Straight Talk

Checking out Google News, this headline caught my eye:

SERIAL LIAR BUSH FINALLY GETS CAUGHT

Niagara Falls Reporter Bill Gallagher goes on--

"Many of these politicians have put exclamation marks where we put question marks." -- Former Chief UN Weapons Inspector Hans Blix.

DETROIT -- That astute remark came in an interview in which Dr. Blix also offered his belief that President Bush's re-election campaign would contort and distort his reports on Saddam Hussein's arsenal of weapons to justify the brutal and unnecessary war in Iraq. Asked if the Bush crowd would attempt to alter the meaning of his findings, Dr. Blix said flat-out, "I'm sure they will."

People in the Bush administration belittled and vilified Blix and his work in Iraq. Time has shown the value of his efforts, and his assessments of Iraq's capabilities were honest and forthright and far more accurate than anything that the Bush administration claimed with dramatic exclamation marks.

The simplicity of Blix's political punctuation insight is intriguing and most instructive when applied to just about anything that comes out of the Bush administration. Whatever the president and his minions declare with a great exclamation mark, just apply a question mark and you'll be much closer to the truth.

[snip]

On NBC's "Meet the Press," Bush told Tim Russert, "I got an honorable discharge and I did show up in Alabama!" Is that so? Bush also claimed his military records had been released and scrutinized during the 2000 campaign. Six days later, the White House released the records the president said had already been reviewed four years ago.

The more than 300 pages of records provide no more documentation about why Bush skipped months of required drills in Alabama and Houston between May 1972 and May 1973 and how he got away with it. Bush's superior in Alabama says he never saw him. The White House claims payroll records and evidence that he might have had his teeth cleaned once in Alabama prove he fulfilled his military duties.

[snip]

George W. Bush was eager to send young men and women to die in Iraq for a war of choice. When he had a chance to fight, he chose to serve in the National Guard. He was lax, at best, in fulfilling his obligations there. His entire life reflects a pattern of privilege and protection from responsibility.

[snip]

"We continue to build prosperity and economic security for our people!" We often hear that glowing exclamation from the president. What about the millions of jobs we've lost during his term? How's it feel to be the first president since Herbert Hoover to preside over a net loss of jobs during your term of office?

What about the record $500 billion deficit and fiscal trainwreck conductor Bush has us on? What about his reckless spending and refusal to include the cost of war in his budget?

When he spoke about "economic security," Bush must have missed the fact that the U.S. trade deficit reached a record $490 billion, and that translates directly into the loss of more jobs.

Robert Scott, a trade scholar at the Economic Policy Institute, tells The New York Times, "As a consequence of the trade deficit people are being pushed out of well-paying jobs with benefits in manufacturing and into poor-paying service jobs often with no benefits."

But that's a good thing, according to Bush's top economic adviser. Sending U.S. jobs to Mexico, China and India is positive for our economy, according to Gregory Mankiw, who chairs George W. Bush's Council of Economic Advisers.

Mankiw trumpeted the value of the exodus of U.S. jobs, saying, "Outsourcing is a growing phenomenon, but it's something that we should realize is probably a plus for the economy in the long run."

Tell that to the 2.8 million people who've lost manufacturing jobs since Bush took office. Mankiw quickly back-peddled, whining that his comments were "misinterpreted." That pitiful, lie-spewing automaton, White House spokesman Scott McClellan, defended Mankiw and blew off calls for his resignation. "That's kind of laughable," McClellan said. "Our economic team is doing a great job helping the president work to strengthen the economy even more. The president is committed to creating jobs here at home!" The only thing laughable in all this is the Bush administration's disgraceful record in creating jobs.

George W. Bush has made the world a far more dangerous place, we are stuck in a bloody mess in Iraq and our nation is less secure! George W. Bush's tax cuts benefit the richest Americans at the expense of the middle class and corporations are paying the lowest taxes since the 1930s! George W. Bush should be run out of office on a rail!

Will the American people wake up and send him packing?

Sorry to lift so much of the op-ed, but this guy really makes his points. And one other thing: Bill Gallagher has actually WON a Peabody Award.