100 Mistakes of President Bush

[PhillyKev 0]

He was asked in April in a news conference what mistakes he has made, he had no answer other than "Maybe I'm not as quick on my feet as I should be." During the town hall debate he was asked to name one mistake he's made and has learned from. The best he could come up with was he regrets some appointments to minor cabinet positions. Well, to prepare him for the next time this question is asked, here's a list that he can draw from.

Iraq


Failing to build a real international coalition prior to the Iraq invasion, forcing the US to shoulder the full cost and consequences of the war.


Approving the demobilization of the Iraqi Army in May, 2003 - bypassing the Joint Chiefs of Staff and reversing an earlier position, the President left hundreds of thousands of armed Iraqis disgruntled and unemployed, contributing significantly to the massive security problems American troops have faced during occupation.


Not equipping troops in Iraq with adequate body armor or armored HUMVEES.


Ignoring the advice Gen. Eric Shinseki regarding the need for more troops in Iraq - now Bush is belatedly adding troops, having allowed the security situation to deteriorate in exactly the way Shinseki said it would if there were not enough troops.


Ignoring plans drawn up by the Army War College and other war-planning agencies, which predicted most of the worst security and infrastructure problems America faced in the early days of the Iraq occupation.


Making a case for war which ignored intelligence that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq.


Deriding "nation-building" during the 2000 debates, then engaging American troops in one of the most explicit instances of nation building in American history.


Predicting along with others in his administration that US troops would be greeted as liberators in Iraq.


Predicting Iraq would pay for its own reconstruction.


Wildly underestimating the cost of the war.


Trusting Ahmed Chalabi, who has dismissed faulty intelligence he provided the President as necessary for getting the Americans to topple Saddam.


Disbanding the Sunni Baathist managers responsible for Iraq's water, electricity, sewer system and all the other critical parts of that country's infrastructure.


Failing to give UN weapons inspectors enough time to certify if weapons existed in Iraq.


Including discredited intelligence concerning Nigerian Yellow Cake in his 2003 State of the Union.


Announcing that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended" aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, below a "Mission Accomplished" banner - more U.S. soldiers have died in combat since Bush's announcement than before it.


Awarding a multi-billion dollar contract to Halliburton in Iraq, which then repeatedly overcharged the government and served troops dirty food.


Refusing to cede any control of Post-invasion Iraq to the international community, meaning reconstruction has received limited aid from European allies or the U.N.


Failing to convince NATO allies why invading Iraq was important.


Having no real plan for the occupation of Iraq.


Limiting bidding on Iraq construction projects to "coalition partners," unnecessarily alienating important allies France, Germany and Russia.


Diverting $700 million into Iraq invasion planning without informing Congress.


Shutting down an Iraqi newspaper for "inciting violence" - the move, which led in short order to street fighting in Fallujah, incited more violence than the newspaper ever had.


Telling Saudi Prince Bandar bin Sultan about plans to go to war with Iraq before Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Counterterrorism


Allowing several members of the Bin Laden family to leave the country just days after 9/11, some of them without being questioned by the FBI.


Focusing on missile defense at the expense of counterterrorism prior to 9/11.


Thinking al Qaeda could not attack without state sponsors, and ignoring evidence of a growing threat unassociated with "rogue states" like Iraq or North Korea.


Threatening to veto the Homeland Security department - The President now concedes such a department "provides the ability for our agencies to coordinate better and to work together better than it was before."


Opposing the creation of the September 11th commission, which the President now expects "to contain important recommendations for preventing future attacks."


Denying documents to the 9/11 commission, only relenting after the commissioners threatened a subpoena.


Failing to pay more attention to an August 6, 2001 PDB entitled "Bin laden Determined to Attack in U.S."


Repeatedly ignoring warnings of terrorists planning to use aircraft before 9/11.


Appointing the ultra-secretive Henry Kissinger to head the 9/11 commission - Kissinger stepped down weeks later due to conflicts of interest.


Asking for testimony before the 9/11 commission be limited to one hour, a position from which the president later backtracked.


Not allowing national Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify before the 9/11 commission - Bush changed his mind as pressure mounted.


Cutting an FBI request for counterterrorism funds by two-thirds after 9/11.


Telling Americans there was a link between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.


Failing to adequately secure the nation's nuclear weapons labs.


Not feeling a sense of urgency about terrorism or al Qaeda before 9/11.

Afghanistan


Reducing resources and troop levels in Afghanistan and out before it was fully secure.


Not providing security in Afghanistan outside of Kabul, leaving nearly 80% of the Afghan population unprotected in areas controlled by Feudal warlords and local militias.


Committing inadequate resources for the reconstruction of Afghanistan.


Counting too heavily on locally trained troops to fill the void in Afghanistan once U.S. forces were relocated to Iraq.


Not committing US ground troops to the capture of Osama Bin Laden, when he was cornered in the Tora Bora region of Afghanistan in November, 2001.


Allowing opium production to resume on a massive scale after the ouster of the Taliban.

Weapons of Mass Destruction


Opposing an independent inquiry into the intelligence failures surrounding WMD - later, upon signing off on just such a commission, Bush claimed he was "determined to make sure that American intelligence is as accurate as possible for every challenge in the future."


Saying: "We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories."


Trusting intelligence gathered by Vice President Cheney's and Secretary Rumsfeld's "Office of Special Plans."


Spending $6.5 billion on nuclear weapons this year to develop new nuclear weapons this year - 50% more in real dollars than the average during the cold war - while shortchanging the troops on body armor.

Foreign Policy


Ignoring the importance of the Middle East peace process, which has deteriorated with little oversight or strategy evident in the region.


Siding with China in February, 2004 against a democratic referenda proposed by Taiwan, a notable shift from an earlier pledge to stand with "oppressed peoples until the day of their freedom finally arrives."


Undermining the War on Terrorism by preemptively invading Iraq.


Failing to develop a specific plan for dealing with North Korea.


Abandoning the United States' traditional role as an evenhanded negotiator in the Middle East peace process.

Economic


Signing a report endorsing outsourcing with thousands of American workers having their jobs shipped overseas.


Instituting steel tariffs deemed illegal by the World Trade Organization - Bush repealed them 20-months later when the European Union pledged to impose retaliatory sanctions on up to $2.2 billion in exports from the United States.


Promoting economic policies that failed to create new jobs.


Promoting economic policies that failed to help small businesses


Pledging a "jobs and growth" package would create 1,836,000 new jobs by the end of 2003 and 5.5 million new jobs by 2004-so far the president has fallen 1,615,000 jobs short of the mark.


Running up a foreign deficit of "such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy."


Issuing inaccurate budget forecasts accompanying proposals to reduce the deficit, omitting the continued costs of Iraq, Afghanistan and elements of Homeland Security.


Claiming his 2003 tax cut would give 23 million small business owners an average tax cut of $2,042 when "nearly four out of every five tax filers (79%) with small business income would receive less" than that amount.


Passing tax cuts for the wealthy while falsely claiming "people in the 10 percent bracket" were benefiting most."


Passing successive tax cuts largely responsible for turning a projected surplus of $5 trillion into a projected deficit of $4.3 trillion.


Moving to strip millions of overtime pay.


Not enforcing corporate tax laws.


Backing down from a plan to make CEOs more accountable when "the corporate crowd" protested.


Not lobbying oil cartels to change their mind about cutting oil production.


Passing tax cuts weighted heavily to help the wealthy.


Moving to allow greater media consolidation.


Nominating a notorious proponent of outsourcing, Anthony F. Raimondo, to be the new manufacturing Czar-Raimondo withdrew his name days later amidst a flurry of harsh criticism.


Ignoring calls to extend unemployment benefits with long-term unemployment reaching a twenty-year high


Threatening to veto pension legislation that would give companies much needed temporary relief.

Education


Under-funding No Child Left Behind


Breaking his campaign pledge to increase the size of Pell grants.


Signing off on an FY 2005 budget proposing the smallest increase in education funding in nine years.


Under-funding the Title I Program, specifically targeted for disadvantaged kids, by $7.2 billion.


Freezing Teacher Quality State Grants, cutting off training opportunities for about 30,000 teachers, and leaving 92,000 less teachers trained than the president called for in his own No Child Left Behind bill.


Freezing funding for English language training programs.


Freezing funding for after school programs, potentially eliminating 50,000 children from after-school programs.

Health


Not leveling with Americans about the cost of Medicare - the president told Congress his new Medicare bill would cost $400 billion over ten years despite conclusions by his own analysts the bill would cost upwards of $500 billion over that period.


Silencing Medicare actuary Richard Foster when his estimates for the Administration's Medicare bill were too high.


Letting business associate David Halbert, who owns a company which stands to make millions from new discount drug cards, craft key elements of the new Medicare bill.


Under-funding health care for troops and veterans.


Allowing loopholes to persist in Mad-Cow regulations.


Relaxing food labeling restrictions on health claims.


Falsely claiming the restrictions on stem cell research would not hamper medical progress.


Reducing action against improper drug advertising by 80 percent.

Environment


Abandoning the Kyoto Treaty without offering an alternative for reducing greenhouse effect.


Counting on a voluntary program to reduce emissions of harmful gasses-so far only a tiny fraction of American companies have signed up.


Gutting clean air standards for aging power plants.


Weakening energy efficiency standards.


Relaxing dumping standards for mountaintop mining, and opening the Florida Everglades and Oregon's Siskiyou National Forest to mining.


Lifting protection for more than 200 million acres of public land.


Limiting public challenges to logging projects and increased logging in protected areas, including Alaska's Tongass National Forest.


Weakening environmental standards for snowmobiles and other off-road vehicles while pushing for exemptions for air pollution proposals for five categories of industrial facilities.


Opposing legislation that would require greater fuel efficiency for passenger cars.


Reducing inspections, penalties for violations, and prosecution of environmental crimes.


Misleading the public about the Washington mad cow case and the likely effectiveness of USDA's weak testing program.


Withdrawing public information on chemical plant dangers, previously used to hold facilities accountable for safety improvements.

Other


Cutting grants to state and local governments in FY 2005, forcing states to make massive cuts in job training, education, housing and environment.

[TheAnvil 0]

Whoever gave you this list should do a bit of research. I got a good chuckle out of many of them.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[PhillyKev 0]

Yes, it is hard at times not to laugh at his incompetence. However we should try to take his utter failures more seriously.

[TheAnvil 0]

I was referring to the inanity of the items about which I was chuckling...perhaps my point was too subtle.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[gemini 0]

This is really great. I am going to send it to all my veteran and active duty friends. Hope you didn't waste a lot of time creating this wish list.

Blue skies,

Jim

[rhino 0]

Quote

He was asked in April in a news

I think his #1 mistake is allowing people with an IQ of under 50 to have free speech and vote...

[nacmacfeegle 0]

His second mistake was giving them internet access.

--------------------

He who receives an idea from me, receives instruction himself without lessening mine; as he who lights his taper at mine, receives light without darkening me. Thomas Jefferson

[rhino 0]

LOL

[PhillyKev 0]

True, some of them are inane. But I have to ask, do you not know of one single mistake that he has made that he could or should admit to and try to learn from? He seems incapable of coming up with any.

[Tf15 0]

Quote

Quote

He was asked in April in a news

I think his #1 mistake is allowing people with an IQ of under 50 to have free speech and vote...

That's called "Looking out for #1"

Three times is enemy action

[billvon 3,119]

>do you not know of one single mistake that he has made that he could
>or should admit to and try to learn from?

He said he did; he appointed other people who made mistakes. (Of course, whether or not that's a clever way to dodge the question is open to interpretation.)

[PhillyKev 0]

Yeah, well, that was his answer when he was asked to come up with 3 mistakes. And he didn't say who those people were. I think it's safe to assume that he hasn't replaced those people either, so what does that say about him if he thinks his biggest mistakes were appointees that he still has in those positions?

[rushmc 23]

Since the first 3 I read were jokes, (right?) I stopped.

Thanks for the laugh

"America will never be destroyed from the outside,
if we falter and lose our freedoms,
it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Abraham Lincoln

[TheAnvil 0]

Could admit to? Yes. Should admit to on the campaign trail? No way. Political suicide. He did the smart thing by dodging the question. Just like Monsieur sKerry refuses to apologize for his post-Vietnam War activities. Like the 'Who would you nominate to the SCOTUS?' question, the 3 mistakes question was moronic.

Vinny the Anvil
Post Traumatic Didn't Make The Lakers Syndrome is REAL
JACKASS POWER!!!!!!

[christelsabine 1]

Quote

His second mistake was giving them internet access

.. and to let them learn how to count until 50...


ROFL

dudeist skydiver # 3105

[Trent 0]

Aren't you always telling people that maybe they shouldn't always post the bullshit that gets forwarded to them in emails?

Regardless, I've always wondered what the deal is with the left and the hard-on they have for wanting to hear someone apoligize. If he were to apoligize for something, would you immediately forgive and give another chance? Or would you jump up and down screaming, "See??? He's a fuck-up, he admitted it!!!" Either way, it's stupid for anyone to even make a demand for an apology. You think it serves anyone's interest (other than those who hate the president) to have GWB apologize?

You don't have a good response to this... I'm sure of it.

Oh, hello again!

[billvon 3,119]

>You think it serves anyone's interest (other than those who hate the
> president) to have GWB apologize?

It serves the interests of the US to have someone who can recognize he was wrong and change his planning so the same mistake will not occur again. Would you really be OK with us invading Iran to stop their nuclear program, then finding out they had nothing more high tech than muffler shops? Is it OK to have 1000 US soldiers die to realize we screwed up again? Or do you think we should perhaps not make that mistake again?

[PhillyKev 0]

Quote

Aren't you always telling people that maybe they shouldn't always post the bullshit that gets forwarded to them in emails?

Yep, because it's usually something that's been seen by everyone a billion times already. This wasn't forwarded to me, and I haven't seen it being floated around. I saw it here

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/101404F.shtml

[PhillyKev 0]

Quote

Regardless, I've always wondered what the deal is with the left and the hard-on they have for wanting to hear someone apoligize.

I could give a shit if he appologizes, and that wasn't what he was asked. He was asked if he recognizes that he made any mistakes, and what he did to correct them. That's a question that I ask people when I interview them for a job. It shows that someone can recognize when they screw up and take measures to correct that, since no one is perfect, everyone should have that ability. Bush has not shown any indication that he thinks about anything 2 seconds after he does it.

[Trent 0]

Would apologizing change any of that? Or would we do better to improve our intelligence community so that we can be more assured next time?

If you think that there haven't been any changes in that realm because of Iraq, you're kidding yourself. It doesn't take an apology to do things better next time.

Admit it, you just want to see GWB apologize to make yourselves feel better... and so you can rant more about him.

Oh, hello again!

[billvon 3,119]

>Would apologizing change any of that?

No. I didn't say he should apologize, just admit he made mistakes.

>Or would we do better to improve our intelligence community so
>that we can be more assured next time?

Ding ding! That's it. If I heard "we screwed up bigtime, and we're going to make sure we don't screw up like that again" I'd feel a lot better about our future. Instead I hear "no, it all worked out, because we invaded and that was a good call. Mass graves and all that. Saddam Hussein was _himself_ a weapon of mass destruction, so we weren't even wrong!"

>Admit it, you just want to see GWB apologize to make yourselves
> feel better... and so you can rant more about him.

Like I said, I didn't say I wanted that.

[Trent 0]

Leaders often don't admit to mistakes because it would undermine their abilities to do their jobs. I don't think Bush should claim that he fucked up or anything like that. As long as the problem was noted and is being corrected, that's all that matters. In fact, I'll go even as far as to say that IF Kerry is elected, I don't even want to hear him talking like that... it undermines the office. Fix it and move on.

Oh, hello again!

[billvon 3,119]

>Leaders often don't admit to mistakes because it would
>undermine their abilities to do their jobs.

I've often heard that. "Cops should never admit they're wrong because it would mean criminals wouldn't respect them." "Doctors should never express doubt or admit error because their patients have to have faith in them." "Never admit fault; it makes you look weak."

I don't buy it. It takes a big man to admit he was wrong, and an even bigger one to change his behavior so it doesn't happen again. Lesser men make excuses and rationalizations. Infallible people are scary; I've met a lot of them, in situations from a swooper who wouldn't listen to anyone to a pilot who was doing something dangerous but was absolutely, positively sure he was right - and was outraged anyone would "undermine his passenger's faith in him." Those are the people who end up making really big mistakes.

[penniless 0]

Quote

Leaders often don't admit to mistakes because it would undermine their abilities to do their jobs. I don't think Bush should claim that he fucked up or anything like that. As long as the problem was noted and is being corrected, that's all that matters. In fact, I'll go even as far as to say that IF Kerry is elected, I don't even want to hear him talking like that... it undermines the office. Fix it and move on.

That is so not true. Inability of leaders to admit error led directly to the carnage of World War I. It led to US embarrassment in Vietnam, and it led to NASA's Challenger disaster.

[Trent 0]

Quote

I don't buy it. It takes a big man to admit he was wrong, and an even bigger one to change his behavior so it doesn't happen again. Lesser men make excuses and rationalizations. Infallible people are scary; I've met a lot of them, in situations from a swooper who wouldn't listen to anyone to a pilot who was doing something dangerous but was absolutely, positively sure he was right - and was outraged anyone would "undermine his passenger's faith in him." Those are the people who end up making really big mistakes.

For someone to admit and accept a mistake they made doesn't mean they have to admit it to YOU. Do you really think it'd serve the public interest to hear their leaders, doctors, or cops thinking out loud about mistakes they may have made? For them to do it out of public view among peers and advisors is the most I'd expect. And if things are being improved so the same mistakes won't happen again, you can bet it took more than just one person to say, "well, we could have done this better." They just didn't do it in public because I don't think it's what would've been best for the office.

Oh, hello again!