credit is due... that's a pretty gutsy statement for a national politician

[clarkbarr]

16. Yawn--WHO NEEDS A LIMP DICK?

When it really matters, Limp Dick lays down and dies for President Asshole.

The only one worse than Limp Dick is Looneyman!

[StlMo]

19. Check the record.

You will find that Gephardt has stood against Bush - even as others ignored Bush's complicity in September 11 and aided Bush villainous agenda.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

3. No he didn't

Gephardt couldn't get enough of Bush's manliness in the Rose Garden.
He sure didn't think he was the "Worst President" then - he was too busy sticking his nose up Bush's ass.

I will never forget the sickening feeling that came over me while Dickie flanked Bush on that black day. Gephardt deserves what he is going to get: exile to political wasteland.

May you burn in hell for all those innocents murdered because of your cowardice Gephardt.

[BoatsTwice]

9. Dick must have slept through the Carter Administration

if his criticism is mostly economic. And his lack of memory calls into question his honesty and choice of hyperbole. Nothing in the last three recessions compares to the joys of "stagflation." and being asked to wear a sweater in the living room on national television.

Yep. Proud economic times those were, watching my family being uprooted, losing our house because we were unable to refinance our mortgage because the interests rates only went up into double digits back then.

I really like Carter---as a former president. In office, with a Democratic Congress, he presided over the worst economic performance of my lifetime.

[Cocoa]

11. you're asking a lot

regardless of what you think of Carter, are you really asking Gephardt to say "Bush is the worst president in modern history, except for Jimmy Carter?"

[BoatsTwice]

17. No.

What I am saying is that if Gephardt's gonna riff along with that melody, he might want say something that is not so discordant with reality to many people. Lots of voters lived through the 70s and then the recessions in '81, 91, and recently. The late 70s were the worst by far as that recession didn't really start in '81, it was several years before in the making. Stagflation, ungodly prime lending rates, poor job creation, loss of factory jobs--name it---whatever bad economic indicator there was they were new highs under Carter.

I just believe that many of the people who lionize Carter for his presidency do so because they weren't around for it. Examined closely, it was his ineffectiveness that largely resulted in the 12 years of rethug rule prior to Clinton.

Sometimes the revisionism of the actual history makes me ill. Carter is a great and personable man, achieving many laudable goals in retirement. He was not a good president.

[billbuckhead]

12. Carter inherited what 8years of RepuKKKe presidents did to economy....

and a decade long shooting war coupled with a 30 year old cold war as well as our first energy "crisis". Jimmy inherited a lot of problems. I think you judge Carter too harshly.

[DemoTex]

15. I'm with Bill. 100%.

No sock for his cock. James Earl Carter. Seven years active duty USN.

[StlMo]

20. Bush has the worst economic record since Hoover.

If Democrats had not built up the economy so much before Bush's term, Bush would have driven the U.S. into a second great depression.

[newsguyatl]

13. kudos to gephardt!!!

lovin' it!