Four Long Years Ago, Pt. 2

Speaking of the 2000 St. Louis debate, here are some selected Bush statements from the transcript:

A leader also understands that the United States must be strong to keep the peace. Saddam Hussein still is a threat in the Middle East. Our coalition against Saddam is unraveling. Sanctions are loosened. I—the man who may be developing weapons of mass destruction, we don't know because inspectors aren't in. […]

It must be in our vital interest whether we ever send troops. The mission must be clear. Soldiers must understand why are we going. The force must be strong enough so that the mission can be accomplished. And the exit strategy needs to be well-defined. I'm concerned that we're over-deployed around the world. See, I think the mission has somewhat become fuzzy. […]

This is a big spender—he is—and he ought to be proud of it. It's part of his record. We just have a different philosophy. […] If this were a spending contest, I'd come in second. I readily admit, I'm not going to grow the size of the federal government like he is.

Comments

[SR]

Bush in the 2004 debates: “Exit strategy? We don’t need no steekin’ exit strategy!”

[Ruthless]

He couldn’t tawk too good back then either, could him?

[Brian]

You mean…Bush hasn’t lived up to his campaign promises????!!!!

[Eric]

This shows that what a politician says during a campaign is virturally worthless. It’s scary that so many people base their decision on who to vote for based just on that alone.

[Warren]

Yep this is exactly the kind of thing that drives me nuts. I mean, if you voted for this guy four years ago, how in the hell could you still be a booster now. Perhaps he flash the secret neocon sign while he was speaking so all his supporters knew he was lying to get centrist votes. WTF!? I mean seriously WHAT. THE. FUCK!?!? and why hasn’t this gotten more play by the supposedly left bias media? (Because JFK is even worse?) I’m so depressed.

God, I need a drink. Any of you Baptists go a bottle on you?

[Decnavda]

I readily admit, I’m not going to grow the size of the federal government like he is.

This sentence is actually true. Acording to the Cato Institute, during Clinton’s first 4 years in office, non-defense federal spending increased 0.7%. During Bush II’s first 4 years, non-defense federal spending has increased 25.3%. Throw in two major wars, and there really is no comparison.

[Jason Bourne]

Of the 94,000 jobs “created” this last month, apparently 40,000 of them were created in the Federal Government. I wonder what the breakdown of those placements were? Were they mostly for positions related to the new medicare funding system, perhaps?

[Ruthless]

“Acording to the Cato Institute, during Clinton’s first 4 years in office, non-defense federal spending increased 0.7%. During Bush II’s first 4 years, non-defense federal spending has increased 25.3%”

The Monica differential?
Let’s hear it for focusing on “domestic” issues.

[Brer Ruthless]

Warren,
I’d share my flask with thee if thou hadn’t used the word, f–k.
Go thee and sin no more, and then maybe we could get down.