Why Bush should not be President

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Fundamentally, it's not what you say that counts. It is what you can deliver.

And the best predictor of future performance is past performance.

Dear Mr. Kirsch,

I read this article today and was astonished that I had not heard anything regarding the SEC's investigation of Bush prior to this. I was not sure if you knew about this or if the issue regarding education is what you are most concerned with, but I thought this might intrigue you regarding his honesty.

http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,393134,00.html

Incidentally, I think you are doing the right thing trying to bring the truth to light and commend you on your actions.

Rick Quinn

(see also more comments from voters)

We've torn apart Bush's only significant accomplishment as governor in 6 years. He ran only on four issues in 1994. His track record on the other 3 issues is worse than his non-existent track record on education.

There was "no improvement" in Texas schools under George W. Bush. Will you hold Bush accountable for not delivering anything on his top priority and for continuing to deceive you about the gains in Texas in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary? .

Will you put this nation in the hands of a man who ignores scientific data that doesn’t support what he wants to hear? A man who still maintains that global warming doesn’t exist while everyone else in the scientific community acknowledges it? A man who insists that “no one in Texas has ever been executed who wasn’t guilty” in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary including an ABC News Nightline story of a man who get sentenced to death in Texas even though his defense attorney slept through the trial? [Time, Feb 21, 2000]

Or will you let him get away with ignoring the facts and seeing only the things that he wants to see?

Will you trust a man who says one thing and does another? Like how he tells you on national TV that he wants to give you a tax cut, that you deserve it, but then sends his operatives to Washington to make sure that a tax cut doesn’t happen? [Time, Feb 21, 2000] Or how he says he’ll “ensure school safety” right on his home page, but signs a concealed weapons law allowing guns to be legally carried onto school grounds and into elementary and high school athletic events. Is that what he means by “ensuring school safety?”

He hasn’t produced any results to be proud of in his 6 years as Governor as Texas. We’ve just dispelled his biggest accomplishment as a lot of hot air. How about his other 3 promises he made when he ran for governor? The results are even worse.

Let’s take welfare reform, for example. We all know, as reported in Time and generally acknowledged, Texas “ranks near the bottom in almost every category of social well-being—poverty, hunger, pollution, children without health insurance.”

 He said, “This is a campaign dedicated to the proposition that no child should be left behind.” Would you like to see the schools and kids he’s left behind in Texas with your own eyes? See for yourself! Check out these videos! Did you know that 25% of Texas children have no health insurance? Texas ranks number 1 in children without health insurance. When there was a real chance to expand health coverage for hundreds of thousands of children, Bush fought against that coverage and made a tax break for the oil industry a higher priority than health care for children. So is that what you thought he meant when he said that his is “a campaign dedicated to the proposition that no child should be left behind?”

Here are a couple of more things:

• If Bush is elected, we may have to re-write the “Pledge of Allegiance” and remove the words “…and justice for all” at the end. Or maybe we can just change it to: “… with liberty and justice for those who can afford it.” It’s well established that in Texas, if you aren’t rich, you won’t get justice. Check out these recent headlines from a Texas newspaper:

Part I :: Unequal Justice :: In Tarrant County, the ability to afford an attorney is often the difference between serving a sentence behind bars or out in the community, a Star-Telegram analysis has found

Kenneth Paul Jones had DNA and innocence on his side, yet his inexperienced court-appointed attorney couldn't prevent him from spending 18 months in jail on a charge of molesting a 4-year-old boy.

Part II :: Lawyers for poor say pay low, stress high; Attorneys assigned cases say Tarrant County's system is fair, but they also relate horror stories

Part III :: Poor more vulnerable to death penalty, critics say

Group seeks abeyance of Texas executions 

• If you aren’t rich, Bush’s Social Security plan won’t save you. Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said the program's trust fund would be fully depleted when someone who is now 42 retires. [Associated Press, 10/25/00]
• If you think Al Gore is for “big government,” think again. During Gore’s term as VP, the government shrank in size. During Bush’s term as governor, the Texas government increased in size! And Gore has pledged not to allow the federal work force to grow by “one position” if he is elected [Wall St. Journal, p. A4, 10/25/00].
• Have you seen the rankings of how Texas has performed under Bush? Pretty much the worst performing state on everything you care about. In fact, we’d do better off electing any governor picked at random rather than Bush. If you look at the stats, Bush would be the last guy on the planet you’d want as your next President. Your last choice. Are we really that desperate?

• He's inexperienced. He has no Washington or foreign policy experience. He's already embarrassed our nation enough in the eyes of foreign leaders, and he's not even President yet.

• He says he's for a strong military, yet Gore's military budget is twice as big.

• He'd do nothing to pay down the deficit

• He had no role in the prosperity we've enjoyed for the last 8 years.

• May risk embarrasing the office with his history of alcohol and drug abuse

• He's not very smart

• He doesn't have any command of the facts

• He can't remember when he last used illegal drugs

• He has limited management experience. He was a failure as a businessman. Only 200 people report to him.

• He can't speak straight

• He ducks out on questions that might embarrass him

• He isn't for campaign finance reform

OK, so you probably agree at this point that you can’t trust what Bush says. But he hasn’t been held accountable for his lack of results. Not yet anyway. You can change that.

We can drop to the bottom of the class in other areas he focuses his efforts on. Take welfare reform. That was another one of the four issues he ran on for governor in 1994. We all know, as reported in Time and generally acknowledged:

Texas ranks near the bottom in almost every category of social well-being--poverty, hunger, pollution, children without health insurance.

Here are some excerpts from that article that will help you understand exactly what Bush meant when he said, “This is a campaign dedicated to the proposition that no child should be left behind:”

• Texas is #1 in children without health insurance.

• When there was a real chance to expand health coverage for hundreds of thousands of children, Bush fought against that coverage and made a tax break for the oil industry a higher priority than health care for children.

• Food stamp receipts have dropped 50% since Bush became governor, even though 3 million Texans live in poverty

• In December 1999, the US Dept of Agriculture reported that Texas has the second worst hunger problem with 1 million people going hungry each day. Bush dismissed it out of hand.
• But why punish children for the sins of their parents? "We never said we were not going to fund children," he claimed, against the evidence. "They'd [still] have health insurance and food stamps." That might sound convincing, until one recalls that 25% of Texas children have no health insurance and that food-stamp receipts in the state have dropped by almost half since 1995, even though 3 million Texans live in poverty.
• In 1995 he vetoed a bill that would have established, at minimal cost to the state, a Food Security Council to gather information on hunger. "I'm sure there was a valid reason why I did that," Bush told TIME. "There's a lot of nice-sounding bills I have vetoed." He added, "I appreciate the kindness of the food-bank operators. I understand that the food banks are in some cases full. Seems like they're doing their jobs." He headed into a laugh...
• "In my experience, when given a choice between compassion and noncompassion, Bush invariably takes the noncompassionate path," says Elliott Naishtat, a Democrat who chairs the powerful house committee on human services, which handled the welfare bills. "Punishing the kids to get the mom to cooperate is not acceptable and not compassionate. You don't have to do it that way."

Want to see the schools and kids he’s left behind in Texas with your own eyes? Check out these videos! Or read the transcript.

The bottom line

So why should you suddenly start trusting Bush now? What new evidence do you have that you can suddenly trust him? He said he’ll leave no child behind, but fought against it. He still said he made progress in education in Texas, but he really didn’t and he ignored any data that showed he didn’t. He says he wants to give you a tax refund, but he had his people in Washington lobbying against it. So why should you start trusting him now? How can you possibly say you trust a man who consistently ignores overwhelming scientific data like whether global warming exists and the consistent statistical data from two independent highly-reputable nonpartisan sources that we talked about here? You saw the data yourself.

And shall we hold him accountable for his lack of results in the four key issues he ran on for Governor in 1994, and especially his #1 priority where he made no progress at all?

Before you read this message, you were undecided. We’ve just showed you how to find all the data to completely shatter Bush’s core campaign foundation. But there is so much more to tell.

In summary, Bush is a man who:

• Has failed to deliver any measurable gains in education, his #1 top priority since he was elected governor 6 years ago. The record on his other 3 campaign issues in 1994 is mediocre at best (Time gave him a C average)

• Sees only the data that he wants to see; he ignores scientific evidence like the overwhelming evidence of global warming and overwhelming scientific proof that the Texas Miracle is a myth.

• Challenges scientific data with rhetoric, rather than facts (as he did with the RAND study).

• Misleads you by telling you things you want to hear (like “no child will be left behind” when Texas ranks at or near the bottom in key areas relating to children).

• Says one thing and does another (e.g., he promises you a tax cut but then sends his operatives to Washington to make sure that a tax cut doesn’t happen. [Time, Feb 21, 2000]

• Can’t be trusted… taking a human life is the most serious decision we can ever make. How can you trust a man who tells the American public on national TV that “no one in Texas has ever been executed who wasn’t guilty” in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary including an ABC News Nightline story of a man who got sentenced to death in Texas even though his defense attorney slept through the trial? [Time, Feb 21, 2000]. It happens again and again in Texas. It’s front page news in Texas newspapers. Remember, Bush told us all TV in the 3^rd debate that it doesn’t happen. He isn’t interested in hearing the truth.

• Has way too many skeletons in his closet including a history as a failed businessman, problems with alcohol (he says he quit at age 40), and as drug user (he told the Dallas Morning News he’s been drug free for 7 years). And remember, his is a guy who has vowed to restore dignity and honor to the office of President!

• Isn’t a leader at all, but yields to people who have power. As he told Time, "There's a certain practicality to the political world. You play the hand you're dealt." Time concluded that article describing Bush as a man who “takes what he can get, sees what he wants to see and has no problem getting along with entrenched power.”

It’s pretty simple actually. Bush, who’s never really succeeded at anything in his life before age 40, admitted to the LA Times that he’s not ready to be President. So if you trust him, you shouldn’t vote for him. And if you don’t trust him, you shouldn’t vote for him either. So that it makes it pretty easy, doesn’t it?

He’s dangerous. I’d never hire him for my company in any position, certainly not CEO. I can’t afford to hire anyone who doesn’t see the facts clearly. To consider him as the President of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, is ludicrous. It’s insane.

He trusts you (or at least he says that in his TV ads).

Now that you have the facts, the only question left is: Do you trust him? Will you hold him accountable?

That choice is yours to make on November 7. Please vote! 

Steve Kirsch
Silicon Valley Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

Steve Kirsch Political Home Page