Green Party response to SOTU and SOTU Dem Rebuttal

[Terwilliger]

** Green Party of California Update **


GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release
Friday, January 23, 2004


GREENS SPEAK OUT ON BUSH'S STATE OF THE UNION REMARKS
AND THE DEMOCRATIC RESPONSE

Greens want to know: will Bush enlist Gov.
Schwarzenegger in his crusade against steroid abuse?
A post-speech follow-up to the Green Party's
pre-speech rebuttal released on January 20
<http://www.gp.org/press/pr_01_20_04.html>.


WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders disputed and
criticized statements made by President Bush in his
2004 State of the Union address and by Democrats Rep.
Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Sen. Tom Daschle (S.Dak.) in
their response to the President's speech:

-- President Bush continued to speak of the invasion
of Iraq as part of the war on terrorism, although
Saddam Hussein apparently had no proven connections
with al-Qaeda or the 9/11 attacks. Mr. Bush addressed
none of the disturbing questions raised by former
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill's revelations, the
damning analysis from the Army War College and
Carnegie Endowment, and the failure to locate WMDs.
Mr. Bush has changed his terminology from "weapons of
mass destruction" to the vague "weapons of mass
destruction programs," obfuscating the fact that the
U.N. inspections had worked as intended in Iraq.

-- It's evident from Rep. Pelosi's comments that the
Democrats will make no effort to hold Mr. Bush and his
staff acountable for the numerous lies they told to
justify the invasion. Democrats will also take no
responsibility for their yea votes that helped pass
the USA Patriot Act, the transfer of Congress's
constitutional war powers to the White House, and much
of the rest of the Bush agenda. Sen. John Kerry
(Mass.) and Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), who led in the
Iowa caucuses, supported these bills and the invasion
itself.

-- Mr. Bush listed several countries who supported the
invasion as proof that it was a truly international
effort, but neglected to mention that the U.S. leveled
economic threats against some of these countries to
win their support. Many of these governments backed
the invasion in disregard of vigorous opposition from
a majority of their citizens.

-- Mr. Bush claimed that "The people of Iraq are
free", even though Iraq is under occupation by a
foreign power. Mr. Bush said, "For diplomacy to be
effective, words must be credible - and no one can now
doubt the word of America." But nearly the whole
world, except for diehard Republicans and British
Prime Minister Blair, knows that the reasons given in
early 2003 to invade Iraq were fraudulent.

-- While speaking of American heroes in the war on
Iraq, neither President Bush nor the Democrats
acknowledged the 500-plus American troops killed in
Iraq or the many more wounded. President Bush has
attended no services for fallen troops; his
Administration has banned media coverage of the return
of bodies to the U.S.

-- President Bush spoke at length about eliminating
terrorism, but continues to hinder a full
investigation into the facts behind the 9/11 attacks.
U.S. foreign aid continues to benefit the ruling
families of Saudi Arabia, who may be diverting these
funds to terrorist groups, but the F.B.I. has never
questioned anyone in Saudi Arabia about the attacks.

-- Neither Mr. Bush nor the Democrats mentioned the
crisis in Israel and Palestine, which is aggravating
anti-American sentiment throughout the Muslim world.
The Bush Administration, with no objection from most
Democrats, continues to support Israel's government
with billions of dollars from American taxpayers for
the construction of the Wall, the illegal settlements,
the Israeli military's daily suppression of rights and
violence visited on Palestinians. Greens also deplore
the violence committed by some Palestinians against
Israeli citizens, but note that Palestinian violence
is not funded with U.S. taxpayers' money.

-- The Democratic response failed to mention the 200
public-health and environmental laws that Mr. Bush has
attempted to weaken. Democratic votes put some of his
worst anti-ecological legislation over the top.

-- Despite his rosy prognosis, the first Bush term saw
a $127 billion surplus turned into a $500 billion
deficit, with 2.4 million lost jobs and 9 million
currently unemployed, thanks to massive tax cuts for
the rich and a price tag of $162 billion and growing
for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. The
resulting cuts in social spending include $300 million
from heat subsidies for poor families.

-- "Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage."
With these words, the President sanctioned a jihad
against the rights of gay, lesbian, and bisexual
Americans, painting them as enemies of America's
future without specifically mentioning them. Mr. Bush
tacitly blessed the Federal Marriage Protection
Amendment, which if passed would be the first
amendment to repeal rights and protections for one
class of Americans. The Democrats failed to respond
to this part of the speech; many Democrats (including
liberals and progressives) voted yea for President
Clinton's antigay Defense of Marriage Act in 1996,
which Mr. Bush cited to show that his jihad has
bipartisan support.

"Bush wants to overturn rulings like the one from the
Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, which
fulfilled its civic and legal responsibility and moral
obligation to uphold the rights of the gay, lesbian,
bisexual, transgender, and queer Americans," said
Brandon Lacy Campos, chair of the Green Party's
Lavender Caucus. The Green Party strongly supports
full same-sex marriage rights.

-- If all Americans enjoyed the kind of health
coverage enjoyed by Congress, to which Mr. Bush
referred in his discussion of Medicare, we'd have
national health insurance, which the Green Party
supports but Republicans and most Democrats reject.
Sen. Daschle's response offered no systematic proposal
for covering the U.S.'s 43 million uninsured citizens.


"The cost of providing health care in the U.S. is a
staggering $1.6 trillion annually, but national health
insurance, the single payer proposal developed by the
Physicians for a National Health Program, would save
$200 billion," said Greg Gerritt, secretay of the
Green Party of the United States. "President Bush
wants to fly to Mars, but he won't give Americans
access to a doctor."

-- President Bush's educational reform basically
amounts to a standardized testing program, centralized
through a federal bureaucracy, that has interrupted
the classroom curricula across the U.S. He promised
"better options when schools are not performing," but
public schools are facing an economic crisis because
of the Bush tax cuts. Poor children and those with
special needs will suffer most. Millions of children
will be left behind.


MORE INFORMATION

The Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax [phone]

[SadEagle]

1. LOL on the steroid comment. Great soundbite

eom

[flaminbats]

2. At least someone had a response!

Mike Malloy and the Greens provided the only decent arguments against the State of the Onion...

Pelosi and Daschle sounded like two sorry sinners begging for forgiveness..not like national party leaders.

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. Here's another great rebuttal

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0121-02.htm

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Thanks for posting this

:)