Political: Reasons I did not vote for Bush

Today Master and I went out to go to vote early. We waited in line about an hour. I voted for Kerry. I am going to admit right away that Kerry is not my ideal candidate. But I just can't stand the thought of Bush being in office another 4 years. It does make me nervous and scared. As you will see below - there are many reasons I did not vote for Bush. I know Bush supporters can come back with Kerry does this and that and I did look at both views. But I am listing the reasons I why I did not vote for Bush. So please no flames, as you are not going to change my mind…I already voted.

I did lots of research before casting my vote and here are just a few reasons I did not vote for Bush even though I could have went on for a few more pages. But the orginal word document that I typed it up in was already 6 pages long.

These are not in any order. I tried to bring sources to most of the reasons but I know I have missed a few and of course some are pure personal opinion so no source to quote but me.

War, Terrorism, Iraq, Military Defense and Foreign Policy all clumped together….

I don't feel safe with him. I feel more unsafe then I have ever with a president. Before Bush, I never thought about safety all that much…because I felt safe. But since Bush, I have felt unsafe. And feel the world is an unsafe place with him in office. And yes I am scared because of the attacks on 9/11 but the reason I feel unsafe with Bush is because of the results of his actions of 9/11. Going to war in Iraq and not going after Osama.

Yes I am one of them that does not like this one….I don't like that he sat for 7 minutes after were attacked. I have heard that the teacher thought he handled it well in not alarming the children. But what first crossed my mind was…he is the president of the USA and he is a target. So, in my mind he was putting those children and all the children in that school at risk. Not to mention that we were under attack and all these people are dying and he is just sitting there. It bothers me. (William Langley, "Revealed: What Really Went on During Bush's 'Missing Hours,'" The Telegraph, December 16, 2001. '" David E. Sanger and Don Van Natta Jr., "After The Attacks: The Events; In Four Days, A National Crisis Changes Bush's Presidency," The New York Times, September 16, 2001, Michael Kranish, "Bush: US To Hunt Down Attackers," Boston Globe, September 11, 2001. & 9-11 Commission Report Commission Report, p 35, Commission Report, pp. 38-39)/

I don't like that Bush lied to us about WMD and tried to push that Saddam and Al Qaeda were linked. (Fact Check, Whitehouse Interviews, American Progress, CNN, 9/11 Commssion Report, 525 Reasons)

I don't like that he is not going after Osama. Instead he let druglord in Afghanistan do the work - people we did not trust weeks before. That does not make sense to me.

Despite repeated calls for reinforcements, there are fewer experienced CIA agents assigned to the unit dealing with Osama now than there were before 9/11. (NY Times)

I don't understand how the Bush administration thinks that they make me feel safer. Because obviously Bush did not do anything to the Osama when we are attacked last time so why would I trust he would do something to the terrorist this time?

Bush at one time said he wanted Osama dead or alive and now he says he is not that worried about him (Whitehouse News Release) So he is not worried about the man that attacked the USA. So I guess he is not worried about the USA being attacked again if he is not worried about a terrorist that attacked us before.

The Bush Administration has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama and Saddam's money. (SFGate)

Bush said no casualties (CNN) yet during the Bush Administration's war in Iraq, more than 1,000 US troops have lost their lives and more than 7,000 have been injured. (Global Security) And then 15, 000 Iraqi (Iraqi Body Count)

Cheney said that if we don't elect Bush we will be hit again by terrorist. I hate that they use terror to get people vote for them and just love all they have done so far (rolling eyes). (Washington Post, Fact Check ). And they call it a war on Terror but it is a war on Iraq. Bush hasn't fought the terrorism. And it is my belief he is creating more chance for terrorism.

I don't like the Patriot Act…it seems to invade American's privacy....such as they can go into a "suspect" house without a court order. (But know I don't know enough about it to point the things that bother - just the bits and pieces I have heard).

Americans wanted to impeach a president for getting a blow job but they don't want to impeach a man for taking us into war and lying to us about it. And most importantly for having many of our fellow American's killed for a cause many don't even understand why they are there.

Bush Administration wanting to lift ban on low yield nuclear weapons. (Washington Post)

During the Bush Administration, North Korea has quadrupled its "suspected" nuclear arsenal from 2 to 8 weapons (NY Times)

The Bush Administration awarded a multibillion-dollar no-bid contract to Halliburton. Cheney gets paid from Halliburton still also. Halliburton overcharged the military for services, accepted kickbacks from subcontractors and served troops dirty food. (Washington Post & BBC)

Economy

The Bush Administration turned a $236 billion surplus into a $422 billion deficit. (Fact Check, Fact Check Again, Fortune)

Bush say that he created 1.7 million jobs created since the summer of 2003 - saying the economy stronger because of it. But yet he does not talk about that he is the first president since Hoover to have decline in payroll employment. And some don't think that sounds that bad, which I think is incredible. But the economy needs 1.6 million new jobs created a year to keep up with the population. They barely covered the huge gap between the number of jobs the country needs and the number actually available. (Fact Check)

Unemployment declined only because some of those are not counted after their benefits run out but still not working so therefore the unemployment statistics dropped.

As a candidate in 2000, Bush said he would pay down the national debt. He said it would historically low level. The national debt stood at $7,379,052,696,330.32, a record high as of Sept. 30. (Public Debt & George W. Bush & Fact Check)

Bush as a candidate in 2000 said he would protect the Social Security surplus. He spent all of it. (George W. Bush & CBO)

Health/Medical

I feel everyone should have access to affordable health insurance. As an adult who has not had health insurance because I can't afford it. It is important to me. I also know people who have kids and no insurance and that is scary to me. I like that Kerry has a plan that would help those of us not being able to afford it. Bush said that it would be government regulated but he misleads on that too. (Fact Check)

During the Bush administration 5 million people have lost their health insurance (CNN)

When Kerry when defending pro-choice during a debate, he said he thinks about a girl who became pregnant by her father who raped her. Kerry feels that girl should be able to get an abortion if she wanted. Bush never even commented on that when he had rebuttal. Not to even say that would be horrid if that happened. He just went on with why he would give funding to homes for pregnant women. It bothered me he had no compassion even to say that would be horrid. It seems he refuses to see how Americans are affected by his decisions.

I am pro-choice, Bush is not (Issues 2004)

The Bush Administration stopped research on stem-cells that could lead to new treatments for Parkinson's, heart disease, ,diabetes, Alzheimer's, spinal injuries, and muscular dystrophy (CNN)

The Bush Administration put forth a rule which requires foreign NGOs to withhold information about legal abortion services otherwise they will lose US funds for family planning.(Health Sciences Columbia Edu)

He has given a 270 million-dollar budget to promote abstinence programs in school but slashed all programs that talk about other ways to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

The nonpartisan GAO found that the Bush Administration created illegal fake news reports to promote its industry-backed Medicare bill. (GAO)

Bush Administration believes that patients who were denied much need treatments should not sue HMO's. (ABC News Washington Post )

Education

In 2000, candidate Bush promised to increase the maximum federal scholarship, or Pell Grant, by 50 percent. Instead, each year he has been in office he has frozen or cut the maximum scholarship amount. (ED Work Force)

No Child Left Behind - another promise broken. (NWI Times & Fact Check, Fact Check

Environment

It seems that everything he says he is going to do with the environment he does not or he goes back on somewhat. Instead, he makes a tax break for those buying SUV and Hummers that pollute the air. And breaks his promise on making limits on carbon dioxide emissions, eliminated protection of 200 million acres of public lands. He also have proposed to cut the EPA budget by a signifcant amount. (Washington Post, Washington Post again, And Again, Bush Green Watch, California Wilderness Coalition)

Energy

The Bush Administration relentlessly pushed an energy bill containing $23.5 billion in corporate tax breaks, much of which would have benefited major campaign contributors. (TaxPayer.net & Washington Post)

And some more reasons…

I don't like that Bush believes God put him in office. I tend to think people did well some of us did at least. I am a spiritual person but it still bothers me. I guess I like to think separation of government and religion. I don't want a government run by gut, instinct or someone saying well I prayed about it. (Originally appeared in New York Times - Without a Doubt by Ron Suskind & Working for a Change)

I don't like that he says stupid things. Might be shallow but we need someone who is articulate and knows what the hell he is saying. I mean the man did not even know he had holdings in a timber company and in my opinion made a fool of himself by saying he did not own holdings in timber complany (Fact Check)

He refuses to admit mistakes. A President who can't acknowledge his mistakes can't fix them. I don't like that he did not answer the town hall question about 3 mistakes. He did not even have the balls to say he made any mistakes and then basically told the person who asked the question that what she was "really asking about the war" so he was "invalidating" her question. And that irritated me.

Bush is leading us and he does not even know where the hell he is going. That is how it seems to me. He comes across so un-intelligent and why would someone who comes across that way make me feel safer? He stumbles and all he can say is being president is hard work. Well if it is such hard work for him - then why doesn't he not run again. I mean we all know it is hard work. But he ran for it not me. And if I take on something that is hard or I don't like I don't need to tell everyone repeatedly how hard of work it is like that explains it all. He needs to answer the questions. He needs to do the work. He needs to fix his mistake and admit them.

Bush and his saying Kerry is flip-flopper over and over is driving me crazy. I hate to say but all politicians flip-flop. Even Bush - Bush on campaign trail said Kerry's plan for Iraq is the same as his then Bush in the debate said that Kerry's plan for Iraq won't work. (more flip flop issues - American Progress Action)

He has all these plans for the next 4 years and I wonder why he has not done them the last 4 years. And has he done what he said he would last 4 years? No not in my opinion...so why would he be reliable to do it the next 4 years

I don't like that there seems to be a lot of secrecy and deceits in this administration - Changed transcripts, lots of documents classified (even former presidents documents he has classified and the task force on energy that Cheney led. Why would that need to be classified?) (CNN & 525 Reasons)

Another that might sound shallow. But it bothers me that Bush had never worked hard for anything. Yes we all heard how hard work he does as president. But this is his first real job and even that seems like he just runs on gut instinct. Well if that is how he ran his companies that went under then where are we headed. I don't think he is in touch with American.…everyday working class Americans. I am sure he does not know what it is like to eat ramen noodles and mac&cheese to survive. I am sure he does not think about how much it costs to have an appointment at the doctor or get a prescription. Or how those on a fixed income pay for everything - rent, utilities, medication, and such. I know Kerry is also from an upper class family but to me he seems to understand what the daily average American goes through and care.

Gay Rights - Bush is against letting domestic partners the right to health and tax benefits that married couples get, Bush does not think that violence against Gays is a Hate Crime, and he says no adoptions for Gays. (CNN, MSNBC, Issues 2004)

Like I said I could have went on more….but just with these reasons alone listed was enough for me to vote for Kerry.