posted on August 16, 2004 10:00:27 AM new
"After listening to John Kerry's acceptance address...I did a little experiment. ... I edited out phony religiosity and pointless political platitudes of the sort that could be used by any politician in any situation, including Hitler (i.e., "We're the optimists". I also chopped out all gratuitous flag-waving all forced and hollow tough-talking, and all draping of the clearly unworthy self in the ill-fitting cloak of the great figures of history. Further down the line were the intellectual crimes. Lies went out right away, but I also cut out things that were not lies exactly, but mere words. Also banished were the many species of literary fraud -- from facile generalizations to redundancies to such crass, hypersentimental, factory-generated cliches as 'trees [are] the cathedrals of nature.' There were also many shades of disingenuousness to deal with, most of which came into play when Kerry levied attacks against George Bush. ... When I was done cutting, there were only two lines left. 'I was born in Colorado. America can do better. Amen'. " --Matt Taibbi
posted on August 16, 2004 10:18:19 AM new
Here is the first draft of Bush's Inaugural Address before Dick rewrote it for him.
My fellow Armenians,
As I stand here today, looking out over this magnificent viagra, I think we can agree that the past is over. Our country is ready for a fresh, bipolar approach.
I want to bring America together. We are the hill shining on a city, and each of us can get to the top if we set our feet to it Americans have made their decision. They don't need sympathy; they need ablutions. We need to move beyond the petty armadilloes.
Politics doesn't have to be the way it is today. We can make the pie higher. A high pie lets everyone put food on their family and their family on the table.
That's my record: I side with the people. And the B-side of my record is Billy-Joe Gibbs and the Shoeshine Boys singing "Streets in Laredo".
(Music break)
A president has to think not only of himself and his family and his baseball team's families, but of all American families. I don't believe a president should be choosing who are the right Americans and who are the wrong Americans. All of us are together, white or wrong, black or right. Or perversely. That's why my tax cut is as broad as we are. And it will give o ur expansion a timely second dose of wind.
(Zantac commercial)
I say there's a cost to inaction. I haven't done the acrobatics, but it's probably around a trillion dollars. That's a good round sum to offer to everyone, especially our seniors, who are the backache of our nation. I would like to take a moment to mention my mother, Barbara Bush, who taught me to read and write when I was still knee-high to a lawnmower. We need our seniors to be free to pass on their life's work to those they love , and especially to pass on.
Thanks, Mom and Dad.
(Applause; tears)
We know that America is the best in the world. We are the great super-premium; we cannot afford to be unleaded. This is still a world of madmen and mental losses. And mental loss is easy to underestimate. We need a sharpened sword to light our way. To quote Ronald Reagan: "I do not believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do nothing. I do believe in a fate that will fall on us if we do something. And it must never run our lives."
(Exxon commercial).
The purpose of prosperity is to make sure the American dream touches every killing heart. Progress can be slow; you measure it in inches and feet, not miles or kilograms. Or cantilevers. I worked in Texas by common sense and plain dozing. I got on with small business, because I was one myself. I'm less now. But I'm also more. We are all less and more. More or less. And I believe we must match our compassionate hearts to our preservative minds.
I know you would rather be watching TV, and so would I, so I will draw to a confusion. My message is: I will get things done. I will inspire and untie. I will appeal to people's better angles. I will prove that politics can be bigger than you ever thought possible. We will trust the people we serve, and serve the people we trust. Together, we can do what needs to be done to preserve this great bastard of freedom.
Thank you, and God help America.
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
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YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
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We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
[ edited by logansdad on Aug 16, 2004 10:59 AM ]
And we will extend the promise of prosperity to every forgotten corner of this country: to every man and woman, a chance to succeed; to every child, a chance to learn; and to every family, a chance to live with dignity and hope.
For eight years the Clinton-Gore administration has coasted through prosperity. The path of least resistance is always downhill. But America's way is the rising road. This nation is daring and decent and ready for change
I would like to know how America has prospered in the past four years. Bush was right, America was ready for a change. A chnage for the worse.
We know the test of leadership. The issues are joined. We will strengthen Social Security and Medicare for the greatest generation and for generations to come.
Medicare does more than meet the needs of our elderly; it reflects the values of our society. We will set it on firm financial ground and make prescription drugs available and affordable for every senior who needs them.
Social Security has been called the third rail of American politics, the one you're not supposed to touch because it might shock you. But if you don't touch it, you cannot fix it.
And I intend to fix it.
Bush has yet to do anything for Medicare or Social Security in four years.
Now is the time to give American workers security and independence that no politician can ever take away.
Now is the time to give American workers security and independence that no politician can ever take away.
Now is the time to give American workers security and independence that no politician can ever take away.
....no poltician except Bush that is. How many American workers have lost their jobs since he was taken office.
And those who spend your tax dollars must be held accountable
But they've got it backwards. The surplus is not the government's money; the surplus is the people's money.
Nice to know Bush is being accountable for his spending. We went from a surplus to a deficit.
On principle, no one in American should have to pay more than a third of their income to the federal government, so we will reduce tax rates for everyone in every bracket
On principle, those with the greatest need should receive the greatest help, so we will lower the bottom rate from 15 percent to 10 percent and double the child credit.
Now is the time to reform the tax code and share some of the surplus with the people who pay the bills.
I see a national sales tax on the horizon or does Bush mean everyone will have the same income tax regardless of how much they make.
I will work to reduce nuclear weapons and nuclear tension in the world, to turn these years of influence into decades of peace. And at the earliest possible date, my administration will deploy missile defenses to guard against attack and blackmail.
Now is the time not to defend outdated treaties but to defend the American people
It makes you wonder how much Bush knew about 9/11 before it happened....years of peace...it has been four years of war and hostility with our allies.
We will give low-income Americans tax credits to buy the private health insurance they need and deserve.
We will transform today's housing rental program to help hundreds of thousands of low-income families find stability and dignity in a home of their own.
And in the next bold step of welfare reform, we will support the heroic work of homeless shelters and hospices, food pantry and crisis pregnancy centers, people reclaiming their communities block by block and heart by heart.
Did Bush accomplish any of this? No, probably because he could not pay to fund these programs and a war.
This is the vision of America's founders. They never saw our nation's greatness in rising wealth or in advancing armies, but in small, unnumbered acts of caring and courage and self-denial.
Their highest hope, as Robert Frost described it, was to occupy the land with character. And that, 13 generations later, is still our goal, to occupy the land with character.
Did Bush say this to the troops before he sent them off to occupy Iraq?
I believe true leadership is a process of addition, not an act of division.
And how has Bush united this country. I think it is more divided then ever.
I will not attack a part of this country because I want to lead the whole of it.
Instead I will attack other countries
And I believe this'll be a tough race, down to the wire. Their war room is up and running, but we are ready.
Again it makes you think what Bush knew about the election results and 9/11 before they happened.
Let's have a BBQ, Texas style, ROAST BUSH
------------------------------
YOU CAN'T HAVE BULLSH** WITH OUT BUSH.
------------------------------
We the people, in order to form a more perfect Union....
.....one Nation indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for ALL.
. I also chopped out all gratuitous flag-waving all forced and hollow tough-talking, and all draping of the clearly unworthy self in the ill-fitting cloak of the great figures of history. Further down the line were the intellectual crimes. Lies went out right away, but I also cut out things that were not lies exactly, but mere words. Also banished were the many species of literary fraud -- from facile generalizations to redundancies to such crass, hypersentimental, factory-generated cliches as 'trees [are] the cathedrals of nature.' There were also many shades of disingenuousness to deal with, most of which came into play when Kerry levied attacks against George Bush. ... When I was done cutting, there were only two lines left. 'I was born in Colorado. America can do better. Amen'. " --Matt Taibbi
