Bush Score Card
Issue Comment
Science Promotes mythology as science; expunges scientific
findings from government web sites on climate and medicine; removes
scientists who criticize policies from committees
Civil Liberties Big Brother government where dissent is
not tolerated; watch out if you check out the wrong books or have
the wrong look
Social Justice Republican Party provides a warm welcome
to racists, homophobes, xenophobes; little care for poor, homeless,
ill, disabled
Environmental Protection Petroleum industry writes energy
policy; EPA regulations removed or reduced
Crony Capitalism Buddies in big business get contracts,
tax breaks, de-regulated worker safety, bankruptcy, consumer protection,
pollution, etc. - whatever they want
Concentration of Wealth Surpassing famously unequal countries
like Brazil in gap between rich and poor, while average standard
of living declines
Health and Disease Threat of global epidemics not addressed;
Big Pharma and the Christian fundamentalist church determine FDA,
CDC policy
Education Some of NCLB might be okay (not the testing
uber alles, not the military recruitment clause, not the punishment
of poor school districts, not the teacher denigration, not the
standardization, not the underfunding … ), but what?
International Relations Other countries regard us as
a rogue nation and a threat to their national security; return
of world domination rhetoric; Haitian coup ("one down, two
to go" - Venezuela and Cuba)
Population Domestic and international policies against
family planning
Labor Heading for a chattel work force - low pay, no
benefits, no workplace safety, no job security
Nuclear proliferation Actually believes nuclear weapons
are okay
Guns Never met a weapon he didn't like
National Security I do not know why anyone feels safer
under Bush; more people hate us than ever before; his administration
ignored all the warnings about terrorism before 9/11; under-funding
Coast Guard and fire fighters
Fiscal Responsibility Turned a surplus into a deficit
through tax cuts and unnecessary war; worse balance of trade than
when he took office
Family Values Hate is not a family value; the State making
decisions about parenthood is not pro-family; health educators
losing jobs for advocating condom use
The Law Lots of Saturday night judicial appointments
like Pickering; wrongful imprisonment without due process aplenty;
violations of international laws, such as Geneva Convention; negligence
or over-turning of environmental regulation and consumer protection;
limits on litigation against companies whose products harm consumers,
workers, environment
Semiotics Uses of language are not to describe or evoke,
but to deflect and deceive, as in Help America Vote Act, Save
Our Forests Act, Clean Air Act, and many other labels for acts
that do the opposite of what they say; Bush himself slaughters
grammar, truth value, and semantics regularly, but seems to think
it is a virtue
Reality We who think there is anything like a 'fact'
or history or the 'truth' are now the "reality-based community"?
and that's a bad thing?!