Honesty: or the lack of it.                                              Back
 
Misleading ads and sound bites in the 2006 congressional races.
During Campaigns:  the 527s Lies that led us into War
 

Misleading is lying:

   Although making misleading statements isn’t exactly lying, it amounts to the same thing. The same is true when taking things out of context, a thing that is very common among politicians.
   I tell a friend “You know Wendy is a beautiful girl but she sure has a nasty disposition,” That friend then goes and tells Wendy’s girlfriend. “ Al said he thought Wendy was beautiful.” I did say that but now the girlfriend thinks I have a crush on Wendy.  I don’t think so!  Later my friend tells the same girlfriend that "Al told me that Wendy has a nasty disposition." Now I'm a Flip Flopper, at first I liked her now I don't." I never changed my mind but Wendy's girlfriend thinks  I did.
   So when you hear that George Bush or John Kerry said such or such, take the time to go on line or to a library and try to find the transcripts of the statement. Failing to do that just forget you ever heard it. Verify or forget.
 
   During George Bush's debate with Al Gore. Gore made a statement that he had been to Texas with the director of FEMA. He hadn't, however in his eight years as Vice President he had been many other places with the director and had in fact been on this trip with the assistant director. Are you sure you could remember who you went somewhere with during the last eight years. Oh! and by the way Tipper Gore had gone to Texas, with the director, at that time.
   George Bush made a big deal out of that statement & so did the press. Questioning Gore's honesty.
   During that same debate George Bush made a statement that "While I was the Governor of Texas we passed a Patient's Bill of Rights." while neglecting to inform anyone that although Texas had indeed passed the bill, he had vetoed it & that after it came back to his desk (veto proofed) he placed it into law without signing the bill. That was the first glimpse of how I felt he would govern. 
   Since he's been in office he's misled us on several occasions. Not counting the war with Iraq. He underestimated the cost of his prescription drug plan then made sure the real cost wouldn't leak before the vote on that plan.
   During the lead up to the war He made a statement during a televised speech that Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain Nuclear Materials in Africa, when He knew, or should have, that the information he was referring to had been disproved. He had been sent, not one but three, intelligence reports on the subject & had also received a telephone call. If he knew, he lied & if he didn't he was incompetent.
   Of course I can't say that John Kerry is totally honest, I don't enough about him. I do know that until I see otherwise that I'll trust him a lot more then I do George Bush.
 
   I'll give you the fact that Bill Clinton lied about his affair with Monica Lowinsky, however as far I know he never lied or misled the country on any policy or anything that had to do with the the presidency. I know of no man who wouldn't lie to protect his child or his relationship with his spouse. "Oh! Sweetheart, I had an affair with my bosses' wife." or "Sweet heart, I've been cheating on your mother. I'm sorry."  I don't think so.
   Another thing that I think is misleading is the Republican statements that Bill Clinton didn't do anything about al-Qa'ida. What exactly did they want him to do? Do you think that before 9/11 they would have given him the authority to attack Afghanistan. If you do, just think of what they said after he launched a missile at the terrorist camp in his only attempt to take out Ben Laden. "He's wagging the dog! He's trying to distract the country from the Lowinsky affair."
  Another thing you have to think about is where would we attack from? Do you think we could, at that time, have used Pakistan as a base of operation, or maybe Iran. I think not.
 
   Now I'll give you the fact that a misleading statement isn't really a lie, but it has the same effect and just think about the recent statements by the Republican party.
   1. Tom Ridge made a statement that the Terror warning of July 31st. wasn't done for political gain. I agree, I don't feel that the government would ever stoop that low, however he went on to say that the Department of Homeland Security was not political. When I watched his announcement, I heard him say that "The information was received because of the policies of the Bush administration." (not an exact quote, but close) I seem to understand that the information came from Pakistani sources & was picked up quite by accident when they made a raid on a terrorist safe house.
   2. From republicans, that John Kerry went to Viet Nam because he knew he intended to run for public office & could take advantage of his war record. Whoa, If his war record was going to be an asset in his political future, wouldn't his protest of the war be a obstacle. If you think it might be, then please tell me why would he come back a hero then throw it all away by protesting. Was he telling the truth? I don't really know but have we all forgotten about My Lai and I seem to remember a naked little girl running down the road (Her cloths burned off her body by Napalm.) Her village was Trang Bang. I'm not against the Viet Nam War but I realize that things can get out of control during any war & some soldiers, like other segments of society, can be evil. (Do you really think a murderer wouldn't be a murdered or a rapist wouldn't still rape just because he put on a uniform? Would a thief not still be a thief a kidnapper not a kidnapper?) Kerry may have seen or heard of things we wouldn't want to see. It was a war we weren't going to win, remember we weren't allowed to cross the 49th parallel and without attacking the north, how could we win. Robert McNamara recently stated that he knew, that because of policy, we could never win. Yet we stayed & as Kerry asked at a congressional hearing "How can you ask a man to be the last person to die for a mistake?" I feel he did what his conscience dictated. 
   This photo was taken during the Viet Nam war. This is not how we treat our prisoners of war. The executioner was Vietnamese Regular, but is does show some of the atrocities that Kerry might have been talking about. Now I'm not saying that the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese regulars were any better, in fact they were much worse. I heard reports that they had cut the arms off of children who had received vaccinations from American Medics. As I said before War is Hell.  By the way look at the smile on the face of the soldier on the left.
 
   Speaking of honesty. Do you think Halliburton would have disclosed the fact that they overcharged our government by millions for gasoline imported into Iraq from Kuwait if it hadn't been disclosed by an audit? If you do then just think about the fact that shortly after that they were also caught with their hands again in the till this time overcharging us for food. 
   I'd still like to know they got a no-bid contract. I thought companies would bid for a contract, then according to the lowest price & best ability to do the job a decision would be made as to who got that contract.
 
   Carl Bernstein (of Watergate fame) on "Larry King Live" was asked if he thought the press was doing their job in reporting all the misleading information given out by the Bush administration. His answer was that they were but the people weren't paying attention. Enough information about the distortions giving out by the administration have been in the news but apparently we don't care.
 
   August 10th. I just watched President Bush at a rally in Florida thank John Kerry for agreeing with him about his going into Iraq, but yesterday I heard John Kerry say that he would still (even with hindsight) have voted for the authorization giving George Bush the authority to go to war. He also said that if he had been president he wouldn't have gone to war without a plan to win the peace & even then not till all other options were depleted. See, even omissions can be misleading. George Bush is great at this. To bad he's incompetent in so many other areas.
 
   8/12/04  Dick Cheney during a speech at a rally made a big deal out of a statement made by John Kerry where he accidentally used the word sensitive (caring) in place of sensible (intelligent) on how he would conduct the war on terror. I guess they (The administration has never done that.) The only problem with those kinds tactics is that the American people can see right through them. A lie is a lie even if you just distort the facts.
   Retraction: I made the assumption of saying that John Kerry meant to say sensible, I was wrong but Cheney still gets **** because even though Kerry said sensitive, what he was referring to was the diplomacy with our allies. George Bush used the same word in March 2001, when he said the United States should be "Sensitive about expressing our power and influence."  Taking things out of context in a misrepresentation. I long for the days of political decency. 
   8/16/04  George Bush while talking to the VFW in Ohio made a statement that, now there is a monument to the veterans of the Second World War. He made it seem like he was involved with it's creation, especially since he was at the time taking credit for many improvements in V.A. hospitals, programs, benefits, etc. I thought that the time line seemed wrong so I looked it up. Here is what I Found August 1995 The WWII Memorial committee was formed. Jan. 7th. 1999 Construction of the Memorial begins. May 16th. 2001 With the final installation of the name-bearing metal plates, the Memorial is completed. So even though it was completed during his term, he really had nothing to do with the planning. I'd have to say that again he was misleading the American People and especially the Vet's. By the way those vets should also check out his other claims to see what he really did for/against them. 
   9/05/04: He blew it! James K Glassman of Scripps Howard News Service in an article that ran in the Trentonian Newspaper. The Miracle economy stated that "in many cases, Kerry & his supporters are flat-out lying. (Look up the nonpartisan website of the Annenberg Center www.FactCheck.org") and goes on ranting about how all the things about the economy that the Democratic Party is saying are misrepresentations. So I did and guess what? they had a retraction on the things that were said, according to new information, the things that Kerry & his supporters have said are mostly true. By the way there is a lot of good information on this site.
   9/06/04: I just found out while watching Crossfire that George Bush said in a televised statement (Not a exact quote) "Our war in Iraq and the reconstruction will cost 1.7 billion we have no plans to spend more then that." We have spent, to date, over a hundred billion. He was either misleading us or he was totally incompetent. 
 
    9/19/04: WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Several Republicans and Democrats took President Bush to task on Sunday's talk shows over his repeated assertions that all is well in Iraq.
   Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said Bush was not being "as straight as maybe we'd like to see" with the American people about Iraq.
   McCain, who has campaigned for Bush's re-election, acknowledged that the incumbent's rosy view of Iraq as "on the path of stability and democracy"  may not be accurate, "although I've been with him when he has told audiences that this is a very tough struggle that we're in."
   Appearing on the same program. Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Republican, said that the United States was nowhere near victory.

   “the fact is, a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies are required. We didn’t do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost. "  'The fact is, we’re in trouble. We’re in deep trouble in Iraq."

   On ABC”s “This week,” Republican Sen. Robert Lugar of Indiana & Joe Biden of Delaware both had critical words for the administration’s handling of Iraq.
   Biden Complained of the slow & inadequate training of the Iraqi Police and Lugar was complaining that the administration has spent only one of eighteen billion dollars appropriated last year for reconstruction. 
   The administration has said that the Police are well trained (Not a single police officer has finished the full training course.) & Dick Chaney who said last year there were enough police officers and gave us a number had to retract that number & give us a new number that was half of whet he had said & now we find out that even that number is exaggerated. Why won't the just come clean with us?
 
   9/21/04 AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Three people and eight corporations -- including Sears and Cracker Barrel -- were indicted Tuesday in an alleged scheme to make illegal campaign contributions through a political action committee formed by U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.  We've heard a lot of information about investigations, i.e. Sandy Burger & White Water two name a couple but the key word here is indicted.  DeLay, a Texas Republican, was not charged.
   10/07/04 WASHINGTON (CNN) -- For the second time in two weeks, the House Ethics Committee has issued admonishments to Majority Leader Tom DeLay over his conduct, warning the Texas Republican to "temper" his future actions to comply with House rules and standards of conduct.
   Last week, DeLay was also admonished by the committee on another complaint, related to a promise DeLay made to a fellow GOP House member to endorse his son's bid for Congress in return for the lawmaker's vote for the Medicare prescription drug bill.
   Now DeLay is complaining that the Democratic Party is trying to discredit him. First I'd like to say he discredited himself by knowingly breaking Congressional rules & secondly I'd like to remind him that 5 of the members of the Ethics Committee were Republicans & that the decision was unanimous.
 
   Oct. 15th. A funny thing happened on the way to Hanoi. On Nightline 10/14/04 Ted Koppel ran a film taken at the village in Viet Nam where Kerry won his Silver Star and some of the villagers remembered the battle. Their stories coincide with the after action report which lead to the accommodation. Afterwards John E. O'Neill the author of Unfit For Command & largest critic of John Kerry was asked by Koppel what he had to say about the report. He was arrogant and kept saying that the people of the village were lying. I'd like to know, as Ted Koppel mentioned. What reason they would have to fabricate a story that would make Kerry a hero & them look weak? They have no stake in the election. He (O'Neill) looked like some of the muskrats I caught in my traps when I was a kid. Hate is an evil thing that eats away at the human soul. The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth can't stand the fact that their war wasn't as noble as they would like it to have been. They came back home to a country divided. Kerry wasn't the only one who was against the war, half of America was. We had all seen the photos of what was happening over there and we didn't like them. Today we are seeing the photos of children who have been caught in the crossfire or killed & maimed in bombing raids in Iraq and I hope we don't like that either.  War is Hell!