Thread: A Closer Look: What happened to George W. Bush?

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Wednesday, December 07, 2005

A Closer Look: What happened to George W. Bush?

By TERRY MAXWELL/Arizona Range News
This is the second in a two-part series.

Sadly, the wealthy politicians in Congress can't identify with America's poor and disadvantaged and are paradoxically assisting millions of indigent people throughout the world. As a consequence, the poverty-stricken in this country are being denied the full opportunity to experience upward mobility. Shouldn't the quality of life of our American families come first?

The Bush administration's lack of response to Katrina caused the American people to question his ability to take charge in an emergency. Perhaps people are forgetting Bush's leadership when terrorists struck the Twin Towers in New York City and killed 3,000 innocent Americans. All of us should be grateful for his leadership and almost immediate response to the psychopathic killers that changed America forever.

Whether Bush can make a comeback is open to debate. He has rolled over for his right-wing conservative base, which could pose a threat to the Republican Party in the next presidential election. If mistakes and events continue to plague Bush, the Republican Party will suffer in the 2006 elections and possibly lose the House and Senate.

The Democratic Party lost the last two presidential elections because they moved too far to the left. The right wing or left wing of either political party cannot lead America for an extended period of time.

For Bush to return to his first-term popularity, he should face reality and take responsibility for his lack of judgment that diminished his popularity and poll numbers. An apology to the American people would be appropriate and beneficial according to most pundits.

Bush should open his eyes to the reality that, yes, America is a great and generous democracy, but it is also besieged by debilitating poverty, destructive drug abuse, malicious race, gender and age discrimination, inadequate health care for millions of our people, marginal education opportunities for the disadvantaged, and criminal behavior that shocks many European countries.

If needed social progress is to materialize in our country, the president and Congress should tell the masses of American people that there is another America out there that is inhabited by about 10 to 15 percent of our population with little or no hope for a better tomorrow.

The poor and forgotten are not really represented by either of our major political parties.

Why? Because the poor in this country don't go to the polls to vote because they feel it is a lesson in futility.

Although it is seldom addressed in the news media, Bush and his administration should make an attempt to learn about other cultures and religions. Christianity isn't the only religion in this bi-cultural world we live in, however at times, President Bush acts like it is. Bush is perceived by many Muslim leaders in the Far East as being obsessed with spreading Christianity throughout the world by any rneans possible, including war.

Over the past four years, Bush failed to take steps to significantly reduce the flood of illegal immigrants coming into the United States through Arizona and other border states. Millions of unregistered immigrants and thousands of hardened criminals walked across our borders and overwhelmed the border patrol. Bush's lack of action at the border contributed to his decline in poll numbers. The use of military personnel should help control the situation if carefully monitored.

Maybe we shouldn't be too critical of George W. Bush and his conservative associates for not being able to comprehend and identify with poverty and deprivation that tugs at a person's self-worth as a human being. How could they if they have never experienced not knowing where their next meal was coming from?

Poverty in America is shameful, unacceptable and a national tragedy that has yet to be adequately addressed.

However, this is a capitalist society, and wealth and upward mobility aspirations are the driving force behind a healthy, robust economy. Therefore, people shouldn't be chastised for accumulating wealth and pursuing the good life. Yet, this doesn't excuse the Bush administration's lack of empathy for the poor and disenfranchised.

(Editor's Note: Terry Maxwell can be reached by e-mail at terrancefntn@aol.com.)

Very nice article, but he should have made the connection between the dots of poverty and illegal immigration. Illegal immigration grows poverty like fertilizers to soil. The excess runs off and pollutes communities with groteque poverty the same way fertilizer excess runs off, pollutes our streams, rivers and waterways, and kills the fish due to lack of adequate oxygen.

Couldn't find it earlier but I found part 1 searching the archives.

http://www.willcoxrangenews.com/article ... /edit2.txt

A Closer Look: What happened to George W. Bush?

By TERRY MAXWELL/Arizona Range News
This is the first in a two-part series.

President George W. Bush's first term was lined with success after success, which rocketed him into a second term. In his first term, he rolled up his sleeves and pushed through a number of popular initiatives such as tax cuts, education reform, and the senior prescription drug plan.

He pursued and won support for the war against Iraq by persuading Congress and the American people that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. This claim proved to be inaccurate and led to a tragic war and the unnecessary loss of America's best and thousands of Iraqi civilians.

Bush was sworn in for a second term with what he referred to as a mandate from the American people. As to whether it was a clear mandate is open to debate. Without question, the president won the support of his conservative base, including evangelicals, anti-abortion advocates, the affluent, and corporate America, among others.

Evidently, Bush miscalculated his political strength and made the decision to change the future of Social Security as we know it today. Bush's plan would have given Americans the opportunity to either invest their Social Security in money making free enterprise opportunities like the stock market or stay with a traditional and safer Social Security retirement system.

As expected, some older Americans were suspicious about whether the president and his wealthy associates were mainly interested in "pumping up" the stock market and making billions for the very rich.

Interestingly, the Republican-controlled Congress hasn't acted on Bush's request to make certain temporary tax cuts permanent. It appears that the runaway federal deficit has created concern by Capital Hill lawmakers about going along with the President's request for more and more spending.

During the past two months, conservative columnist George Will has openly questioned the President's failure to follow through with many of his campaign promises to the chagrin of a growing percentage of his conservative base. Recent polls show that Bush's job-approval rating has dropped below 40 percent, which is threatening to Republican Congressmen that will be running for re-election in 2006.

Although denied by many wealthy politicians, corporate America, and the affluent, there is a growing divide between the indigent and the wealthy. Sociologists are aware of the polarization that has over time created another America, poor and unequal.

Of more concern to many of us is the insidious shrinkage of the middle-class, which is recognized as the foundation of life in the United States. Bush's willingness to ship millions of our jobs to foreign countries has added to our unemployment lines, reduced health care benefits and added to the number of working poor that are struggling to economically survive.

The president's plummeting popularity has also been influenced by the increasing loss of our military personnel, which recently climbed to just over 2,000 deaths.

Bush also lost creditability with the American people when a special grand Jury was called to investigate the actions of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, and Karl Rove, the president's closest political advisor concerning their alleged involvement in revealing the name of a CIA agent. Libby was indicted and was charged with five felonies. Rove hasn't been indicted, but he is still under investigation, according to the special prosecutor.

If we look at America's current economic, social, educational and health care position in the world, we have to face the fact that we are slipping backward under the Bush administration and a Republican dominated House and Senate that doesn't seem to care about the poor, aged, sick and physically and mentally handicapped, Bush critics say.

The following numbers support the position that the Bush administration is leading the American people in the wrong direction. Thirty-seven million Americans are living in poverty, 40 million don't have health care, and infant mortality in Washington D.C. is higher than in many urban cities in India.

China graduates eight times as many engineers as the United States. Fitly percent of African American and Hispanic teens don't graduate from high school, poverty is growing according to government statistics, and the middle class is shrinking to the dismay of millions of Americans that cannot adequately feed their families, provide health care and a good education for their children.

(Editor's Note: Terry Maxwell can be reached by e-mail at terrancefntn@aol.com.)

Jim Kolbe: "Time to hang up the spurs"

With the spirit of the holidays starting up, no one was expecting on Wednesday to hear that an 11-term congressman is going to retire. That's just what Jim Kolbe told the 8th Congressional District he had decided to do.

Thanks Brian! This balances the other article quite nicely since nothing positive has happened since the last poll and there is no real explanation for any "bump" in the polls, other than a slightly better confidence level that the troops will be coming home sometime sooner than later.

Good morning, Judy. I KNOW YOU never sleep!

President George W. Bush's first term was lined with success after success,

I MUST HAVE SLEPT THROUGH BUSH'S first term???? I can't point to "success after success", can y'all??? Maybe THAT was when the three of us slept!

Yes, Rockfish, I think I slept through the entire First Term of George W. Bush. The only thing that caught my sleepy eye was illegal immigration and I hounded the White House for months asking "what are you dong?" I thought he was stupid and didn't understand the impact on the economy so I would write these LOOOONG faxes explaining everything to him.

No response, then he came out with Guest Worker Program suggestion which indicated he was paying attention but offering the WRONG solution, so I wrote him again and explained "how can you be so stupid, now they think you're giving them amnesty and more will come?"

Kerry said he was going to give them all amnesty, so I voted for Bush.

Little did I know then on election day what I know now.

The Globalist Goblins control both political parties....that are just different variations of the same plan to end our nation.