www.bushflipflops.com

[dolstein]

Ok, why hasn't someone created this web site? I can think of a few high profil flip flops:

1. Abortion -- When Bush ran for Congress, he was pro-choice. Later on, he was pro life. Of course, flip-flopping on abortion runs in the family -- his father did the same thing.
2. Gay Marriage -- When Bush ran in 2000, he didn't support a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. Now he does.
3. Department of Homeland Security -- Bush initially opposed the creation of a Department of Homeland Security. Then he changed his mind.
4. 9/11 Commission -- Bush initially opposed the creation of a 9/11 commission. Then he changed his mind. And he keeps going back and forth on whether he'll cooperate with it.
5. Campaign Finance Reform -- Bush initially opposed the McCain-Feingold bill. But then he signed it.
6. Steel Import Quotas -- First Bush opposed them. Then he imposed them. Then he rescinded them.
7. Arsenic Levels -- First Bush wanted to weaken standards. Then he reversed himself.
8. Limited CO2 emissions -- When Bush ran in 2000, he pledged to limit C02 emissions. After he was "selected", he changed his mind.

This is just a short list. I'm sure there are plenty of others. Why the hell hasn't the Kerry campaign gone after Bush on his own inconsistencies?

[DinahMoeHum]

1. A better expression than "flip-flop": Bait-And-Switch. . .

When people hear the words "bait-and-switch", they think of a con artist.

* fits that description to a tee!!

:kick:

[grannylib]

3. Neo-con artist....yep, I like the bait 'n' switch verbiage! Good call...

[Ricdude]

23. Bait and Switch is the perfect expression...

for example:

Weapons of Mass Destruction (25 kL anthrax, 38 kL botulinum, etc.) from the 2003 State of the Union address turned into "dozens of weapons of mass destruction related program activities".

See the Daily Show segment, "Bush vs. Bush", from comedycentral.com for even more examples.

[grannylib]

2. More: No nation-building vs nation-building; screw the UN vs Hey UN

come help us sweep up our mess; signing No Child Left Behind but refusing to fund it; support our troops by trying to cut their combat pay in the middle of the night...

[Cocoa]

4. the steel tariffs are the best one

pure electoral calculation.

[livetohike]

7. War in Iraq due to WMD and capable of using them

That was the message early on and now the message is "freeing" the Iraqi people from a terrible regime.

[otohara]

11. Welcome

to DU - :hi: Yes don't you just love the "liberated the Iraqi's from a terrible dictator" line?

[sinkingfeeling]

5. Exactly what I've been looking for...sorry I can't help create a

website since I'm technically illiterate! I would like a site so I can argue with my brother-in-law, who's on the Kerry 'flip-flop' band wagon.

[Tim4319]

6. What a hypocrit!

Just last night I hear the Rebugs have 30 documented accounts of John Kerry "Flip-Flopping" on some issues. Which makes him appear weak!

What I say to that is. Atleast he can articulate a sentence! Lets see the "Chimpster" pull off that one!

[salin]

8. Such a site would need to include the "W" debates himself clip

from the Daily Show.

[Tempest]

9. A few more

Said he wouldn't use 9/11 in the 2004 campaign.
He used it.

Said he would support stem cell research.
He now doesn't support it.


Said he would not support moving the U.S. embassy to from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
He now supports it.

Said he supported a Palestinian state.
Now he puts unrealistic conditions on it.

Said he would fully fund the program to dismantle Russia's nuclear weapons.
He cut funding.

Said he would meet with the Log Cabin Republicans during the 2000 campaign.
He didn't.

Said he was sorry for speaking at Bob Jones University.
Later reversed himself and said he wasn't sorry.

Said he wouldn't give the first 9/11 investigation any more time to complete its work.
He signed an act which gave them more time.

Said he wouldn't negotiate with North Korea.
The U.S. has been negotiating for several weeks now.

Said he wouldn't negotiate with Iran.
He supported the recent UN inspectors in Iran.

Said he would ask the U.N. Security Council to vote to allow the U.S. to go to war with Iraq before attacking.
He went in without a vote.

Said he supported the Chemical Security Policy bill in Congress.
He didn't.

Bush said he supported the Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
He repealed it.

[Brotherjohn]

10. Yes! Kerry needs to start using this, soon, and loudly!

Otherwise, he'll be pegged as the "flip-flop" candidate. Bush is trying his darndest to make this happen now.

They successfully pegged Gore as the "liar", simply by repeating it ad infinitum, even though most of the allegations were not based in fact.

My 2 cents:

- Against "nation-building", then for it (and in a BIG way).

- Against burying nuclear waste in NV, then for it.

- For bringing a second UN resolution to a vote, authorizing use of force in Iraq (make everyone "show their cards", remember?). Then dropping it like a hot potato when it became clear it wouldn't pass.

- The CO2 is a big one, as are the initial oppositions to the 9/11 Investigation, the Intelligence Investigation, and the Dept. of Homeland Security...

Kerry should make clear that these and many more flip-flops were CLEAR and DIRECT reversals from Bush during the last 4 years. Where Kerry is accused of flip-flopping, it is usually the typical Bush simplistic view which doesn't accurately portray events.

i.e. Kerry voted for the IWR, but the IWR was not a vote to go to war, but a vote authorizing the president to use force... it was the president's decision. There was language in the IWR requiring that the president exhaust all diplomatic avenues before using force, and it is obvious now that he did not do this. Kerry can make this argument as well as the argument that Congress was not given accurate information, and indeed was given information which exagerrated the threat from iraq. Kerry can also make the argument that he voted for the IWR to pressure Iraq into letting inspectors in, and when that happened, we were in the process of finding out that Iraq was not, in fact, a threat.

[littlejoe]

12. I'm all for it! Someone needs to create something like this.

[RogueTrooper]

13. dolstein....

Josh Marshall owns the domain name. You might want to speak to him about his intenetions.

Those are all excellent points, btw.

[dolstein]

14. Another one I forgot -- the Social Security surplus

During the 2000 campaign, he said he wouldn't touch the Social Security surplus. Since then, he's diverted hundreds of billions of dollars of social security tax revenues to fund his income taxes and his massive spending programs.

[jonnyblitz]

15. consortium news site discusses this , Dolstein

:hi: this site has been posting pro Kerry pieces lately..Here are two that discuss the hyprocracy of the media discussing Kerry flipflopping while giving Bush a pass.


Protecting Bush-Cheney Redux

The New York Times and other major media outlets are at it again: parroting Bush-Cheney campaign themes against a Democrat while turning a blind eye to equal or worse offenses by Republicans. This new case of protecting Bush-Cheney is built around the theme that Sen. John Kerry is a flip-flopper, while ignoring examples of George W. Bush’s own flip-flops.

The media’s eagerness to adopt this “conventional wisdom” on Kerry follows the pattern of Campaign 2000 when the Times joined the media pack in portraying Al Gore as a liar while buying into the image that George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were straight-shooters, despite an abundance of evidence that they weren’t. Even four years later – after the deceptions about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and disclosures about the abuse of scientific research to make it fit Bush’s agenda – the national news media clings to this precious notion that Bush is no liar.
(more)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/030704.html


Bush's Great Debate -- With Himself


Borrowing from George W. Bush’s favorite new joke about the Democratic debates, one could say that the Republican Party’s presidential choice is featuring a wide variety of opinions – favoring action on global warming and doing nothing; calling for a balanced federal budget and charting a future of endless deficits; advocating a “humble” foreign policy that decries “nation-building” and running a foreign policy that is arrogant and deeply involved in devising how other countries govern themselves.

The punch-line of that joke would go: And the Republican debate covers the opinions of just one candidate, George W. Bush.

Of course, Bush has used his version of this knee-slapper to mock Democratic Sen. John Kerry for supposedly flip-flopping on issues. But the joke could play as well against Bush, who sold himself to the voters as one thing in 2000 and performed quite differently in office.
(more)

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/030204.html

[mzmolly]

16. anybodybutbush.info just sent me some Bush flip flops...

Bush flip-flops

So Bush has a site somewhere that tracks Kerry's "flip-flops". Reader TK probably spent three seconds coming up with this list of Bush flip flops. It's not like they're hard to find:

# Bush is against campaign finance reform; then he's for it.
# Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he's for it.
# Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he's for it.
# Bush is against an Iraq WMD investigation; then he's for it.
# Bush is against nation building; then he's for it.
# Bush is against deficits; then he's for them.
# Bush is for free trade; then he's for tariffs on steel; then he's against them again.
# Bush is against the U.S. taking a role in the Israeli Palestinian conflict; then he pushes for a "road map" and a Palestinian State.
# Bush is for states right to decide on gay marriage, then he is for changing the constitution.
# Bush first says he'll provide money for first responders (fire, police, emergency), then he doesn't.
# Bush first says that 'help is on the way' to the military ... then he cuts benefits
# Bush-"The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. Bush-"I don't know where he is. I have no idea and I really don't care.
# Bush claims to be in favor of the environment and then secretly starts drilling on Padre Island.
# Bush talks about helping education and increases mandates while cutting funding.
# Bush first says the U.S. won't negotiate with North Korea. Now he will
# Bush goes to Bob Jones University. Then say's he shouldn't have.
# Bush said he would demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq. Later Bush announced he would not call for a vote
# Bush said the "mission accomplished" banner was put up by the sailors. Bush later admits it was his advance team.
# Bush was for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US. Bush after meeting with Pres. Fox, he's against it.


http://www.anybodybutbush.info/

[chiburb]

19. Sorry Molly...

I didn't see your post before posting mine. I asked the mods to delete...

[Leilani]

22. How about

He won't give amnesty to illegal aliens. Then proposes a guest worker program that has amnesty in it.

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[SangamonTaylor]

18. * calling for an up or down vote in the UN Security Council

Every one remember when bush demanded that other nations "lay their cards on the table" and vote for a 2nd security council measure?

"Given the massive opposition in the Security Council against the US-UK-Spanish war resolution there was speculation that the US would prevent the diplomatic embarrassment of a Council defeat by withdrawing the resolution. But Bush promised a vote regardless."

"No matter what the whip count is, we're calling for the vote. We want to see people stand up and say what their opinion is about Saddam Hussein and the utility of the United Nations Security Council."

Did they call for a vote? No. We knew that it would fail in the UN Security council, and so Bush waffled on requiring a vote for the 2nd Security council war resolution by saying in essence, "well, even though we said we wanted every one to lay their cards on the table, it looks like our hand isn't too good, so I'll fold, and take my fight somewhere else."

A few days later, by March 13th, 2003, senior administration officials were singing a different tune.

"After being adamant for days that Bush would insist on an up-or-down vote at the Security Council, senior administration officials now say it is possible the United States and its council allies would not seek a vote."

[Democat]

20. I believe it is in the works right now

Watch and see.

[ChiefJoseph]

21. kick