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My brother came up with a great list of questions that Russert should ask the chimp.
However I think we all know that the Bush administration would never accept an interview that was not scripted and the fact that Russert is asking the questions assures that it will be absolute whoredom....
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Mr. Russert,
I am looking forward to Mr. Bush's appearance on MTP this Sunday. I
hope that you will surprise me by being as tough and aggressively
thorough with Mr. Bush as you are with Democrats candidates. After
all,
even though he is an incumbent, he is still a candidate in an election,
and should have to answer questions and participate in the democracy of
which he proclaims to be such a fan.
If I could, I have some questions for the president and I hope that
maybe you could cover one or more of these subjects. It would be
greatly appreciated.
1. Mr. Bush, you and your administration have intimated and
outright accused Saddam of having Al Qaeda ties. Your opponents and
members of your own administration have now said that no evidence
exists
of such ties, and some evidence now indicates that such a tie would be
highly unlikely to have ever occurred due to bin Laden's hatred of
Saddam. Are you now ready to clarify the record and state your
position
on the evidence? Did Saddam have Al Qaeda ties and was that a factor
in
taking America to war? And will you clarify whether or not Saddam had
anything to do with 9/11?
2. You came into office promising integrity and fiscal
responsibility. Yet the myriad of scandals regarding deals that
involve
either administration officials and appointees in your administration
is
varied and growing. (Boeing tanker sales, Cheney and Halliburton, etc.)
What are you doing to clean your administration of such apparent
impropriety?
3. Could 9/11 have been prevented? If not, why could you not have
prevented it?
4. Does your administration now suffer from a credibility gap,
given how wrong you have been on the proof taking us to war against
Iraq? Will you not ask for resignations from those in your
administration that lobbied for war on what now seems to have been
clearly false intelligence? If not, why shouldn't the American people
expect an explanation from you and those that lobbied for war on your
behalf, as to why your administration was so very wrong on the main
reasons given for taking us to war, namely an imminent WMD threat,
growing ties with Al Qaeda, and involvement in international nuclear
ambitions?
5. Mr. Bush, how can you call for an investigation into the
veracity of the pre war intelligence when members of your own
administration set up the Office of Special Plans, a parallel and
unprecedented intelligence apparatus, since disbanded, that generated
and/or enhanced the intelligence that was used to take the nation to
war? Would it not be more prudent for the investigation to at least
include an investigation into the propriety of the White House creating
a secretive intelligence group, as a potential source of the reasons we
went to war on what turned out to be false intelligence?
6. Why was this separate intelligence office needed? Why did you
not trust the CIA's intelligence, and why was the intelligence from the
OSP better? For the appearance of integrity, will you now promise to
allow any investigation to include the OSP? Anyone watching the news
at
the time remembers well publicized trips by Mr. Cheney to the Pentagon
to lobby for more proof. Mr. President, wasn't this an administration
searching for an excuse to wage a war that this administration wanted
from Day 1 of your administration?
7. If no weapons are found in Iraq, would the war have been a
mistake? If you had known before the war that Iraq possessed no WMD's
and no ties to Al Qaeda, would we have gone to war? If yes, on what
grounds?
8. How did your office make such an enormous error in projecting
the cost of the prescription drug benefit added to Medicare?
Ineptitude
or deception?
9. The Democrats have again brought up your service in the National
Guard and questions about whether or not you completed your service to
your country. Now I know your administration has said that you were
honorably discharged, but your father was a national figure and the
perception is he could have pulled some strings and gotten you out of
your last year of service, or helped cover up any shortcomings. After
all, we both know that being Honorably Discharged does not mean that
you
absolutely did nothing wrong. All sorts of rumors have fed on your
seeming unwillingness to answer directly these charges, and
specifically
you have been unwilling to release documents verifying your account of
your service. Most service members would happily open up records to
prove to someone that they had made a sacrifice (no matter how small)
to
their country to deflect unfounded criticism. Yet you remain curiously
noncommittal. Would you today pledge that all documents relating to
your service in the National Guard be made public to answer this unfair
criticism?
10. Is Mr. Cheney going to be on the ticket this fall, or will Mr.
Guiliani(sp?) be taking his place in '04? No way to Rudy?
11. Are you planning to invade Syria and Lebanon? Iran? Cuba?
North Korea? Your critics say your PNAC involved inner circle has made
it all too clear that the countries I just mentioned are on their list,
just as Iraq was. Do you have specific intelligence of WMD's in any
other country that you consider to be a similar threat to the United
States that may require another preemptive war? Do you support the
PNAC
agenda?
12. 1000 jobs were created in the 4th quarter of last year, less
than 20 jobs per state, and since many more jobs have been cut or
shipped overseas never to return. First, how do you explain the merits
of a jobless recovery to the average American looking for work?
Secondly, what specifically will you do to stop the flight of middle
class jobs from America?
13. American manufacturing capacity is shrinking as those jobs head
overseas for good. Doesn't it leave America vulnerable in wartime, to
lose most of its industrial capacity? Should a conflict with China
ever
erupt, can you imagine the power they could exert over us just by
threatening our import dependent economy? How are you dealing with
this
security issue to make sure America is never held hostage in such a
manner?
14. Mr. Bush, you have asked the American people to sacrifice for
their country during this time of need. You have asked the world for
their support, money, troops and patience, and you have asked America's
men and women in the military to risk their lives for your cause. Yet,
you give tax breaks to the very richest Americans in the midst of a
terror attack, two wars and a recession. Should we not ask of those
who
have most benefited from America's wonderful bounty to also sacrifice
during their country's time of need. After all, wasn't it this great
country that helped them achieve such success? Isn't it the most
capable among us to give the most in our greatest time of need?
Doesn't it come off as wrong that poor Americans have to deal with
higher property taxes, less services, fewer economic opportunities and
loved ones being shot at while your contributors get enormous tax
benefits during war time? Don't you find it troubling for example that
luxury car sales are up at the same time foreclosures are at an all
time
high? Or that personal bankruptcies are at all time highs at the same
time the stock market is back above 10,000?
15. Given the repeated scandals involving Halliburton and their
subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root overcharging the government
repeatedly, and given the sheer appearance of impropriety of the VP's
former company benefiting from a divisive war, will you now promise to
halt all present and future contracts with Halliburton and all of its
subsidiaries, and call for an investigation into how much of the tax
payer's money you can get back?
16. If you are such a fan of democracy and freedom, why do you limit
political protesters to areas which are often so removed as to be
completely neutralized? Should you not limit your supporters to the
same areas?
17. After wide opposition to drilling in ANWR, your administration
has included drilling in the revenues column in your new budget. Yet,
the American people are in poll after poll, strongly against such
drilling. At the very least, shouldn't the public be allowed to debate
such a plan rather than sticking it into the fine print of your budget?
Any efforts would be a pleasant surprise, as I suspect as an employee
of
GE, you have not the freedom to question him thoroughly even if you
were
so inclined. I know you are a fan of the administration, and that is
your right as an American. But show the strength of this president's
convictions, beliefs and actions by having him answer head on the
questions of the day. After all, he came to office promising to be a
uniter. And what could be more uniting than answering your critics,
rather than hiding behind a stammering mix Rumsfeldian doublespeak and
Rovian talking points wrapped in a Texas twang?
Thanks in advance.
A Concerned American.
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