Changing The ToneWritten by Scott C. Smith
Changing Tone By Scott C. Smith“The spirit of cooperation I have seen in this hall is what is needed in Washington, D.C. It is challenge of our moment. After a difficult election, we must put politics behind us and work together to make promise of America available for every one of our citizens. I am optimistic that we can change tone in Washington, D.C.” -- President George W. Bush, speech, Dec. 13, 2000. “That background may lack polish of Washington. Then again, I don't have a lot of things that come with Washington. I don't have enemies to fight. I have no stake in bitter arguments of last few years. I want to change tone of Washington to one of civility and respect.” -- President George W. Bush, speech, August 3, 2000. "We may not always agree, but hopefully, we can be honest with each other, and respect each other, and change tone of Washington, D.C., so that when people look at Nation's Capital they will be proud of what they see.” Changing tone of our Nation's Capital hasn't been easy. I realize that in politics, old ways die hard. Washington at times has got a plenty sharp edge to it. The only thing I can do, and only thing Dick Cheney and others in our administration can do is to control our own responses. When I hear my policies and my nominees attacked in a hostile and partisan way, I simply hear echoes of an era behind us. I'm not going to take bait. I'm going to lead this country to a new level of respect. I came to this town to change tone of capital. And I'm not going to quit." -- President George W. Bush, speech, May 22, 2001 "On issue after issue they (Democrats) stand for nothing except obstruction...political parties that choose path of obstruction will not gain trust of American people.'' -- President George W. Bush, speech, June 16, Bloomberg News. “At an evening congressional gala in Washington, Bush drew applause by calling for an overhaul of tax code, a national energy bill and permanent tax relief, among other things. He accused Democrats of trying to block all of them. 'They stand for nothing except obstruction, and this is not leadership,' Bush said. 'It is philosophy of stop sign, agenda of road block, and country and our children deserve better.'” -- President George W. Bush, speech, June 15, reported by Associated Press I think it's safe to say that Bush's 2000 campaign promise to bring civility back to Washington has been abandoned. No surprises there, considering promises broken by this president. Of course, political climate today is decidedly poisonous, with both sides attacking each other. And while a handful of Democrats have attacked Bush, it has been Republicans, and conservative pundits, that have done all they can to vilify Democrats and liberals. They claim we're terrorist sympathizers and that we're guilty of treason for speaking out against war in Iraq. They claim we're on a campaign to persecute Christians and to destroy "traditional" family values by attempting to "legitimize" gay marriage.
| | Dubious DemocracyWritten by The Indy Voice
The American people should be watching. They should want to know if members of Republican party are capable of dealing with truth even though it may go against their partisan inclinations. The Downing Street memo raises serious question about a sitting President LYING to American people about his intentions for war. The Downing memo also raises questions of this President LYING to United States Congress. If President can be shown to have lied and had lie been discovered prior to our engagement in Iraq than this President should have only faced censure. Sadly, this lie has directly led to deaths of thousands of people. Congress might not have voted to authorize use of force in Iraq had they been aware that this President already had made up his mind to take this country to war.Some have chalked up President's intentions to a simple matter of politics i.e. planning for political contingencies. An objective and non-partisan analysis should reveal that if these allegations are in fact true they would be most deplorable actions a President could ever take and would be no less than depraved, grotesque and disloyal to values and laws of this country in using our Congress and our troops in an endeavor which has destoyed thousands of lives based upon false pretenses. Logic dictates that if this President had already made up his mind to go to war and willing to lie to our nation to do so, facts used to justify war were of no importance. It just had to be marketable to American people. If we can assume that President knew that Iraq possessed no WMD and had no connections to Al-Queda, like experts were claiming before invasion, then question that we may never find an answer to is what is real reason or reasons that we went to war? Was it oil? Strategic positioning for a future war against Iran? Payback to campaign contributors? Familial retribution? We may never know but Downing Street memo raises issue that this President did not care about facts so long as end result was war. That leaves our soldiers in a incredibly difficult situation. The problem is with oath that every soldier must make, "I,____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend Constitution of United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to same; and that I will obey orders of President of United States and orders of officers appointed over me, according to regulations and Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God"
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