UltraNormal

Melissa asked for facts. Well, I've got facts. They're all the things that Bush has done in office that should disqualify him from being our President. Here goes... (the sources aren't the only ones, just the first ones I found in my frantic scurrying over the web)

George W. Bush's (and his Administration's) Record:

• George W. Bush has presided over the largest deficits in this country's history by any measure, after coming into office with the largest budget surplus in history.
• While I can understand why the Bush administration doesn't bear all the blame for not stopping 9/11 from happening, they let Abu Ghraib happen. Abu Ghraib is the largest stain ever on our ever-decreasing reputation. It's an international crime the scale of which our country has never committed. That people far up the chain of command (ie: political appointees) were not held responsible by the President is unbelievable.
• George W. Bush lied to the American people about the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. The evidence bears no other conclusion.
  • There was no working relationship between Al Qaeda and the Iraqi government.
  • Both Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice lied about Iraq's nuclear threat, yet another case of them abusing and twisting available intelligence to fit their desired conclusion.
  • The meeting between Mohammed Atta and the Iraqi Secret Service never took place, because Atta was in the US at the time.
  • Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (see upcoming US Inspection team report.).
  • Iraq had no programs for creating them past the theoretical phase (there were a couple dozen countries closer to having both nuclear and biological weapons than Iraq).
  • Iraq was far less of a threat to our national security than North Korea or Iran.
  • The "intelligence" used by the White House was taken from unreliable sources, and most of it had been thoroughly debunked by our own intelligence agencies. (lots and lots of information here and here)
• Dick Cheney is still being paid by Halliburton, the largest recipient of no-bid contracts in Iraq. Sources: CNN and CBS News
• Tom Ridge hold sizable amount of stock in companies with contracts with the Department of Homeland Security. Source: Congressional Quarterly
• The Bush Administration resisted the formation of the 9/11 Commission and fought their requests for information at every turn. Only when the commission members went public with the stonewalling did they relent. Source: BBC News, here and here
• George W. Bush has spent 27% of his first time on vacation. Source: Yahoo
• The Administration refused to listen to the advice of experts at the Pentagon about the aftermath of the war, and failed to plan for the contingencies those experts thought most likely to happen (and have been proven correct). This is backed by General Tommy Franks' memoir about the war, and the statements of both Pentagon personel and Administration officials. See timelines linked above.

There is, of course, more.

John Kerry is the only other viable option. George W. Bush and his Administration have proven they are unfit to lead this country. They have proven to be incompetant, inflexible and seemingly prejudge every situation, deciding a course of action before reviewing available facts, and then refusing to change course, even when their present course proves unsustainable.

I'll work on getting facts on why you should vote for John Kerry instead of just voting against George W. Bush, but I wanted to get these out.