Here is what Governor Bush said in 2000 (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17511):
We will strengthen Social Security and Medicare for the greatest generation and for generations to come.
I work with Republicans and Democrats to get things done.
When America uses force in the world, the cause must be just, the goal must be clear, and the victory must be overwhelming.
We're learning to protect the natural world around us. We will continue this progress, and we will not turn back.
When I act, you will know my reasons. And when I speak, you will know my heart.
President George W. Bush has betrayed every one of these grand promises-often as a result of the promises he did keep. The mammoth deficits he has run up have further imperiled programs such as Social Security and Medicare. Washington has become an increasingly partisan place these last four years. The administration's goal in Iraq was-and is-extremely obscure and victory correspondingly elusive, while the human costs to both Americans and Iraqis have been appalling. This White House has, moreover, the worst record on the environment of any since the rise of the environmental movement. And much of what the President has said to us on topics ranging from Iraq's alleged weapons and connections with al- Qaeda to affirmative action and gay rights has involved speaking insistently out of both sides of his mouth.
As Russell Baker recently put it: "The case against President Bush goes to character. He makes grave decisions on the basis of inadequate or incompetent advice, willfully persists in them though they prove mistaken, and surrounds himself with people careful not to unsettle his rigid views."
Brian Urquhardt: "The stature and credibility of the United States are at their lowest ebb at a time when the world is greatly in need of wise and steady leadership on many vital global problems. It is also a time when the United States itself desperately needs the confidence and cooperation of other nations to deal with terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the related threat of rogue or dysfunctional states, and other emerging dangers.
"To have drastically eroded, in less than four years, the position of respected international leadership built up by the United States over the past hundred years or more is an extraordinary achievement. With its existing worldview, the current administration cannot hope to restore that position. That would be one of the Herculean labors of its successor-if a successor willing to undertake them can be elected."
Ironically, cutting taxes on high incomes and large legacies has weakened a unique aspect of American life that conservatives ought to prize. By making the deduction for charitable donations less attractive, tax cuts have hurt private foundations, universities, museums, orchestras, hospitals, and churches, which although indirectly supported by government through tax deductions, nevertheless operate without government control.
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