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Post by shin on Oct 23, 2005 14:25:04 GMT -5
Can anyone give me 10 reasons to have voted for Bush a second time now that we're almost 5 years into his presidency? How about just 5 reasons? Let's get a definitive list here of his accomplishments.
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Post by chrisfan on Oct 23, 2005 16:08:01 GMT -5
1. John Roberts as chief justice
2. Iraq being handled by Bush is far better than Iraq under Kerry's short term thinking
3. Tax policy
4. The hope of a social security debate in the next 3 years
5. A foreign policy that does not roll over to the Chinese
6. NCLB
7. Hope that the president will actually fight any expansion of FEMA should Congress call for it
8. The replacement nominee for Harriet Meiers
9. Laura is far more pleasant than Teresa
10. Ben Affleck has not been hanging out at the White House on a weekly basis.
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Post by kmc on Oct 23, 2005 16:34:43 GMT -5
The question should not be what good has he done, but whether any arguable good can offset/justify the arguable incompetence of the administration.
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Post by Galactus on Oct 23, 2005 16:42:13 GMT -5
1. John Roberts as chief justice
No complaints here
2. Iraq being handled by Bush is far better than Iraq under Kerry's short term thinking
Speculative and arbitrary
3. Tax policy
Highly debatable
4. The hope of a social security debate in the next 3 years
Hope is a good thing but not really an accomplishment
5. A foreign policy that does not roll over to the Chinese
Ok
6. NCLB
Highly debatable
7. Hope that the president will actually fight any expansion of FEMA should Congress call for it
Hope is a good thing...
8. The replacement nominee for Harriet Meiers
The nomination of Harriet Miers? Seriously?
9. Laura is far more pleasant than Teresa
10. Ben Affleck has not been hanging out at the White House on a weekly basis.
At least these were kinda funny.
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Post by Galactus on Oct 23, 2005 16:47:01 GMT -5
That squeaks in right at five actual accomplishments...though the Harriet Miers nom. is real shaky, very few would actually consider this an accomplishment...unless you consider it an accomplishment to get someone who's unqualified on the supreme court.
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Post by chrisfan on Oct 23, 2005 16:57:25 GMT -5
Read again Mantis - I did not say the Meiers nomination. I said the replacement nominee.
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Post by rockysigman on Oct 23, 2005 17:08:24 GMT -5
Well, first off, how is that an accomplishment anyway? It's something that HASN'T HAPPENED. Plus, even if it were to happen, don't you need to know who that nominee will be before you can label it an accomplishment? And even if its someone really good, will that really be an accomplishment, or will it really be just fixing up an enormous fuck up?
Also, and most importantly:
Lawmakers say Bush likely to stick with Miers
By Jackie Frank
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leading Republican and Democratic senators said on Sunday they do not expect President George W. Bush to withdraw Harriet Miers' U.S. Supreme Court nomination despite fierce criticism of her by conservatives and liberals.
"I haven't seen anything coming from the White House that says that they're going to pull this nomination," said Kansas Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on "Fox News Sunday."
Democratic committee member Charles Schumer of New York said on NBC's "Meet the Press" that he was skeptical her name would be taken down as a replacement for retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
"George Bush, say whatever else you want about him, does not back away from a fight. If he were to withdraw the nomination, it would be a stunning defeat," Schumer said.
Lawmakers across the political spectrum have raised questions about her qualifications and the lack of public information about her views on divisive issues such as abortion and civil rights, all of which are likely to come before the court.
Conservatives say they fear she lacks the clout to move the Supreme Court to the right on social issues, while Democrats question the White House counsel's legal credentials and accused Bush of cronyism.
Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said he remained noncommittal on his vote for Miers. "No senator that I have talked to has come down and made up his or her mind."
"I believe the critical part's going to be when she testifies before the committee ... . If she makes her case, she can be confirmed," he said on CBS's "Face the Nation."
Specter, who last week ordered her to more fully explain her answers in a questionnaire submitted to the panel, has set hearings for November 7.
'WHAT DID COME ACROSS HER DESK?'
Schumer said possibly only two of the committee's members have said they would vote for her.
"If you were to hold the vote today, she would not get a majority, either in the Judiciary Committee or on the (Senate) floor," he told NBC.
Two key Republican conservatives, Brownback and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, have asked for internal White House documents that could shed light on Miers' views.
"This is what we need to know -- what did come across her desk?" Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said on CBS in urging the White House to elaborate on Miers' role in developing the administration's legal policies.
The requests have raised questions about whether the Bush administration would invoke its executive privilege to keep secret documents related to its internal thinking on issues likely to come before the high court.
White House spokeswoman Jeanie Mamo, asked about a report in the Washington Times that the White House was making contingency plans for the withdrawal of Miers, responded: "Absolutely not."
"We are fully committed to her confirmation and look forward to her confirmation," Mamo said, in response to comments suggesting the White House was not fighting vigorously enough on Miers's behalf.
Miers was to continue meeting with senators this week.
(Additional reporting by Lesley Wroughton, David Morgan and Thomas Ferraro)
________________________
Anyway, my point is, you probably should hold off and see if he actually does it before you start touting it as an accomplishment. Just because everyone else in the world realizes how ridiculous that nomination is doesn't mean that the President does.
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Post by shin on Oct 23, 2005 18:43:03 GMT -5
1. John Roberts as chief justice
How you can claim this as the #1 accomplishment after a month of him being on the bench, I have no idea, but I've learned not to underestimate you in this regard.
2. Iraq being handled by Bush is far better than Iraq under Kerry's short term thinking
His handling has been a colossal failure on every level. As DED said, to say Kerry would be worse is speculative and downright partisan.
3. Tax policy
Debatable, at least you have that going for it.
4. The hope of a social security debate in the next 3 years
Really lowering the bar on this one. The hope of a social security debate. Nice accomplishment.
5. A foreign policy that does not roll over to the Chinese
That's funny, don't we owe most of our massive deficit to the Chinese? I think we'll be rolling over soon enough...
6. NCLB
I said Bush's accomplishments, not Ted Kennedy's.
7. Hope that the president will actually fight any expansion of FEMA should Congress call for it
....wow.
8. The replacement nominee for Harriet Meiers
....wow.
9. Laura is far more pleasant than Teresa
Congrats on that, George.
10. Ben Affleck has not been hanging out at the White House on a weekly basis.
Much better to be Mary Carey and her fellow pornstars.
Well you came up with "2", at least. So the only actual accomplishments you've listed that can even be seriously debated are the tax policy and our dealing with the Chinese. Ok. Now I need 3 more.
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Post by Galactus on Oct 23, 2005 18:59:18 GMT -5
Read again Mantis - I did not say the Meiers nomination. I said the replacement nominee. As has been pointed out, there is no replacement nominee...and it doesn't look like their will be. |
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Post by shin on Oct 23, 2005 19:17:29 GMT -5
But that doesn't mean it's not his 8th biggest accomplishment! Eat your heart out, FDR.
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Post by chrisfan on Oct 23, 2005 20:13:54 GMT -5
Rocky, I was half joking on many of my answers. That was one of them.
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Post by chrisfan on Oct 23, 2005 20:16:36 GMT -5
Shin, you worded the question wrong. You didn't say 10 things Bush had accomplished that YOU agreed with. I wouldn't have bothered with that one. I took the question to be "If you voted for Bush a year ago, do you regret it now" My answer is no. I'm not happy with everything that Bush has done in the past 5 years. But I am sure that I'd be more unhappy with the actions of a President Gore or a President Kerry ... unless everything each of them said in their campaigns was a bold faced lie.
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Post by shin on Oct 23, 2005 20:37:03 GMT -5
No, I worded it correctly. I'm just not accepting jokes and things that have actually happened. Serious accomplishments was the point of this thread. Don't blame me just because Bush hasn't done 5 things worth being proud of.
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Post by shin on Oct 23, 2005 20:39:33 GMT -5
Clinton's accomplishments:
1. Peace in Ireland
2. Oslo accords
3. Haitain intervention
4. Budget surplus
5. Kosovo intervention
See, that's just off the top of my head. And I didn't half to make jokes or talk about things that never happened.
Also, Kobra Kai needs to play hard or get out.
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Post by chrisfan on Oct 23, 2005 20:41:23 GMT -5
Oh! So we can include things which just happened to happen while the guy was in office? I didn't realize that! I guess that the first black woman to receive a best actress Oscar would have to be listed then as one of Bush's accomplishments!
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