When someone goes from $15 million to $350 million, what's that tell you?

[mtnsnake]

It tells me two things:

1) Bush is still out of touch with reality

2) He's a cold-hearted chiseler who tried to get away with donating PEANUTS (only $15 million dollars) from the richest country in the world, until the UN and the rest of the world SHAMED him into pitching in a fair share.

He ONLY upped the anty because his arm was twisted and the rest of the world started humiliating him.

Had he started out offering $250 million and gone to $350, it would've been one thing, but to start out at $15 million, then go to $35 million....and then go all the way to $350 million, it tells anyone with a brain that he tried to "TAKE" the world at first. When I say TAKE, I mean TAKE in the same sense that a crooked car dealer tries to take someone when they start out offering you $100 dollars for your $2000 used car and end up giving you $1850 in the end when you wouldn't let them get away with the original $100 offer. A more honest dealer would at least start out offering you around $1500.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

1. Read my sig line.... hehe... n/t

[madrchsod]

2. and the japanese raised the bid

500 million-is bush going to raise or fold. seems to be a high stakes texas poker game going on..got the balls bush?

[momzno1]

4. just like NYC after 911 --- do you think they will ever see the money?

I, for one, don't!
He is a lying, cheating, heartless bastard!

[The Blue Flower]

6. Exactly

His promises are worth exactly nothing. Why anyone still believes a word that comes out of that simian mouth is beyond me.

[Occulus]

17. Just like the earthquake in Iran a year ago

No money for that yet, is there? Thought not.

[tyedyeto]

34. great analogy!

It does seem to look like that.

What balls??? He doesn't have any. LOL

[Truman01]

3. I think you hit the nail on the head nt

[illflem]

5. Not to defend president stingy

but it appears most nations have up the amount of aid after surveying the extent of the disaster.

[mtnsnake]

8. That's irrelevant. He tried to get away with pocket change, & we're

the richest nation in the world....and supposed to be one of the most compassionate. Bush sorely misrepresented us in an embarrassing way and it's HE who set the example of stinginess.

[acmavm]

7. What's it tell me? That it doesn't matter how much he says we'll give

because they won't be seeing the money anyway.

[calimary]

47. It'll be like all that nice money he promised Africa to combat AIDS

that he promptly cut the minute the photo op was over. Or all that nice money New York City was going to get after 9/11 - that they never saw. It'll be like that nice "compassionate conservatism" he promised, and the "humble" foreign policy that he promised as a candidate in 2000, that none of us ever saw. His promises mean nothing.

[Kahuna]

9. It tells me...

Any money spent will go to political patrons (read:Haliburton), AND the balance that is not used by political patrons will never be sent.

* said that they will continually assess the needs of the region. In bushspeak that means absolutely nothing.

[signmike]

10. Looks to me like Jeb & Halliburton

got in the receiving line.

$$$

[noamnety]

12. bingo

He realized he can spend $350 million on a campaign photo op for Jeb, so it's all good now.

[zann725]

44. Yeah, I got the impression Shrub was giving 'less'...

because he planned on 'taking more' in Rebuilding contracts. Also this thing about "implants" they're putting in the corpses to keep track of them (that I saw on another thread), sounds like something Shrubco would have a 'contract' on.

[Dr.Phool]

11. He's lying

Again. NYC never saw their money. Iran quake victims never saw the money they were promised.

Why believe him now?

[liam97]

14. actually I read somewhere

that BUsh started with 400,000

[BarbinMD]

19. You're correct

The initial offering was for "up to $15 million", starting off with $100,000 each to the four most devastated countries. Whoo! <my eyes are rolling> And remember, that was his offer from the "ranch", where he was too busy clearing the brush (again) to even bother making a statement about the tragedy...that took the idiot four days to do. And btw, apparently the $350 million won't go as far as you might think...we're including the cost of getting aid there in the package. I wonder how much an hour it costs to run an aircraft carrier.

[KayLaw]

13. Sounds like...

he's one of those flip-floppers we heard so much about.

[Pithy Cherub]

15. * was dumb enough to promise a pittance

in the beginning and not offer a comprehensive response of aid response. Once again proving international relationships are not at the top of his priority list. Stupid * poker move to show everybody your hand right at the beginning!

[burn the bush]

16. tells me the coke wore off n/t

[ginnyinWI]

18. worse than the money thing--

A real president would have stood up right away and made a statement to the world--showing compassion toward and pledging solitarity with the countries that were affected, telling them that we will be there for them.
It's been so long that we've had a real president that we are beginning to forget what a president is supposed to do. It's called leadership. You stand up and speak for your fellow Americans, represent them to the world. John Kerry would have done it. Smirkboy is not made of that kind of stuff.

[mtnsnake]

21. Excellent point

Once again, Bush failed to respond in a timely manner to a world crisis in ANY kind of fashion. He failed miserably in the opening minutes of 911 and he just did the same thing again. He's now batting 0 for 2.

While other leaders were cancelling vacations, like German Chancellor Schroeder, Bush continued on with his comfy vacation in Crawford. When told the news of the disaster, he probably told his advisors something like, "aaaaah, throw them a bone, something like $15 million. Now leave me alone dammit. I've gotta get back to my golf game. Oh, and BTW, what country is Asia in?"

[illflem]

20. I cannot understand why our government,

and that means in this case, President Stingy, has not taken this disaster to the people of the United States, and asked for our collective generosity. If Stingy went on national TV, announced he set up a relief fund and asked all of us to donate even $1.00, I feel in my heart that the United States would provide overwhelming aid to these people. Instead, as with the 9-11 issue, we the people have once again been swept aside and once again have been made wards of the state.

[mtnsnake]

22. Like everything else, he's too late

The American people have already responded....on their own.

[JohnnyRingo]

23. He looked at the "gift table" to see what the other countries brought

Then sent Powell home to print more.

Sometime by the end of 2005 he'll see to it that the "blue collar class" here repays the money.
I expect Karl Rove and Karen Hughes to invent a new term for tax increase this year. (New Freedom Budget adjustment"?)

[wellstone dem]

24. Since he won't come through

why doesn't he promise a billion.

[Kahuna]

28. Exactly! No way will rummy allow his star wars money to go to

natural disaster victims. Or any other victims for that matter.

[w4rma]

25. $15m? No, he started at $100K for each of the 4 devastated countries. (nt)

[Misskittycat]

27. I heard that, too. I couldn't believe it. (eom)

[Stay Open]

26. I COMPLETELY Agree with your analysis

$15 million??!!?!? It was unspeakably chintzy and shameful.

The US is spending $1 billion a week in Iraq. We spend $15Mil every few hours on that devastating mess we're creating there.

I'm so glad that Bush was shamed into coughing up the $350Mil. But because of the way it unfolded, once again the world has seen what Bush&Co is made of.

Thanks for the initial post.

[hangloose]

29. The guys a loser and marginalizes all of us the longer he's in office

[Fla Dem]

30. Proving his DIck is bigger than their Dick. eom

[nevergiveup]

31. Aren't there professional athletes that make 15 million?

If so,this helps put his initial generosity in perspective. This is the same man that closes his eyes and plugs his ears while his political base spews racial hatred and bashes gays. Pure and simple......the man has no heart.

[proud patriot]

32. It tells me he had to be told what to do

also :

it tells me he truly doesn't understand how to win the
"war" on terrorism .

[alcuno]

33. And the media picks up the "US has increased it's donation tenfold"

mantra. No we didn't. I heard 15 million initially and then 35 million.

[DireStrike]

35. I think this it's his ENTIRE M.O.

He only has to worry about U.S. approval, not international approval.

Here is what he does to manipulate the current U.S. atmosphere:

1) Make outrageous claims, promises, policies, etc. that nobody in their right mind could possibly stand for.

2) Find someone crazy enough to stand for them. Send them on Fox News and Limbaugh to make the case.

3) Apologists and partisans begin rationalizing the position. It now has an excuse to be presented on "moderate" programs in the name of balance, while in fact it is aired because it is an insane idea and it's good for T.V.

4) Bush cuts back to a much less radical, but still obscenely rightist, position. Media spin and damage control makes it look like he is a compromiser striving for balance instead of a flip-flopper. We get painted as whiny extremists who are never satisfied.

[Astrochimp]

36. BFD as all the info was not in at the time........

this is a mis-direct in bad things Bush has done.

By throwing some $ on the table early, he showed we would help, we did not know the full extent of the damage, so for him to guess the "correct" amount, that early is crazy.


Again, this is a waste of time to bashbush for- it was not evil, not stupid, not being cheap, at worst just early.


hey, I have a car for sale, how much will you give me for it?


David

[Desert Liberal]

37. No, no...

Bush was not showing he wanted to help. He was trying to get off easy. Even in the beginning, we knew there were tens of thousands dead, at the least. $15 million was an insult in the face of such massive destruction.

[mtnsnake]

38. That's utter BS. Try that nonsense on some freeper

Even at the time he originally offered $15 million, it was with reserve, and when he went to $35 million, the world protested so loud at his selfishness, that he finally caved.

When he was at $35, he was well aware of the magnitude of it all. Apparently you missed hearing all the major organizers on TV the last couple days dissing the shit out of him for being so selfish when we were at the $35 million dollar stage.

[Astrochimp]

42. Its not BS.........

You just want to hate him. Find a good reason to do so. (its so easy)

The full magnitude is still not known, at least the $ amount it will take to 'fix'. AFAIK the death toll is still going up, but try to find the # of dead at the time he first offered, and so on. IIRC the first number of dead I saw was 20,000.

And just what "major organizers on TV" are you talking about? Ones who will benefit from the $ we give?

Attempting to put a dollar value on how much help is correct is a joke.

How much of our tax dollars are right to spend to rebuild resorts? Just where will this money go and how will it be paid out?

How much did any of you give to that poor hellhole before this disaster?

Would the $ be better spent other places?

And most important, how much are you gonna offer for my car?

[kamqute]

39. What everyone forgets, and what is most important,

is the fact that no matter who the President is, and no matter who the Sec. Gen. is, and no matter who the World Bank head is, the prime reason these disasters take such a heavy toll is the policy of rampant, top-down globalization, exploitation, and colonialism of the wealthy or ambitious nations of the world--this prevents early-warning systems from being put in place in a timely fashion, guts the logistical and communications infrastructure that is required especially in archipelago nations like Indonesia, and reduces the quality of equipment available to, as well as the number and specialization of, effective first-responders. Until those problems are addressed (and much more rapid action than ever before can be taken these days), foreign aid will be a paltry excuse for effective safeguards.

[kamqute]

40. Why don't we give aid to all countries in vast amounts? We have no budget

[zann725]

45. Why don't we "give" to our own infrastructure, and health plans, and...

n/t

[illflem]

41. I disagree

and believe the reason natural disasters take such a heavy toll in that part of the world is simply because they are overpopulated. Malaysia has been the most densely populated area on the planet for centuries, just a heavy rain usually results in fatalities.

[Disturbed]

43. GW Bush is Silverspoon Sociopath and

dimwitted,Sock Puppet.

[VOX]

46. In 2001, The Chimp gave the Taliban $43 million in aid to cut opium growth

And was that miserable gesture worth more than the mega-tragedy that just occured? :puke:

America's leadership is cheap, heartless, assholic; and, when it comes to the rest of the world, ChimpCo's message is: "Fuck you, unless there's big $$$$ in your situation for us."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/9/28/1012/80773

[The Judged]

48. Did you read the fine print in that aid package? Seeing is believing!

[yvr girl]

49. My province (BC) is giving $8 million dollars

That's $2/person. A bunch of provinces are giving money over and above what Canada is giving. Granted, we have budget surpluses, so it's easier to do, but it's also the right thing to do. How can you turn your back on people with such dire need?

Of course, Bush and company don't seem to have a problem ignoring poverty and despair.