Bush Legacy Tour

Does the daily news of record high gas prices make you want to throw your TV out the window? How 'bout tossing the $140 plus oil barrel itself?

Now we have our chance. The Bush Legacy Bus will be celebrating the 4th of July in Bangor, Maine, where we have the exciting opportunity to toss out some of Bush's garbage - and by garbage, we mean Bush's legacy.

Our partners at the Bangor Central Labor Council (AFL-CIO) have offered to let us use their giant catapult to send something that represents the Bush Legacy flying into the Penobscot River.

Since we're pretty sure the secret service would never let us catapult President Bush into the river, we're looking for your ideas on what to toss.

We've been kicking around a bunch of ideas that represent different aspects of Bush and his terrible legacy:

• Monopoly money - what Bush thinks money for Iraq is
• Sandbags - something Bush didn't send to New Orleans before Katrina hit
• Empty oil cans - because we're still upset about those gas prices

Please keep in mind that we want to be as eco-friendly as possible. We're trying to think of something that's either natural or something we can easily retrieve.

We need your input - What symbol of Bush's Legacy would you like to see go flying? Click here to submit your ideas, or post them in the comments.

ROCHESTER, NY - Randy Kuhl is anything but cool!

I’m a sucker for a good pun. The cornier, the better. That’s why I thoroughly enjoyed organizer, Jim Schwartz’s comments at our Rochester, NY press conference. 

“Congressman Randy Kuhl is anything but cool!” 

It may not be high-prose but it certainly describes Kuhl’s record perfectly. That is why he got a visit from the bus in front of his Fairport office this morning. Randy Kuhl voted with the president’s policies 90 percent of the time during the 109th Congress. He voted against a responsible redeployment of troops in Iraq. He opposed the 20th Century GI bill that would give Iraq and Afghanistan vets the chance to have the education he received. He even opposed healthcare for children by voting against the State Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The anger toward Kuhl’s compliance and support of Bush’s policies was palpable. A good crowd was gathered outside Kuhl’s office to see the bus. One local Kuhl constituent even showed me a photo of Randy Kuhl and George Bush in a limo together. He said that Kuhl was extremely proud of the photo, which is certainly no surprise considering his voting record.

SYRACUSE, NY - We rolled into Syracuse for an afternoon event downtown. New York Citizen Action hosted us. One of their members, Jerry grabbed our “Come on in” sign and took to the street to get passer-bys on the bus. He did a terrific job and I wish he would come along to all of our stops!

It was not only the Katrina exhibit that left an impression at this stop. Our exhibits on the American worker and the Iraq War tied in perfectly with Meg from Syracuse’s comments on the Bush legacy. 

“In eight years, I’ve seen my wages become basically nothing compared to my cost of living. My only son is now over in Iraq fighting for our country.”

PITTSBURGH, PA -Monday, June 30th AM. The Bush Legacy Bus sat this morning in a lot with the beautiful backdrop of the Fort Pitt Bridge and Mount Washington behind it. We started our Pennsylvania stops in Pittsburgh with a morning event. The event went well. We got some good press including a big photo on the front page of the local section of the Post Gazette.  Pittsburgh and the surrounding areas have been hit hard by the economic downturn, the decline of the steel industry and the decline of manufacturing overall. Bad trade deals and corporate greed-supported by Bush and his allies-have shipped millions of good paying jobs overseas. The Steel City needs change as much or more than anywhere in the country. 

ERIE, PA- Monday, June 30th PM. The first people who arrived for our Erie, PA event were newlyweds Bruce and Chelsea Schaaf.  They were married this past Friday in Columbus, OH. They had heard about the bus being in Columbus the night of their wedding and lamented, “We would have come to see it in Columbus if we weren’t getting married.”  As luck would have it three days later the tour arrived in Erie, a few miles away from their hometown of Edinboro. They were thrilled to see the event in Erie on the website and came down to check it out. Bruce and Chelsea were among a crowd of Erie locals that came out to see the bus parked outside of Representative Phil English’s local office. All of the major local press came to catch a glimpse as well as activists from Lake Erie Peace Action and Penn Action. Representative English was paid a visit because of his support for some key conservative initiatives. English voted for handouts for big oil in the sum of $85 billion and the weakening of clean-water laws. He has voted consistently with the President to keep the troops in Iraq and voted against requiring benchmarks to be met to measure progress. English also voted against allow Medicare to negotiate with Big Pharma for better drug prices. 

CANTON, OH - Canton is best known as the home of the Pro-Football Hall of Fame. Saturday the city got a visit from a museum of a different sort. Although we can’t boast Joe Montana’s jersey or the Vince Lombardi trophy, our museum on wheels left a lasting impression on the people who went through it on Saturday.

The bus rolled into downtown Canton on Saturday afternoon. Canton local, Dan Fonte of the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans summed up the need for change in his speech. Fonte discussed how local workers are impacted when corporate greed coupled with complacent government overpowers unions and destroys their possibility of a dignified retirement.

“Right here in Stark County we have an example of pensions being dismantled. A local steel company filed for bankruptcy in 2001. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp. took over the control of the pensions along with the courts and eliminated tenure for a lot of people. Now, we have over 1,100 retirees who have been told their pensions will be cut, and in some cases drastically. But did the CEOs of the company have to give back their pensions and other perks? No!!!”

Fonte summed up the need to cement the Bush legacy and the failures of conservative governance perfectly.  

“Are you better off today than before conservatives took control of government? Let’s see: higher gas prices, higher food prices, higher home heating prices, higher electricity bills, more debt, record home foreclosures, school systems in trouble, and heath care we can’t afford. The conservative agenda has created a government that does not protect its people.  How can we let this happen in America? Because we let it happen.”

COLUMBUS, OH - One of the most interesting things about the tour so far is that some people who see the bus at first glimpse think that it is a pro-Bush bus and get angry immediately. We arrived in Columbus on Thursday evening to our parking spot in back of the IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) hall. Several IBEW members came running out of the hall, waving their hands and yelling, "No way! You can't park that thing here!" As the crowd came closer and read the side of the bus, which lists some of the "highlights" (read: failures) of the Bush legacy they realized that the bus was not pro-Bush after all. It was a sight to see the anger that was ignited in a group of electrical workers over the idea of a pro-Bush bus parking in their lot! They apologized profusely for their initial reaction and hopped on board for an 11pm impromptu tour. The loved it!

We stayed at the hall Friday for an all-day community event just a few blocks down called Comfest. We had people from all over Ohio come by the parking lot and check out the bus. The sentiment was echoed throughout the day that Ohio needs change badly and that the dismal economy, health care crisis, and the cost and causalities of the Iraq war have hit the Buckeye state hard.

COLUMBUS, OH

It was the Bush legacy summed up in just two words on a sign held by an activist at our event yesterday in Louisville, Kentucky, where a number of citizens and media showed up to check out the bus and catch the speakers.

Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan spoke about the failures of the Bush Administration and what it has meant for all working Americans. Judy Nunro-Leighton from Louisville Peace Action Committee addressed the tragedy of our un-ending war in Iraq. Kay Tillow from the Nurses Professional Organization/ CNA gave her first-hand view of the healthcare crisis and what it truly means for Americans when we put profit before people's health. Bruce Lunsford, who is running against Mitch McConnell -- one of Bush's biggest supporters in the Senate-made an unscheduled appearance at the event to check out the bus and meet the folks who had gathered to see the bus.

The bus was parked outside a government building in downtown Louisville and a number of government workers came down during their lunch breaks to check out the bus. Most of them expressed frustration over this administration's failures and even more so over their inability to speak out as much as they would like, given their status as government employees. The stop ended on a sobering note when an elderly gentleman who had just finished touring the bus expressed his disgust over what he felt was the worst Presidency of his lifetime.

As he was leaving, he turned to me choking back tears and said, "I just hope we all get out of this OK."

It looks like John McCain got a little jealous of the Bush Legacy Bus.

You see, our Bush Legacy Bus has been getting all sorts of great press coverage at its first stops in Washington DC, Dayton and Louisville. From the Boston Globe to Fox News to the Chicago Sun Times, everyone is talking about the failures of President Bush and his conservative allies like John McCain.

So rather than letting the Bush Legacy Bus get all the media love, John McCain's campaign relaunched its "Ride the Bus" contest. He's giving "one lucky McCainiac and a friend the chance to spend a day on the Straight Talk Express with John McCain."

There's no way we're letting the Straight Talk Express steal away attention from our Bush Legacy Bus. Anything John McCain can do, we can do better.

If you make a donation to Americans United for Change today, you could win a day on the Bush Legacy Bus -- and trust us, our bus is way cooler than John McCain's. Please make a donation now and be entered to win an exclusive day on the bus!

John McCain's Straight Talk Express is so 1999. This year, it's all about the Americans United for Change Bush Legacy Bus. Here's why:

The Straight Talk Express has one purpose: to drive lots and lots of reporters from one McCain campaign stop to another McCain campaign stop. And if someone on the bus isn't a reporter, chances are they're a pesky campaign staff member or a slick Washington lobbyist (which are usually one and the same on the Straight Talk Express).

The Bush Legacy Bus wasn't made for people with laptops and blackberries. It was made for regular folks across the country to learn about the failures of conservative leadership - and to see why progressive approaches to healthcare, the economy, foreign policy and other issues provide the solutions Americans are looking for.

You won't find interactive exhibits on conservatives' failures on Iraq or Katrina on the Straight Talk Express - heck, you'll be lucky to get a McCain staff member to talk about them.

Don't let the McSame-iacs win the battle of the buses. Make a donation now, and you might win a day on the Bush Legacy Bus:
 

LOUISVILLE, KY - The first day of the Bush Legacy Tour was a big success. We rolled in to Dayton on Tuesday night and had a press conference outside of City Hall on Wednesday morning. The event centered around gas prices and the hand that Bush's cronies like John Boehner have had in giving tax cuts to oil companies while most of the country experiences pain at the pump.

The response to the bus was resoundingly positive.  Jaws dropped as Daytonians entered the bus and saw the exhibits chronicling the last eight years of disasters of this administration.  Quite a few people made requests that we return to Dayton and come back to specific locations, including Boehner's house.  The local organizer of the tour reported that from what he could see "1,000 % of the Dayton Press" came out to see the bus. Not a bad start at all!

We rolled out of Dayton in the afternoon and went straight to Louisville, KY to show the bus off at a music festival.  We parked the bus about a block away from the festival. I was concerned that people did not know that the bus was there so I headed down to the festival to spread the word about the bus.

At first I was a little hesitant that I may not receive a positive reaction going up to total strangers and asking them to check out a bus that features the failures of the Bush Administration. I approached the first group of people at the festival and said, "Hey, did you get a chance to check out the Bush Legacy Bus up the road?" I received several slightly miffed and perturbed looks in return. I continued to say, "It is a museum on wheels to the failures of the Bush administration." This clarification was met with relieved smiles, "Oh, it’s about the failures of the Bush administration. How did you fit that all into one bus?" I had similar reactions from around fifty people that I talked to at the festival.

Everyone I spoke to thought the bus was a great idea and the only hesitance I was met with was that a bus was not adequate to display such a thing and that we need "an entire town" or "a bus caravan" to really display the disasters of Bush and Company.

Today we are off to a press conference in downtown Louisville to pay one of Bush's good friends Mitch McConnell a visit.

President Bush's approval ratings have been stuck around 29% for months. With that sort of popularity, you'd think conservatives would be running away from the president right now.

But in fact, the opposite is happening, Just today, the Republican National Committee sent out a fundraising email, asking supporters to celebrate Bush's birthday by signing a birthday card and making a donation to the GOP.

Commemorating Bush's 62nd birthday with a donation "is essential to electing John McCain and Republicans up and down the ticket." 

The e-card reads:

Thank you for your service and dedication to our country. May this day and every day be filled with family, friends, and good fortune.

Best Wishes on your 62nd Birthday, President Bush.

I don't think "thank you" is the message most Americans want to send President Bush these days. 

Bush Legacy Project founder Brad Woodhouse kicks off the Bush Legacy Tour at the AFL-CIO today.