Bush losing credibility

[papau]

http://www.hillnews.com/mellman/031704.aspx

March 17, 2004 THE POLLSTERS Mark Mellman

Bush losing credibility

Some months ago, I noted that David Kay’s charge that the Bush administration had gotten the facts on WMD completely wrong had dealt a body blow to the president’s credibility. It turns out that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Americans believe the president misled us on the issue of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq. Fifty-nine percent of Americans believe the Bush administration exaggerated intelligence to build support for the war against Iraq.

But this is far from the only instance in which the president has misled us:

• He told us the rebuilding of Iraq would be financed by Iraqi oil money. Instead, it is U.S. taxpayers who are spending tens of billions of dollars on the reconstruction.

• He told us his budget would not result in long-term deficits. He misled us. In fact we have a half-a-trillion-dollar deficit stretching as far as the eye can see.

• The administration’s job-growth projections have been drastically wrong every year. Every year, the president signs his name to those wildly misleading estimates.

• President Bush misled us about the cost of his prescription drug bill. The White House knew the cost was $130 billion higher than it told Congress and the American people.

• Indeed, a senior Medicare official was threatened with reprisals if he warned Congress that the White House was misleading us. Republican members of Congress have done violence to their own credibility by repeating the administration’s false assertions.

• Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) charged just the other day that the White House was regularly providing misleading information on the highway bill.

While none of these instances except the WMD’s are topics of dinner table conversation, they have had a cumulative impact.

Bush is losing his credibility. Only 44 percent say Bush is a leader you can trust, while 55 percent have “doubts and reservations” about his trustworthiness. Among independents, just 38 percent say Bush is a leader they can trust. A CNN/Time poll found less than half believe what Bush has to say about the economy, the federal budget deficit or about the cost of rebuilding Iraq.<snip>

SORT OF FITS THE MoveOn.org 30 second TV "Censure":

AUDIO ANNOUNCER VOICE OVER: If George Bush had told the truth a year ago, here's what he might have said:

BUSH IMITATOR: My fellow Americans, we have no evidence that Iraq has stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction. No connection to 9/11. No nuclear capability. They pose no imminent threat to us.

AUDIO ANNOUNCER VOICE OVER: If he said that, would we have gone to war, spending $125 billion dollars and losing more than 500 American lives?

AUDIO ANNOUNCER VOICE OVER: When a President misleads us, he must face the consequences. Congress should censure President Bush now.

[AspenRose]

1. How do you lose something....

you never had in the first place....

[papau]

2. True

:-)

[chookie]

3. The Great Misleader

What about all his claims about the "bad science" regarding matters of international concern -- like global warming, air and water quality, and AIDS?

So -- if the consensus of the world's best scientists is that global warming poses a grave threat to our planet, you call it "bad science", and appoint your own guys to prove them "wrong."

If the consensus of the world's best scientists is that diminishing air and water quality pose a grave threat to the planet -- you call it "bad science" and appoint your own guys to prove them wrong.

If the WHO reports that obesity is the leading health risk of developed nations and suggests people eat more fruit and vegetables and less fatty or processed foods, you call it "bad science" and declare that junk is a part of a healthy diet.

If the consensus of the world's best social scientists is that Saddam Hussein, although dangerous, has been defanged and
caged effectively, you hire you own guys to "prove" that he is an imminent threat.

This is how it has been from the beginning. They appoint incompetent ideologues to refute scientific consensus.

Note that Laura Bush has been calling for "a greater diversity" in the kind of teachers and subjects in school -- that's just a code word for teaching creationism and jingoism.

[papau]

4. McCain says Bush can not be trusted

BILL MOYERS: If you can't trust them (The Bush Administration), why can we?

SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN: I don't...I can't answer that, except to say that in 20 years around this town I've never had my word...I've never had people break their word to me in this fashion.


http://www.pbs.org/now/printable/transcript_mccain_print.html

I know it's borderline criminal for some around here to put in a positive word about McCain, but he has a lot of respect from people on both sides of the political spectrum around the country. And when he says "I can't answer that....in 20 years around this town I've never had people break their word to me in this fashion" that will strike home to some people.

It's all about the credibility gap.

[radfringe]

5. just how large is the credibility gap?

it's the distance between bush*'s lower lip and upper lip whenever he opens his mouth