Bush thinks the poor should have questioned the programs he's ending?

[Rose Siding]

Does this non-answer make any sense?

snip>
QFirst of all, you're talking about equality and keeping everything on a level playing field for everyone. Many people are saying that this budget proposal is not even. You're cutting out many programs for the disadvantaged. And, also, what was one of the main programs that you cut that you really had a hard time in cutting as you looked at things that were copies of another?

THE PRESIDENT: I'm going to let Josh answer the degree of difficulty question because we've -- we're asking for Congress to cut and/or reduce 150 different programs. The important question that needs to be asked for all constituencies is whether or not the programs achieve a certain result. Have you set goals, and are those goals being met? And the poor and disadvantaged absolutely ought to be asking that question, too. In other words, what is the goal of a particular program? And if that goal isn't being met, the question ought to be asked, why isn't the goal being met?

And that's the questions we've been asking. And after a while, we get tired of asking that question. So, finally, it is to take resources and direct them to programs that are working. And that's what you'll find in the education budgets and the health budgets, for example. And those are very legitimate questions, and the people deserve -- deserve to have them answered, which this administration will answer in a forthright fashion.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=669&ncid=669&e=7&u=/usnw/20050207/pl_usnw/remarks_by_the_president_after_meeting_with_cabinet126_xml

[SCDem]

1. So if these programs don't have the desired results

their funding should be cut to 0%. I just don't get that.

[rkc3]

2. Like some of these programs, Rummy hasn't delivered any results

in the war in Iraq and Asscrack didn't deliver any convictions in the war on terror - yet they aren't being cut.

For the 1,000th time today, what's it like to live in bizarro world?

[bryant69]

3. Tap dance

Not a bad one either. But doesn't really answer the question, I don't think. I mean certainly some programs can be run more efficiently but is the answer really to just shut those programs down?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[beam me up scottie]

4. Yeah, I heard all about it on npr this morning.

he's claiming they're not really "cutting" funding for social programs, just "re-directing" it.
That's gonna be their answer every time someone calls them on it.
I can't fucking stand it.

[SCDem]

5. Yeah redirecting it to pocket books of white well-to-do men

That's redirection alright!

[beam me up scottie]

7. I want someone to tell me they're not going to get

away with this, but I don't think it will happen. They've hacked away for four years and nobody has been able to stop them yet. What's it going to take?

[WildClarySage]

6. So the question is about why a program's not meeting it's goals

I suppose the answer couldn't possibly be "because we don't have sufficient funding". :eyes:

[Johonny]

9. or the are meeting their goals

But the GOP has set "goals" that can't possibly ever be reached. So they can declare the program a failure. When you know the answer you want already it's easy to make something into a failure. Meanwhile we sink how much into his pro-marriage and pro-abstinance programs that show no signs of working...

[LSK]

8. The IRAQ program doesnt seem to work - CUT THAT

[ultraist]

10. There are 1.3 Million MORE people in poverty this year, up from last

Bush's cuts are not working! He is forcing hundreds of thousands into poverty. How sad.

It's pretty obvious what the poor would answer, since there are so many more of them this year, they'd say they need those programs like emergency utilities payments, housing vouchers, food stamps, AFDC.

And all this time, I thought helping those in poverty was a Christian value.

[AngryOldDem]

11. When you repeatedly set programs up to fail....

...by cutting the hell out of them in every budget go 'round, as programs targeted to the poor have been since Bush took office, what the hell kind of results do you expect? Of course these programs aren't meeting their goals! They do not have nearly the money or needed manpower to do so!

But his syntax is so tortured it's really hard to tell just what he is saying. Most likely he doesn't even know himself. Typical.

[CoffeeCat]

12. His logic makes no sense...

He says he's cutting programs that aren't working.

He's cutting food stamps. What's not working about the program? The program has worked for decades.

He's also cutting Perkins Loans. What's not working about the program? This program has also existed for years.

These programs ARE working. If anything, they should be funded further.

Someone needs to ask the fuckwit in chief what isn't working about food stamps and Perkins loans. He's saying that to avoid the truth--that he doesn't want to fund programs for the poor and middle class. If it's not about his "base", well then, screw it.

I can't wait to see the entire budget. I'm sure the cuts of which we are aware--are just a small fraction of an all-out economic war on the non-yacht owners of America.

Fargin bastage.

[AngryOldDem]

16. That's just it

I just wish he had the balls to at least be honest and say that the reason he's cutting this programs is that he just doesn't give a shit about those whom these programs are helping.

It's so damned transparent anyway.

[hfojvt]

20. If he wants to cut a program that is not working

I might suggest - STAR WARS!!!!!!!!!
Silly me, I forgot the purpose of the program, which is to combat poverty among defense contractors. I guess that target was met.

[liberal N proud]

13. He doesn't need the poor anyway, they don't vote for him

or pay for his elaborate fund raisers.
They can all just join the army and fight his wars.
That is the true view of the asshole in chief

[ultraist]

15. You are right, he doesn't need the poor, they are fungible

Why not just exterminate them slowly and insideously? Cut off job opportunities, medical care, housing, food, and watch them perish.

With the mexican labor force, who needs poor Americans?

[earthboundmisfit]

17. You hit the nail right on the head, baby...

That bothersome middle class must be dealt with...

[elperromagico]

14. Are the tax cuts producing their goal,

namely, to keep the economy strong?

Or was that never the goal? Was the goal to "liberate" the US Treasury?

[hfojvt]

18. Of course it is, didn't you hear

146,000 jobs created last month. I definitely need to update this table:
number of months where the economy created:
------------------ Clinton --- Bush
over 500,000 jobs - 1 ------- 0
over 450,000 jobs - 2 ------- 0
over 400,000 jobs - 5 ------- 0
over 350,000 jobs - 4 ------- 0
over 300,000 jobs - 14 ------- 1
over 250,000 jobs - 21 ------- 0
over 200,000 jobs - 18 ------- 0
over 100,000 jobs - 18 ------- 4

But what is the point? Bush is not running for office any more. Also, I kept track of the negative:

"However, the news for Clinton was not all good. There were 5 months when the economy lost jobs during his Presidency. The total number of jobs lost in those 5 months - 114,000.

The number of months while JR Bush was President when the economy lost more than 114,000 jobs in a single month - 12."

[Wind Dancer]

19. He wants to eliminate all social programs.

They have been replacing those programs with faith-based front groups.

There have been many successful social programs that will end due to these cuts, the right-wing "Christian" programs will take over.

Link TV has a great documentary on many of these issues.

http://www.worldlinktv.org/programming/programDescription.php4?code=god

God In Government

An exploration of the complex relationship between religion and politics in the contemporary world. With the United States as the focal point, and Iran, Israel and India as object lessons, the film asks fundamental questions: What are the consequences when religion and politics become intertwined? What are the fault lines along which tensions and conflicts occur? What is the appropriate relationship between ‘church’ and state in a modern society?

The film begins and ends in the United States, the only nation founded specifically on the principle of a clear separation between religion and state. Here, the debate over the implications of the First Amendment has continued for more than two hundred years. Today, with a self-proclaimed, “committed Christian” President advocating faith-based initiatives in the welfare system, a vocal Christian right seeking to influence domestic and foreign policy, and an increasingly diverse religious landscape, the debate about the appropriate role of religion in America’s public square has become more urgent than ever.