Bush's 2004 State of the Union Address: The Aftermath
Last year, after President Bush delivered his State of the Union address, he brought America to war in Iraq on the excuse that Saddam Hussein had a huge stockpile of weapons of mass destruction. The President declared the Iraq war over on 1st May last year, yet to-date, more than 500 US soldiers were killed in Iraq.
This year, the State of the Union address was not about winning another war, but winning the next Presidential election in November 2004.
What others are saying on Bush's 2004 State of the Union address:
Update (07.45 am): Jay Shaft: " What's New, George? - George Bush went on TV Tuesday night and told us all how good it is in America thanks to all the things he has done. He painted a rosy picture of economic recovery, renewed prosperity, new job growth, and many victories in the war on terror. The facts he presented to America did NOT even remotely resemble the true facts behind the greatest crisis America has ever faced. No matter how he described the current situation in America, nothing he said came close to the truth about the real state of the union. Let’s forget for a moment any myths the current administration is trying to get us to swallow. Let’s instead look at the real facts and figures that every American should be aware of. " Read Here for more.....
Read here "The Real State of the Union" under George W. Bush, in The Independent (UK)
Editorial,The Capitol Times: " Bush Is Way Off Course - George W. Bush used his State of the Union address to ask Americans to stay the course with him, and his policies. In so doing, he illustrated the dramatic disconnect between the Bush administration and reality. What would staying the course on foreign policy mean?.... A president whose tenure has made America and the world a more dangerous place, and whose administration has presided over the loss of more than 2.3 million American jobs, is not in a position to ask Americans to stay the course Read Here for more....
Editorial, Toronto Star: "President George Bush painted the American union as 'confident and strong' in his pre-election State of the Union speech this week. Frayed and testy might be a better description. Polls show Bush to be a divisive figure both at home and abroad who alienates as much as he impresses. For many in the U.S. and overseas, the world is indeed changing, as Bush says, but not for the better. Read here for more....
Commentary by Christian Science Monitor: "Bush said, 'No one can ever doubt the word of America.' But to keep one's word on promised actions also requires keeping one's words honest and true. And Bush at some point is likely to have to repair a chink in his credibility if inspectors don't find even a vial of chemical or biological weapons. For now, the president hedges by citing evidence of Iraqi capability for producing such weapons. But his prewar talk of actual weapons hangs over his administration, the intelligence community, the political campaign, and indeed, 'the word of America. 'The "word of America" does indeed need to be strong. It can be made stronger if promises and facts correspond. " Read here for more....
David Corn: "Bush said.' No one can now doubt the word of America.' But this remark made it seem he was oblivious to the fact that many people around the globe believe that the war in Iraq demonstrated that Bush's word is worth nothing. He misled America and the world regarding Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction. Bush chose not to directly address the issue of MIA WMDs in the speech. Instead, he offered a weak argument, noting that David Kay, the chief weapons hunter, "identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities." Programs are not weapons. Read here for more....
Arianna Huffington: " 'Our nation must defend the sanctity of marriage,' Bush declared to ringing applause from Tom DeLay and the "Amen" chorus on the right. What makes the president's proposal particularly galling is that it's being offered up by a politician who came into office attacking federal programs like the one he is proposing for being too intrusive. "I trust people," said candidate Bush during one of his debates with Al Gore. "I don't trust the federal government." ...It's time for voters to rethink their relationship with the Commander-in-Chief -- and file for divorce. Read here for more
David Broder: " Bush said,'The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got.' And war is what they will get if Bush is reelected." Read here for more....
Richard Cohen: "This year's State of the Union address, while not quite a lie, was clearly deceptive. I didn't feel Bush had an obligation to tick off everything that had gone wrong about Iraq, but I didn't expect him to pretend that somehow the WMD allegations had been substantiated. He cited the report of chief weapons inspector David Kay as if it vindicated the original charges, when in fact it did not. And then, in a rhetorical sleight of hand, he talked as if the aim of the war had been simply to remove a thug from office -- when that was always supposed to be a byproduct. The trouble is that just about everything Bush said a year ago has turned out not to be true. Yet Bush not only whistled past that particular graveyard, he acted as if he had been right all along. "Had we failed to act, the dictator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day," he said. Yes, and Enron would still be reporting earnings. Read here for more....
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