Bush Legacy Tour

Americans United for Change is rolling out a radio ad today targeting Rep. Jon Porter for his contribution to the Bush Legacy on Iraq and the economy. The ad calls on him to reverse course and put American families first.

Transcript

It's almost Tax Day - and Americans United for Change is reminding President Bush and his allies in Congress to "Invest in America, Not in Iraq."

The Iraq War has already cost U.S. taxpayers a staggering $526 billion in direct costs and roughly $1.3 trillion to the economy.  That is $16,500 for each U.S. family of four, or roughly $3 billion for each Congressional district in the country.

Meanwhile, middle class Americans are bracing for a recession here at home - and the Bush Administration hasn't been responding. As Reuters reported last month:

Washington's overall spending on domestic programs outside of defense, such as education, highways and law enforcement, has grown. But over the seven years of the Bush presidency, that funding represents a declining share of the budget and economy.

Update: In addition to the nearly fifty Tax Day/Cost of War events taking place throughout the country tomorrow, Brave New Films is launching a new website called "The $3 Trillion Shopping Spree" -- http://3trillion.org/ -- a unique, virtual shopping experience for Americans who want to try to comprehend the astronomical price tag of this war by relating it to real world purchases.  Americans can now discover: "Just What could I do with a $3 trillion gift certificate to anything in the world?  How many plasma TVs could you buy?  How many Cadillac Escalades?  Or for that matter, how many deadly diseases could you cure?  How many new schools could you build?  How much HIV medication for AIDS victims around the world?"

On the five-year anniversary of the Iraq War, we ask the question: How much more are Americans willing to pay for President Bush's war in Iraq?

63,000 jobs cut in February. Record gas prices. Biggest job loss in 5 years. Health care costs rising. Trillions spent in Iraq. McBush on the Economy: The Same Old Thing

Americans United for Change today debuted a new video marking the start of the "McBush" campaign for a third term in the White House.

McCain Embraces Disastrous Bush Proposal to Privatize Social Security

Americans United for the Change, the group best known for leading the successful campaign to beat back President Bush's effort to privatize Social Security in 2005, released the following statement today in response to Senator John McCain's support for privatizing Social Security as outlined in today's wall Street Journal.

"On one of the most important issues of the day -- the future of Social Security -- yet again Senator McCain is a carbon copy of President Bush. On the war in Iraq, on tax cuts for corporate America and the well-heeled and now on Social Security, Senator McCain is as bad as Bush or worse," said Jeremy Funk, spokesman for Americans United for Change. "That McCain's embracing of Bush's failed proposal to privatize Social Security comes as the result of a flip-flop from a plan promoted on his own website which eschews privatization in favor of add-on accounts that don't threaten guaranteed benefits, shows just how far McCain is willing to go to appease the far right wing which has had their knives out for Social Security since its inception. Now, the former ‘maverick' is simply hewing to the Bush-Conservative plan on Social Security that would slash guaranteed benefits and explode the national debt."

Asked about the apparent change in position in the interview, Sen. McCain said he hadn't made one. "I'm totally in favor of personal savings accounts," he says. When reminded that his Web site says something different, he says he will change the Web site. (As of Sunday night, he hadn't.) "As part of Social Security reform, I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it -- along the lines that President Bush proposed." [Wall Street Journal, 3/3/08]

"Senator McCain is advocating for a failed and discredited policy which would turn Social Security from a guarantee into a gamble while slashing benefits for seniors, the disabled and survivors," continued Funk. "In addition, Senator McCain has promoted himself as a man of fiscal discipline and rectitude, yet the transition cost to private accounts would explode the national debt by at least one trillion dollars while doing nothing to address the long-term solvency of Social Security. In his rush to embrace conservatives and their draconian ideology, Senator McCain has attached himself to perhaps the most unpopular and discredited domestic policy proposal in a generation. As Bush did in 2005, McCain will live to regret messing with the third rail of American politics."

"Despite all the talk coming out of the Bush administration and their backers in Congress about the success the surge has been in Iraq, we now see that political progress in Iraq - the overarching goal of the surge - is far from being achieved," said Brad Woodhouse, President of Americans United for Change. "As the death toll of U.S. casualties in Iraq approaches 4,000, as the cost of the war exceeds $700 billion and as the Bush Administration fails to hold the Iraqis accountable for resolving their differences, the American people have every right to ask - how much more must be sacrificed in American lives and treasure on this endless war?"

"Apparently, the foot-dragging Iraqi government has taken John McCain and George Bush at their word: that the U.S. commitment to Iraq is open-ended and could last up to 100 years or more. It's no wonder the Iraqi's are in no hurry to get their act together. While Bush and McCain are committing the U.S. to be in Iraq ad infinitum, the U.S. economy is sinking into recession and critical priorities, including children's healthcare, are being left behind. While Americans suffer the consequences of the protracted war in Iraq, Bush and McCain and their Republican backers have sent a message to the Iraqis that they are under no pressure to take responsibility for results - all while U.S. forces and taxpayers continue to pay a heavy price."

"In March, the Iraq war will enter its sixth year. By summer, gas is expected to hit nearly $4 a gallon. By year's end, the U.S. will have spent $800 billion on the war in Iraq. Within the next year, the National Bureau of Economic Analysis is likely to declare an official recession and when it started. For President Bush, John McCain and their backers in Congress, Iraq and the recession are as inextricably linked to their disastrous legacy as white is to rice. It's time for accountability - both home and abroad."

There's something captivating about two people who are truly dedicated to one another. This Valentine's Day, one couple I know really stands out for their undying loyalty, long-term commitment, and for the way they are so willing to put the needs of the other first.

That couple is Sen. John McCain and President George Bush.

When you love someone, you don't need a big bouquet of flowers or a huge box of chocolates to express it. Sometimes a picture says it all.

Take a look at George and John's Valentine's Day card, and send it to anyone who would like to see what real devotion looks like.


http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/valentine

Unfortunately, John McCain and President Bush's relationship goes beyond cards and heartfelt embraces. From tax cuts for the rich to the war in Iraq, George and John count on one another in the public arena, too.

Just yesterday Senator McCain went back on his long-held opposition to torture methods like waterboarding. He voted "no" on a bill that would have required all government agencies - including the CIA - to comply with the Army Field Manual's prohibition on torture.

Why would he do such a thing? For love.

President Bush has threatened to veto this legislation if it crosses his desk. His "partner in crime" John McCain wanted to prevent the bill from ever getting there - even at the expense of his long-standing principles.

If John McCain would go back on his opposition to torture, what else would he do at the request of his Valentine, George Bush?

Show your loved ones what real love is - tell them about John McCain's act of dedication:

http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/valentine

This Valentine's day, let your loved ones know: if we let someone whose heart belongs to Bush into the White House, President Bush's policies are coming, too.

President Bush was on Fox News Sunday this weekend, talking about his legacy – and his legacy's impact on the upcoming election:

More from the interview:

WALLACE : Mr. President, as your time in office winds down, you're getting some harsh assessments, even from some loyal Republicans. I'd like to read you one if I might.

Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan wrote, "George W. Bush destroyed the Republican Party, by which I mean he sundered it, broke its constituent pieces apart and set them against each other. He did this on spending, the size of government, war, the ability to prosecute war, immigration and other issues."

How do you respond?

BUSH: I respectfully disagree with my friend Peggy Noonan.

History will be the judge of an administration and I — when you make tough decisions like I have had to make, you obviously ruffle some feathers and I can understand why people would disagree with some of the decisions I made.

On the other hand, when you really think about it, we haven't had an attack on America. We have inherited a recession and had 52 months of uninterrupted job growth which is a record.

Wages up, productivity up. Look, I feel good about my record. But look, it's impossible for short term historians to objectively analyze it. I know that.

WALLACE: Let me ...

BUSH: I saw in CPAC the other day something interesting. That I read three books on Washington in the last couple years and they're still analyzing the first guy. What do I have to worry about?

It's going to take a long time to figure it out and so this is all — I could give you a whole, I could give you reams of books about criticisms of my administration. I understand this. It comes with the territory.

WALLACE: Let me ask you about one specific area, following up.

And the idea is that the principles you advanced were in at least some cases undermined by the way they were executed.

Cory Shockey (ph), who was a professor at West Point and served on your National Security Council, wrote this. "I fear that the biggest foreign policy legacy of the Bush administration will be that it delegitimized its own strategy. Whether you're talking about the democratization agenda, or the idea of preventive war and regime change. He says that, in other words, after Iraq, that the country would not permit another preventive war even if we should have one.

BUSH: Well, I don't know whether this person — sorry, I don't know who that person is. She may have worked for me but I don't think she ever worked in the Oval Office.

Secondly, I don't know where she was on the Iraq decision to remove Saddam Hussein but I strongly believe it's the right decision. It was the right decision then and it's the right decision today to have removed Saddam Hussein.

And secondly I believe the Iraq democracy is going to take hold and — it's very hard to write the future history of America before the current history hasn't been fully written.