  urlLink Electronic Journal of the U.S. Department of State - Volume 5, Number 3, October 2000 : (Reposted per reader request) A couple of quotes and promises from Bush's acceptance speech, worthy of examination in light of the current election: "Bush said that when he is president, 'We will seize this moment of American promise. We will confront the hard issues -- threats to our national security, threats to our health and retirement security -- before the challenges of our time become crises for our children. '" Interesting, as he has failed in all those hard issues. Our national security is worse now than it's ever been due to his infatuation with his war in Iraq, not to mention that every Arab terrorist group in the world wants a piece of us. Health insurance costs are still outrageously pricey, and fewer Americans have coverage than before he took office.
His confronting of retirement security is also a farce as his new Medicare rules put many retirees at risk. "Bush said that he faulted the administration for its stands on education, the military, Social Security and health care. " Bush's stance on education can be summed up by his action of drastically reducing the budget for the Head-Start program, and it's cousins. It's obvious that he does not care about those children who desperately need that program, which provides stability and consistency to assist in childrens' education and well-being. Bush knows that the children that are really important to him, the ones from privleged and wealthy families, do not need this program due to their pedigree.
Bush's stance on the military is a confusing one. He would rather use taxpayers dollars to pay private security firms (mercenaries) that are run by his wealthy corporate friends, than a citizen who is enlisted in the armed forces of the US. Our soldiers are pawns in Bush's imperialist campaign for power and profit, and they deserve a President who knows what it's like to face enemy fire, and not one that runs and hides with his family's help. "On one side are wealth and technology, education and ambition. On the other side of the wall are poverty and prison, addiction and despair," he said.
The wall must be torn down, he said, but "big government is not the answer. " He said the alternative is to put conservative values and ideas into the fight for justice and opportunity. "This is what I mean by compassionate conservatism. And on this ground we will govern our nation," Bush added. " Compassionate conservatism...interesting spin on what amounts to "helping the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. " "The world needs America's strength and leadership, and America's armed forces need better equipment, better training and better pay," he said.
"We will give our military the means to keep the peace, and we will give it one thing more -- a commander-in-chief who respects our men and women in uniform, and a commander-in-chief who earns their respect. " True, the world does need America's strength and leadership, it's too bad that Bush didn't do the things necessary to see that happen, and instead opened up a can-of-worms called the Iraq war. As far as giving our military the tools and the numbers to "keep the peace," Bush has also failed miserably. He states that he respects our men and women in uniform, but just not enough though to have actually served in a war-time theatre, and instead served in comfy Alabama.
Couple that with Cheney and his penchant for privatizing the armed forces so his mercenary corporation (otherwise spun by the Bush & Co. as "contractors") friends in Haliburton, KBR and Blackwater become wealthier, and you get an impression of how much he respects the under-paid, under-equipped and over-worked US soldier. "Bush said a generation shaped by Vietnam "must remember the lessons of Vietnam. " When America uses force in the world, "the cause must be just, the goal must be clear and the victory must be overwhelming," he added. " Bush hasn't learned anything from Vietnam, and has created a worse environment for our soldiers and country in not doing so.
"Americans live on the sunrise side of the mountain. The night is passing and we are ready for the day to come," Bush said. The conservatives railed on Kerry's hopeful observations in his acceptance speech last week, yet he doesn't even come close to Bush, the King of Sound Bites. And last, but definitely not least, the Hope diamond of unfilled campaign promises, given by VP Dick Cheney: "He said that Bush will 'show us that national leaders can be true to their word. '" Think about these promises Bush &amp; Cheney made back in 2000, and realize that they have not come through on any of them. What makes a person think it will change this go around? Bush has already started his Sound-Bite speech campaign, and I hope that voters will re-examine what the Bush campaign sold to them in the past, and what they infact received in the end. 
