Blog For Arizona

BUSH ATTACKS KERRY WHILE COZYING UP TO DICTATORS

Via Daily Misleader:

President Bush earlier this week attacked John Kerry, saying "It's hard to imagine a candidate running for President prefers the stability of a dictatorship to the hope and security of democracy." Yet, it is President Bush who regularly declares his preference for dictatorship as a political system and maintains personal friendship and courtesy toward some of the world's most oppressive dictators, often wining and dining them at his ranch in Texas.

Bush said before he was even elected President in Governing Magazine’s 7/98 issue, "A dictatorship would be a lot easier." Then said to CNN on December 18, 2000, following a contentious election of questionable ligitimacy, at time when the American people needed wise and inclusive leadership, "If this were a dictatorship, it would be a heck of a lot easier - just so long I'm the dictator." And then said on July 30, 2001, in Business Week, "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." By his own words and actions, Bush seems to have a fairly high opinion of dictatorship as a system of governance. Perhaps it appeals to his simple, black vs. white, good vs. evil conception of the world.

In June of 2004, Bush referred to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as "my friend," even though the Saudi Arabian government has been investigated for its financial ties to the 9/11 terrorists and is listed by the U.S. State Department as one of the most oppressive regimes on the planet.

In April, he referred to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as "my friend" and welcomed him to the Crawford ranch by saying "I always look forward to visiting with him." Bush gave this praise to a dictator, even though Human Rights Watch notes that government "torture in Egypt is widespread and systemic" and the State Department says Mubarak has passed a Constitution in which the electorate is barred from being "presented with a choice among competing presidential candidates."

In 2002, it was Bush who said "I want to welcome the President of China to our ranch, and to Texas." Bush was inviting into his home a dictator who, according to the U.S. State Department, presides over a government that regularly engages in the "arbitrary or unlawful" murder of its own citizens, kidnappings of political dissidents, and repression of religious minorities.

One thing is for sure, if you want a President who has plenty of sympathy and kind words for dictators, and thinks that dictatorship is a nifty and efficient system of government, your choice couldn’t be more clear.

"Four more years!" "Four more years!" "Four more years!"

posted by Michael Bryan @ 9/23/2004 04:30:00 PM