Kurt Kurowski at Democratic Underground outlines just a few of Dubya’s many Flip-Flops.
As Kurowski points out, however, it was Ralph Waldo Emerson who sagely called consistency “the hob-goblin of little minds.”
None the less, in the interest of “a silly little round of political pat-a-cake”, since the bulk of his piece outlines indeed how the “flip-flopping” charge, as the GOP Talking Points put it, is little more than rhetorical sleight-of-hand, political expediency and shamless opportunism.
But in this season, I suppose, the unanswered shot can be the fatal one. Yes, we’ve covered some of the many George W. Bush “Flip-Flops” before, but it’s always nice to have a well-bulleted list as a refreshing reminder/reference tool when met with the robotic-like parrotted Rush-rhetoric of your Fake-Conservative-Beyond-Any-Reason Brother-in-Law at this year’s Labor Day BBQ.
• Bush is against a Homeland Security Department; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against a 9/11 commission; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against a WMD investigation; then he’s for it.
• Bush is against nation building; then he’s for it. (Even before 9/11 it was part of his foreign policy, PNAC. So drop the “everything changed after 9/11” malarky.)
• Bush said he’ll provide money for first responders (emergency services); then he doesn’t.
• Bush is against deficits; then he’s for them.
• Bush is for free trade; then he’s for tariffs on steel; then he’s against them again.
• Bush said he’ll reduce Greenhouse gases; then doesn’t do it.
• Bush is for a patient’s bill of rights then; then he fights against it.
• Bush say that “help is on the way” to the military; then he cuts benefits.
• Bush talks about helping education; then he cuts funding.
• Bush says the U.S. won’t negotiate with North Korea; then he says we will.
• Bush campaigns at racist Bob Jones University; then says he shouldn’t have.
• Bush says he will demand a U.N. Security Council vote on whether to sanction military action against Iraq; then he announces he won’t call for a vote.
• Bush says the “mission accomplished” banner was put up by the Navy; then he admits it was his advance team.
• Bush is for fingerprinting and photographing Mexicans who enter the US; then he’s against it.
• Bush is for a state’s right to decide on gay marriage; then he’s for amending the constitution to prevent it. (Cheney, whose daughter is a lesbian, shared this flippety-flop big time. “Gee thanks, dad.” “Don’t fret, hon, daddy’s only playing up to the rubes!”)
And there are almost one hundred more examples, all accomplished in only three and a half years. Just imagine how proud his mother must be.
From what I understand of the Republican horror of flip-flopping and the integrity deficit it indicates, and given Mr. Bush’s record as a flip-flopper, many Republicans will now be forced by conscience into a third party vote, or into not voting at all. But maybe Rush Limbaugh can give them dispensation, I dunno.
Is he in or is he out, is he in or is he out. Bush has contradicted himself so many times, I feel like I need a cervical collar just to keep up with his stand points. He should have the nickname "The Spatula" with how many times he has flipped over. He doesn’t just flip flop, he’s a constant roll over. I have come to expect all politicians to change their points once they are in office to some extent. After all, with the job comes some need for compromise in order to accomplish anything in the government. But there is a real difference between compromise and complete about face on every issue.