Majority?
Camp David said:
You see, most Americans want the president to honor his duty to keep America safe... a small portion of the nation questions his motives.
... That is not what he did, thank God. Instead he acted. He made us safe.
Now if you want to continue to question his motives, feel free. Understand you are in the minority however.
Fact check time, Camp David.
Majority, eh? ‘Fraid not, unless you count 40% as a ‘majority'. For an education, go to: <http://www.pollkatz.homestead.com/files/BNCapp_12756_image001.gif> which tracks the average opinion polls of Nixon, Clinton, and Bush across their terms of office. Bush is heading right down there with ol' Tricky Dick....
George Bush did not act, or rather he did not follow through. The 'enemy' was in Afghanistan, and if the point was *really* to go after Al Qaeda, we would have 150,000 troops there instead of Iraq and ol' Osama's head on a plate by now. No, the world is not safer...it is infinitely more dangerous because of what he has done. Even Bush himself now admits that the reasons for the Iraq War were wrong. Spin that one....
And if you still think you are in the majority, try this one on for size in the form of last week's rulings in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals, Judge J. Michael Luttig writing the opinion in the Jose Padilla case. Luttig served as assistant White House Counsel under Reagan, and was appointed to the federal bench by Bush #41. An uber-conservative, he was on the short list for the Supreme Court, before Alito's nomination. The court ruled that Padilla has been held illegally "even if justifiably by mistake" and in his closing paragraph of the ruling stated that:
"And these impressions have been left, we fear, at what may ultimately prove to be
substantial cost to the government's credibility before the courts, to whom it will one day need to argue again in support of a principle of assertedly like importance and necessity to the one is seems to abandon today. While there could be an objective that could command such a price as all of this, it is difficult to imagine what that objective would be."
Whoa...pretty heavy. Google the PDF file, [United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, Case No. 05-636 - and sorry I don't have the hypertext link, just the actual text] and read the whole ruling: this judge lays some pretty strong words on the President. And this was a *conservative* jurist from one of the most conservative circuits in the land.
The one thing that I have always admired (and could in no way comprehend) was the unquestionable support for Bush, come hell or high water [pun intended]. I mean, he could somehow manage to burn down the White House and others would still give him credit for creating jobs.. What would he have to do to cost him your support? Umm..., lets see.... he could he could be absolutely wrong about a threat (or lack thereof) to America. (I can't stand incompetence.) He could give awards and promotions to people who were absolutely wrong about a threat (or lack thereof) to America. (I can't stand bad judgement.) He could put party loyalty over the good of the nation. ("You're doing a heckuva job, Brownie.") He could suspend habeus corpus. He could wiretap people without getting warrants. He could bar some folks from his speeches (Doesn't the First Amendment say something on point?). He could act like a king and declare the Constitution a "goddamned piece of paper."
...No. Wait...he's done all that.
One of the things that has appealed to me most about this forum are all the most-excellent sig.blocks: on-point quotations from truly great Americans (and others). Here are a few of my favorites from those who have posted in the past few days, and apologies in advance to those I have ripped off. Each addresses the errosion of rights and libetries that is now taking place.
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety and shall have neither." -Benjamin Franklin, 1759
"The only way Governments can induce citizens to surrender their rights is convincing them that by doing so, they will gain a measure of safety in exchange" -Thomas Jefferson
"The greatest calamity which could befall us would be submission to a government of unlimited powers." -Thomas Jefferson, 1825
"Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." Hermann Goring - Nuremberg Trials
"Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories." -Thomas Jefferson, 1781
and my favorite:
"Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it" -Mark Twain
Cheers
Hardly seems justified to run in the streets in panic does it?
