We're hitting crunch time. Undecideds will be making up their minds soon; soft Bush supporters will be making up their minds to stand behind Bush once more soon. My friend David Sledge created a list of how to convince soft Bush supporters or undecideds why not to vote for Bush. My plan is to make copies and hand it out at my high school, but everyone should take a look. Anything to add? I'm going to start working on a Why to Vote for Kerry flyer, too, soon, so any suggestions on that?
Most of this info is from
McSweeney's
On Monday, September 13, the ban on semiautomatic assault weapons expired. President Bush, who officially endorsed the ban, took no action to move it through Congress. A study by the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence found a 66 percent drop in use of assault weapons in crimes after the ban was first enacted in 1994, prohibiting the sale of 19 types of semiautomatic weapons. A report by the Consumer Federation of America on the expiration of the ban concluded that "assault weapons will be more lethal and less expensive." A poll by the National Annenberg Election Survey found that 68 percent of Americans wanted the ban extended. But Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said last week, "I think the will of the American people is consistent with letting it expire, so it will expire." At least 2,000 sheriffs, police chiefs, law enforcement groups, and prosecutors also endorsed the ban and asked the president to extend it. Joseph M. Polisar, the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police, said that the White House ignored a request for a meeting.
When Dick Cheney was a Wyoming congressman from 1978 to 1989, and secretary of defense from 1989 to 1993, he voted against the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion rights, funding for programs meant to help schools desegregate, legislation that would instigate collection of data about hate crimes, and funding for the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. From 1985 to 1988 Cheney repeatedly opposed U.S. sanctions on the then-apartheid state of South Africa. In 1986 he voted against a House resolution to call on the South African government to free Nelson Mandela from prison.
George W. Bush is the first president since Herbert Hoover who has not attended a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) convention. Bush declined a recent invitation to speak at the NAACP's upcoming annual convention. NAACP spokesman John White said that Bush has rejected every invitation to speak at their conventions since the president has taken office.
"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."
--George W. Bush, accepting the nomination for president, August 3, 2000
The Bush administration states that the average tax cut for 2003 will be $1,126. They do not specify that the median household will receive $217; 53% of taxpayers will get $100 or less; 50 million will receive no benefits; and filers who make more than $1 million per year will receive $93,500. 83% of taxpayers will get less than the average cut stated by the administration
President Bush praised an American Indian housing program during a speech last week but did not mention that he plans to cut almost 80 percent of its funding. Speaking to a crowd of about 1,000 in Albuquerque, Bush said of the program, "Doesn't it make sense to have public policy aimed at helping people own their own home? I can't think of a better use of resources." Bush's proposed budget, however, reduces the Indian Housing and Guarantee Fund's funding from $5.3 million to $1 million, and seeks the return of $33 million in additional funds. Chester Carl, the chairman of the National American Indian Housing Council, said that the cuts would cripple the program. "It's going to go backward," Carl said. "We're just now starting to see tribes understand that there's another way and banks understand that they can make loans on trust land. You're pulling the rug out from under them."
By combining political events and government business on his trips, President Bush has transferred some of the costs of primarily political appearances to taxpayers. In February 2002, Bush raised $2 million at two receptions for New York Governor George Pataki. Because he also gave a 21-minute speech at the New York Police Department's command-and-control center, 54 percent of the trip's expenses were billed to the government. Taxes are also used for the full $57,000-an-hour cost of flying Air Force One, regardless of the purpose of the trip, as well as for all communications and security costs. President Bush took 28 political trips in his first 16 months in office, eight more than President Clinton did in the same period. At each political stop, the White House staged an official event as well.
As of August 2003 George W. Bush spent 27 percent of his presidency on vacation. This is the most vacation time that any modern US president has taken
President Bush announced a $1 billion plan to enroll poor children in government health-insurance programs. But at the end of September, the Bush administration returned $1.1 billion in unspent children's-health funds to the Treasury. As a result, six states participating in the State Children's Health Insurance Program will not be able to meet their budgets in 2005. According to two analyses by advocacy organizations, the federal money could have provided health coverage for 750,000 uninsured children. The National Governors Association and a bipartisan group of legislators had asked for an extension on SCHIP spending, but Bush refused to include such an extension in the budget.