World Affairz

Bush Interview Transcripts

worldaffairz — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 22:08:13 +0000

With regards to the Weapons of Mass Destruction (popularly called now WMD), George W. Bush explained in an interview with Charlie Gibson how, had the intelligence been different, his push on the war with Iraq would have been different:

GIBSON: You’ve always said there’s no do-overs as President. If you had one?

BUSH: I don’t know — the biggest regret of all the presidency has to have been the intelligence failure in Iraq. A lot of people put their reputations on the line and said the weapons of mass destruction is a reason to remove Saddam Hussein. It wasn’t just people in my administration; a lot of members in Congress, prior to my arrival in Washington D.C., during the debate on Iraq, a lot of leaders of nations around the world were all looking at the same intelligence. And, you know, that’s not a do-over, but I wish the intelligence had been different, I guess.

GIBSON: If the intelligence had been right, would there have been an Iraq war?

BUSH: Yes, because Saddam Hussein was unwilling to let the inspectors go in to determine whether or not the U.N. resolutions were being upheld. In other words, if he had had weapons of mass destruction, would there have been a war? Absolutely.

GIBSON: No, if you had known he didn’t.

BUSH: Oh, I see what you’re saying. You know, that’s an interesting question. That is a do-over that I can’t do. It’s hard for me to speculate.

In a Fox News Interview with Brit Hume, George W. Bush states:

HUME: Can you say today that if you had known then what you know now about the weapons, that you would have made the same decision.

BUSH: I said it today, and I said it at the last speech I gave.

And I’ve said it throughout the campaign to the American people. I said I made the right decision. Knowing what I know today, I would have still made that decision.

HUME: Now if you had this — if the weapons had been out of the equation, because the intelligence did not conclude that he had them, it was still the right call?

BUSH: Absolutely.

Sources:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mclcpTA0s7o&feature=related
http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/Politics/Story?id=6356046&page=5
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,178760,00.html

Bailout Bullets

worldaffairz — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 20:50:28 +0000

with the $700 Billion bailout several companies have tried to get a piece of this (approx. 67 so far that are financial institutions)
$290 Billion spent ($410 Billion left)
cities are trying to get a piece of this bailout (phoenix, philadelphia, atlanta)
AIG got $110 Billion
Fannie and Freddie got $200 Billion together
Auto makers (ford, GM, chrysler) got $25 Billion…and now requesting another $25 (if not already approved)
All of this is totalling well over $1 Trillion.

Source: NBC Nightly News 11/14/2008

Obama offers Chief of Staff position to Rahm Emanuel

worldaffairz — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:10:34 +0000

According to several sources, Rahm Emanuel has been offered the position of Chief of Staff, which he will decide within the coming days to accept or not.

The point of this article is to display to the GOP/Republicans that Emanuel, although considered to be Far Left, has similar beliefs, even to the candidates (McCain/Palin) positions that they had elected.

Emanuel:

is FOR off-shore drilling (as Palin says…”drill baby, drill“) along with expanding renewable energies produced here in the United States [link]
in support of Bush, is accepting of the Visa Waver program that allows the inclusion of several countries to promote a greater security for the United States [link]
is in approval of McCain’s motion to alleviate the foreclosure of homes and “keep families in their homes” [link]
was first in the nation to unveil a plan to utilize the new GI Bill, send Veterans into college [link]

Source:
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/20081105/rahm-emanuel-next-chief-staff-report.htm

Closing arguments by McCain

worldaffairz — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 19:21:45 +0000

From FactCheck.org:

Summary

In the final week, the McCain-Palin campaign unleashed some all-new misleading attacks on Obama:

McCain strained to tie Obama to a Palestinian professor whose views on Israel are quite different from Obama’s.
McCain and Palin both distorted a seven-and-a-half-year-old radio interview with Obama concerning the court system and civil rights.
McCain and the GOP ran ads claiming Obama’s military budget would mean huge job cuts in Virginia, despite Obama’s proposal to increase the size of the Army and Marine Corps – and McCain’s own calls for ending wasteful weapons programs.

Source:
http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/closing_arguments_mccain.html

Ayers linked to McCain

worldaffairz — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:59:01 +0000

The McCain/Palin ticket has jumped the gun again and has begun accusing Obama of being linked to Rashid Khalidi, who supposedly is a pro PLO spokesman and “apparently” a friend of Willaim Ayers. The odd thing is they forgot McCain is linked to Khalidi in a much bigger way:

Khalidi had a going away party when he left Chicago to become professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University
Obama attended and gave money
Ayers attended and gave money
McCain didn’t attend but had given money to Khalidi a few years prior
Obama & Ayers totaled about $80k
McCain alone gave nearly $450k

So how does this link McCain with Ayers? They both provided money to somebody who Jewish groups accuse as an “extremist” (because he has spoken sympathetically about resistance to the Israeli). If the GOP begin to defend McCain, they are going to say he didn’t know his associations with the PLO, etc. So who’s to say Obama knew his associations as well? What if they both knew? The GOP needs to stop playing the double standard, because it’s embarrassing and a disgrace (even to me as a republican).

[It feels like an argument with a girlfriend who began accusing the boyfriend of hanging out with one of his childhood friends (who's a girl), and they (the girlfriend) constantly hangs out with their "best friend" (who's a guy)]

To McCain/Palin:
STOP JUMPING THE GUN AND DO YOUR RESEARCH BEFORE YOU START ACCUSING PEOPLE OF THE SAME FAULTS YOU HAVE TIME AND TIME AGAIN ARE MORE VICTIM OF, THAN YOUR OPPONENT.

Now granted, this is just more fluff again from McCain/Palin to try and shoot down Obama. Some things are questionable, but my worry is that these two are not doing their research. They are receiving a piece of information that sounds good to attack with, without finding out all the information before officially attacking. The GOP continues to dig themself further and further down, and are struggling with every sad attempt to come back up.

I’m tired of the name calling, and the “supposed” associations brought by Fox media. If GOP candidates were worthy of winning, they would be first to declare an economic strategy, a healthcare plan, a foreign policy. He has continued to bring things post Obama, and even though he has brought some points to the table, they are still not valid enough to be what we need to bring back the country.

(sorry for the rant, this has just been extremely frustrating and beyond annoying to keep seeing this over and over and over and over and…..)

Source:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/10/john_mccains_trick_or_treat.html?hpid=topnews

Pittsburgh Police say “she lied”

worldaffairz — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:25:30 +0000

Pittsburgh police stated that the 20 year old McCain volunteer:

made up the whole story
never was attacked by a “black” man
never was carved a “B” for Barack by this imaginary man
is mentally unstable

Source:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003877824

Republicans = Anti-Muslim (apparently)

worldaffairz — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 21:05:37 +0000

Otero County Republican Woman Chair Marcia Stirman has made it clear of how much of a Republican she is, by stating that a Republican believes Muslims are our enemies. I posted her whole post because I was afraid the publication would eventually take it down because of the severity of it (and the rate Republicans are going, they seem to have to be repudiating alot of comments made by their fellow people [ie. Bachmann]. I guess they know now how the Muslims feel that don’t support terrorism or Al-Qaeda):

I read in today’s paper what a woman wrote explaining why she’s a Democrat. Let me tell you why I’m not. I’m a Republican because:

I believe in a sovereign God who sometimes gives us what we deserve.

I believe Muslims are our enemies.

I believe in life. A baby is not just a fetus, but a living being no matter where it resides.

I believe there is a good reason for the death penalty.

I believe in fiscal responsibility, for the government and for us.

I believe the government is way too big and rife with greed and corruption.

I believe in the truth. People believe lies because it’s much easier than finding the truth.

I believe in personal responsibility. That includes spanking your children.

I believe American women should raise their own children and American men should be men enough to pay for children they’ve produced.

I believe a man and woman make marriage. Period.

I believe in America first and foremost and we ought to take care of our own people, our own land, and illegal aliens should go home.

I believe in guns and knowing how to use them properly.

I believe war is a fact of life and we should always win.

I believe in lower taxes. I know how to spend money better than Congress any day of the week.

I believe in voter ID.

I believe there is a moderate and a socialist in this election. I agree with a two-party system, but Obama isn’t a messiah or a democrat.

He’s a Muslim socialist.
Marcia Stirman, Alamogordo

Source:
http://www.alamogordonews.com/opinion/ci_10772782

Michele Bachmann suffers, now says “I made a misstatement”

worldaffairz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:08:54 +0000

In a twitter post made on Friday (link), it was mentioned that Congress Woman Bachmann questioned Obama’s ethics and his patriotism to America (you can see what she said here). She is now stating that she was conned and tricked into saying those things, when in fact it’s just a recourse action she’s making since the RNC is pulling the funding from her campaign.

Source:
http://www.startribune.com/politics/state/31812514.html?elr=KArks7PYDiaK7DUdcOy_nc:DKUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU
http://twitter.com/worldaffairz/statuses/964413933
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrgaUVNjBjw

Palin the Fashionista, or at least spends like one…

worldaffairz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:56:47 +0000

Palin’s spending habits aren’t exactly aligned with the “hockey mom’s” way of spending.

spends $150k in September alone
clothes came from retailers such as Saks 5th Ave, Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, and Barney’s NY
expenses included nearly $5k on hair and make up
now GOP spokespeople think its a good idea to talk about “the real” issues

Source:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/alltherage/2008/10/palins-economic.html

Colin Powell endorses Obama, as well as Donators

worldaffairz — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:55:55 +0000

After Fox’s sad attempt at devaluing Powell’s possible endorsement for Obama by bringing ethnic race into the political race (link), Colin Powell made an appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press” with an official endorsement, and the several reasons why he believed Obama was the better candidate:

denounces the daily republican attack, that Obama is in FACT ready to be a leader
states McCain “did not seem to grasp the depth of the global financial crisis and appeared to offer shifting solutions to it”
states Palin as a distinguished woman, but is not ready to be President, which is indeed the role of the Vice President
“It isn’t easy for me to disappoint Sen. McCain in the way that I have this morning, and I regret that, but I strongly believe that at this point in America’s history, we need a president who will not just continue, basically, the policies that we have been following in recent years.”
also mentioned in the article was that Obama had reached funding in excess of $150 million recently
GOP’s are complaining that this is unfair, but McCain elected to gather federal funding from the RNC which is capped at about $89.1 million, while Obama decided to only gather funding from the people.

Source:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-campaign20-2008oct20,0,3395376.story