Abstract

Bush's Other Lies

The author asserts that U.S. President George W. Bush has lied to advance his agenda, and offers examples of Bush's alleged lies regarding Iraq, taxes, the environment, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Enron and stem cell research. George W. Bush is a liar. He has lied large and small, directly and by omission. His Iraq lies have loomed largest. He maintained that Saddam Hussein possessed "a massive stockpile" of unconventional weapons and was directly "dealing" with Al Qaeda--two suppositions unsupported then (or now) by the available evidence. Bush's crusade for tax cuts is the domestic policy matter that has spawned the most misrepresentations from his camp. One of Bush's biggest tax-cut whoppers came when he stated, during the presidential campaign, "The vast majority of my [proposed] tax cuts go to the bottom end of the spectrum." As many Americans and others yearned to make sense of the evil attacks of September 11, Bush elected to share with the public a deceptively simplistic explanation of this catastrophe. Repeatedly, he said that the United States had been struck because of its love of freedom. Rather than acknowledge the realities of bin Laden's war on America, Bush attempted to create and perpetuate a war-on-freedom myth. Observers can debate whether Bush considers his embellishments and misrepresentations to be the honest-to-God truth or whether he cynically hurls falsehoods to con the public. But believer or deceiver--the result is the same. With his misrepresentations and false assertions; Bush has dramatically changed the nation and the world. Bush campaigned for the presidency as the fellow who would bring honesty back to the White House. There has been no restoration of integrity. Bush's promise was a lie.