Changing The Tone

Written by Scott C. Smith


Changingrepparttar Tone By Scott C. Smith

“The spirit of cooperation I have seen in this hall is what is needed in Washington, D.C. It isrepparttar 143705 challenge of our moment. After a difficult election, we must put politics behind us and work together to makerepparttar 143706 promise of America available for every one of our citizens. I am optimistic that we can changerepparttar 143707 tone in Washington, D.C.” -- President George W. Bush, speech, Dec. 13, 2000. “That background may lackrepparttar 143708 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 inrepparttar 143709 bitter arguments ofrepparttar 143710 last few years. I want to changerepparttar 143711 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 changerepparttar 143712 tone of Washington, D.C., so that when people look atrepparttar 143713 Nation's Capital they will be proud of what they see.”

Changingrepparttar 143714 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, andrepparttar 143715 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 hearrepparttar 143716 echoes of an era behind us. I'm not going to takerepparttar 143717 bait. I'm going to lead this country to a new level of respect. I came to this town to changerepparttar 143718 tone ofrepparttar 143719 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 chooserepparttar 143720 path of obstruction will not gainrepparttar 143721 trust ofrepparttar 143722 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 ofrepparttar 143723 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 isrepparttar 143724 philosophy ofrepparttar 143725 stop sign,repparttar 143726 agenda ofrepparttar 143727 road block, andrepparttar 143728 country and our children deserve better.'” -- President George W. Bush, speech, June 15, reported byrepparttar 143729 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, consideringrepparttar 143730 promises broken by this president. Of course,repparttar 143731 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, andrepparttar 143732 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 againstrepparttar 143733 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 Democracy

Written by The Indy Voice


The American people should be watching. They should want to know if members ofrepparttar Republican party are capable of dealing withrepparttar 143562 truth even though it may go against their partisan inclinations. The Downing Street memo raises serious question about a sitting President LYING torepparttar 143563 American people about his intentions for war. The Downing memo also raises questions of this President LYING torepparttar 143564 United States Congress. Ifrepparttar 143565 President can be shown to have lied and hadrepparttar 143566 lie been discovered prior to our engagement in Iraq than this President should have only faced censure. Sadly, this lie has directly led torepparttar 143567 deaths of thousands of people. Congress might not have voted to authorizerepparttar 143568 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 uprepparttar 143569 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 berepparttar 143570 most deplorable actions a President could ever take and would be no less than depraved, grotesque and disloyal torepparttar 143571 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,repparttar 143572 facts used to justifyrepparttar 143573 war were of no importance. It just had to be marketable torepparttar 143574 American people. If we can assume thatrepparttar 143575 President knew that Iraq possessed no WMD and had no connections to Al-Queda, likerepparttar 143576 experts were claiming beforerepparttar 143577 invasion, thenrepparttar 143578 question that we may never find an answer to is what isrepparttar 143579 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 butrepparttar 143580 Downing Street memo raisesrepparttar 143581 issue that this President did not care aboutrepparttar 143582 facts so long asrepparttar 143583 end result was war.

That leaves our soldiers in a incredibly difficult situation. The problem is withrepparttar 143584 oath that every soldier must make,

"I,____________, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defendrepparttar 143585 Constitution ofrepparttar 143586 United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance torepparttar 143587 same; and that I will obeyrepparttar 143588 orders ofrepparttar 143589 President ofrepparttar 143590 United States andrepparttar 143591 orders ofrepparttar 143592 officers appointed over me, according torepparttar 143593 regulations andrepparttar 143594 Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God"

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