The Bush Legacy Tour ... and bus

Americans United for Change are at it again.  Last summer was the Iraq Summer Campaign which targeted Senators like Norm Coleman who have supported the invasion and occupation of Iraq and are up for reelection in 2008.  This summer they've taken it up a notch with the Bush Legacy Tour to remind us of what Norm and Representatives like Michele Bachmann and John Kline really stand for.  

The centerpiece is this enormous bus.  

They gutted the interior of this 45 ft., 28 ton bus and rebuilt it as traveling museum of everything bad that Bush had done to this country.  From Iraq to the multitude of ways he's embarrassed America to torture to global climate change to his incompetent response to Hurricane Katrina to Iraq.  It's all there.

The bus will be traveling to all the states that have vulnerable Senators up for reelection.  We Minnesotans will be graced by its presence more than anywhere else as Norm has been a significant cheerleader and accomplice as well as we're hosting the Republican National Convention in September.

-- cross-posted from mnblue.com, home of the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter --

The interior is dimly lit so that the flat screen TVs are more easily visible.  There is a timeline of Bush's failures scrolling back and forth along the length of the floor.  There are headsets to listen to explanations and expansions upon what's on the wall.

The focal point when you enter is the gas pump on the far end.    On the top it says "Bush & Cheney Oil" and on the bottom "Grand Oil Party."  It perfectly symbolizes everything this wretched administration stands for ... Big Oil.  The Bush Administration is crony capitalism at its worst.

The goals of this project are threefold:

• Remind American voters why they have lost faith in President Bush and his conservative agenda.
• Tie Bush and his agenda directly to the conservative brand and its followers.
• Shift the center of the political debate toward progressive solutions to our nation’s most intractable problems by demonstrating the failure of Bush’s policies and conservative ideology

According to the press release, a number of groups have pitched in on this effort:

A number of groups have sponsored or partnered with AUFC on the Bush Legacy Bus, including Center for American Progress Action Fund, AFSCME, SEIU, AFL-CIO, VoteVets.org, MoveOn.org Political Action, Healthcare for America Now and American Rights at Work, among others.

Then it was time for the press conference.  Representatives from unions and Denise Cardinal from Alliance for a Better Minnesota flanked Donald McFarland, state director for Americans United for Change.

“The people of Minnesota were given an opportunity today to reflect on how 8 years of failed Bush/conservative polices have left behind an economy in shambles, millions more without health insurance, and thousands each day losing their jobs, their homes, and their dignity,” said McFarland. “The Bush Legacy leaves behind a disastrous misadventure in Iraq that has cost over 4,000 Americans theirs lives, wounded more than 30,000 others and has harmed our national security by stretching the military to the breaking point.  This costly and unnecessary war is projected to cost our nation trillions of dollars – all while shortchanging so many critical priorities here at home like education, infrastructure, and healthcare for our children and veterans.”

“But we mustn’t forget that Bush didn’t do it alone,” continued McFarland.  “The President had the help of his enablers in Congress like Senator Norm Coleman and Reps. John Kline and Michele Bachman who voted in lockstep with his worst policy failures.  Coleman, Kline and Bachmann have all voted time and again to keep U.S. troops struck in the crosshairs of a religious civil war in Iraq with no end in sight.   They all support the disastrous Bush-McCain plan to privatize Social Security. Coleman and Kline rubberstamped Bush’s tax cuts for millionaires that never managed to ‘trickle-down’ to everyone else in this worsening economy and a 2005 Republican energy bill written by and for big oil companies making record profits that did nothing to lower gas prices. Kline and Bachmann voted to prevent Medicare from negotiating cheaper Rx drug prices for our seniors and opposed a 21st Century G.I. Bill ensuring our men and women returning from Iraq and Afghanistan don’t have to worry about how to pay for college.  Kline and Bachmann even voted against expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance program for 30,100 Minnesota kids in need.  Yes, Sen. Coleman and Reps. Kline and Bachmann will leave behind their own legacy of putting loyalty to Bush and conservative ideology ahead of struggling Minnesota families, seniors and veterans.”

-- cross-posted from mnblue.com, home of the Norm Coleman Weasel Meter --